2,704 Miles: A Southern US Roadtrip

About a month ago when I was planning my trip to Orlando, a staple on all of my US itineraries as it is where my oldest sister lives with her husband and two kids, she had the idea to do a southern US roadtrip, a sort of Civil Rights tour with her kids. I thought it was a great idea so I booked a flight and we began planning. Given that this is the 50 year anniversary of the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement the timing was perfect. Our trip took us through six states, three of which I had never been too. I was responsible for booking hotels and her for planning out our activities. Luckily I slacked off and didn’t book all of the hotels until the day before arrival because our itinerary switched at the last moment.

The major stops on our trip included Tallahassee, Florida, Montgomery and Birmingham, Alabama, Memphis, Tennessee, Little Rock, Arkansas, Jackson and Biloxi, Mississippi and New Orleans. I popped down to Miami when we got back to see some friends, which, as always, was a great time. I will not detail every mile of our trip and I will save the stories about the incessant “Are we there yet?”s from my five year old nephew and seven year old niece, but suffice to say that we had an amazing trip. I will just highlight quickly my favorite bits from every city and add A LOT of pictures below. I would love to hear about your trips to these cities and let me know if I missed anything!

Tallahassee, Florida:

As the capital of a state that I visit often, this was an unplanned stop that I felt we had to make. It was here that I decided to visit all of the capital buildings in the five state capitals that we would be visiting. Plus I had to stop at Florida Agriculture and Mechanical University, lovingly known as FAMU (Fam-YOU), because it is a school that many of my friends attended and I never had an opportunity to visit. So we made a quick pitstop. 

The old capital building.

My sister paid homage to her sorority.

Montgomery, Alabama:

I had previously visited Montgomery when I was in high school and a group of students came down to recreate the 35th anniversary of the Voter’s Rights march from Selma to Montgomery. I did not remember much of the city unfortunately. The highlight for me here was simply being in the city and seeing so many important places from the Civil Rights movement, including the bus stop where Rosa Parks was arrested and the home that MLK lived in while in the city. One thing that really stuck out to me was that the city buildings downtown were very very white. I think the pictures can explain a bit more what I mean by that. Also check out the First White House of the Confederacy, I think it can easily be missed but the gentleman who gives the introduction was really nice and played his character well.

The buildings were SOOOOOOO white!

graffiti and me!

Birmingham, Alabama:

The highlight here was definitely Sunday service at the 16th Street Baptist Church, the site of the bombings that killed four little girls. And while the pews were not full at all, the word was well received by my sister and I and the church members were very nice. You of course have to go to the Civil Rights museum, but I must say it was a bit overwhelming. There is A LOT of information. Also you must turn your cell phone OFF, not on silent, but off and you are not allowed to take pictures. It was great, but takes a lot of patience to get through.

Memphis, Tennessee:

We rolled into Memphis pretty late, but luckily I was able to catch up with my friend Danard that I met in Japan, who happened to be home for a few weeks. He took me directly to Beale Street which is the go to place in Memphis. There were people playing the blues on the street and I even got to go to a juke joint and hear some music. It was absolutely fantastic. We spent the vast majority of the day at the Civil Rights Museum which was fantastic. It is hosted in the Lorraine Motel which is where MLK was assassinated. Some people feel that too much time is spent on James Earl Ray, his assassin, but I learned a lot about the case that I would not have learned otherwise. There is A LOT of information so be sure to take your patience with you.

The view of a killer.

My niece gazing upon history.

Standing in the spot where MLK was shot.

What his room looked like the day he died.

The Mississippi River

Little Rock, Arkansas:

There isn’t much to see in Little Rock, but we did go to Little Rock Central High School which is where the “Little Rock Nine” first integrated schools in Arkansas with the protection of the US National Guard. That was pretty interesting. We also went to the Bill Clinton Museum/Library which I wasn’t really enthused about but my sister was. My favorite part was the Oscar de la Renta exhibit. :-D. One little story I will tell is a story of walking through the Farmer’s Market. I am always on the quest for fresh fruits and so of course I went to the Farmer’s Market while my sister and her kids finished up their lunch. I walked by a vegetable stand and a man working there greeted me and told me to come over. I declined saying that I didn’t have a need for any vegetables and he said “I didn’t say come and buy anything, just come and visit with us!”. So I obliged and spent a quick five minutes chatting with him. He was really nice and it was here that I realized people in the south really are different. You can find nice people everywhere, but I thought that this small act of humanity was incredible.

The drive through Arkansas was riddled with corn

My nephew and I at the historic Little Rock Central High School

A candid of my eldest sister and I taken by my seven year old niece

My nephew and I with the Little Rock Nine at the state capital building

The State Capital Building

A small portion of the Oscar de la Renta exhibit. It was exquisite!

Who knew Arkansas had such delicious peaches!!!

Jackson, Mississippi:

In order to break up the seven and a half hour trip between Little Rock and New Orleans, I suggested that we stop in Jackson, mostly because I was afraid to stop in a random Mississippi town. My friend Mike, who is from Jackson recommended a burger spot that we headed to after visiting the state capital. The food was amazing and will be detailed in the food and hotels post.

New Orleans, Louisiana:

I insisted that we add New Orleans to the itinerary because some how I have managed to skip New Orleans in my 29 years of life. We had less than 24 hours which of course was not enough, but with the guidance of my dear friend Ashley she guided us to everything we needed to see. I was skeptical of going out alone, but as my sister had her kids, I had to. So I went to the Maple Leaf and heard one of Ashley’s favorite brass bands performing live. It was very interesting. I am not familiar with brass bands, but I found it incredible that people were really dancing to this music in a club.  The next day we took the St. Charles Street car which let us see a lot of the city. We saw Lafayette Gardens which is one of the famous cemeteries and we of course went to the French Quarters. All in all we were actually able to hit all of the major attractions in a matter of hours.

Biloxi, Mississippi:

My sister has always wanted to go to Biloxi and even though we had a nine hour drive back to Orlando, we made the stop. It was a great stop to make. I laid on the beach while Joyce and the kids took pictures. I am sure the kids were dying to go swimming, but the frolicking had to tie them over. It was a very relaxed and pleasant beach, but we didn’t see any of the actual city.

If you want to know more details about other places we went please ask below.