Snapshots From The Road, Memphis to New Orleans // Days 1 & 2 // March 2014

KC and I are making our way across the country trip by trip. We have each essentially made a diagonal stripe from Kansas up to the New York state and down into Arizona. He has also been to the South and partway up the East coast... but we have a lot of overlapping states. This year we decided we wanted to take another road trip and New Orleans seemed like the perfect place to go. Such a lively and cultural city and only 14 hours away. 

We packed our bags and headed south!

Day 1:

We drove from KC down to Memphis (because we were, 'stoppin' in Memphis... ;) ). About 9 hours and got some rest. Tennessee was my first new state of the trip! :) 

Not much going on here... but we did get to see the gorgeous Memphis Skyline at night!& A little light graffiti for you... 

Day 2: 

We woke up, checked out and drove downtown to the Trolley Stop Market for a little breakfast! The place had a decidedly funky yet homey vibe, lots of shelves with treats and crafts to buy, and cute little tables with oilcloth covering them. 

The place was pretty dead when we got there, but other people joined later. The waitress was very nice, the waiter working was a self-declared alternative music authority... and pretty cocky. The waitress seemed not to mind though, which is good. 

We ordered a breakfast plate that included; a biscuit, scrambled eggs, sausage patties and homemade hash brown casserole. It was really good!

Along the way I found out that Mississippi is really pretty! Check out the view from the highway!

Gorgeous right?!?

After that we hit the road again until we made it to Jackson Mississippi (my second new state!)  for lunch at Sal & Mookie's New York Pizza & Ice Cream Joint. It sounds like the strangest thing to eat in Mississippi but it was delicious! We shared a regular Empire State pizza. It had caramelized onions, basil pesto and sun-dried tomatoes.. Yum! :) 

Then we got some Starbucks... of course before driving the rest of the way to New Orleans. 

Driving through Louisiana (my third new state!) was so fun, because I got to see marshy, swampy land for the first time. It was so neat! Sort of like seeing the desert for the first time. I was trying to spot an alligator from the highway, but sadly did not. Haha. 

We made it to New Orleans (aka one-way street capital of the country...) right at rush hour. 

But found our hotel, checked in and walked the mile out to the French Quarter. 

It felt so good to stretch our legs, and the city was gorgeous! We sort of underestimated the fact that St. Patrick's day was so close to a weekend this year, which meant there were tons of people. It was fun though, so much to take in! Especially since the last few years in Texas & New Mexico we nearly forgot it was Saint Patrick's day, and no one around us was celebrating!

We walked through and around Jackson Square, which is gorgeous! 

The park was lovely and we were lucky that the weather was nice and the sun was still up to see it on our first night! We even got some pretty decent photos which is great! 

We also made it a goal to take more pictures of each other and together on our trip because we usually forget to do that.. and it's all location pictures. Haha. So here you have it! (can you tell it's super humid in NOLA? ;))

We definitely enjoyed the warm weather and green grass and trees! It was a nice change from the gray cold up in Kansas. Plus all of the trees were so grand and beautiful!

We made it out to Bourbon Street and the party had started early! 

We stumbled upon the Musical Legends Park and found that a restaurant Cafe Beignet was located inside. 

It was lovely. An outdoor park and patio under big strings of lights with a live band playing old fashioned love songs. We ordered a basket of beignets to share, Kyle got a fried shrimp platter and I got jambalaya. The jambalaya was a bit spicy (to be expected) but really really good! 

The beignets were heaven! So much better than I ever could have imagined! We made a joke that we might be getting them every time we walk by a place that sells them like we did on the cruise with ice cream cones... haha! And we did! :) We got a hurricane there in a huge trumpet shaped cup because we thought that my sister and law (who plays the trumpet) would get a kick out of it! It tasted like koolaid and we shared it and walked back to our hotel still drinking in the city. 

It was a great first day out and about, but we were SO exhausted! We called it a night and rested up for the next day!

Have you ever been to New Orleans??

What did you think?

For more travel posts (including Maritime Canada, New Mexico, Arizona, Boston, Texas, Minneapolis, and many more!) click on the links or the passport tab above!

Want to see the rest of this trip? Read about Day 3, and Day 4.

Thank You for Reading! 

Alexandra