Texarkana Trip 2026 - Day 3 (Vicksburg, MS - Baton Rouge - LaPlace, LA)

Day 3 - We were able to sleep in a bit this morning since our first stop didn't open until 8:30 and it was just a few blocks away from our hotel. 

Once we left the hotel, we drove  to Vicksburg National Military Park. We visited the park in 2019 with the kids but there were a few things that we wanted to see (that we missed the first time or wanted to see again). Once in the park (driving the loop), we were shocked to see that the Illinois monument was under renovation - completely hidden by scaffolding. We were thankful to have seen it in 2019 as it is an impressive monument!

From our 2019 Trip

There were 2 things we wanted to see on this trip to Vicksburg - the Kentucky Memorial (with Lincoln & Davis Statue) and the USS Cairo.

On our way to the USS Cairo Museum, we stopped at the Wisconsin, Iowa & Alabama Memorials as well as the statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

The USS Cairo was a shallow river ironclad (one of seven) commissioned for service in the civil war in January 1862. It was struck and sunk not even a year later, in December 1862. A team of experts were able to locate the sunken ironclad and recover it (in 3 sections) in December 1964. Finally, in 1977, the Cairo was restored by the National Parks Service in Vicksburg. As we walked through the display, we were able to identify the original pieces from the boat and how the park service built a shell around the old pieces. They did an incredible job restoring it - allowing us to view this historic relic and actually walk through it and touch it. It was impressive!

One of the last memorials in the park (on the tour loop), is the Kentucky Memorial, which contains statues of President Abraham Lincoln and Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Both Lincoln & Davis were born in Kentucky and were prominent figures in the Civil War. As far as history shows, there was never an actual meeting between the two presidents. Many Kentucky families saw brothers fighting brothers and families divided. It isn't lost on us that both the US President and the Confederate President were from Kentucky. When looking at the 2 men, it appears that they are looking at each other while in discussion...but upon closer inspection, they are actually looking past each other.

Leaving Vicksburg, we had decided to drive a scenic way into Louisiana. We opted to drive the Blues Hwy (US Route 61), also called Great River Road. Once in Port Gibson, we turned on to Natchez Trace Parkway, driving that road all the way into Natchez. It was a great choice! Scenic with very little traffic.

We crossed the Mississippi bridge in Vicksburg and then back again...just to say that we did! There is a nice Mississippi State Welcome Center right there as well.

We came across this beauty on our way south from Vicksburg. Mammy's Cupboard has seen better days!

Our next stop was 3 hours from Vicksburg - the state capital of Louisiana, Baton Rouge. While researching our stops, I found that Baton Rouge has 2 capital buildings (old & new). They are both open to the public. Looking at pictures online and checking the hours for both buildings, we decided to tour the old capital and then see the new capital from the outside (since they'd be closed at that point in the day). 

The Old State Capital was built in 1850, had multiple fires and was officially "retired" in 1990, opening again in 1994 as a museum. 

When we arrived in Baton Rouge (at the Old Capital), we found that the streets surrounding the capital were blocked off for a street fair (later found out it was an outside church service). Lots of people, vendors, cars, etc. We drove around the block trying to figure out where to park (with no luck). We returned to the closed road - kinda stuck there now - and asked an officer where we could park. He pointed straight ahead (~250 feet!) and told us that the parking lot for the Old Capital was open for visitors! It wasn't a big lot but we were able to pull in and got a parking spot. What a blessing that was!! This picture is from inside, but you can see that the parking lot is rather small but we got a spot! Luckily, it was later in the afternoon so it wasn't as busy!

Side note - This is where we were standing when we got a call from Micah & Maddie. They called to announce that they were engaged!!! Micah had proposed and Maddie said YES! We were thrilled to hear the news and the Old State Capital of Louisiana will forever hold a very special memory for us!

When we checked in at the front desk, we were given a map of the building. We were shocked to learn that the French Exchange Copy of the Louisiana Purchase Convention (signed by Napoleon Bonaparte as well as other French / US Officials) was located in one of the rooms! This rare piece of parchment ratified the 1803 sale of land that doubled the size of the United States. It was on loan from the National Archives and only available for the public to view for a short time (from April - July). Sadly, no pictures were allowed, but we were thrilled to have seen it!

Beautiful detail work throughout the building!

The "crown jewel" of the Old State Capital Building is the staircase and stain-glass dome. Wow - Just Wow!!

We were able to see everything that we wanted before they closed, which was nice! We left the Old Capital and headed over to the New Capital. We walked around but didn't take too many pictures since the skyscraper portion of the building was wrapped in scaffolding. Unfortunately, we were running out of day as well. We had a few more stops on our agenda and we needed to find dinner & figure out our hotel for the night, so we didn't take too much time at this stop.

Leaving Baton Rouge, we headed east, where we found this extra large strawberry in Ponchatoula.

The One & Only reason that we added Louisiana to our vacation was to find a letterbox. Louisiana is the only state in the lower 48 that Matt hadn't found a box, so we added the state to our vacation...in hopes that we would find a box and mark it off his list!

Success! He actually found 2. Kudos to Matt on 48 states - this isn't a small feat! Now to start planning the Alaska & Hawaii trips, HA!

Matt suggested we drive across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway to experience that since we were so close. 

Last stop for Day 3 was at the 50 foot wooden alligator in LaPlace. The gator's name is Saint and represents LaPlace as "the gateway to the swamps".

We were so thankful for the things that we got to see today - The history of Vicksburg Military Park (USS Cairo, Lincoln & Davis, Civil War Battlefield), Baton Rouge Capital Buildings, Louisiana Purchase, finally finding a letterbox in Louisiana, driving across Lake Pontchartrain, and driving through some beautiful areas (especially the Natchez Trace Parkway). We were really hungry by the time we reached LaPlace and we were ready to call it a day. We found food, a hotel for the night and put together our stops for Day 4. Another wonderful day!

Favorites from Day 3:

Matt: USS Cairo, Old Capital (getting there before they closed, finding parking)

Becki: The Old Capital (beautiful!)