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08/01/2004 Archived Entry: "Through Southeastern US to New Orleans, LA"

Saturday, July 17th marked the beginning of my longest trip since I started driving two years ago, through the deep south from Philadelphia, PA to New Orleans, LA. The group was a family on vacation -- several brothers and sisters, their families and a few friends to fill up the coach -- and eight days through southeastern US. It was a lot of driving, and a lot of packing/unpacking luggage, but it was a great trip.

We headed first to Charlotte, North Carolina, where we spent the first night. After a little shopping at Concord Mills just up the road from the hotel, we headed to Atlanta, Georgia, for the second night. We arrived in time to head on over to Stone Mountain, GA, for the laser and fireworks show held each evening all summer -- a great show if you ever get a chance to see it (and it's free!). On the 19th we did a driving tour of Atlanta (with a less-than-competent walk-on guide, unfortunately), visiting among other sites the Rev. Martin Luther King Historical Site, and King's tomb (photo above left). Late morning we headed for what would be our base hotel the next three days in Biloxi, Mississippi -- the Imperial Palace (photo above right), one of the currently 12 casinos in the Biloxi area.

Tuesday, the 20th, we did a very interesting driving tour of Biloxi with, fortunately, a walk-on guide who was as good as the previous guide was bad. We visited a number of landmarks in the Biloxi area, including the Church of the Redeemer (where Jefferson Davis and family attended church), and St. Michael's Church of the Fisherman (with 4000 sq. ft. of stained glass depicting the sea, and a seashell-shaped roof), plus a drive-by of several of the casinos (all built over the water as required by Biloxi ordinances), and along some of the 26-mile man-made beach, the longest man-made beach in the world. We had lunch at a restaurant on the gulf called McElroys, where I had my first Po' Boy sandwich with fresh fried shrimp -- absolutely delicious! Dinner Tuesday evening was at another of the casinos, the Grand Casino, with a fabulous buffet (I didn't lose any weight on this trip!).

On Wednesday we headed two hours west to New Orleans, Louisianna -- or "Nawlins" as it's pronounced there. The group took a steamboat paddlewheel ride up the Mississippi River (photo above left), followed by a driving tour of New Orleans with another excellent walk-on guide, and then shopping in the French Quarter. Thursday we headed back toward Atlanta with a stop in Montgomery, Alabama for another short driving tour, starting from Union Station and Visitor Center (photo above right). The adults of the group then went to Victoryland Race Track for greyhound racing while the kids went to a FunZone just outside Montgomery. Friday morning we went to Stone Mountain, Georgia again (photo at right) for a daytime tour with another walk-on guide, this time much better than the first Atlanta guide we had. We headed back to Charlotte that afternoon where we spent the night before heading home to Philadelphia Saturday. Eight days, ten states plus Washington, D.C., and 2,800 miles! Although it was a LOT of driving, I had one of our new 2004 MCI J4500 coaches that I really enjoy driving, and everything went very smoothly, so it was a good week.