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Have a Blast at the NASA Stennis Space Center this Season Running out of places to go or things to do with family and friends this season? Then take the short drive to NASA Stennis Space Center in Hancock County Mississippi. Stennis Space Center is where Apollo Saturn V engines that took Americans to the moon in the 1960s were tested. Today, every space shuttle main engine is test-fired and proven flight-worthy at Stennis. Visitors to StenniSphere, the visitor center at Stennis Space Center, board shuttles for a 25-minute narrated tour of America ?s largest rocket engine test complex. There, they can get an up-close view of the massive test stands, and often experience the shake, rattle and roar of a rocket engine as it is being tested. The museum at StenniSphere has 14,000 square feet of exciting displays and exhibits from NASA, the Naval Meteorology, and Oceanography Command and other agencies. Hands-on activities are fun and educational for both children and adults, ranging from a mock test control center to a real space shuttle main engine. Also at StenniSphere is the 1960s cafe, the RocKeTeria, where visitors may dine for lunch. Souvenirs or gifts may be purchased at the Space Odyssey Gift Shop. StenniSphere offers free tours to the public from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, and charter tours may be scheduled Monday through Saturday, with the exception of Christmas Day and New Year ?s Day when StenniSphere is closed. Tours originate from the Launch Pad tour stop at the Hancock County Welcome Center at Interstate 10, just 45 miles east of New Orleans, and 32 miles west of Gulfport and Mississippi State Highway 49. (Visitors 18 and older must present a valid identification with photograph, such as a driver ?s license or passport.) For more information, please call 1-800/237-1821 or 1-228/688-2370 or visit www1.ssc.nasa.gov/public/visitors. Clark Creek Natural Area by Bill Pitts Along 4.38 miles of trails in southwest Mississippi (1.78 miles improved and 2.6 miles primitive) lies one of the most beautiful spots in the state. Isolated and pristine, the Clark Creek Natural Area is indeed an outdoor treasure. I took a roadtrip from Jackson to check the place out on December 1st, but as I got a later start than intended, I was only able to spend about two hours there before the sun started to set. I was greeted by a gaggle of geese honking about the Pond Store just up the road from the parking area. The store was built in 1881 and offers the visitor food, soft drinks, and other merchandise. Pulling in to the parking area, I noticed that there was only one car there. I heard later that on weekends you can expect to see more visitors. Needless to say, I didn ?t come across any sign of these hikers except for a pair of lost sunglasses. I placed them on a high point in the middle of the trail and when I passed that spot on the way out, they were gone. Perhaps snatched up by one of the black bears that wander the area. The other bears must be very envious. The solitude at Clark Creek is wonderful ?there ?s just nothing to compare with it in an urban environment. Even out in the country around a small city like Jackson, you ?ll hear traffic off in the distance or the occasional airplane passing overhead. There ?s nothing like that here. This is a very remote corner of Mississippi. Birds, squirrels, small rustlings in the fallen leaves, and my own footsteps sounding on the crushed rock of the trail is all I hear. And then, there are the sounds of the waterfalls. You hear them before you see them. Turning a corner in the trail, walking across the decks built into the stream ?s edge ?there they are. No Niagra of course, but I begin to regret not starting out at the crack of dawn. I was able to see the first two waterfalls in the short time that I had. The photographs I took don ?t do them justice. Photos of waterfalls are nice enough, but to be able to see one in motion AND hear it is a completely different experience. The flyer that you can pick up at the entrance kiosk states that there are about fifty waterfalls in the 700 acres that makes up Clark Creek. And they range in height from ten feet to more than thirty feet! The map on the back of that flyer shows the locations of ten of them; five of these are accessible only by following the Primitive Tail. The trails are well-marked with signs pointing in the direction of the parking area. At the two junctures that I came to leading to the first two waterfalls, there is a map showing where you are as well as directions to the various sights ?the waterfalls, overlooks, and the State and National record trees. That ?s right, we got champs! Now waterfalls may not be what one would expect to see in Mississippi. But then, this is Loess (pronounced lurse) country, the same soil that forms the bluffs edging the Mississippi River at nearby Natchez, the hills that made Vicksburg the Gibraltar of the South during the Civil War, and that incredibly sharp demarcation that runs along the eastern side of the Mississippi Delta. After too short of a visit, I returned to my car in the dark, with only the light of the almost-full moon to guide me along the trail that passes through the mixed hardwood and pine forest. I was sorry that I couldn ?t stay longer. All in all, it ?s a beautiful place, very secluded ?a challenging hike through some truly incredible terrain. I ?m going back soon . . . and this time, I ?m getting an earlier start! Click here for more details on how to reach the Clark Creek Natural Area.