Historic Travels For Two.com - Elephant Ear Bed & Breakfast

Elephants Ear Bed and Breakfast is a quiet escape in the middle of downtown Natchez.

Photo by Gordon Fikes

Elephants Ear Bed & Breakfast
Bamboo Suite
Story and Photos by
Gordon and Penny Fikes
For over a decade, I have had a fantasy vacation in my mind...a vacation so decadent (for me) that I have never really expected to fulfill it. Elephants Ear's Bed and Breakfast is as close to that fantasy vacation as I have come so far.

I felt as if I had borrowed a friend's apartment, albeit a very neat and clutter-free friend! Just a block away is the Antique district of Natchez.

We had just survived a long period of intense deadlines and pressure. By the time we reached Natchez that morning and headed straight into a four hour meeting, our respective stress levels were higher than the Natchez Bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River.

To find Elephants Ear, we picked up the directions at Twin Oaks Bed and Breakfast which owns the Elephant Ear cottage, and stepped out of our stressful life and into the peace of my fantasy getaway.

My dream get-away is all about solitude and quiet. Elephants Ear is decidedly quiet! There are busy night spots around the corner or down the street, but I could not hear them.

Inside those thick antebellum brick walls, I heard only the soothing tones of silence, the soft rhythmic creak of the ceiling fan, the gentle whirr of the central air. I think those gentle sounds soothed me like a mother's heartbeat soothes a baby in the womb.

By the time I sank into a steaming jacuzzi to cook the stress out of my muscles I was able to focus on nothing more weighty than counting the number of cobalt blue tile pieces in the terrazo tile surround and vanity countertop and watching the candles create hazy ghostly visitors with the steam.

Hours of uninterrupted sleep restored my soul as I dreamed of antiquing up and down the street the next day.

The terrazo tile of the bathroom
Photo by Gordon Fikes

Saber spears of light seek their target in the bedroom of Elephants Ear's Bamboo Suite.

Photo by Gordon Fikes

In the soothing embrace of Elephants Ear, I awoke to watch the branches and leaves in the back enclosed patio choreograph a ballet outside the window. The leggy branches of the shrubs were directing the more frenzied dance steps of the live oak leaves. Even on a busy week day morning, I was not awakened by the sounds of traffic or any of the Natchez hustle and bustle.

How wonderful it would have been to watch the morning evolve from one of the overstuffed sofas or the chaise in the front room, reading one of the books that I want to find time to read.

On my fantasy getaway, I would enjoy browsing the selection of coffee table books and magazines owner Regina Charboneau has left for visitiors. She even has a basket of cd's to play on the compact stereo with speakers in every room.

For the rest of my fantasy weekend away from stress, I'd need about three whole days at the Elephants Ear.
...Leave the television off.
...Turn the phone volume down to inaudible.
...Wake when I want.
... Read as long as I want.
...Walk out for lunch in one of the great Natchez restaurants.
...Browse up and down the Natchez Antique district.
...Bring in dinner or order something delivery.
...Count the different colored tiles in the bathroom again.
...Sink into the crisp sheets to differentiate the light clean smells of the sheets from the scented soap and the candle.
...Study the patterns of the spears of light that find their target on the textured wall through the piereced metal lampshades.
...And drift into a delicious dream of browsing the antique shops for treasures again the next day.

The living room aglow in ambient light to bathe one in rest and recreation.

Photo by Penny Sanford Fikes.

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