Flying straight from one party in Las Vegas to another in New Orleans may have not been the wisest of ideas but that’s how we roll. After a three hour flight we landed in N’awlins and headed straight to Coop’s Place in the French Quarter. Coop’s Place is a dingy dive bar that serves some of the best creole food I’ve ever tasted – seafood gumbo, sausage and rabbit jambalaya, and crawfish po’boys. Delicious! We loved Coop’s Place so much, we ate there three times during our short stay.
New Orleans is an awesome city with music everywhere. A quick stroll down Bourban St confirmed our suspicions to stay away from the tacky strip and head towards Frenchmen St to see live music. On Monday evening we ventured out to the Treme to see Kermit Ruffins and his band perform at his bar, Kermit’s Treme Speakeasy. Unfortunately for us (although definitely good for him!) he had just returned from his honeymoon after recently getting married and wouldn’t be playing that evening. We were lucky enough to meet him outside the venue and he encouraged us to have a few drinks while we were in the area. As a result, we were treated with an impromptu washboard performance by a local, as well as Tony gaining the interest of a music scout by singing on stage.
The plan for the roadtrip was to drive from New Orleans to New York over five days with stops in Memphis, Nashville, Asheville and Washington. The roadtrip didn’t start off as planned as the SUV we had booked ended up being much smaller than we thought and there was no room for any of our luggage. With no upgrade options and the Australian STA office unable to sort out the issue as it was 2am in the morning for them, we had no choice but to rent a trailer and keep on the move. Sorting out this problem meant a delayed start to our roadtrip and a late arrival to Memphis. We stayed at a cheap motel directly across from Graceland, which meant little to do in the evening but easy access to Elvis’ mansion the next morning.
Nashville and Asheville were my favourite cities that we visited during our roadtrip, with microbreweries and great restaurants a plenty. I took a surprising lack of photos from this period of our journey but I can assure you both cities are awesome – particularly East Nashville.
Our last night of the journey was spent at The Liaison Hotel at Capitol Hill in Washington DC. The location was great and the rooftop pool and bar even better! The drive to New York the following day provided fabulous views of the Big Apple from the Staten Island Bridge.
It was an epic trip spanning five days, about 27 hours of driving and approximately 2097 km of road. What we didn’t realise before we departed was that the route we had chosen was largely on the Interstate – a straight, long, boring piece of road – and as such, we didn’t get to see that much of America’s Deep South. If I had the opportunity to do it again, I would space out the journey over a longer period of time in order to get off the Interstate, and also spend a couple of extra days in Nashville and Asheville. But everything in hindsight! And I can now say that we successfully completed a great American roadtrip.
Chasing the Cheese 