Thompson Family: 09/01/2011

Matt served his mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Mississippi Jackson Mission. He's been wanting to take me back there and after he's been away for six years, he's finally returned with me at his side. Josh Bennett, mission companion, and his wife Melody joined us as well and we all had an amazing time! Matt and Josh felt right at home and it was a lot of fun seeing where they served. I can see why Matt and Josh loved the area because the people were so hospitable.
Matt jumped on the opportunity when he heard that BYU was playing Ole Miss in Oxford. He didn't need to talk to me into it and the same with Josh. We were on board and started our plans. Matt and I flew out of the Provo Airport on Sept 1st and flew into New Orleans. It was so nice flying out of Provo because we didn't need to be there till 15 mins before takeoff and it's only 10 minutes from our house. It was also a very nice change of scenery seeing the Y Mountain and flying over beautiful Utah Valley. The best way to fly!
After landing in New Orleans, picking up our car rental and checking into our hotel, we headed to Bourbon Street for dinner.

We were hopping to find a place that we couldn't eat back home but we ventured away from the tourist crowd and settled at a clean and safe known place called Hard Rock Cafe.

The Next morning we had breakfast and checked out of our hotel and drove to Jackson to pick up Josh and Melody. They flew stand by and got stuck in Memphis because so many BYU Fans were doing the same thing. They ended up taking the Greyhound, right into the heart of West Jackson. West Jackson is the Ghetto and a very dangerous area. It was Matt's first area and his most favorite place to serve. He took us around the place and I kid you not, most homes looked like this.

The guy in the picture with Matt lived in this house above. He rented out one small room that could only fit a twin size mattress. His name is Jack, a crazy drunk that would always say to Matt, "Let me hug your belly."

Josh wanted to see this mural and as we drove to it we drove by a drug deal. CRAZY! Josh was brave enough and got out of the car to take a picture next to it and I asked Matt if he wanted to do the same thing. He said "No! The driver doesn't get out of the car in this part of town because we wouldn't ever see you again." Duh Elise!

After our little adventure in West Jackson we went downtown for lunch. Matt's been looking forward to eating at this place called The Edison Walthall Hotel but it was no longer serving lunch.

We left our car since we already paid the meter and started walking to another place. We walked to the State Capitol and the Governor’s Mansion to take pictures.

For lunch we ate at a place called Keifer's. They make the best Gyros ever!

We then drove to the Mission Home.

After touring the area more we checked into our hotel and visited The Hansen's. Matt was close too Ryan and Stacy while he served in their area. I heard so much about them so it was great meeting them. After our visit we went looking for a BBQ place for dinner. We ate at The Hickory Pit. YUM!
The next morning we woke up and headed to Oxford after breakfast. We met up with one of Matt's Uncles and Aunts on the Thompson side. They drove from Wisconsin to see the game with us. It was only appropriate to take a family photo in front of the Thompson House.

We had lunch at The Rib Cage. Pretty good food but I had better ribs and their baked beans weren't original. I can get Bushes Baked Beans anywhere.
We found this funny newspaper there.
We had time before the game to make a Wal-Mart stop to buy supplies to make a poster to hold up.

Does the sign look familiar? It was on ESPN twice :).
Josh is holding the sign and you can see Melody to the right and you will see Matt's hat after a while on his left.

The sign is in the left hand corner and you will see all of us. Matt is next to Josh and you can see half of my face to the left of Matt.

The game was amazing! It was boring at first but the last quarter made up for it! We were all amazed at how well we were treated by the Ole Miss fans. They welcomed us and wished us good luck before the game. Even when they had a heart breaking loss they told us we played a great game and told us to have a safe flight/drive home. They were all so nice. We also heard that a lot of BYU fans were invited to join their tailgate parties.
With it being a two hour drive back to the hotel we got back late and crashed. We went to church the next morning at the Jackson Branch for Sacrament meeting and then to a ward that Matt attended for the last hour of church. We also got to attend a baptism afterwards. We then went back to The Hansen's to have Ryan and Stacy's famous ribs. They were very delicious and all of us were very grateful that they opened their home for us again and fed us.
We then made our way down to Meridian to Josh's friends. They were having a get together and they were serving Gumbo. Yes I did try it even though it had fish in it. I honestly thought it had great flavor behind the fish but I could still taste the shrimp. I can't knock it till I try it right?
We then made our way down to Biloxi. We stayed there the remainder of our time. Both Matt and Josh served there so we did more site seeing had more great food and just enjoyed our time on the beach. Josh and Melody ended up staying one night and left Monday. Matt and I enjoyed the Beach one more day and it was great because the Sun finally showed its face and the sky was completely cloudless. Tropical Storm Lee made it's why through Mississippi while we were there but we were lucky to avoid it till we got into Biloxi. It rained throughout our whole stay but it was worse on the coast. We had times when it wasn't rainy but it was still dreary.

Our last day was gorgeous! The day after a storm is always the best!
This lighthouse survived two Hurricanes, Camille and Katrina

Katrina Hit two weeks after Matt left his mission. He was interested in seeing the destruction. It was sad seeing all the driveways on Beach Blvd that led to nowhere. A lot of things weren't rebuilt.
This one is of a neighborhood that wasn't on the beach but still got wiped out.

This one is on the beach front. It used to be full of business and homes.

We ended up flying home Sept 6th into Provo again. With Provo Airport being as small as it is the boys got to see us off the plane like the good old days. This was Alex's first time away from me for more than a day and he did amazing! We missed the boys like crazy but we did enjoy our time without them. We wouldn't have been able to do this without my Parents and Matt's dad so we owe them big time!
We plan to visit Mississippi again in 2015 when BYU plays Southern Miss.