Down South

Well, we did it, a week long road trip from New Orleans to Charleston with many stops along the way. It was fun, I learned a lot, and I'm pretty sure it will take me a few weeks to recover. I don't think my body can handle being on the move quite so much (pretty much a new city/hotel every night complete with hauling too much luggage), but we made it, so that is something.

The journey started when I hopped on a train from New York to Philly so Mom and I could catch a plane together. I had one suitcase, though a little on the large side, but with wheels that made it pretty manageable. Mom had a similar suitcase plus lots of little bags to be checked or carried on. They were heavy and I often had to carry them. She also forgot that she had an enormous aerosol hairspray can in her carry-on. Mom and I have very different styles of packing.

We arrived in New Orleans in the evening on Feb. 17 and our friendly driver, Tillman agreed to take us downtown after we dropped our bags at the hotel. He got us pretty close to the French Quarter and we grabbed a bite to eat at a Landry's before heading into the Mardi Gras fray. We both got huge hurricanes (Mom had a few sips and I drank mine like it was going out of style). I got some gumbo and we both had tons of fried seafood. They had these little crab claws that were delish.

After eating, we looked through some shops and made our way over to Bourbon Street where chaos ensued. Tons of drunk revelers, most looking suspiciously under aged packed the street and the balconies. Everyone was on a mission for beads and we joined in. We did nothing naughty, but there were a few ladies on the balconies showing off their wares.

The next day we headed to the French Market and seeing that the line for beignets at Cafe du Monde was outrageous, decided to have lunch across the street at the River's Edge Bar and Restaurant. Mom got a muffaletta sandwich (Italian meats and cheeses) which she loved and I got a shrimp po' boy which was just okay. Afterwards, we walked through the market, bought souvenirs and tried on tons of Mardi Gras masks. Then we had the yummy beignets (fried dough with powdered sugar) and chicory coffee. Already my belt was loosening. The plan was to head to the Garden District, but we kept stopping in shops and never quite made it.

We found the uptown parade route (pretty much the only route right now because of Katrina damage) but decided to try our luck in Harrah's first. Mom and I headed to the Wheel of Fortune slots and both won! What a great day!

We headed back out and caught the tale end of the Thoth Krewe's parade and the bead quest was back on again. My mother is officially a bead whore. I think she would have taken down a little kid if it meant she could get more. The parade floats were cool, but the more elaborate ones were to come later in the evening at the Bacchus Krewe's parade. We also saw some of the Mid-City parade.

We took a break in between and had dinner at the Palace Cafe on Canal Street. Let me tell you we were eating well. Crab claws in garlic, blue cheese salad, pecan crusted fish for me and lamb chops for mom, all topped off with not one, but two sinful desserts - an apple cobbler and a kiwi souffle. We were gluttonous.

Afterwards we were tired, but I had heard the Bacchus parade would be better so we stuck around for a bit and we weren't disappointed. James Gandolfini was the Grand Marshall (and he didn't look so thrilled to be there) and the floats were definitely a higher quality. Mom was once again energetically going after beads. We made friends with a mother and son who were following the high school bands and even the son started giving my mom more beads. We left with a good haul, and even found a cab though everyone looked at us like we were crazy to think we would be able to. I really had a good time.

All of the cab drivers we had talked a bit about the Katrina devastation. They pointed out watermarks, damaged homes and told us about the corrupt rebuilding process. Though we had never been to New Orleans before, we were really glad we came, and it seemed like Mardi Gras was back in full swing. There was a real feeling of community as well, and I think we met more locals than people visiting which was encouraging.

The next day, Monday the 19th, we headed back to the airport to pick up our rental car for the road trip. Mom dragged all her beads with - boy were they heavy! We noticed the night before that the triptik Mom had gotten from AAA was wrong, so we decided to get a car with a GPS - such a lifesaver which I definitely recommend for any road trip. You can plug in an address, a point of interest or even ask for restaurant recommendations. Genius.

We left Louisiana and entered New Orleans where we grabbed a late breakfast at a Waffle House (I never realized you could get so many toppings on hash browns...the possibilities are endless!). After eating, we headed to Biloxi where we lost most of what we won the day before at one of the casinos. Easy come, easy go!

We spent the rest of the day driving to Montgomery, Alabama, arriving for a late dinner. The place was called La Jolla Restaurant & Bar and was located in the shops at EastChase. You may sense a theme when I say it was another great meal. By this point though, I began to feel like I was coming down with a cold.

On Tuesday morning after a really bad, but free hotel breakfast, we went to Old Alabama Town, a historic recreation of an old settlement in Alabama using houses taken and preserved from all around the state. Costumed interpreters tell you about daily life. Kind of interesting to learn a little bit about weaving cotton into yarn, but not enough to keep me there all day. We then drove to Birmingham. We got a little lesson on roasting peanuts at the Peanut Depot (as well as a snack) and then went to the Civil Rights Institute where we spent the rest of the afternoon. It was fascinating and I highly recommend it. There is so much information to ingest, a lot of it completely outrageous and hard to accept, but well worth the time.

We had yet another great dinner in the Five Points South area at a place called Bottega. There is apparently a low key part to this restaurant that is less expensive, but of course we ended up at the more upscale part. Again it was delicious, but my budget was crumbling from another meal over $100!

Wednesday morning we left for Atlanta and hit traffic. Plus, we ended up losing an hour because Georgia was the changeover back to Eastern time. Needless to say, we didn't have time for much sightseeing that day. We went to the World of Coca-Cola which was kitchy and fun, but I was feeling really sick by that point and really didn't want to sit around while mom spent 45 minutes in the gift shop and then bought nothing!

by that time everything was closing, so we strolled through the Underground Atlanta shops and then went to the hotel, a Marriott Marquis that was nice, but under construction. They were also playing host to a southern women's sorority, and it was kind of cute to see them all wearing their pink and green scarves and outfits.

That night, we had dinner at Pittypat's Porch, a southern restaurant with a Gone With the Wind theme. It was tasty, and I got to try a mint julep, which is way strong! There was so much food, and the waiter was entertaining (a 40-something exotic dancer who wanted to tell us all about it).

On Thursday, since we hadn't done much the day before, we stayed in Atlanta a little longer. Plus, we had forgotten to book a hotel in Savannah, so we decided we would drive on to Hilton Head Island and spend two nights there instead of one. It was hard changing hotels every night.

We went to the Margaret Mitchell House & Museum and learned all about the feisty writer of Gone with the Wind. She was very cool. Then we went to Roswell outside the city for a tour of the Archibald Smith Plantation House. It was interesting to see how well the family artifacts were preserved and a very educational look at life on a southern plantation.

We wanted to grab a bite before the long drive to Hilton Head, so we stopped at a place in Roswell called Brickhouse Pizza. Oh my god, it was so good, and our cheapest meal of the trip! They had garlic rolls that were drowning in oil, and the pizza was amazing.

We got into Hilton Head after 10 and I was pretty much done. Mom wanted to get a drink at the bar of the hotel (a lovely Weston resort that would probably be a fortune during the peak season) and I was a little crabby with her. My cold was really doing me in and I just wanted to sleep. We grabbed a quick drink at the Turtle Bay bar and then I went to bed.

While I was sad we didn't make it to Savannah, I was also relieved to have a more relaxing day. We had a late breakfast at a place called Skillets in Coligny Plaza (lots of touristy shops) and then went into the Seas Pines area to walk around Harbor Town which is quaint and on the water. It was a pretty day. we went back to the hotel and I found a nice spot to read my book (Heat) for a few hours.

Then we had another wonderful dinner at Charley's Crabs. I had this great she-crab soup and crab legs. So good!

On Saturday morning, we did our last drive to Charleston where we walked around the Battery area and saw all the historical houses. They were really lovely. Then we checked into our hotel and had a drink/snack at the bar to tide us over until our late dinner at a place called Langdon's that two women in Hilton Head recommended.

We strolled around the stores at King and Market Streets for a bit, then headed to Mount Pleasant to Langdon's. It was another great meal to cap off the trip. Our GPS had been stellar the entire trip, but for some reason decided to have a brain freeze when we were going to Mount Pleasant. I think route 17 must have changed recently. We found our way there and back, but we had to do a little backtracking to figure out the malfunction.

As always happens, the weather was gorgeous on Sunday when we left for the airport. Back at home, they were calling for a snow storm, so we were particularly sad to leave. despite total, utter fatigue and a dozy of a cold, I had a great time. Mom was a fun travel partner.

Once I upload all the pics I will post the link.