Moonlight & magnolias? Wide verandas & enormous hallways? Hoop skirts & lace? French Wallpaper & fabric? Dining rooms, china, & silverware for 24 people? Billiard rooms & libraries? Scenic entry drives that showcase wealth & status? All the above exists in the lovely little town of Natchez, Mississippi, located on a bluff overlooking the Mighty Mississippi. When I was 6 or 7, somehow my mother convinced my father we should see this dr...

We started our "Deep Dive" in beautiful Harper's Valley, West Virginia, where we stayed in a charming B & B for 3 nights. It's a lovely little unspoiled town built on 2 levels, with friendly people & nice restaurants. With our heads full of John Brown's incredible story, we immediately set out to explore the town where he carried out his ill-fated raid. See our albums "Harper's Valley" & "Brown's Raid" for a pictorial essay of the town & the Raid....

Saturday, Aug. 22, we were off early, driving east towards are next stop, Columbus OH, listening to "Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War" , by Tony Horwitz. Between that informative & engaging book, a 3 part documentary on Ulysses S Grant we'd watched before we left Charleston, & a visit to the Lincoln Presidential Museum & Library in Springfield, IL, we felt we'd be ready to digest Harper's Valley, MD, the si...

An Incredible Family Day in White Hall, Illinois. Part 1. On Friday, Aug. 21, 2020, we left Chicago for a very special "Back to the Past" Experience in tiny White Hall, Illinois, where my grandparents lived & raised their family. With help from cousins, we were able to visit the homes & farms of our aunts & uncles, guided by a cousin who offered to "ease you way". She proved most valuable, as she seemed to know every single perso...

If you have followed this blog, you will already know that Les & I are firm Francophiles! We have spent every summer in France since 2012, when I started writing this blog. In one of the 3 small French houses we've owned, enjoying a terrific view from each of our terraces. We've thoroughly enjoyed "viewing" French life not only from the terrace, but from our many incredible experiences down below, in the thick of things, these past 9 summers. But,...