Following up from my last blog ... we are home from our road trip. We made it there and back without any casualties which if I do say so myself is a miracle. Just a little run down of what all went on, partially in case you are interested and partially so I have it in writing for myself to remember.
March 9th: We hit the road around 10am. Our first stop was Waffle House which always does me in to have a fantastic day. I wish there were more of those lovely, greasy joints around here but I will have to take what I can get. Instead of driving straight through to Memphis we decided to make a pit stop in New Orleans. Doing that shortens the drive by a few hours and since we aren't so keen on cars we figured it was probably in our best interest. Once we arrived, at around 5 or so, we parked ourselves at the Marriott in the heart of the French Quarter. My mom was all about going out and having a good time so we freshened up and hit the town. Bourbon Street was the top priority of the evening and if I do say so myself I was not impressed. I think New Orleans is beautiful; there is gorgeous architecture, incredible history, etc. But I do not enjoy the night life. The lack of moral and the "anything goes" attitude just isn't really for me. I can handle it I suppose but I just feel really out of place. The daytime atmosphere is much more my style. However, we had hurricanes at Pat O'Brien's which is a must when you go to New Orleans and ate dinner at this restaurant called Deanie's, boy was it good. We turned in pretty early but overall it was a nice experience for all of us to share. Maybe I will have a change of heart and enjoy it more when I go back someday. Who knows.
March 10th: We woke up and had planned to go to Cafe du Monde since it is a staple in the diet of a true New Orleans native. But alas the line was probably 300 people long. Little did we know when we planned on making this pit stop was that the SEC basketball championship was taking place at the same time we chose to head down there. So everything was unusually packed and full of blue/white Kentucky fans mostly. With a saddened heart and no beignets we made it to a place called the Camelia Grill for breakfast. It was on a side street, kind of off the beaten path but everyone that was walking out said it was worth every minute of the wait. So wait we did. I can't tell you what I enjoyed more, the food or the atmosphere. The waiters were hysterical and the setup of the place was pretty awesome too; the way the cooked and the comments they made, asking us of we wanted some Mississippi water, it just made the meal that much more authentic. One of the guys had worked there for 14 years. I can't even imagine. The food was awesome, though way too much to eat, so we packed our bags and headed back to the hotel. We were off to Memphis. This was another 6 our drive that we head in front of us. But I was so looking forward to getting there. The route we took was just straight up through Mississippi which wasn't too bad especially once we got off those Louisiana roads. Arriving in Tennessee we headed straight to my granddaddys house where we met my dad. It was great to see him since it had been about 2 weeks since he was last home. He piled into the car with us and we headed to the Hyatt where we were going to stay. By that time all four of us were starving and itching to see what Memphis had to offer so we made our way down to Beale street. After wandering a little bit we chose The King's Palace. The food was incredible, again. I don't know if it is even possible to get bad food in Memphis to be honest. The best part of the night though may not have been the food at all - let's just say the entertainment on Beale Street was more than enough to have me still laughing. I won't go into details ... you will just have to wait and ask me in person if you are truly that interested.
March 11th: We had breakfast again at the hotel and got ready for the big day. The whole reason for the trip was to have one last family meal in my granddaddys house. It is the house my dad grew up in and my granddad has lived there for roughly 70 years. Well due to some unfortunate circumstances it is time to move out and so we found ourselves making plans for this semi family reunion. It was really nice to see my dad's side of the family. The last time I made my way up to Tennessee was about four years ago. I never got to spend as much time with them as my mom's side seeing as they were states away so every trip is always cherished, even if it is just for 24 hours. It was also pretty great seeing Ty interact with my family too; I never had any doubt that they would love him but it was a nice reassurance having them all together, getting along. I am not sure when the next time I will see all of them will be - part of me has a bad feeling it will be for a not so happy occasion but for now I will hang on to the pictures and memories we created this time around. Granddaddy gets tired pretty early on so the family events didn't last long but the eating never seemed to stop. Ty and I did manage to get in a much needed workout before we went to dinner at this place Buckley's. It was just around the corner from the hotel and was recommended to us by the girls at the front desk. Let me note that I had the best grits I have ever had from this place ... hands down. They made my meal. It was a really great way to end our fast paced few days; just the four of us, relaxing and stuffing our faces.
March 12th: The sun rose early and we hit the road as soon as we finished eating. We were not stopping this time around so we had to get started sooner than the previous trip. Ty was a trooper and drove the whole 10 hours. I was more than impressed with him. It definitely wasn't an easy car ride but we did made it!
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