Jack town oh Jack town

I just returned from my final trip of the summer... and it was glorious.

The fabled setting of the book The Help, home of Eudora Welty, the quintessence of the Southern city:

Jackson, Mississippi.

I went down almost 2 weeks ago to spend time with my dear friend Amy who got married July 30th. It was a wondrous affair.

Amy and I

I tend to get very excited about any opportunity I have to return South and spend time with the folks I went to school with.

If you have never been to Jackson, you are missing out. Plain and simple.

Poor Jackson tends to be written off by people visiting there (and by those who have lived there for ages, for that matter) as a Southern  town with nothing to do and not much to offer.

But it just isn't true.

Though people may recognize some of the attributes it offers, they do not seem to give these characteristics the weight they deserve.

So here--though my tasting of the city was small on this trip, are a few highlights of things to do, places to eat, and interesting tidbits of information. (Ok, so I'm not promising anything here--these things just happen to be interesting to me, so I like to think they may be interesting to you.) Neither here, no there.

Let's get started.

My number one area for people to experience is: Fondren (pronounced: Fonderin)

"Pour quoi?" You ask?

Because it is artsy, quirky, unique, reasonable, quaint, and interesting.

It is basically an old street in Jackson that has been rehabbed and turned into a hip area filled with stores, galleries, and restaurants.

It's so cool, in fact, that several street scenes from the movie The Help were shot there.

My favorite find of a store is The Orange Peel, a sweet consignment store that is awesome to dig through---you can literally find anything here.

By anything, I truly mean anything.

They even have housewares...and cool decorating items:

They even have cool wicker beds that inspire you to hang them on the wall instead of using them as sleeping contraptions!...but whatever:

This is art people!!

Needless to say, if you are ever wandering around Jackson and would love to recharge with a great deal, The Orange Peel is an awesome mecca to seek said rejuvenation.

The Orange Peel

422 Mitchell Avenue

601.364.9977

orangepeelinc.net

Continuing on in the same neighborhood, we come to Babalu.

Yes--that's right. Ricky Ricardo's Babalu. Kind of.

(They did celebrate Lucy's 100th birthday this past weekend)

And, they serve Cuban food. Kind of.

They specialize in Tacos and Tapas...so you order lots of delicious small dishes.

Amy and I ordered the heavenly guacamole (they used sun-dried tomatos---what a sweet idea) which they made to order at our table. 

We then ordered two types of tacos--the pork being my favorite:

And the voices said: "Haaaaaaalelujah!"

The taco on the right is the pork--it has a peanut slaw on it--and this yummy cheese--and it changed my life.

(Oh--and a highlight of this eating experience was the birthday celebration next to us for a lady who must of been nearly 80. She was dressed in this gorgeous fire-engine red dress with matching red shoes and her face beautifully made up. She looked like she was out of the 50's.... Oh, and they brought a wine bottle out with a crazy shooting birthday candle in it for her to blow out. It was like having fireworks instead of the lame old regular birthday candles. Super cool...I would have taken a picture, but that would have been awkward.)

But Lucy would have been proud.

Babalu

622 Duling Avenue

601.366.5757

After the wedding on saturday, I got to go away with my dearest Sarah....to the beach!!! Some how we managed not to take any pictures which is silly. 

But I did manage one shot of the beach:

Hello boy who couldn't skinboard.

It was a sweet few days of relaxation. I praise the Lord for Orange Beach! One of our days there, we spent 5 hours on the beach!! We floated, then dried out, floated, then dried out, napped, then floated, etc. It was exactly what was needed in life.

We also got to see some family, eat crazy good crabs, do some shopping at our favorite places, sleep a lot, and of course got to enjoy each other. Every girl needs time with her closest friends.

So here is a calling card of encouragement. Where-ever you are, be there. Experience it and love it. Every place has something unique to offer--and this trip was a great reminder of that.