Trip Report: Natchez Trace Parkway

Old May 11th, 2008, 07:52 AM
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 81
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Trip Report: Natchez Trace Parkway

I'm kind of a pushover. I love almost any good road that I'm driving on, but the Natchez Trace Parkway is really a great road.

Maybe it's just that the kids were behaving exceptionally well (Tip #1 for Roadtropping with Kids: Start 'em Early and Oftenn) -- they're either beaten down and resigned to the fact that they're going to spend 50% of their lives in the back seat, or they like it. These days, it seems like they like it.

We flew in to Nashville and rented a car, headed to New Orleans via the Natchez Trace Parkway.

The northernmost 50 - 100 miles are a little windy-curvy but after that, it's nothing but gentle curves, gradual inclines, nice road surface, ZERO LITTER... This would make a fantastic bike ride.

We worked a bunch of educational stuff for our 7 year old to tie in to the things he's working on in class, so we found all of the stops especially useful.

Here's a good tip: If you're driving the Trace (or exploring anywhere in Mississippi River country, buy and read Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi before you go. Twain is such a wonderful describer of things and people that it really helps to make the trip fun and interesting for parents and kids alike.

Here's another tip for road tripping with kids: keep a running tab of animals that you see. We saw tons of turkeys (literally, tons). Which maybe isn't such a surprise. But we also saw a lot of other animals too. Guess which is the strangest animal we saw.
Give up?

It was a camel.
We saw a camel in Alabama.

Spent the night in Tupelo at the Hilton Garden Inn. $139/night for a King suite. Tom slept under the desk with a sheet draped over it (Hotel Room Fort-making 101) and Lilly (3 yrs) slept on the fold out couch. Visited Elvis's house and watched all of the other tourists.

Next day we took our time along the trail to Jackson before cutting south to New Orleans for a business conference. Fantastic BLT (with home made garlic-Tabasco mayo) at French Camp. We give French Camp an unequivocal "Eat lunch here if you drive this road."

The Mississippi Arts Center was our last stop before switching to Interstate. Great stuff, not cheap. But 'Life on the Mississippi' was only $3.50, which I consider cheap.

We can't say enough how much we enjoyed this drive. We'll probably take it back to Nashville as well.

There are photos and videos at our blog.

Dan
www.familyroadtrippers.com
PhotoDad is offline  
Old May 11th, 2008, 08:54 AM
  #2  
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 91
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Shhhhh! Don't tell anyone else about this wonderful, quiet road.
We enjoyed driving it from Nashville, TN south to Natchez, MS last November in our motorhome -- taking our time and do very few miles each day. We are on the road most of the year and we can tell you that it's one of our favorite trips. We were disappointed to miss lunch at French Camp (we were there too early in the day), but we enjoyed walking the grounds. The quiet, the serenity, the road itself were a gift. Now, remember: Shhhhh!
EastEileen is offline  
Old May 11th, 2008, 09:34 AM
  #3  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 623
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Thanks for sharing your trip with us (and your website--great pictures!). I love how you're making the trip educational for your 7 year old. He'll learn a lot on this trip, I'm sure! I hope to do things like that with my son one of these days. He's 2 now, so we're still using DVD's in the car to keep him occupied on long trips!
Lee4 is offline  
Old May 11th, 2008, 09:54 AM
  #4  
cd
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 8,981
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
PhotoDad
Thanks for bringing back some very pleasant memories of a great drive. I just called my DH in to view your pictures and we loved seeing where we have walked. Thank you!
cd is offline  
Old Aug 22nd, 2008, 06:55 AM
  #5  
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 356
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
bookmarking - thank you!
bailey6325 is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Keepswimming1
Road Trips
9
May 22nd, 2012 12:03 PM
Songdoc
Australia & the Pacific
29
Aug 10th, 2010 12:23 PM
swRoadTripper
United States
7
Nov 3rd, 2009 03:38 AM
mizscarlett
United States
5
Sep 21st, 2004 02:04 PM
dln
Europe
44
Aug 15th, 2003 05:30 PM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are On


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information -