Mississippi Weekend

Over the long labor day weekend Harold and I drove up to Oxford, Mississippi for the BYU-Ole Miss game.  We met up with Harold's brother in law Heber and his dad, whose friend hosted us and let us in on their tailgating and showed us some great southern hospitality.  Below are some pictures from our weekend:

A glimpse of the tailgating, before it got real busy

Harold in the "rebel camp" 

This area is called the Walk of Champions, it's where the players walk through before the game.  Most of the sororities and fraternities set up their tents here.  If you notice the girls are all dressed up;  Ole Miss is known for getting dressed up for games- the girls all wear dresses and the guys wear nice slacks and collared shirts.  They say when the weather cools down they will even wear ties and go all out.  A little different from the BYU t shirt and jeans I usually wear to football games..

This is the Ole Miss Rebel- their original mascot.  He's an old southern plantation owner, although now he is no longer their official mascot...
(note we got the memo about what to wear to an ole miss game, hence the dress- but still white and blue for my cougs

Happy to be at the cougar game in our blue and white!

Harold and his dad after the game, we had great seats and we were right in front of the action when we scored that touchdown off the qb fumble.. Great victory cougs!

The next day we took a drive to Greenwood, Mississippi where The Help was filmed.  Our hotel had a map of all the places they filmed and you could drive around and see the places.  Neat to see them as well as drive around the old town.  It was an old washed up town that at one point may have been doing pretty well but was now struggling. Really quite a cultural experience.

This is the old white church- where Aibeleen and Minny go to church

Saw a lot of neat graves next to the church- many were also unmarked as people cant always afford to put a grave stone. 

Holly Holbrook's house

The Junior League Society

We also saw Skeeter's house but it was a quick drive by so I wasnt able to get a picture. Her house was right next to the country road that Hilly drives down in a fury..

Another piece of history in Greenwood is that Emmitt Till was killed here- a black boy that was accused of flirting with the store owner's wife.  His mother brought his body back up to Chicago and had an open casket funeral to show how badly he was beaten.  This move was a big catalyst for the civil rights movement and Rosa Parks even said that she thought of Emmitt Till when she was told to move to the back fo the bus.  An interesting piece of history and so we visited the spot where the grocery store was and historical marker

Bryant's Grocery store where 14 year old Emmitt Till went in to buy some candy

Between the cougar victory and a bit of southern exploration and culture we had a great weekend and road trip.  But the fun's not over yet- we will be on the road again this weekend as we are headed to New Orleans for The Weepies concert and an early celebration of Harold's birthday.  The drive is less than 3 hours so we figure we best be taking advantage of such a fun place!

"Wasn't that the point of the book? For women to realize, We are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I'd thought." 

-Kathryn Stockett

p.s. I got a job! more on that later but I am glad to say that I have to wrap this up as I go get ready for work!