Adventures in Jackson, Mississippi

A couple of weeks ago I ventured to Jackson, Mississippi for duel purposes.  First was that my colleague had a forum in the state and asked me to come along; the second and more important reason is that my grandmother lives in Jackson, as does my aunt, uncle and two cousins who I very rarely get to see.  It was great timing - I attended the forum with my colleague in Hattiesburg (which is about two hours from Jackson) and then stayed in Jackson for an extra day and a half to spend time with my grandmother.  I estimated that it had been at least 5 years since I had last seen my grandmother and Jackson, MS isn't really on the way to anywhere (meaning that if you're going to visit you are going to go to Jackson and only Jackson) and it is also quite a haul from New York; so when the opportunity came up to combine a work trip with a family visit I jumped at the opportunity!

 

They have an awesome bike path near my grandmother's house that end at the reservoir (which happens to be full of alligators - I was somewhat disappointed that I didn't see any during my run).

Our SOAR forum location - the Salvation Army in Hattiesburg, MS.

 

During my visit my grandmother was dead set on taking me to 'Cock of the Walk' a well know fried catfish place in Mississippi.  Catfish is BIG in the South, on the flip side - whenever I mention eating catfish in NY people look at me like I have three heads.  The catfish was good but to me the best part of dinner were the fried pickles - they were delicious!

 

Cock of the Walk!

 

Fried pickles, collard greens, cole slaw and onion rings!
(I forgot to take a picture of the actual fried catfish.)

Throughout my grandmother's house there are tons of great pictures but the one below is my favorite.  My grandfather was a professional baseball player and one game he hit three home runs.  President Eisenhower was in attendance and after the game asked to meet my grandfather.  The picture below was taken as they were meeting and he would later sign it and send it to him.  

This picture has always been one of my favorite!