In spring 2022 most of the travel restrictions had been lifted and Chuck and I were itching to hit the road somewhere. We thought a U.S. road trip to the south would be fun. Especially to our ears if we hit up some of the great music cities of the south. Think jazz in New Orleans, blues in Memphis, honky tonk in Nashville.
And between all those musical beats we would feast-our-eyes and bless-our-tastes on the best these iconic places can offer. And away we go…
Pennsylvania
Under the (Covered) Bridge
After many hours flying along the interstates — not seeing a heckuva lot — we slowed down and meandered the Lincoln Highway (US 30) making a few stops along the way. The highway alone is worth the detour, it’s absolutely beautiful from Pittsburgh to Gettysburgh.
Just before Gettysburg, we found our way to the Sachs Covered Bridge. It’s a restored covered bridge that dates back to 1852 and was used by both Confederate and Union forces during the Battle of Gettysburg. It also served as execution site of three soldiers, which means it’s haunted af.
During the day, it’s a picturesque beauty, but at night it supposedly transforms into a frightening scene where people have witnessed the disembodied heads of those executed soldiers floating on the bridge. Some have even felt a tap on their shoulder. *chills*
Four score… and Gettysburg
After Sachs, it was a short jaunt to Gettysburg National Military Park to do a quick tour of the historic grounds.
We saw the spot where Lincoln made his famous Gettysburg address, which is surrounded by a cemetery holding many of the soldiers who fought in the civil war. Then we drove up to Little Round Top to see the views of the battlefield. On such a lovely day it’s hard to imagine how grim this place was over a century ago.
Chuck did his own reenactment by looking through the canon and shouting, “Move! You’re in firing range!” He completely startled a couple passing by. Goof.
Life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness in DC
Two days in DC is truly not enough time to take it all in. But if you concentrate on one area, you can tick off a lot of things. We explored the National Mall, walked to the Lincoln Memorial, the Capitol, the White House and explored two Smithsonians: The National Portrait Gallery and the fairly new National Museum of African American History & Culture (also called The Blacksonian). All in fairly good walking distance.
A People’s Journey, A Nation’s Story
Of course we had to visit a couple Smithsonian museums while in DC. I love a great museum and they have some of the best ones.
First up was ‘The Blacksonian,’ the newest Smithsonian. We started underground in the history galleries before moving up to the culture and community galleries above ground.
There’s not a way I can truly describe all the feelings I had as I moved through the history galleries except that many of the displays I walked by and looked upon made me feel a deep sense of shame. And honestly, so it should.
Once you’re done touring the history galleries, you enter into ‘Contemplative Court’ where a giant fountain rains down from a circular skylight. It’s a place to sit quietly and take in everything you just saw. Take a moment to absorb what you just witnesed.
As you move upwards in the museum, you are pushed by the power of the human spirit. And when you reach those top floors you enter the culture galleries where it’s an insane explosion of creativity and ingenuity. It’s at this point that the whole “power of the human spirit” thing turns you into a bag of mush because you are now looking upon the most impressive elements of American culture and they are all either started-by, shaped-by or majorly-influenced-by African Americans. This is a must-visit if you come to DC. It is one of the best museums I’ve ever stepped into.
And that’s before we made our way into the art exhibits…
I was anticipating seeing Amy Sherald’s portrait of Michelle Obama and Kehinde Wiley’s portrait of Barrack Obama on our DC stop, but unfortunately it was on tour. Popular!
The good thing is we saw other pieces by both artists: Amy Sherald’s Breonna Taylor portrait and Grand Dame Queenie at the NMAAHC and Kehinde Wiley’s LL Cool J portrait at the National Portrait Gallery. All are stunning and you easily see why these artists were commissioned for the official portraits of the former President and First Lady.
Another piece that absolutely floored me was Bisa Butler’s I Go To Prepare A Place For You, which is a giant quilted and appliquéd textile portrait of Harriet Tubman intricately woven with cotton, silk and velvet. It’s so vibrant and Harriet’s face is unflinchingly direct and determined…in fabric!
In between seeing those portraits, we saw many others that amazed us, surprised us, and hit the right nerves. Art galleries are always so good at that. ♥️
Eating in DC
The eating is good in the DC neighbourhood.
Georgia
Savannah is a peach
Welllll, the gardens and homes of Savannah are as pretty as a peach, but the people…that’s a whole other story. We were expecting that highly-touted southern hospitality and charm, but in actuality, we didn’t get much of it. No matter where we dined, shopped or even stayed (River Street Inn) we were mostly met with terrible service and shitty manners.
And on a historic city trolley tour, our guide did their best to gloss over the real history of this place. While the tour was interesting and we learned a few things about Savannah *cough white-only cough*, the shaky, uncomfortable laughs you hear after the telling of its history is, honestly, quite telling. And if you search some of the things the guides tell you, you’ll find a whole different interpretation. We were not surprised, just kind of sad that only one side of the history is told here. Glorified, actually.
Cut to later that day when Chuck met two Black food truck owners. (Their tagline was, “Just here Pimpin’ my Chick’n.”) They told Chuck specifically to keep to areas with light and lots of people and never be alone at night. Chuck received a totally different history tale from them than the peaches-and-cream one we heard earlier that day.
Savannah, definitely a beautiful place, but comes with a few asterisks.
Somewhere down the crazy river
We spent one evening floating down the Savannah River on an old-school paddlewheel boat called the Georgia Queen. We had a quick dinner inside then high-tailed it to the top deck to savour cocktails in sippy-cups, fine cigars and a golden sunset.
Turtle crossings and Tybee Island
After spending a full day exploring Savannah on foot, we were ready to dip out of town and go for an actual dip in the ocean. The Atlantic Ocean. After a short drive we found ourselves basking under the sun on Mid Beach at Tybee Island.
The beach was busy, but we found a nice spot away from the crowds and just laid back and chillllllllled.
It all felt so heavenly. The ocean waves had just enough power to push you around slightly without making you feel like you’d be swept away. The sounds of the water crashing on shore, birds flying overhead and laughter from happy people in the distance were all happening. And that cooling ocean breeze swept over us and kept us feeling cool…
…I mean, until we got back to the car and realized I was burnt to a crisp! Even after applying sunscreen multiple times I had no clue I was a lobster until the minute I walked off that beach. Whoops!
On the way back to Savannah, Chuck picked us up some treats and we kept a look out for turtles on the highway. We were wiped by the time we got back to our hotel. And after interacting with so many rude folks the day before, we were also happy we didn’t have to hang with any people all day.
Funny, going to the beach is the perfect way to stay away from people and still be around people. 😂
Louisiana
Let the good times roll in New Orleans
“New Orleans isn’t like the rest of the south. It’s different here. It’s another world.” ⚜️ One of our many bartenders (and there are many!) said this to us one night while we were in the French Quarter. She couldn’t have been more right! This city feels insanely out of place from the area, but yet, still completely of this place.
And we finally found that southern hospitality we were looking for…in a place where you would think locals would be, ‘so over it,’ especially when you see the vast amount of strangers here, many of whom are walking very wobbly at all hours. 🥴😵💫
We enjoyed every second here. We ate crawfish and alligator, we walked the streets of the French Quarter and drove around the Garden District (which had me reliving all my memories of reading Anne Rice), we experienced a traditional Latin mass, we drank local spirits and lots of them, we had booze with breakfast and afternoon beignets with live jazz. But the kicker for us, the reason we give Nola an 11, is the music.
We first went to Frenchmen Street. And what a vibe! Tons of happy people of all ages zipping in and out of club after club while an eclectic amount of live music is being played. You want to dance? Check! You want to sit back and chill? Check! You want to get all into your feelings? Check, check, check! We loved every second we spent on that street.
Here are some highlights of Frenchmen Street. Now we have to go watch Treme.
And up until our last night in New Orleans I would have said live music on Frenchman Street was our number one Nola experience, but then we went to Preservation Hall to catch a traditional New Orleans jazz band. I can’t even come up with enough adjectives to describe how good their small concert was. We just sat back and let the most amazing music wash over us. It was closing your eyes, nodding your head while biting your lip good.
Jambalaya (on the bayou)
We journeyed south of New Orleans one morn to the bayou in Jean Lafitte to ride in an airboat and see some swamp critters of the very large kind.
Our guide from Airboat Adventures was fantastic and he shared a great amount of knowledge about the area we were in and the gators that inhabit it. He even showed us where Disney grabbed imagery to use for creating their Princess and the Frog movie. 👑 🐸
The highlight however was the ‘gators, of course. We saw so many! I’m thinking we saw around 15 in all, give or take a couple.
We even saw one that was over 12 feet long! And another one was teeny tiny and very shy to come out of its protected area as gators can be cannibalistic. 😬
We both fed the gators, Chuck was more keen about that than me. And we both thoroughly enjoyed the ride on the airboat. The way it glides and turns is exactly how I hoped it would feel, which is glorious. LOUD AF, but glorious.
Tennessee
When we were walking in Memphis
After many late nights in New Orleans, we were ill-prepared to go hard on touring the lovely city of Memphis.
But during our short stay, we were able to hit up some spots on our list, including walking along Beale Street, listening to some good blues, learning a lot about the civil rights movement at the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, making a very short stop at Sun Studio and stuffing our faces with as much barbecue as humanly possible.
One thing we didn’t get to was Graceland. We drove by and saw the size of the place and changed our minds. We were bagged, and honestly, neither of us are Elvis fans. It looks super cool tho and everyone I know who has been has said it’s amazing. Maybe next time.
Take me down Nashville’s honky tonk highway
On the road again…to Music City! Honestly, every city has been music city to us since New Orleans. All with a different style and vibe. But Nashville is nutso! It is so flipping busy, especially since we arrived on Memorial Day weekend. Eek!
We spent our first night walking Broadway dipping in and out of bars and thoroughly enjoying all the craziness. The bars are packed and keep getting busier exponentially every hour. The music is fun and blasting out from all directions.
And then the happy bachelorettes caged on big buses start arriving dancing their butts off and you realize we are not in Kansas anymore. There are just so many shiny, happy things here. And it’s so freaking fun!
We also had time to check out @hattiebs hot chicken and the biscuits @lovelesscafe, both recommended to us and both worth the visit.
I also made Chuck stop at a store that said “Cool Stuff & Weird Things” that had an Elvis statue out front because of course we needed to check that out. The sign was accurate.
Before we arrived, Chuck mentioned the UEFA Championship Final would be on while in Nashville. Being in the US, we weren’t sure if many bars would be playing it. But we knew for sure an English pub would. So we found Fleet Street Pub in a ‘Little Britain’ area off Broadway and made our way there. We thought we were there quite early only to find the place packed and primed and ready to watch football.
Kentucky bourbon shines with her own kind of light
Greetings from the Bluegrass State with rolling hills of green and board fences that stretch for miles and miles surrounding the prettiest horses I ever did see. Oh, and tasty bourbon! 🥃
Our last stop on this epic US road trip had us swerving (sober of course!) the back roads of Kentucky to take a tour of the Makers Mark distillery in Loretto. The reason we booked this particular distillery is:
- It was not far off our path home (north of Nashville), and
- I saw photos online that it was home to one of the coolest hand-blown glass installations by artist Dale Chihuly.
Our tour guide Chet was excellent at explaining the process of making bourbon and how it differs from other whiskys. We walked through many buildings that sit all within a parkland atmosphere. And each building smelled better than the last. Even if you don’t like whisky, you will love a whisky distillery tour.
We got to taste five bourbons in all. (I took very small tastes as whisky is A LOT for me, so Chuck happily finished all my leftovers.) We then picked out two faves, the 101 and a Private Select, which takes on a unique flavour from adding ten custom toasted oak finishing staves to a barrel.
Once you make your choice you can then dip the bottle in red wax to seal it.
After we left, we continued our day on those scenic highways of Kentucky. 🐎🐎
Take me home, country roads
We’ve enjoyed a variety of experiences on our two-week journey. Some were excellent, some were good and some were emotional. There were a few misses and a few surprises.
I think the biggest key to a successful road trip is to have a travel partner that has a similar, but not exact, travel style to yours. Keeps you on your toes while keeping you from reaching for the Advil. 😉
