Road Trip to New Orleans

At 6:30am on August 14th, my mom and I sleepily left our house in Pennington, NJ to embark on the journey to New Orleans. Our lives for the past few weeks had been extremely hectic due to a recent move from Montgomery, NJ to our new home in Pennington and family visiting from Colorado. Due to the chaos that surrounds events like these, we had given our road trip very little thought. 

The route from Pennington, NJ to New Orleans, LA - 1,270 miles!

Our goal for the first day was to drive to Knoxville, TN which according to my GPS would take approximately 11 and half hours. We grabbed some breakfast at Starbucks, put in a mix CD I had made for the ride and hit the road. At first the car ride seemed normal, nothing like a road trip. We started on the Pennsylvania Turnpike - a familiar road to both me and my mom as we have family that lives in western PA so we know the road well. We started taking note of license plates in hopes of hitting all 50 (51 if you include Washington D.C.) before hitting Louisiana. After over 5 hours of driving it was time to stop for something to eat.

Me and my mom with our sundaes at Dairy Queen on day 1 of our road trip.

Once we hit the road again, I kept seeing signs for something called the Natural Bridge. The picture of this tourist stop on the billboard instantly grabbed my attention and I insisted to my mom that we stop. When would we ever be in Rockbridge County, VA again? We followed the signs and to our delight it was only a few minutes off the highway. We purchased our tickets which also included access to a butterfly exhibit. The walk to and from the Natural Bridge felt great after almost 8 hours in the car.

 The Natural Bridge in Virginia made out of limestone that stands 55 feet taller than Niagara Falls!

The Butterfly Exhibit where butterflies landed on both me and my mom - like my hair ornament?

After our stop in Virginia we barreled onto Knoxville and spent the night at a hotel after eating a delicious meal at Puleo's Grill, a local Tennessee chain restaurant. My mom order eggplant parm and now swears by it - it was an insanely delicious end to a long day. We woke up early again the next day with the goal of getting to Hattiesburg, MS with a stop in Chattanooga, TN.

We arrived in Chattanooga at 10am on Thursday, August 15th. We went on a cavern tour and got to see Ruby Falls - a waterfall underneath Lookout Mountain. The waterfall was discovered in 1928 by Leo Lambert and was named after his wife Ruby. The cave paths leading up to the waterfall were adorned with beautiful natural rock formations and breathtaking lighting. It was definitely worth the stop. After the cave tours we stopped at Purple Daisy Picnic Cafe for some Tennessee BBQ that knocked my socks off.

To the left is the Mirror Pool in Ruby Caverns. To the right is Ruby Falls.

We arrived in Hattiesburg, MS around 5:30pm CST. During our drive we had driven into a new time zone and gained an hour! We went out to dinner at a restaurant in town called 206 Front which was absolutely divine. My mom and I reflected on our journey and couldn't believe we were only 2 hours outside our destination of New Orleans.

The following morning we woke up early (again) and drove the final 2 hours to New Orleans. I met with Layne, the site coordinator in New Orleans and settled into my room. My mom had a little time before her flight later that day so we explored the French Quarter stopping for lunch at River's Edge where we had fried pickles and Jambalaya. I tried a praline for the first time (extremely sweet and absolutely delicious!) and even bought a painting from a vendor on the street.

Amazing Jambalaya at River's Edge in the French Quarter!

Today I get the day to continue to get settled in and explore the surrounding area. I am living in a house with 7 other girls and so far it has a been great. We had a meal of red rice and beans last night and got to know each other. Tomorrow we are going to Lakeview Presbyterian Church and I look forward to meeting the people of New Orleans and officially making it my home. On Monday, I travel back to New York for orientation so I am anticipating a busy next few weeks. I am excited for my journey to begin here and I hope that some will follow this blog and experience New Orleans with me. 

Lesson from the Journey: Unplanned road trips are the best kind of road trip.