Beach Vacation: Part 1-Vicksburg

We went on vacation this year at the very end of July with our great friends the Carpenters. It was our first family trip to the beach and the kids were SO excited to visit the "beach and the ocean"!  We drove half way the first day and stopped in Vicksburg, MS. Bryan wanted to go by the Vicksburg National Military Park before we left the next morning. We thought it would be really interesting too so we stopped by. Our little stop on the way out of town, ended up being over three hours. It was actually very interesting even though it took way longer than we anticipated. Surprisingly, the kids didn't whine and complain the entire time and it was probably a great experience for them.

They had a presentation including the firing of and actual cannon from the war. 

 All the kids with some of the "actors".

 Our fam in front of actual cannons from the Civil War.

 The park was 17 miles of battle grounds and statues erected in honor of the Civil War Heroes and soldiers.  Here is one of the actual battle grounds from the Civil War. Amazing to think that young men actually gave their lives right here.

 There were many statues given by the different states in honor of the men from their state who fought in the war. The largest monument is this one from Illinois.

 Inside the walls are covered with the names of over 36,000 Civil War soldiers from Illinois. We found a few Hubbards.

 In front of the monument.

 This was called the "Shirley House". It is the only war time structure still standing inside the Vicksburg National Park. It was owned by a family at the time war started, but they evacuated and the home was used as a Union headquarters.

 This doesn't really do it justice, but the land in this area was beautiful.

 The boys' favorite part was this gun ship.

 It is the USS Cairo, which sat on the floor of the Yazoo River for 102 years before being raised and restored. It was the first US marine vessel to be sunk by an electrically detonated mine.

 The Vicksburg National Cemetery. There are over 17,000 Civil War Union soldiers buried here.

 Some of the markers had names.

  But many were marked only with a number. 13,000 of the soldiers are "unknown".

 It really was touching to see all the markers and be able to visualize just how many lost their lives.

 The ones with names were grouped alphabetically.

 View of the Mississippi River

Obviously I can't do justice in one blog post, to the history that took place here. If you ever get the chance you really should stop here.

We enjoyed to stop and all learned a LOT about the Civil War, but we were ready to HIT THE BEACH!!  

Beach Post to come soon!

**Happy Birthday today to the best Grammy ever!! We love you!**