How to use this Page

This leg of the road trip was short for one huge reason: We wanted to tour some plantations. And while we expected them to be grand, like the Monmouth [must take the house tour and the complimentary Southern Breakfast was fabulous], we didn't quite expect The Longwood Plantation. Even with all the movies I'd watched about The Civil War and all the school lessons I'd had [well, suffered through, wasn't a fan of history as a kid], the Longwood Plantation gave a rare insight into what happened to one family caught in the midst of war. Never finished, the Longwood stands as a reminder of people who had thought all their dreams were about to come true, and didn't. Our wonderful tour guide described the feeling I got while touring The Longwood like this, "You know when you wake up too early from a dream?" And, because my husband and I own a construction project management company, Elliott Management, I found this haunting example of east-meets-west architecture infinitely intriguing. The furniture was purchased, the exterior finished and the interior work had begun when the war broke out. Everything has been preserved as it was then, as much as possible. Even leaving buckets where the workers had dropped them the day they fled. The Pilgrimage Garden Club, who maintains the property and runs the wonderful tours, has one provision for their care of the property, that no one ever try to complete the construction.

When our tour guide discovered that Margaux was at school in New York City, the tour guide said, "I got a joke for you: A bunch of Yankee ladies were sitting around a fancy table eating chicken with their forks and knives and raised their eyebrows when the Southern women ate with their hands. Why do you Southern ladies eat with your hands? They asked, horrified. The Southern women said, 'Because you Yankees stole all our silver.'"

We didn't quite laugh. The southern ladies on tour with us just shook their heads. Being told that joke in the midst of the shell of The Longwood and, well, being Yankees, it was a little, um, awkward. But the guide was lovely and did a wonderful job of bringing the era to life for us.







Josephine, the cat

Stopped one more time for a look at the Mighty Mississipi:





For some bizarre reason we got all turned around in Natchez and even with GPS, we had a hard time getting on the road to New Orleans. Once there, hotel troubles ensued. All I wanted to do was stay in a room with a balcony in The French Quarter. I was told that's what I had reserved at The Saint Louis Hotel. But, even after confirming and calling and reconfirming that we had our balcony room, they didn't have one for us. And instead had a room, well, more like a cave with a view of a massive tarp covering their courtyard. Yuck. And, the weather, although it turned out to be FANTASTIC, was supposed to be very rainy that weekend. After inquiring about another room, which was worse, we went to stay at The Omni Royal Orleans, where I was told over the phone that they had a balcony room available. When we got there it wasn't. This was a little bit of a low point for me. While we did a have a beautiful view of a magnolia tree,



I was tired and disappointed. Mx went down to complain and the Concierge was from Brooklyn. He totally understood our saga. Gave us some drink tickets and gave us a room rate reduction. So, I let the whole balcony room thing go. But, next time, I will get my balcony room...if you want French Quarter charm with a balcony room in New Orleans I'd suggest these places: The Hotel Provincial, or The Chateau Hotel. Both of these hotels give you charm and a little bit of quiet to enjoy your stay in The Crescent City.

After I got over the balcony drama, we went for a walk down Bourbon St., which didn't disappoint.





Turns out we were there during The New Orleans Wine and Food Experience and want to go back next year for it too. Must go. Great wines and fabulous food.

Later on in the evening we went to Sing-Sing, where we enjoyed awesome blues music and people seemed to read our minds all night, but that's another story...



Had a little etouffee and plopped into bed, at our usual 2AM.

We started our tour of Nashville at The Pancake Pantry, and I had THE most amazing potato pancakes. We visited the Ryman Auditorium next, the original home of The Grand Ole Opry. We only had time to tour one thing in Nashville and picked the Ryman. The tour was fantastic.[If we had the time I would have LOVED to see a show there.]





One of the best descriptions of the Ryman came from a tour guide who said "people courted here." I loved that. But, as it was built as a tabernacle originally, people also worshiped here. Story goes that Thomas Green Ryman, a steamboat captain who profited from the gambling and drinking houses he owned in town, built it for a preacher named Sam P. Jones. Ryman went to heckle the preacher one night, but after hearing him preach in a tent, he decided to construct a space so that Sam would never have to preach in a tent again. $100,000 and 7 years later the Union Gospel Tabernacle was complete.

Hard to say goodbye to Nashville, felt like we could have stayed a while. We swung by Memphis on our way to Natchez. And Sun Studio was our first stop, a recording studio so legendary it gave me goosebumps. "Walk The Line" was recorded there on April 2, 1956:



Mx and I grabbed a quick snack. I ate my first Moon Pie here!





On for some BBQ:



which was SO good, we thought they had put crack in it...WOW. Hated to leave Memphis so soon! Our BBQ buzz lasted all the way to Natchez, and helped us get over the fact that we were about to run out of gas on The Natchez Trace. Isn't it amazing how sinister a place can look, late at night when the needle is one tick from empty? Note to self: gas up BEFORE the ride.

And arrived at the BEAUTIFUL Monmouth Plantation. Ahhhh..... You MUST go there. Must. Friendly staff, great food and the rooms are to die for...





What the canopy looked like above our pampered lil' heads...



Even though we got there at like 1 AM, I had to sit and write at this desk. WOW. As I wrote about our travels, I couldn't help but wonder how many other writers sat down at that desk. I wondered about their lives, their dreams and all the magic and heartache that correspondence can bring.