Day Eleven - Tupelo MS to Xenia OH

We awoke Thursday morning to the sound of heavy rain as storms rolled through northern Mississippi. By the time we showered, ate breakfast, packed up, and checked out, the rain had stopped, and clear skies were visible to the west. Our plan for the day was to drive the northern part of the Natchez Trace. Before doing that though, we stopped by The Elvis Presley Birthplace.

Of course, there was the house Elvis was born in...

...the actual building where the Presley family attended church services...

...the Memorial Chapel...

...the Fountain of Life that illustrates the years of Elvis’ life with thirteen upper waterspouts representing the years that Elvis lived in Tupelo and 29 lower spouts symbolizing Elvis’ life in Memphis...

...and, of course, the outhouse :-)

After completing our brief tour of the Elvis Presley Birthplace, we headed west through downtown Tupelo and entered the Natchez Trace Parkway.

After stopping at the Visitor Center and Parkway Headquarters, some of the sites we visited along the Parkway included Twentymile Bottom Overlook...the Parkway runs through the middle of the picture...

...the Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis & Clark fame) Monument...which is the actual gravesite of Lewis, who died "mysteriously" in this spot in 1809...

...Fall Hollow...

...and Baker Bluff Overlook...

We exited the Parkway at the Northern Terminus at TN Hwy 100 and began our Interstate travels again around Nashville, through Franklin, Bowling Green, Louisville, and Cincinnati. Our decision to push on brought us home a little after 11pm.

The purposes of this Spring Break Road Trip have been accomplished, plus a few bonuses along the way. We got to spend a long Easter weekend with Darren, enjoyed visiting with family and friends in MO, KS, and TX, and crossed off 2 of the 3 remaining states on Barak's list of 50. Now that Louisiana and Mississippi have been visited, only Alaska remains.

Thanks for following us along our journey.

Day Ten - Hammond LA to New Orleans to Tupelo MS

We awoke Wednesday morning in Hammond LA. Both Victoria and I liked Louisiana and especially the Hammond area. This is the view from our hotel window.

After eating breakfast and packing up the car once again, we headed south to the Big Easy. Upon arriving at the Visitor Center, we were informed how easy it would be to walk the entire French Quarter from there. We parked the car and made our way across many streets, including the well-known Bourbon Street...

...to Jackson Square...

...over to Cafe Du Monde...

...where we got our obligatory bag of three beignets...

...and ate them while they were still warm on the Moonwalk with a beautiful view of the Mississippi River and New Orleans.

As we started to walk back to the Visitor's Center and the car it began to sprinkle. We made it back to the car without getting too wet and headed north out of Louisiana into Mississippi. We drove across Lake Pontchartrain on I-10, picked up I-59, stopped briefly in Hattiesburg (without seeing Hattie), picked up Highway 45 in Meridian, and ended our day in Tupelo MS, the birthplace of singer Elvis Presley. More about that tomorrow, I'm sure.

Day Nine - Houston TX to Hammond LA

Tuesday morning, packing up again and heading to breakfast at Cracker Barrel with Monika before escaping Houston.

We travelled without incident through Beaumont TX, Lake Charles and Baton Rouge to Hammond LA, about an hour north of New Orleans.

Once in Hammond, we checked into our hotel and proceeded to Tommy's on Thomas for my birthday dinner. I chose the Muffuletta pictured below. A traditional style muffuletta sandwich consists of a muffuletta loaf split horizontally and covered with layers of marinated olive salad, mortadella, salami, mozzarella, ham, and provolone.

After dinner, Victoria and I walked a couple of blocks to Eddie's Famous Frozen Custard and shared their speciality, a Tangi Turtle. I was NOT counting calories today :-)

Wednesday's plan is to drive down to New Orleans for a brief visit and then head north into Mississippi.