The Deep South USA Road Trip
New Orleans was everything I had expected and so much more. We stayed in the Hyatt in the French Quarter next to Bourbon Street, an area with busy bars and crowds of tourists. We managed to visit much of the city on foot - enjoying the riverside and aquarium, as well as the narrow streets of the French Quarter. Furthermore, we were even lucky enough to run into a marching band procession!
The street cars in New Orleans are a great way to get around and when our legs had had enough of walking, we took the streetcar to admire the large private houses on leafy Charles Street before grabbing a slice of excellent pizza and slowly wandering back to the centre. We visited the Boho Frenchman Art Market at night, which is lit up by fairy lights and offers a great chance to browse the open markets stalls displaying art, jewellery and textiles. The whole Frenchman area was incredible - music spills out of the bars, and it has a great, friendly vibe.
A real highlight was the trip out into the Louisiana swamps to go in search of alligators on an air boat tour. Skimming across the surface of the swamp, our guide took us deep into the lush, overgrown backwaters where alligators swam round the boat and cranes and cormorants stood like statues by the water’s edge. It felt like stepping back in time.
In our hire car, we set out from New Orleans and headed north across the undulating landscape of Louisiana into rural, agricultural Mississippi. We hadn’t booked any accommodation for our night on the road, but we were heading for Highway 61 and Clarksdale - location of the famous Crossroads - where the legend says blues musician Robert Johnson sold his soul to the Devil, marked with three large guitars. We stayed at a low-key motel for the classic road trip experience, driving right up to the door for convenience.
Onwards to Memphis where we visited the Civil Rights Museum, which was thought-provoking, moving and inspiring. Memphis was in the grips of their hottest time of year, and it was over 40 degrees! Despite this, we loved wandering around admiring the graffiti and street art and occasionally riding the bus trolley up and down the main street. Did we visit Graceland, once home to Elvis? No, sadly the queues were too long, and we didn’t have the time in our schedule - a good reminder of why it’s a good idea to pre-book tickets in advance before you go!
Downtown Nashville was noisy and brash, with numerous cowboy boot stores and cocktail bars - a lively, vibrant city that is proud of its musical legends. We stayed outside the city in a rural area surrounded by green fields and a real highlight here were the fireflies zipping around at night creating an incredible spectacle. No visit to Nashville would be complete without a visit to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and we marvelled at the various clothing, instruments and even cars that were associated with musical legends.
The last stop on our tour was Crossville, Tennessee, where we stayed at lakeside cabins reminiscent of a 1950s holiday camp - think ‘Gellerman’s’ for anyone that’s watched Dirty Dancing! It felt like a classic all-American experience. The cabins overlooked the lake and there were plenty of activities to take part in including pedalos, kayaks and boat rides. A night out in Crossville included line dancing and plenty of locally produced Jack Daniel's bourbon - made in the distillery only a few hundred miles away. We were lucky to see inside the world's largest tree house (according to the Guinness World Records) and meet the man who built it, Horace. It was a staggering labour of love and now sadly closed to visitors, as it was one of the highlights of our trip.
A huge part of the draw of the South is its food, and we tasted amazing classic such as; po boys, fried chicken, crawfish, pancakes and BBQ - which were all tasty and very, very plentiful!
I loved the mix of places we stayed on this trip - from the luxury and convenience of the Hyatt in New Orleans to the classic motel whilst on the road, to the rural idyllic apartment near Nashville and the lakeside cabins at Crossville.
There are lots of ways to experience the Deep South for yourself, from guided coach tours to self-drive adventures, and it’s an area which truly has something for everyone.