Mike and I have laid out a possible itinerary for our Southern U.S. roadtrip this July and, combined with the American History class I'm taking this semester, it's got me climbing the walls with excitement!
We'll be focusing our attention on Tennesse and Georgia, but some of the stops we're making both on the way up, and on the way home promise to be just as awesome as the destinations themselves!
Here's a little sneak peek at what we're hoping will be the greatest road trip of all time! If by any chance anyone who lives in these places or has been to these places reads this blog, please feel more than free to suggest anywhere that is cheap/nice to stay, eat, dance, drink, shop, visit, etc.
I've got my own ideas of all the things I want to see, but tips from people with experience are always good!
1. Montreal to Morgantown, WV
Mike has a couple of good friends in this town who we will be staying and partying with on the very first little leg of our trip! I don't get the feeling we'll be doing much sightseeing while we're here, but visiting with Jason and Tommy will definitely be tons of fun!
2. Morgantown, WV to Nashville, TN
Nashville is a city I've been dying to see for quite some time now, and it seems like I'm always discovering new things I want to discover here!
For one,
Loretta Lynn's Ranch is just outside the city and I fully intend on spending at least one night in her beautiful paradise!
I am also looking forward to doing the whole Honky Tonk scene right with some denim and a pair of cowboy boots! Starting at the infamous
Robert's where all the biggest names in country music have played!
Straying from the country music scene, Nashville is home to the
Belle Meade plantation which is open for visits and will be one of my favourite sights I'm sure!
It's also home to Karen Elson's vintage shop
Venus & Mars. Aside from the exciting possibility of running into Jack White or Karen Elson herself here, I'm more than excited to sift through the racks of hand picked vintage items in what I'm sure will be a perfectly decorated store!
3. Nashville, TN to Memphis, TN
I don't have any unconventional or original motives for seeing Memphis. I wanna do it up right like a real, honest to goodness tourist! I want
Graceland,
Sun Studios, the
National Civil Rights Museum and the famous
Ernestine & Hazel's where I plan on enjoying a delicious Soul Burger and getting the man behind the bar to tell me all kinds of wild stories!
Photo found via Google image search
4. Memphis, TN to Chattanooga, TN
I inherited a serious love for breathtaking views and long winding hiking trails from my mother and from what I've seen and read Chattanooga has some pretty stunning panorama to offer! I also wouldn't want to miss those crazy raver gnomes
Rhiannon posted about
here.
5. Chattanooga, TN to Atlanta, GA
Atlanta is another one of those cities, like Nashville that I've been dying to visit from quite some time. It hasn't helped that my American history teacher has been talking this town up to us for the past three weeks! Although attractions like the
Georgia Aquarium and the
Margaret Mitchell House and Museum are exciting to me, I'm mostly just excited to
see this city!
I will of course be checking out whatever antique and vintage shops I can find, but also hope to visit more historical things like the
Patrick Cleburne Confederate Memorial Cemetary and the famous
Oakland cemetary.
I expect we will also be digging into some sweet deep fried food of some kind.
6. Atlanta, GA to Savannah, GA
I think we've given ourselves about a 6 hour window to see Savannah, I can't imagine there is that much to do in this city, but I can't wait to experience the drastic train-track division between the nice part and not-so-nice part of town. I also, upon further inspection of Suzanne at
SpanishMossVintage's blog from last summer have made it my mission to find the "
Pub" she wrote about on Whitaker Street! It sounds beautiful!
7. Savannah, GA to Charleston, SC
This town is incredibly rich in American history, which makes it that much more inviting to me given my recent obsession with the subject.
Although the beautiful pastel colored mansions and famed french style cuisine are more than enough incentive for me to want to visit the place, I'm also hoping to get in a visit to the
Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon, also mentions of
Suzanne's!
8. Charleston, SC to Virgina Beach, VA
Our one and only goal in visiting Virginia beach is to relax on the sand and swim in the ocean. I figure in July it'll be plenty hot and we won't have to force ourselves to run in the water despite how freezing it is like last year in Hampton Beach!
9. Virginia Beach, VA to Richmond, VA
Mike has a friend here who apparently runs his very own pasta-salad cart business and will put us up and feed us delicious selections of different kinds of pasta salad! I personally cannot wait!
10. Richmond, VA to Baltimore, MD (with a stop in Washington, DC)
From Richmond we head to Baltimore which I have been excited to see ever since reading an article in
Nylon about the band
Beach House who are from there. Apparently the city has a great music scene as well as the best crab cakes in North America! Being a real lover of all things sea-food, that crabcakes claim was enough to make me wanna stop! Mike also knows people here who he says I will absolutely fall in love with!
The stop in Washington is simply so that I can say I've seen all of those important Washington places everyone is supposed to see in their lifetime.
11. Baltimore, MD to Boston, MA
I originally wanted to drive straight back from Baltimore and drive through Connecticut to see some classic WASP-y white picket fences on my way home, but we don't know anyone there and it seems kind of silly to drive for 12 hours straight when we could cut the trip in 2 and stop in Boston to visit the absolutely wonderful
Allie who put me up last time I was there!
So, given that she's even in town that week, we'll hopefully be stopping in to pay her cheerful self a visit and go out on the town together! Maybe she'll even hitch a ride with us back to Montreal and stay a while!
12. Boston, MA back to Montreal, QC
Time to unpack, get back to work and get back in gear for starting school in a month. I'll take that time to take full advantage of our lovely apartment and it's beautiful backyard before the summer ends and this dreadful winter hits again!
Blouse & Skirt Thrifted
