Just two weeks to go!
Two weeks to go before we head off on our U.S. road trip. This has been a long time on my bucket list, drive across the U.S, starting off from the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast all the way to the Pacific Ocean on the west coast. The only aspect of our planning was our starting state and our finish state. We also researched a few stops and places of interest that we would check out. For the most part however, we are going to make the route up as we go. This blog is to keep friends and family (who might be interested) up to date on our drive, food, cocktails and adventures.
UPGRADED!!
The title says it all really, trip off to a pretty good start 🙂. We had put a ‘bid’ in on an upgrade not thinking our low offer would be accepted, but guess what, it was, for the first leg of our journey from Dublin to Chicago is in business class.
Hurricane Joaquin batters South Carolina!
Once we touched down in Chicago we had about three hours to kill before catching our connecting flight to Charleston in South Carolina our starting state. While we were waiting we spotted on the news that a hurricane was hitting that part of the U.S. so we were concerned that out flight may be cancelled, but thankfully it was not. So our two intrepid travellers were making their way in a small plane, in the middle of the storm with a pilot ‘hoping’ to land in Charleston…..
Which thankfully he did and received a well deserved round of applause.
There was a chance we would have to had landed in Atlanta or Charlotte, so it was a relief when we touched down. Once out of the airport we waited for what seemed like forever for a cab. A lot of the cab drivers had decided not to work due to the hurricane and from what we could figure out, there was no other public transport available. However, eventually a cab arrived and we hopped in and made our way to our hotel. Most of Charleston was flooded and a lot of the city is shut down and loads of roads are like rivers and inaccessible. Still though after several detours out cab driver go us to our hotel.
So as of right now, the only part of Charleston we’re going to see, is the hotel lobby 🙂.
The calm after the storm
Despite having a very long day yesterday, we were up early and grabbed breakfast, American style.
With the city cleaning up from the effects of Hurricane Joaquín, lots of places were closed but we were pleasantly surprised that there was still lots of choice for places to eat.
After exploring the city on foot all day, we pushed the boat out and celebrated our arrival in Charleston with a steak dinner at Halls Chophouse. It was packed on a Sunday evening so that’s got to be a good sign. The lady at reception in our hotel had recommended that we try the creamed spinach and she was right, it was worth going there just for that. Rolling out after that meal, it was a good reminder that American portion sizes are huge. Lighter meals and less side orders from now on!
Charleston was a nice spot. We had only penned in three nights but it was enough to see some of the sights and enjoy a few meals and drinks along with some window shopping.
So long East coast
After a few interesting days in Charleston it was time to hit the road. After picking up the rental car we headed slightly south towards the coast, a place called Folly Beach, which was inaccessible the day before due to the hurricane.
We gathered a few shells and took a few snaps before heading towards our first inland stop, Chatanooga. It was about a 7 hour drive with a stop for lunch and a quick coffee stop. As we got in late we headed straight to the hotel – the famous, Chattanooga Choo Choo – totally kitsch but part of the fun, why would a visitor stay anywhere else 🙂
Walking in Memphis
Our next planned stop was Memphis Tennessee. We arrived into Memphis from Chattanooga, it was a nice drive taking in and around five hours, however, the weather is way different from Charleston – blue sky, highs of about 35C, hot, but nice.
First things first, we caught the late evening tour of the famous Sun Studios, a must do if visiting Memphis. The reasonably short 40 minute tour is very insightful with an enthusiastic tour guide. It was well worth visiting even if your not a huge music fan.
Tomorrow, the main reason people travel from the four corners of the world and the main reason we have stopped here is to join in the pilgrimage – and worship the King.
Graceland
There were a choice of several tours to see Graceland, so we went for the VIP option. The grounds and house are amazing. Tours are not allowed to visit the upstairs of the house, the reason, this was Elvis’ private part of the house in respect to him, it remains that way.
The lavishness has to be seen, all the original furniture, lighting and even the technology from the era remains today. You also get to see the hall of awards, racket court, the office and of course, his grave. All the time listening and watching the excellent audio and visual guide.
There are also several museums and other attractions as part of the package, overall it was an excellent insight into the legend that was Elvis. It was also amazing to see the outburst of emotion of some visitors when looking at his grave. Even after all these years.
The Deep South
After our tour of Graceland we grabbed a quick coffee then it was time to hit the road again for the 6 hour drive to our next stop, New Orleans. We stopped for lunch and to fill up on on petrol, whoops, I mean Gas :-). There was not much of a choice so we oped for Arby’s – just yet another fast food chain, although they did manage to make it about 10 times worse, than other fast food options 🙂
The highlight of the drive was the last 20 miles into New Orleans – the road was above ground, above the swamp, it was very impressive, old houses on stilts, straight out of the movies.
On arrival into New Orleans and after checking into the hotel, we hit the town! It was obvious, New Orleans was going to be a great place to visit. There was a fantastic atmosphere, so European in parts, loads of places to eat and drink and loads of sitting outside on the footpath, sorry, sidewalks. And of course the weather, a balmy 28C, nice!
The Swamp and Storm Katrina
Yesterday we visited the Louisiana Swamps, yeah, I know, why would anyone want to visit a swamp?. It turned out to be amazing. This was the real deal, alligators, wild boars and loads of other wildlife. Zooming around in one of those metal boats was great fun, although it was when they would turn into one of the smaller waterways it was really cool as there was barely enough room for the boat to squeeze through as it meandered slowly through. You could reach out and touch the trees and overgrowth – although our boat captain asked not to reach out over the boat, especially ifyou didn’t want to lose a finger, as there is a good chance an alligator is hiding in the reeds.
On other parts of the waterways, we stopped up, to feed the alligators, a diet of hotdogs and marshmallows of all things. It was great to see it up close.
In 2005 one of the worst storms in U.S. history hit Louisiana and all but decimated New Orleans. Today you can do several ‘Katrina’ tours. The tour lasts around three hours and was well worth doing. Some of the stories that your tour guide will tell are fascinating.
Leaving the lakes of Pontchartrain
Our New Orleans visit has been fun and action-packed. On our last day, we took a cruise on the Steamboat Natchez. With a live jazz band and interesting commentary, it was a great way to spend a Sunday morning. And with nearly 30C heat, we made sure to soak up the sunshine while enjoying the views. After a quick lunch, it was time to leave New Orleans and say farewell to the lakes of Pontchartrain. For our last night in Louisiana we’re staying the the state capital Baton Rough and then we’ll be continuing our journey west.
En route to Baton Rouge, we visited San Francisco Plantation House. We were lucky enough to catch the last tour of the day and got to hear about the history of the house and plantation. After a one night stopover in Baton Rouge, we’re heading to Texas.
The Lone Star State
Once we left the Deep South we had no plan of where to stop off next, bar continuing our journey west towards Texas. After doing some reading up on a few things, we decided to hit San Antonio. The Alamo is the big draw but there’s a lot more to this city as we soon discovered.
San Antonio has an amazing river walk which is lined with shops, tons of bars and restaurants. The river is more of a canal, rather than a river, but it’s cooling to walk along in the almost 40C heat, yep, it’s hot, really hot. We also found the people to be really friendly and besides the Alamo there are several other museums of interest to enjoy.
Given its close proximity to Mexico, we figured if you’re going to find a good Margarita bar, it’ll be here. And find one we did, as you can see from the photo, everything ‘is’ bigger in Texas (unless you’re in Vegas).
Tomorrow it’s looking like the state capital, Austin, for our next stop but that may change, maybe we’ll travel a little further south, towards Mexico and perhaps find bigger and better, Margaritas 🙂.
Austin to Fort Worth
After checking out a few more of the sights in San Antonio, it was time to hit the road again, for the short drive north to the state capital Austin.
One of the highlights (for visitors at least) in Austin is watching the nighttime show put on by 100,000’s of Bats, yep, Bats. Every evening between April and November at dusk, they leave their nesting area which just happens to be under the Congress avenue bridge, the main bridge in downtown Austin and head out to feed. It was very impressive, certainly a different type of tourist attraction.
We’re staying at the Austin Motel, it’s been here since the 1930’s and it’s not changed too much since then, it’s in the ‘trendy’ part of Austin so there are plenty of bars and restaurants right outside the door, very handy.
For dinner yesterday evening, we opted for burgers (again), however, this place called Hopdoddy, is a multi award winning burger place, on a Tuesday evening at around 8:30pm, there was a Q (line in the US), going out the door and around the corner. Was it worth the 40 minute wait to get a table, yes, the burgers were really good, however the usual American style of fries, while better than most, were just ok, but the excellent cocktails, made it all worth the wait 🙂
After much discussion on our next move, we’re going to continue north to Fort Worth, which is about 30 miles west of a place called Dallas (you may have heard of it). We started the morning with a swim in the motel pool, even at 8:00am, it was a very nice 25C. We also had the entire pool to ourselves which was nice. After our swim we packed up and checked out. We wandered around a few of the quirky stores around the area before stopping for breakfast to set us up for the 4 hour drive to Forth Worth.
Fort Worth
Nice place, very compact and easy to walk around the centre. Plenty of places to eat and drink. However it’s the Stockyard area, which is the main draw for visitors. It’s what the real Wild West looked like. They have rodeo shows and cattle rustling all put on for visitors,
It’s very touristy but as we are here out of season, it’s not busy. It also has loads of stores and bars, you can buy anything for the cowboy, or cowgirl in your life.
This morning we’re visiting a few more places before hitting the road and continuing north and briefly turning on to the legendary Route 66. We may decide to make a slight detour and visit ‘the’ Southfork Ranch but we’re not too bothered.
The famous Southfork ranch, well if you know, your know :-). The weather is still fantastic, not as warm as San Antonio but still hitting the high 20’s.
Rocky Mountain High
Hi from Colorado Springs. Before arriving we were in Amarillo. It’s one of the old Route 66 stops, although it’s a small city these days, without any skyscrapers. There’s a very famous stop that’s been here since the 60’s it’s called Big Texan steak ranch, the adverts for it start over a 100 miles away, advertising the ‘free’ 72oz steak, yep, 72oz’s. The catch, you have to finish it in an hour, with 2 sides and a dessert or you pay 72 dollars. I admit, a part of me was tempted, but I wanted to enjoy my steak dinner and C talked me out of such a crazy notion, so I was happy with my 18oz ribeye, C went for the slightly smaller 12oz.
Another strange attraction in Amarillo is the Cadillac ranch. It’s a bunch of Cadillacs buried in a field just off the old Route 66. When they were placed there in the 70’s they had to be buried at an angel that mimicked the pyramids in Egypt, which makes no sense whatsoever, then again, Cadillacs buried in the dirt is strange anyhow. These days they are covered in spray paint, the idea is you leave anything from a small note or drawing, I guess just to say you were there.
Once we left Amarillo we continued along the old 66 before veering off and continuing north to Colorado. The scenery and weather have changed quite a bit, it’s much cooler, around 20C and it looks a lot like Connemara!?! There’s nothing but farm land as far as the eye can see, miles and miles of corn and wheat fields. This is the kind of drive that sums up the middle of nowhere America, fantastic.
Today we’re off to one of the parks to enjoy the scenery and outdoors, later we’re back on the road continuing in a south-west direction through the mountains to our next stop.
Colourful Colorado
We stayed in a picture postcard town called Ouray (pronounced U-Ray) high up in the Rockies 😀 The whole Main Street is designated as a historic area. Walking around, it’s easy to imagine a bustling mining community in the late 1800s.
Today, it’s all tourists and it’s easy to see why. Surrounded by high mountains coated in spruce trees and speckled with gorgeous bursts of fall colour from deciduous trees and snowy peaks in the distance, Ouray is mountain wonderland. The welcome sign when you enter the state is ‘Colorful Colorado’ and that’s definitely true.
We didn’t get to see any bears but there are lots of reminders that they’re out there. There are signs reminding you that there are no problem bears only people who create the problems for them.
Driving through the Rockies was fantastic and we had to resist the temptation to stop for all the Kodak moments. Otherwise, you might never leave Colorado. Next stop is New Mexico.
No Mexican food in New Mexico!?!
Hi from Santa Fe, New Mexico. So yesterday we wandered into the visitor centre in the main plaza in Santa Fe. We asked where would be a good place to try Mexican food. In a polite manner we were told by the lady behind the counter, you can’t get Mexican food in New Mexico, only New Mexican food, who would have thought, eh.
After checking out the Georgia O’Keeffe art gallery and browsing in a few of the 100’s of craft and art galleries, we went to a place called The Shed for lunch, to sample some ‘New Mexican’ cuisine. Neither of us could really see or taste a difference, spicy with beans, rice and two types of chile sauces, except for one item, blue tortilla wraps, made from blue corn kernels.
After a splendid day wandering around Santa Fe we popped into Wholefoods to grab some bits for our evening meal, then we just had a quiet evening and went to the cinema
Today it’s on the road again, heading to Arizona and getting back on Route 66 and I’m looking forward to standing on a corner, at one of the stops 🙂.
The town that America forgot
After leaving Santa Fe, we swung in by Albuquerque for a mid-morning snack. We were both surprised to find a bakery that actually had some nice stuff. So after a few fruity empanadas and some coffee we hit the road for an old Route 66 town called Holbrook.
This was the real deal old America, a lot of the places have not changed in over 50 years, both the outside and the inside of the buildings. There were dozens of old motels, gas stations and diners that were long closed, but it did have a few places still holding on. This was a fantastic stop.
Our evening was uneventful for the most part, there’s not a lot to do in Holbrook, however, we did stay at the very cool Wigwam Motel.
The following morning we had breakfast in one of the old diners, Joe and Aggies, it’s been there since the 1950’s so there was a load of old Route 66 memorabilia lining the walls. The service was equally 50’s ish, very polite and friendly, the food was still typical American and I no doubt serving the same menu for years and years.
After breakfast we took a few photos and hit the road.
Our next stop was a place I was very excited about. A place made famous by the lyrics to a song by the Eagles -Winslow Arizona. And if you don’t know the song, go check it out, ‘Take it Easy’ and listen for the reference 🙂
Our next stop before our final stop for the evening, Meteor Crater, is actually the name of the place where a very large meteorite crashed into the Earth millions of years ago. For the most part, it was interesting. Yes, it was just a big hole in the ground but it was nice to see and it did have a very informative visitor centre.
Hitting the road again, we headed towards Williams, another old Route 66 town, however, Williams has moved with the times, the reason being that it’s a good place to base yourself to visit the granddaddy of holes in the ground, The Grand Canyon.
We headed towards the park purposely leaving on time to catch the sunset, which we did and even though we both had been to the Canyon before, this was pretty spectacular to see, as the light faded, the colours of the Canyon changed, well worth the trip.
Tomorrow we’re heading to a place most of you may have heard of. Let’s just say, the show is booked, dinner is booked, the credit card is ready and I’m sure the fountains will be putting on their show.
Viva Las Vegas
As most of you have probably figured out, we’re in Las Vegas. The entertainment capital of the US, possibly the World 😀.
Everything is bigger here, the biggest shows, world class restaurants, anyone for a 42 oz margarita, you get the idea.
We’re staying at the Bellagio, bang in the middle of Las Vegas boulevard (the strip). They have the entire place done up for Fall, it looks amazing.
We were not expecting Vegas to be too busy given the time of the year, but the place is heaving and the weather is perfect, blue sky and a temperature around 24C all day and night, which is important here, as nothing sleeps in Vegas, it’s a 24 hour party if you want it.
After arriving, we treated ourselves to some French pastries, which were very tasty, we then hit the strip and did a little shopping. Later that evening we went to a place called Delmonico for dinner, it’s a steak restaurant, serving some of the best prepared steaks in the world. The service and food was impeccable.
This evening, we’re very excited, going to see Cirque Du Soliel’s MIchael Jackson ONE. Yeah the tickets costed the price of a small car but eh, it’s Vegas baby 🙂
The only problem with Vegas is, no matter how long you’re here for, it’s never enough time 🙂.
Las Vegas to Disneyland
Hi from always sunny California. We arrived into Anaheim, where 60 years ago a guy called Walt, decided to open a theme park. I decided before leaving I would be good and limited myself to one theme park, so it may as well be the happiest place on earth (although Las Vegas would probably have something to say about that).
We didn’t waste any time and hit the park soon after arriving, we got the two day pass and as the park was open until midnight tonight we used that to our advantage.
The place was very crowded, but we got on a few of the attractions and in true Disney form, the fireworks display was amazing, so we’re looking forward to visiting again tomorrow.
So as most of you may have figured out, we’ve arrived at our last state :-(. We’re not at the coast yet, but all going well, we should be there sometime on Monday.
We have a few more nights to play around with in California before heading to our final stop so we’re planning on making the most of it 🙂
Tower of Terror!
To those of you who think that Disney could not possibly have an attraction called Tower of Terror, I have some bad news. Unfortunately, it does exist.
We started off our day in Disney by getting soaked on Splash Mountain. It doesn’t take too long to dry out in the California sun so we continued on to the Haunted Mansion. It wasn’t all that scary so the big kid then wanted to visit the Tower of Terror. This attraction had a long line with a 60 minute wait time. The big kid insisted on getting their terror quota so we waited in line. Somewhere along the way, I chickened out and waited in the gift shop instead. After hearing the screams coming from the tower, I think it was a good move for me!
Luckily, everything else in Disney more than makes up for the occasional terror attraction. We walked all over the park, saw it all, fitted in as much of the attractions as we could and got ice cream. In short, we had a fantastic day 😀
We did it!
We arrived, the coast to coast journey has been completed. After leaving Anaheim we headed straight for Santa Monica pier and the Pacific Ocean. We picked Santa Monica as it’s also the end of Route 66 so it felt right to finish up there.
However, our little road trip ain’t over yet. We spent last night in very upscale Santa Barbara. If it’s good enough for some of Hollywood’s elite, it’s good enough for us 🙂
Today we’re heading to Hearst castle and probably staying in Monterey for the night, before the very final stop, San Francisco. We’ll be heading up the famous Pacific Highway 1 for the final leg of the trip so we’re really looking forward to it.
San Francisco
Hi from San Francisco. As you read this we have but a few hours before catching our flight home.
After finishing up in Santa Barbara, we drove along Pacific Highway 1 and the Big Sur. We stopped off at Hearst Castle high up on the hillside, it was well worth the stop. If you’ve seen the movie Citizen Kane, it’s loosely based on the story of Randolph Hearst who build the castle starting in 1919.
The drive continued along Big Sur up, over and around the cliffs, not unlike the Colorado Rockies, except for having the Pacific Ocean on the left hand side.
Our final stop before San Francisco was the harbour town of Monterey, nice spot we arrived late in the evening so we just had time for a bite to eat. The following morning, we grabbed breakfast, took a few photos and hit the road for the city by the bay.
On arrival, we got to where we were staying, then it was time to drop off our trusty car, which served us very well over the past 4883 miles of driving. It was also time to say goodbye to our trusty satnav (dolly).
So the last few days we did some of the tourist sights, shopping and eating in and around San Fran. We opted for one of those Big Bus tickets, which worked out really well as all the stops it covered, suited us, including one just a block down from our hotel.
With our last few hours, we going to do some very last minute shopping, grab lunch then catch our bus out to the airport.
Hope everyone enjoyed reading the blog over the last few weeks and we’ll see everyone soon. Here’s a few photos to finish.
Until next time, bye for now,
C&J
cjfoodandtravel 