TR - 5369 miles later! - Coast to Coast with a little Disney Magic

[Andona]

DH had been suffering from a head cold for the last few days so on Sunday we went looking for a Walgreens to stock up on cold and flu tablets. Isn't it fun trying to find familiar medications overseas! Not! In the end we had to ask the pharmacist because we were hoping to get something like Original formula Codral ( the one with paracetamol, codeine and pseudo ephedrine ) once we established that they call paracetamol, acetominaphen. And that we couldn't get anything with codeine in it unless we had a prescription...we finally left the store with something to dry up DHs nose.

...and then made our way across town to Graceland....and so did everybody else! We may have avoided queues in Disney World but we struck them with a vengeance here. We queued for 25 minutes to buy tickets, then another 15 minutes in the shuttle bus queue and them we shuffled our way around the mansion in one long slow moving queue. If this is the slow season I would hate to visit Graceland in the summer!

Graceland exterior

The house is not particularly large but the interior decor is......well.....interesting! It's the height of 1970s too-much-money and not-enough-taste decor. The jungle room with its green carpet on the floor, walls and ceiling; and it's heavily carved timber furniture with fur upholstery is particularly ...errr....attractive (?)"

The Jungle room at Graceland

After the house we had lunch at one of the cafes on the premises, then visited the Automobile museum and saw his many fancy cars including the famous pink Cadillac. Finally we toured his two private jets, where the interiors were designed according to his specifications. Lots of blue suede and gold plated seat belts!

The crowds were still streaming in as we left and drove downtown to The National Civil Rights museum. The first thing you see is the hotel where Martin Luther king was assassinated. The exterior of the hotel has been kept exactly as it was, including the two cars parked in the car park below the balcony where he was standing when he was shot. The interior has been gutted and added on to and now houses an excellent museum about the struggle for civil rights in the south.

Civil Rights Museum

By now it was nearly 3 so we decided to drive to The Peabody hotel and checkin. The Peabody is a grand old dame of a hotel with a fabulous lobby hung with chandeliers, furnished with plushy lounges and decorated with huge bowls of flowers. But the main centerpiece of the lobby is a huge travertine marble fountain....with ducks swimming in it! The ducks are trained to march down a red carpet to and from the fountain twice a day, and the March of the Peabody Ducks is now one of the premier sights in Memphis. When we went down at 4.30 to find a spot the lobby was packed with people!

Peabody hotel lobby

For dinner we walked two blocks down to Beale street which is famous for its Blues clubs. We ate at BB Kings Blues Club and enjoyed an ok dinner and some great music.

Next day, we drove the Delta Blues Highway US 61 , the Blues Trail.

We drove past miles and miles of cotton plantations and Not long after we left Memphis we saw some massive thunderheads building up ahead of us and we were treated to some spectacular lightning and thunder. I was scanning the sky wondering if we were likely to see a twister.

Storm clouds over cotton fields

The sun was out by the time we reached Vicksburg where we drove into the huge Vicksburg National Military Memorial Park which is located on the site of one of the most crucial and bloody battlegrounds of the Civil War. It's managed by the National Park service and is now a really lovely green park.

Vicksburg Civil War park

We finally pulled into Natchez at about 4.30pm. We passed a couple of beautiful antebellum mansions ...

before we drove into the driveway of Twin Oaks B&B . The owner took us through to the back of the house where we went through the account location details. The main home is gorgeous, high ceiling and magnificent proportions, dating from around 1830. The B& B rooms are in the converted slave quarters.

Mississippi river at Natchez

We let ourselves in and started unpacking and I was tickled to discover an off the shoulder , southern belle dress hanging in the wardobe. It was even green and white, reminiscent of the dress that Scarlett Ohara wears in the opening scenes of Gone with the Wind. I had to try it on, of course! Luckily the pic doesn't show the rear view, the dress was made for a skinnier southern belle than me- it didn't do up at the back!

You have a good day now, y'all!

Andona

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[alicia1506]

love the river boat -- reminded me of Tiana's in Princess and the Frog.

Love the pic of you in the dress

 

[Andona]

Fantastic trip, Andona.

Thanks for sharing Savannah and Atlanta with us. I love the rear-view of Vulcan. Does the full-frontal view match the butt...er...back?

unfortunately (?) he was wearing a miners apron that covered his front...

Great upgrade! Congratulations on your anniversary.

What did you think of the Savannah area? Would 5 nights be too long to check it out, as well as combining another 6 nights in Charleston?

5 nights in Svannah would have been too long for us. There are several old homes to visit etc but my DS would have been bored witless after the first couple Hitlon Head And Tybee islands ate nearby though and it could be nice to spend a couple of days there maybe? Sorry, we didn't get to Charleston so I can't offer any suggestions there.

Another great update Savannah sounds perfect, and I love that the cast of the Dis is featuring in your touring thoughts

Lol! The DIS is never far from my thoughts.

Andona

 

[frangipanisam]

Love your update! The march of the Peabody ducks sounds interesting! I adore the antebellum mansion and the photo of you as a grand southern belle is awesome! Keep enjoying, sounds like an amazing road trip

 

[zanzibar138]

What a great update!

Agree about the interior of Graceland which is really a shame because the outside looks gorgeous! I can't believe it was so crowded!

How do you train ducks to walk in and out of a hotel on a red carpet Would love to see that

Seems like you got a good dose of US history in there too. And I would also be freaking out about those storm clouds turning into a twister Glad to see it cleared up for you!

The B&B looks amazing, and how cool that they had a southern belle dress you could try on! You look really pretty in it, even if you couldn't do the back up Love the paddle steamer too - will definitely have to get to MI sometime!

Hope your DH is feeling better. Sux you couldn't get anything with Codeine without a prescription - will have to make sure I remember to take my own cold and flu tablets whenever I go over there from now on!

 

[coco392]

I always think its funny when people say graceland is horrible because its tacky. if course. it's tacky. Elvis died in the70's.

 

[Caroline NZ]

The duck march sounds intriguing. Did they perform it for you?
Love the photo of you in the gown, you look beautiful, very much the part

 

[Mum from oz]

Gracelands exterior is gorgeous. Those storm clouds are crazy! You look like a real southern belle in that dress!

 

[Travel Mum]

Thanks for another great update Andona and lovely to see a photo of you, the Southern Belle

 

[PrincessInOz]

That's a gorgeous southern belle you make, Andona.
(Vulcan may have been wearing an apron in the front....but I was wondering if you were wearing an apron in the ...back. )

That's one heck of a road trip you're on. I'm completely hanging on here waiting for your next update. Thanks for sharing.

 

[JessNewbs]

Yay! Such wonderful pictures and stories so far! Can't wait until you get to New Orleans, it is our first stop for our trip next year and would love some tips and must sees!! Looks like you are having a wonderful time!

 

[Melbourne5]

Gosh you guys are covering a lot of ground...good pics of the kings shack. I am sure it was worth the wait.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Graceland interiors - hmmm a bit dodgy? I can't wait to see it one day, I hope it isn't a disappoint when I finally get there.

Those storm clouds look crazy cool and very very scary. I would've been freaking out.

Love the antebellum house (I'm embarrassed to say I had to look that word up ) and you in that fine southern belle get up was a lovely surprise.

PIO - I too was wondering about the front of that statue. We are naughty

 

[viaggiamo]

Cool update, looks like you're having fun.

Love the dress!

 

[Andona]

What a great update!

Agree about the interior of Graceland which is really a shame because the outside looks gorgeous! I can't believe it was so crowded!

Hope your DH is feeling better. Sux you couldn't get anything with Codeine without a prescription - will have to make sure I remember to take my own cold and flu tablets whenever I go over there from now on!

The crowds at Graceland were a shock to us too! It's amazing what a following Elvis has so many years after he dies. I guess it's the same with all the greats!

Thanks also for your kind thoughts re my DH, he is feeling a lot better now and luckily he hasn't shared his cold with me or DS

I always think its funny when people say graceland is horrible because its tacky. if course. it's tacky. Elvis died in the70's.

lOL, I know but I was a teenager in the 70's and I don't know anyone that had carpet on their walls and ceilings Graceland is 70s taste gone waaaay overboard. the outside is just lovely though.

PIO - I too was wondering about the front of that statue. We are naughty

when I took that photo I was thinking, "the DIS gals will love this! "

Yay! Such wonderful pictures and stories so far! Can't wait until you get to New Orleans, it is our first stop for our trip next year and would love some tips and must sees!! Looks like you are having a wonderful time!

Jess, you are going to love New Orleans. I'm just about to post my update, we thought it was an amazing city, so different to anything else we have seen in the USA . Just loved it.

Andona

 

[Andona]

Before we left our B&B in Natchez, the owner, Regina Charboneau give us a tour of the ground floor rooms of the home and told us a little about the history of the house. She is a celebrity southern chef and has owned a successful restaurant and nightclub in San Francisco in the past before returning to her hometown Natchez to restore Twin Oaks and run it as a B &B. She had some really interesting stories to tell and the main home was stunning.

It was a 3 hour drive down to New Orleans but the last 40 miles was particularly interesting when the interstate runs on a bridge 30 feet above the swamps for miles and miles and miles. We could see the swampy ground disappearing into the distance and also the homes and boats of the "swamp people" that live in the area.

Elevated highway over the swamps

First stop in New Orleans was the enormous Unites States World War II museum. Both DH and DS are fascinated by military history so this was a must visit for us. It was really interesting for us to get an American perspective on the places that we visited last year in Normandy.We had a tasty lunch in the Stage Door Canteen and then watched their impressive 4D movie presentation about the American involvement in WWII . It's produced and narrated by Tom Hanks and had some pretty cool Disney-like special effects.

It was a short drive into the heart of the French Quarter to our hotel, the Place D'Armes . The hotel occupies the building that was the first school in Louisiana, our room was spacious with lovely high ceilings and had a large balcony facing out onto the street with a view down to Jackson Square and St Louis Cathedral.

View from our hotel balcony

Later we walked down past Jackson Square to an old favourite...guess where! They had the usual regional specialties and DH and I loved the Jambalya while DS had the Shrimp Étouffée, both of which are Cajun /creole classics. Very spicy but very tasty

There ARE some disadvantages of staying in an old converted building with thin partition walls in the centre of a busy town...We were woken at about 6 am by someone getting a wake up call next door, that was followed by the garbage trucks emptying all the nearby restaurant bins, followed by the Cathedral ringing its bells for early morning mass, followed by the bellman arriving to collect the bags from our neighbors room and having a long loud conversation...!

Next morning we walked down to have Hickory smoked cafe au lait and sugar dusted beignet at the Cafe du Monde. This is one of THE places in New Orleans that is on everyone's must visit list, the cafe has been serving waterfront workers (and more recently, tourists) since 1850. The beignet were delicious!

From here it was a short walk over to the river where there were a crowd of people lining up for the lunch time cruise on the Riverboat Natchez. On the roof there is an old time calliope and there was a woman playing old time melodies on it with a lot of enthusiasm.

The music was very loud and followed us as we returned back into the French Quarter streets for a wander up the very beautiful Royal Street and the rather sleazy Bourbon street. Royal street has the best of the pretty, wrought iron decorated buildings, most of which house interesting little shops and restaurants. Bourbon street is wall to wall bars that were doing a pretty good trade already on a warm Thursday morning.

French Quarter street scenes

It was really warm and muggy all day so we were glad of a nice cool break when we visited the Louisiana State Museum which is inside the lovely old Presbytere building next to the Cathedral. The woman at the desk was interested to hear we were Australian, she asked if we had seen much advertising about Louisiana back home as she said they were getting many, many Australian visitors recently.They had two excellent exhibits inside, one about Hurricane Katrina and the other about the famous Mardi Gras.

Mardi Gras costume

The Katrina exhibit was fascinating, there was one room where they had big screens showing live footage of the storm, strong fans blowing on you and the horrible roar of the storm playing on speakers. They have really been working hard to restore the city but also to look into ways to help the city deal with a similar event in a much better way.

The Mardi Gras exhibit had some fabulous costumes and even a full size float.

Lunch time! So we wandered down to the French Market near the river. Lots of food stalls serving all sorts of interesting food including Alligator burgers, alligator pies and alligator sausage on a stick! DS just HAD to have some alligator... I had a very tasty Cajun hot dog, yummy! For the record, DS thought the gator was a bit tough but quite tasty

French market cafe

After lunch we did a little more souvenir shopping and walked several blocks up to the outskirts of the French Quarter to see Armstrong Park. It's part of the New Orleans Jazz National Historic park and houses a theatre for the performing arts and the municipal auditorium. It's named, of course, for a famous New Orleans native, Louis Armstrong.

It's an attractive park but we didn't stop long as it was very hot and my feet were sore, time to head back to the hotel for a break in the lovely hotel courtyard by the pool.

Hotel courtyard.

Music and performance are a huge deal here. There are musicians and street performers on every corner. In the early evening i sat on our balcony listening to a Jazz band playing up in the square in front of the cathedral. Jackson square is surrounded by artists selling their works and by tarot card readers. Voo Doo is huge too, with many shops selling books about Voo Doo and even Voo Doo dolls and charms.

Sax player in Jackson Square

for our next dinner we ate at Gumbo Shop which serves classic Cajun/Creole food so we were able to try some of the local specialties which we hadn't had a chance to try yet. DS had alligator again, followed by Shrimp Creole. We all LOVE the food! It's definitely been one of the highlights of our time here.

A little evening browsing in the shops and a final walk through the pretty streets . The moon was rising over the statue inthe rear garden of the cathedral just magic!

Andona

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[JessNewbs]

One word.....AMAZING! I am so glad that we have decided to stop here but so upset that we only have two full days, three nights here. How many days did you spend here? The Riverboat Natchez looks amazing, we are doing the dinner cruise on it and those beignets mmm mm mmm! New Orleans looks like it may be the highlight of my trip! Thankyou so much for putting so many pictures up!

 

[Travel Mum]

OK then, New Orleans has been added to my bucket list

 

[zanzibar138]

Yep, New Orleans looks awesome! It's already on my bucket list, but it may have moved up a couple of spots

 

[coco392]

it looks awesome. on our last trip we were meant to go but got stuck in New York with the 2011 Boxing Day blizzards.
telling dw that it is a definite on the next trip
one question - we went to Memphis in 1997 on our honeymoon. arrived at 4pm on a Monday and place was dead. i reckon we were lucky to see anyone out and about in the city. it was eerie. is New Orleans like that during the day in the middle of the week, the pics make it look awfully quiet.