Tunica? Lord. That's like the armpit of Mississippi. Nothing there but Casino's. Tunica county MS was the poorest county, per capita, in the US prior to the casinos.
Ugly, ugly part of the state there. The delta of MS is generally shunned by the southern part of the state, which is the much better part. Greenville and that whole area, like Duane said, is just awful. When people think of Mississippi and think of the dirt poor, undereducated masses... the delta is exactly what they envision. Embarassing, really.
From Jackson MS down, it is like another state... almost like an extension of south Louisiana. Louisiana is the same way too. You can cut the state in half around Alexandria... below that is heavily influenced by New Orleans and Baton Rouge. The French influence is noticeable. Above that line, Louisiana is basically just like East Texas... piney woods and the people are the same.
Those South Louisiana people are just a different breed... very clickish. Quick to anger and to laugh. Outsiders aren't taken in very quickly and their traditions and history are their's and their's alone. Trust me... I married into that.
The folks in north LA are just like those anywhere else.
As far as seeing Mississippi... there really isn't a whole lot to see... although the southern part of the state, including the beaches, is MUCH nicer than the northern part... there still isn't a whole lot here to see.
No, the nice part about Mississippi is living here. The people are great, the cost of living is extremely low and the crime rate is too. Like I already said, you're very close to many places that are nice to see and Hattiesburg in particular is one of the cleaner places you'll find anywhere.
My wife is from south Louisiana and to her... there isn't a place in the world that comes close to that area. But after a few years of living over here in MS... she can't help but fall in love with it. The Hattiesburg area has the best schools in the state and crime is almost non-existent here. Very much unlike south LA.
Anyway, if you want to visit, go to the gulf coast area and go spend a day in New Orleans while you're there... it's only about an hour away from the coast. You'd have the beaches, casino's and the special brand of debaunchery that is New Orleans... all at your fingertips. You could easily take a couple of hours and drive over to Florida too. From Biloxi MS it only about 2 hours to Emmitt Smith's shop in Pensacola where he has all his trophy's etc. (if he still has that place open)... and the beaches there in Pensacola/Ft. Walton/Destin are some of the prettiest you'll ever see.
Just watch out for the sharks.
There has been 3 attacks recently.
Management.
