Southern Road Trip
 

Thanks to this website, people on this website, and numerous publications I have finally put an itinerary down on paper. Any comments and/or suggestions are welcome. I have visited New Orleans several times & Memphis only once, however it has been several years since our last visit.

Flying from Alaska into Houston, TX on an overnight flight the end of September. Delta's companion ticket wouldn't get me directly into New Orleans. Did two Texas road trips recently which were great so Texas will be only our in and out location this time.

Day One: Driving from Houston to Baton Rouge, LA for an early supper and early bedtime.

Day Two: Driving via the plantations of Houma's, Oak Valley, Laura, San Francisco , & Destrehan prior to checking into the Bourbon Orleans Hotel this date. No free parking but my wife just loves this hotel right smack in the middle of things. I don't think we will be able to visit all of the foregoing plantations. Right now we are looking at Oak Valley, Laura, & San Francisco but that may change depending on any suggestions from folks that have been to these places.

Day Three: French Market, Old US Mint, Lafittes Blacksmith Shop for refreshment before going to the Mississippi River and walking the Riverwalk to the Canal Street Landing to take the ferry to Old Algiers Point to check out that area. The remainder of the day visit Jackson Square area and the French Quarter. We have eaten at Mr B's several times on prior trips but we are going on the cheap this time. Thinking about Napoleon House or Gumbo Shop. Never been to either but the reviews seem good.

Day Four: Will attend Mass at St Louis Cathedral. After Mass will take the trolley to Canal Street to catch the St Charles Streetcar to visit the Audubon Zoo which we have never visited. If Lafayette Cemetery #1 has lots of folks milling about we might visit it while we are in the Garden District., otherwise no.

Day Five: Booked for the Cemetery/Voodoo Tour of St Louis Cemetery #1 at 10 am. After the tour take the trolley or walk the Riverwalk to Canal Street Landing, We will walk unless pressed for time. The Mardi Gras World has a shuttle service every 15 minutes from the Landing to their facility. We will visit Mardi Gras World before returning to the French Quarter for our last night in New Orleans.

Day Six: Drive to Destin, FL. En-route visit Biloxi, MS to include Beauvoir (Jefferson Davis' Home), Hurricane Katrina Memorial, & the Biloxi Lighthouse before going through Mobile, AL to possibly check out the USS Battleship Alabama Memorial Park. Check into the Hampton Inn Destin with supper at McGuire's Irish Pub.

Day Seven: Declared an open day to walk, relax, & check out the area.

Day Eight: Arrive Nashville, TN in the evening checking into Hampton Inn & Suites, on 4th Avenue near the County Music Hall of Fame. No decision on supper but it appears to be many places within walking distance. En-route plan to stop briefly in Montgomery, AL to visit the the State Capitol Building and the Dexter Avenue Church where Martin Luther King preached his sermons. Don't know if we will be ready for the Wildhorse Saloon the first night - we will see.

Day Nine: Do a walking tour of downtown starting at Broadway & First Avenue and ending at Printer' s Alley. Visit such as the County Music Hall of Fame, Ryman Auditorium & Museum, Wildhorse Saloon, & the Tennessee State Capitol Building, etc, etc, etc. A half to full day is planned for the walk.

Day Ten: In the morning walk to the Parthenon in Centennial Park returning to downtown via Music Row, about 3 to 4 miles. In the afternoon take the Wildhorse Saloon shuttle service to Opryland. We have tickets for the tour, museum, & the 7pm show. Don't know who is going to be performing, hope we hit it lucky.

Day 11: Attend Mass at Christ Church Cathedral. After church drive to & visit The Hermitage, President Andrew Jackson's home. Remaining day is open.

Day 12: Depart Nashville and arrive mid-afternoon in Memphis checking in at the Comfort Inn on North Front Street. Been there before-like the location. After check in walk or ride the streetcar to Beale Street. Understand that area has added many new facilities since our last visit. Maybe supper at the Rendezvous Restaurant.

Day 13: After coffee walk to Sun Studio (1 1/2 mi) to do the studio tour then take the free shuttle to visit Graceland. Take the shuttle back & visit the Rock N' Soul Museum with maybe a stop at B.B. King's on Beale Street before returning to the hotel via the Peabody Hotel. For supper walk to Mississippi River and take the parthway north along the river to the Pyramid Area, then over to T. J. Mulligan's Irish Pub for supper.

Day 14: Walk to Mud Island (have not done that) for a morning visit, then take the streetcar to Huling Ave to visit the National Civil Rights Museum. Then, of course, Beale Street.

Day 15: Open Day.

Day 16: Depart Memphis, arrive Vicksburg, MS. Before checking in visit the Vicksburg National Military Park and Cemetery. Doesn't appear to be any good lodging in the downtown area so we are looking at the La Quinta Inn & Suites near the military park to stay for a night. Will drive downtown to see the Old Courthouse, Martha Vick House, etc.
Checked Tripadvisor and it looks like Rusty's Riverfront Grille for supper unless someone has a better suggestion.

Day 17: Depart south on Hwy 61 (The Blues Hwy) to I10 for Houston. En-route visit briefly the downtown of Natchez and Port Gibson, MS. No hotel reservations for this night but we will be close or in Houston for the evening, depends on today's travel time.

Day 18: Our flight departs this evening so before turning in the vehicle we may have time to visit the San Jacinto Monument. The last time we were there the wind was blowing hard so we didn't get good pictures.

That's it in condensed form. The trip is down the road a bit but I will give a trip report when it is complete. In the meantime if anyone has any suggestions of attractions or things of historical importance over this particular routing, let me know.

Thank you.

In Destin, drive and check out Seaside and the 30a corridor.

The drive from Destin to Nashville with your planned stop in Montgomery will be far. Could take 9-10 hours.

Good choice for bbq in Memphis. There is some really good local bbq. Ask around everybody has a favorite.

It sounds like a great trip, enjoy it.

If you have time while in Baton Rouge, go aboard the destroyer USS Kidd DD661 and later compare a tin can sailor's way of life with what you will see on the USS Alabama.

Thanks, radiomixme & ronkala. I will check out Seaside and the 30a corridor. I saw the reference in a travel book on USS Kidd and then forgot about it. It's an add-on.

You might consider staying In Natchez instead of Vicksburg, depending on how long you plan to look around each one. My mom and sister were in Natchez for Pilgrimage last month and liked both the motel and the B&B (at one of the antebellum mansions) they stated in.

I can't see much to quibble with on this. Assuming your drive times work, nicely planned.

A couple suggestions:

--in Montgomery. The capitol building is not bad from the outside, very plain inside. Seeing it likely won't take long. The Dexter Street Church makes for a good visit, though it's not a bad idea to call ahead to set up a date and time beforehand -- they can be closed up when you want to visit otherwise. The Civil Rights Memorial Fountain is a brief walk-by and very evocative. The First White House of the Confederacy is a nice enough historic home. There's a Hank Williams Museum that is likely of most interest for fans of this country star. The best attraction in the city, and an absolute must if civil rights are of interest to you, is the Rosa Parks Library and Museum -- it's a fine historic museum that excellently tells about the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Best of all, all of these are not far from each other downtown. Feel free to pick and choose among any here that are of interest.

--in Memphis. There's a chance you may find the walk from downtown to the Sun Studio a little bleak and deserted. During the course of a day, I was able to take the shuttle from the Rock and Soul Museum to Graceland, see Graceland in detail, take the shuttle from Graceland to Sun Studio, tour Sun Studio, then take the shuttle from Sun Studio to the Rock and Soul Museum. Had I wanted to, I would have had enough time to see this museum in addition, as it's open until 7 pm.

--in Memphis again. Feel free to check out my food experiences there on a trip report I did not that long ago:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...experience.cfm

Short version -- really liked BBQ at Neely's (on Jefferson) and BBQ Shop (on Madison), nice soul food breakfast at Alcenia's (Saturdays only), great fried chicken at Gus's. Rendezvous, sorry to say, was closed for their winter break so I didn't get to try them.

--in Baton Rouge. I found the capitol building here extremely impressive, a real must see. I've visited 28 state capitol buildings so far, and this one is an Art Deco style beauty that (taking into account both the interior and exterior) is one of the best three I've seen so far (along with those in Albany, NY and Harrisburg, PA).

--re plantations near NOLA. Am thinking you'll have no problem visiting Laura, Oak Alley, San Francisco, and Destrehan in a day, as they're all reasonably close by each other. The limiting factor here will be how many plantations you want to see in a day.

--in Nashville. I liked the Frommer's walking tour of downtown in their guidebook. You can see the map here:

http://www.frommers.com/images/desti...nnashville.jpg

and a description here:

http://www.frommers.com/destinations...019010008.html

Have fun!

Couple other thoughts:

--Napoleon House is an evocative old watering hole that played classical music in the background when I visited it. They are best known for hot muffulettas (most places serve them cold, so that's considered unusual). Much as I enjoyed the cold muffuletta from Central Grocery, this version was well worth sampling.

--are you looking for suggestions for open days or parts of days? Will be happy to make suggestions, if so. If you're a fan of capitol buildings, the ones in Jackson, MS and Little Rock, AR are very good.

Thanks folks, especially bachslunch, Your planning is terrific.

I did think about staying in Natchez, however I would have to skip Vicksburg and the battlefield. I am just barely able to squeeze Vicksburg into the itinerary.

Bachslunch, you presented an excellent report. I have added the capitol buildings of Baton Rouge and Jackson to the itinerary. I believe I can allow time for that plus the sights you mentioned in Montgomery. It will be a long drive from Destin, FL to Nashville but we plan on an early morning departure.

I have made a copy of the Frommer's walking tour of Nashville . Also made copies of a walking tour of Algiers Point. I also use Goggle maps & copies of descriptions of things & places, etc , extensively, using them for each area I visit, then discarding them.

I will skip the walk to Sun Studios and take the shuttle. You provided good info on the shuttle. We will walk to the Rock N' Soul Museum, next taking the shuttle to Graceland, then to Sun Studio & returning to the Rock N' Soul Museum.

We were hoping to see all the plantations, spending the day in that area. I wasn't sure if we could do 5 but 4 would be great. We will skip Houmas to make sure we get the ones you mentioned in before heading on into New Orleans. When we visited Charleston & Savannah we could manage 2 in a day but they were spread out which involved more driving time.

Thanks again. Fun & safe traveling to all of you.

I would try to squeeze in more time for Natchez. It's lovely.

Thanks carolyn. I will work on it. There doesn't seem to be much in Vicksburg except for the National Military Park & Cemetery so we will see how that visit goes. However that is a very large park. Also the next day we don't have to check in for our flight until evening so If Natchez knocks my socks off we can stay a little longer then planned & forget about San Jacinto Memorial. We'll see.

On day 10, when you walk to the Parthenon and Music Row - there's not too terribly much to see along Broadway on this walk. You'll walk by the honky-tonks and Union Station downtown, but once past that, you'll walk by gas stations, offices, a few restaurants, and some car dealerships until you get to the Vanderbilt/Centennial Park area. Coming back via Music Row, there's really not too much to see either - Music Row is mostly small office buildings and houses-turned-offices. All of this is certainly doable, since you seem to really like walking, but I wanted to make sure you knew that you weren't going to be seeing a ton of interesting touristy spots along the routes. The Vanderbilt campus is really nice, though. Since you will have a car, unless you really want to walk, I might drive down to Centennial Park, walk around over there, and then head to the Vanderbilt campus to walk around. Then you could walk down to Hillsboro Village if you like (several shops, restaurants, etc just south of Vanderbilt). You could also take the bus if you didn't want to get the car out, but I'm not sure about the weekend schedules.

As I said, what you listed is certainly doable if that's what you'd like, but if you're planning to see lots of "attractions" along the way, you may not get what you're expecting.

Thanks jent103. That is very good info. I got the impression from reading matter that Music Row was something to visit. I do want to see the Parthenon so we can make a change & drive. Since we are using the vehicle for that visit we can also continue to Belle Meade Plantation (unless we have seen too many already).

We really like to walk & often times the rental vehicle doesn't move until we are ready to change locations. However there are valid times to use a vehicle & this appears to be one.
A lot of walking justifies a large meal in the evening.

That's my kind of thinking! :) Music Row can be neat - the roads are named after Chet Atkins and Roy Acuff - but it really is mostly working businesses. Small record labels, production companies, that sort of thing in renovated houses, along with a few major buildings (SESAC, ASCAP, Sony). There's also a roundabout with a statue of dancing naked people, which is a subject of general controversy. :) In short, it might be worth a quick drive through the area, but I wouldn't spend a lot of time walking around unless you just like the vibe.

However, Belle Meade, Cheekwood, or the Frist Center (which is walkable from downtown) would all be worth a visit.

Our annual road trip last year was to many of these places. We did drive to Orange Beach on the Alabama gulf coast from New Orleans for a day and then drove to Huntsville Alabama to visit the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. We really enjoyed the center. From there we drove to Nashville.

We did stay in Nashville at the Hampton Inn and Suites close to the Grand Ole Opry so think it is the same one where you have a reservation. It was the largest hotel room we have ever stayed in - very nice - think you will like it. Beautiful bedding, furniture etc.

In LA we stayed overnight at the Madewood Plantation. It was for dinner, overnight and a great breakfast.

We visited the Laura plantation and that was owned by creoles. It was very interesting and I could recommend that one for a visit. The tour guide was excellent.

We were in New Orleans and stayed in the French Quarter last May and everything was okay - a bit dirtier from what I had remembered from our last visit.

Be very careful on your St Louis cemetery visit. I did go on that tour and we were warned to not leave the group - to even look behind a tombstone. The projects are close by that cemetery and also the French Quarter.

Be careful which side of Canal Street you walk on if you leave the French Quarter at night. The week before we were there a few years back, 7 women were brought in to the emergency room at the hospital because of being socked in the jaw by men who hung out on the side of Canal Street they were walking on. The same side as the projects. One of the women happened to be a friend of ours from our church.

We were very surprised at how downtown Memphis looked. Beale Street was busy but a lot of the blocks off of it were vacant and empty.

We really enjoyed our trip - there were so many fun things to do. The Grand Ole Opry was fun - we were at a show with all the old-timers - Little Jimmie Dickens etc. None of the new popular Grand Ole Opry stars. We still enjoyed just being there.

We are heading to New Orleans and Mississippi in two weeks. My research showed that the Old Mint in New Orleans was closed for renovation. We are also going to Vicksburg and I was told to set aside 2-3 hours for the military park depending on how into Civil War history you are. We are not staying in Vicksburg but are going on to Natchez to see the antebellum mansions etc. down there.

The Old Mint isn't closed, though its exhibits are minimal at this time, solely dedicated to currency-making and several struck coins in its lower level. It was closed entirely after Katrina for a while because of storm damage, then reopened with the current exhibit.

They apparently used to have an extensive amount of stuff re jazz history and such, but that apparently is in storage while repairs continue upstairs.

In short, you can indeed visit there, though that visit will likely be fairly brief.

In MOntgomery do NOT miss the civil rights memorial at the Southern Poverty Law Center. It would be even better than the church--it seems a "holy place" it is so moving and beautiful.

Gretchen, I agree with you, though this is the same thing as the "Civil Rights Memorial Fountain" I mentioned above. A must, I agree.

I was going to indicate several changes to my itinerary due to some of the inputs from you fine folks, however, I am so saddened by recent events I am not sure if we will proceed with this trip as planned. It's like our beautiful country is being destroyed and I wonder if repair will be possible.

Memphis and Nashville are flooded with terrible wind damage. Florida and the Gulf Coast will probably encounter a destructive oil ruining the coastline of its beauty, its animals, its fish & the very living-hood of those poor citizens that have endured so much recently. We, in Alaska, still feel the the effects of the terrible oil spill several years ago.

Every morning the first thing I do is turn on the news hoping that what I know will happen for some reason won't happen. I am saddened because of our planned trip but more so I am saddened by what is happening to a section of the U.S.A. that I love.

roy2moira, I'm glad events down here are finally getting national coverage. But I live in Nashville and am here to ask you - PLEASE don't cancel your trip. By September, things in Nashville should be close to normal, especially in the tourist districts (except possibly for Opryland). Memphis got hit, but not as badly as we did - you'll still be able to enjoy what it has to offer as well.

I cannot speak to what will happen with the oil spill; obviously we have been so preoccupied with what's happening in our own city that I haven't been able to follow that very closely. If that section of your trip needs to be rearranged stil, Fodorites can certainly help with that. But this part of the country has great things to offer, and we not along the coast will need your tourism dollars to help us recover. Please come enjoy what we've got to offer!