Day 1 - NH to Pittsburgh, PA (10 hours)
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| Why Thank you Pennsylvania! |
Day 2 - Pittsburgh to Nashville, TN (9 hours)
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| An Elvis sighting in Nashville |
We arrived in Nashville after what seemed like an endless drive through West Virginia, Ohio (very flat) and Kentucky (pretty and green). It poured rain but Nashville was still everything I wanted it to be with a blinking neon downtown area, streets of recording studios, cowboy boot shops, friendly people, good breakfasts, and a chance to hold a guitar and sing into a fake microphone at the visitor's center. Our couchsurfer host was a grad student getting her PhD in Anthropology with the most cuddly dog imaginable. I wish we had had more time to spend in Nashville...maybe on the way back.
Day 3 - Nashville to New Orleans, LA (8 hours)
New Orleans is a funny place. I was in constant conflict in deciding whether I loved it or hated it. It is awesome to wander around the French Quarter and see the cute buildings with their terraces and flowers but frustrating to be doing this with about 238472387 other people with cameras, sunhats and good walking shoes. The French Quarter lacked a bit of the authenticity I was looking for and seemed to be working only for tourist's benefit. It wasn't until we ventured out in search for sandwiches that we found a bit of "real" New Orleans with shops, restaurants and bars not filled with people who were taking pictures of themselves eating or drunk (or both). This part was very nice and I wish we had thought to do that sooner. I would visit New Orleans again, but I would want to make sure to stay with a local.
Day 4 - Western Louisiana
On our way to Houston, My FPIC and I meandered through the western part of Louisiana and stopped at a few historical sites. I am not sure if tourists are more rare through this area, but everywhere we went we were received with enthusiasm and more information than we could imagine. We visited one plantation where we planned to take a self-guided tour but ended up spending over an hour talking with the three women at the front desk. We got the whole history of the plantation plus their own lives plus a recommendation of enough things to visit in Louisiana to stay a month. Our next stop went similarly and we left with more stories, maps and recommendations to stop by a music festival that was nearby. We stopped by Lafayette to visit the festival expecting to see a few local bands and maybe some food stands...but instead we found that this was the 27th International Festival of Louisiana! There were 6 stages playing with different bands from around the
world every hour for five days. We saw an excellent
group from Israel, some break-dancers, rows and rows and artisan vendors and a funny group from our next of the woods in Quebec wearing kilts and playing violins and accordions. Instead of just dropping in we ended up staying the whole afternoon and not wanting to leave. We even got interviewed by a local newspaper guy who saw our NH license plate and wanted to know if we had driven all that way just for the festival (sadly no but we might consider it next year). It was great and I consider it to be the best part of our voyage so far.
Stay tuned as we head off to Texas and even more off the beaten trail!
<3 br="" laura="" nbsp="">
New Orleans is a funny place. I was in constant conflict in deciding whether I loved it or hated it. It is awesome to wander around the French Quarter and see the cute buildings with their terraces and flowers but frustrating to be doing this with about 238472387 other people with cameras, sunhats and good walking shoes. The French Quarter lacked a bit of the authenticity I was looking for and seemed to be working only for tourist's benefit. It wasn't until we ventured out in search for sandwiches that we found a bit of "real" New Orleans with shops, restaurants and bars not filled with people who were taking pictures of themselves eating or drunk (or both). This part was very nice and I wish we had thought to do that sooner. I would visit New Orleans again, but I would want to make sure to stay with a local.
On our way to Houston, My FPIC and I meandered through the western part of Louisiana and stopped at a few historical sites. I am not sure if tourists are more rare through this area, but everywhere we went we were received with enthusiasm and more information than we could imagine. We visited one plantation where we planned to take a self-guided tour but ended up spending over an hour talking with the three women at the front desk. We got the whole history of the plantation plus their own lives plus a recommendation of enough things to visit in Louisiana to stay a month. Our next stop went similarly and we left with more stories, maps and recommendations to stop by a music festival that was nearby. We stopped by Lafayette to visit the festival expecting to see a few local bands and maybe some food stands...but instead we found that this was the 27th International Festival of Louisiana! There were 6 stages playing with different bands from around the
world every hour for five days. We saw an excellent
Stay tuned as we head off to Texas and even more off the beaten trail!
<3 br="" laura="" nbsp="">
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