Road Trip Across America

Hey folks, sorry to be a bit late posting this, but here are a few pictures from our recent road trip across America.  Sarah and I decided to stretch our journey to Ciudad Juarez out a few days by driving through the Southern United States, instead of the more direct route across Tennessee and Oklahoma. 

DAY 1: Arlington, VA - Savannah, GA

We began our journey by driving down the Atlantic coast all the way to Georgia.  We stopped in Fayetteville, NC, to get some true Carolina BBQ at a place called The BBQ Hut.  Basically, it's a hut that sells BBQ.  They may have looked at me like I was completely insane when I tried to pay with a credit card, but they cooked a mean pulled pork.   

 

It's quite a drive down to Savannah (almost 9 hours), but we still managed to get out and walk around the city a bit before bedtime.  Downtown Savannah is fascinating, and I convinced Sarah to go with me on a ghost walk tour around the city.  Apparently, Savannah is the most haunted place in America (according to people who apparently vote on that), so we got to see a haunted restaurant, a haunted CVS, and so forth.  Pretty entertaining.

Perhaps most haunting of all, however, was wandering down a street only to come face to face with the Juarez Mexican Restaurant.  Hopefully, this was a good omen.  Needless to say, we ended up eating at Paula Deen's restaurant instead.

DAY 2: Savannah, GA - Birmingham, AL

After a decidedly uneventful (in other words, non-haunted) night of sleep, Sarah and I packed up early to continue our journey.  But not before stopping in the world-famous Bonaventure Cemetery. 

Most people recognize it from the book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," and it is an amazing place filled with creepy Spanish moss, decaying gravestones, and other weird stuff.

We continued our trek onward toward Atlanta, where we stopped at Sarah's own, personal Disneyland; the World of Coca-Cola.  The museum itself is pretty entertaining, but best of all, at the end of the tour, you get to try odd Coca-Cola products from around the world, over 60 in total.  India and Bangladesh had some interesting flavors, but according to Sarah, it doesn't get any better than the original.

After that, we made our way into Alabama, stopping for dinner at the Irondale Cafe, which was the inspiration for the book "Fried Green Tomatoes."  Yes, we had the fried green tomatoes, and yes, they were delicious.

DAYS 3-5: Birmingham, AL - New Orleans, LA

On our third day of driving, we left Alabama, drove through Mississippi, and made our way to New Orleans.  It is a weird and fascinating place.  Perhaps it doesn't hold quite the allure for us as it does others, since we don't generally drink and party all night, but we still had a lot of fun.

We spent a lot of time touring the French Quarter, and had some absolutely amazing meals, with everything from gumbo to pork cracklins' to fried fish.  We also spent some time touring other areas, including the Garden District a bit further west of the downtown area.

We, of course, stopped for beignets and the world-famous Cafe du Monde.  I don't know if they used to sell actual food, but at this point their entire menu consists of beignets, coffee, and hot chocolate.  I tried to convince Sarah we should eat here every night, but sadly, she had my welfare and the welfare of my arteries in mind, so once was enough.

New Orleans is also home to some other fascinating attractions, such as Jackson Square (above), the National D-Day and WWII Museum, and a pretty fantastic aquarium.  We had a great weekend there, plus, it was nice to be out of the car for a few days.

DAY 6: New Orleans, LA - San Antonio, TX

After the weekend, we got back in the car and made our way across the great state of Texas.  Texas is 836 miles across, which means it takes an entire day of driving just to get halfway.  We opted to stop in San Antonio, primarily because I wanted to see the Alamo, which was pretty cool.

San Antonio is also famous for its riverwalk area downtown.  Unfortunately, Sarah was feeling a bit under the weather (perhaps as a result of too much beignets, pralines, crawfish, and pregnancy), so we stayed in that night.

DAY 7: San Antonio, TX - Ciudad Juarez, MX

Finally, the fateful day arrived, and we began the last leg of our journey across the border.  You may be wondering why I don't have any pictures for this last day, and that is because there is absolutely NOTHING to see in West Texas.  I've driven a lot in the US, and this has to be the most desolate place I have ever been to.  Eight hours and 400 miles later, we arrived in El Paso, met our contact from the U.S. Consulate, and made our way to our new home south of the border.  Bienvenidos!