BudgetTravel

• Walnut Hills 1214 Adams St., Vicksburg, Miss., 601/638-4910, walnuthillsms.net, lunch $15

Activities

THE HEART OF THE BLUES Just how charming are the cotton fields and swamp towns of the lower Mississippi Delta? These photographs will have you daydreaming about your next road trip. • Launch the slide show

• Old Court House Museum 1008 Cherry St., Vicksburg, Miss., 601/636-0741, oldcourthouse.org, $5
• Corner Drug Store 1123 Washington St., Vicksburg, Miss., 601/636-2756, vicksburgcornerdrug.com, free
• Vicksburg National Military Park 3201 Clay St., Vicksburg, Miss., 601/636-0583, nps.gov/vick, $8
• Natchez Trace Parkway 800/305-7417, nps.gov/natr, free

Day 4
I knew that Bayou Cabins in Breaux Bridge, La., would be a perfect place to spend the night when I called for a reservation and couldn't understand a word the owner said. Rocky Sonnier speaks with a swamp-thick Cajun accent, punctuating each sentence with a deep chuckle. When he finally passed the phone to his wife, Lisa, I managed to book a cabin overlooking Bayou Teche.

After a breakfast of cracklin' (fried pork rinds), boudin (sausage), eggs, and hoghead cheese (a terrine made from pig-skull scrapings), we drive to Lake Martin to meet Walter "Butch" Guchereau of Cajun Country Swamp Tours.

We spend two hours in a crawfish skiff, maneuvering through mazes of water hyacinths and cypress trees, their branches dripping with gray-green tangles of Spanish moss. I've never seen so many species of birds: great blue herons, purple gallinules, Mississippi kites, white ibis, and a peregrine falcon. I know I should be more excited by the alligators sitting on logs, but for me the birds are the highlight.

Breaux Bridge claims to be the crawfish capital of the world, so after the swamp tour, we go to Café Des Amis for lunch. Zydeco musicians play during Saturday breakfasts, which would have been a fitting end to our musical journey. Since it's a Wednesday, I have to settle for a crawfish-stuffed chicken breast topped with étouffée. All in all, not a terrible trade-off.

Lodging

• Bayou Cabins 100 W. Mills Ave., Breaux Bridge, La., 337/332-6158, bayoucabins.com, from $60

Food

• Café Des Amis 140 E. Bridge St., Breaux Bridge, La., 337/332-5273, cafedesamis.com, chicken $15

Activities

• Cajun Country Swamp Tours 1226 N. Berard St., Breaux Bridge, La., 337/319-0010, cajuncountryswamptours.com, $20, kids $10

Finding Your Way
Route 61 from Memphis to Baton Rouge is the main highway through the Delta. More scenic drives include the Great River Road (Route 1) from Helena to north of Vicksburg, and the Natchez Trace Parkway.