Yesterday morning, we ate a huge breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Then, we left our beautiful Eola Hotel room and walked through downtown Natchez. From there, we drove to the Visitors Center on Canal Street where we took a tour bus through Natchez. The tour was worth the price, as it provided a condensed overview of what was worth seeing. However, the driver was slovenly in appearance, her speech was unintelligible at times, and the bus microphone had some problems. It seems that the tour drivers would realize the gratuities would increase dramatically if these issues were addressed.
When our tour was over we went to the Melrose estate and took an extensive tour of that house and grounds. This estate is a National Park. You can read more about the house, its owners, its history, and description here: http://www.nps.gov/natc/

After our Melrose tour, we had lunch and returned to Monroe. Last night, Tom I went to Enoch’s Pub to hear Beth Patterson, whom I’ve written about several times on this blog. I had a grand evening, talking with friends from the library, the Scottish Society, former students, people whose writing I’ve edited, and people I’ve worked for.

My band, Angus Dubhghall, is playing at Enoch’s next Saturday, June 9. We’ll start playing about 9:00 p.m. Tonight, Tom and I have a DJ gig; Monday, I speak in El Dorado at Ryan’s Steak House. The Young Troupe at Straus Theatre is going to use me to teach creative writing in one of their summer workshops, June 25-29.