A trip to the South West of the USA
This particular trip was taken with Newmarket travel based
in the UK, and specializing in escorted coach tours around the world.
It all started with a search for a holiday in Nashville as I
am a country music fan, and ended up booking this holiday as it included
Nashville and many other parts of the South West of the USA.
We started by flying from Heathrow to Atlanta, Georgia. From
there we were picked up by the coach and guide that would remain with us for
the next fourteen nights. We travelled onto Montgomery,
Alabama for the first night stay. A very
historic town, this is where Rosa Parks
refused to move seats for a white man on a bus. She was badly beaten and of
course this started the movement toward civil rights that took many years to
complete. It was also the place that
Martin Luther King had his first church.
The next day after looking at Montgomery, we travelled onto New Orleans for a two
night stay. We had booked three excursions for this place. A city tour around New Orleans showed much of
the devastation that is still there after Hurricane Katrina in
2005. We were also taken to one of the ‘standing cemeteries’ that are in the
city. Bodies are interred above ground because the city is just above the water
line, and they would just go straight in the water otherwise.
We also went on a Bayou and Alligator tour. Dozens of
alligators swimming close to the boat just willing you to put your hand in the
water! Also Raccoons and Turtles around as well.
The same night we went on a Steamboat River jazz cruise on the
Mississippi. A great cruise and some great jazz, although I have to say that
for me, the meal could have been better.
After two nights there we moved on to Lake Charles to stay in the ‘Golden Nugget’ hotel and casino. I am not a gambler and two dollars was all I risked on a machine!
But on the way we visited the Oak Alley plantation, with an original plantation house and a display of slave quarters showing how they would have lived. A very interesting and a beautiful place and well worth the visit.
The day after the stay at the casino, we moved on into Texas
to stay one night in Houston. While
there we visited the NASA Johnson space
centre. This was interesting, and informative, although having been to the
one in Florida, I preferred that one. Although Houston is interesting, it is
very much more of a working place behind the scenes. It was VERY hot that day as were many on the
holiday.
From Houston, we moved onto San Antonio were we stayed for
two nights. San Antonio for me was the
best of the cities we visited in Texas. A very attractive town and the river
walk with the mall attached to it was well worth the visit. We did go on a
guided tour which basically took us around the missions that were around then.
For me, once you have seen one, and the one that still continues today is the San Jose
mission the rest are just bricks. I guess it was just me, but that tour did
not do a lot. We did get to see the
famous Alamo, and that place carries
massive history for Texans of course.
From San Antonio we moved onto Austin, the capital of Texas. We stayed just the one night, and took in the
impressive capital building, and then in the evening we went on a bat
tour! Austin has the largest urban
bat colony in the USA and every evening at dusk they would fly from one of
the bridges to feed. Thousands upon thousands came from the Congress Bridge to
feed. We went on a water tour to view
them, and the very impressive skyline of Austin. For me, the bats were a
letdown, but others saw plenty.
On after Austin for a two night stay in Fort Worth, stopping on the way in Waco for lunch. Waco is a town
that is in my young western book reading history as several of the ‘cowboys’
came from there or went through there on the famous ‘Chisholm Trail’.
There is a huge arrangement of castings of the long horned cattle that
travelled through there. (See the
photos)
Onto Fort Worth to stay in a hotel next to the stockyards and a real ‘western
town’ with cowboys and shops selling western clothes, etc. There was also a
cattle drive twice every day where cowboys pushed huge long horn cattle through
the streets. Billy Bob’s the biggest
world’s largest honky-tonk was just a short walk from our hotel. We did not manage to get there but others in
the party did. We were just too tired
from the heat!
While in Fort Worth we took a part day visit to Dallas to visit if we wanted the 6th Floor museum from where JFK was supposedly murdered by Lee Harvey Oswald. There is still a lot of dispute about this, but I do believe that the death of Kennedy changed the world, and not for the good.
Photos below depict some castings in Dallas of the huge cattle trails and another of the area known as the Grassy Knoll just next to where JFK was shot.
From Fort Worth we travelled onto Little Rock, Arkansas, the childhood home
of Bill Clinton. We did see around his early home and had a chance to go to the
Clinton presidential library.
That was not for us, so we walked to the town for a bite to eat. Little Rock is
really a one horse town with its claim to fame being Bill Clinton.
After Little Rock we travelled onto Tennessee for a two
night stay and a busy time! We first went to the Peabody Hotel to see the daily
Peabody Duck march. Check out the link to see all about it. A really luxury
hotel where the ducks get their own room!
And then into Memphis
itself with free time in this fascinating city. All the music in the world
there from Blues to rock on Beale street etc. We walked around taking in the
blues places, and found an American soda fountain where we had one of the best
milkshakes I have ever tasted! And then with time in hand before being picked
up by the coach, we went to the
Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul museum with its fascinating display of the history of
Memphis music.
Staying in Memphis we visited Sun Studios one of the highlights of the
city tour where in 1951 Rock ‘n’ Roll came to life.
And of course the tour to Graceland to visit the world famous place
that Elvis Presley made his home. Going
around this place, that looks far smaller on the outside than you would think
but goes down and up and is like a Tardis on the inside! Just a small note that you may not have
known. NOBODY not even the security guards are allowed upstairs. This is where
Elvis passed away and the family have said that area is not for the public.
We did see the graves of Elvis, his mother, father and
grandmother though, and that was moving as was the whole tour.
We also paid a
small amount extra for the complex
visit. That was well worth the money, as we saw so much more including the cars
that he owned, many of his outfits, his guitars, and aeroplanes. All in all a
fantastic day out and a truly brilliant hotel to stay in.
Our final stop and hotel was in Nashville, Tennessee the home of
country music! I am a country music fan, and this was where the whole trip
started, by me looking for a holiday that would include Nashville. We took the
excursion to the Country Music
Hall of Fame and then after that to Studio B where Elvis and many, many
others recorded huge hits. The ‘Hall of
Fame’ is a huge building encompassing three floors of memorabilia of music and
the people that made the hits that still are around today. Stage clothes,
guitars. Cars, gold and silver records covering walls. If you are a country music fan this is the Mecca
for it.
And then onto Studio B for
a tour and hearing about the amount of massive hits that were made there.
Standing on the spot that Elvis used to stand to sing the 280 records that he
made in this studio. A great day out.
For myself, I could have done with one more day there, as I did not get a
chance to explore the honky-tonk bars and shops etc that make up this great
city.
But this amazing trip of a lifetime was now over and it was
onto the airport in Atlanta the next day. We did have one more stop on the way
to the airport for a short break and that was at Chattanooga to see the ‘Chattanooga Choo Choo’
as made famous in the Glen Miller song. (Look it up on Google!) Enjoy the
YouTube video!
All in all a fantastic, amazing trip and one we will never
forget. So good we have booked with the same company for next year going to the
East, visiting Boston, Washington and New York among others.
