A Visit From Rich & Renee | Mud Island/Independence Day

All the locals suggested Mud Island was a great place to spend the 4th.

Although it's name sounds unappealing, it was in fact a hoppin place.

Mud Island is known for their Riverwalk. It is an exact scale model of the Lower Mississippi River 

flowing from its confluence with the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois 954 miles south to the Gulf of Mexico.

The Riverwalk was beautiful. Maps along the way showed us supposedly where we were along the Mississippi River. 

The sun stayed behind the clouds most of the day, making for perfect weather.

"The Gulf" was beautiful, with a perfect view of downtown just on the other side of the river.

We ate hot dogs and hamburgers for lunch. The worker ready to take our order, in her heavy southern accent said,

"What kinda food is you want?" [I swear, sometimes I feel like we're in another country.]

We enjoyed the view, snow cones, then Renee and I took the swan paddle boat for a spin.

The men ate their snow cones while Renee and I went to the museum.

We learned all about steamboats and the history of Tennessee and the Mississippi River.

To kill some more time before the fireworks, we took the Monorail over to the city.

I can't get enough of downtown Memphis. It is so beautiful and there's so much to do.
We strolled around until we found a good place for dinner.

It started sprinkling right when we got on our carriage. Within a few minutes it was pouring! 

Our driver pulled over to drape a tarp over us.

Meanwhile, someone needed to hold the horse. Jay was the lucky man for the job.

Getting caught in a rainstorm was a blast. But between the rain and 80% humidity, my hair was a bit a lot frizzy.

We made it back to the island, and then sat in the rain watching the sunset until the fireworks started. 

It was a pretty perfect day. 
I'm so grateful to live in this beautiful country. Though we're miles away from home,
I'm so glad we got to celebrate this holiday with some of the people we love.