Dearies, come along with us as we journeyed across America the Beautiful, from sea to shining sea! In 2016 we took a road trip as we unexpectedly moved from California to Georgia and as we traveled we were struck by the diverse beauty of the USA as we watched the landscapes change from the West Coast to the East Coast on the southern most route. We didn’t have much time to plan, and little money, and it took us 6 days to travel from California to Georgia. Here are the charming places we stopped at on the way:
1 minute video “time lapse” of us crossing the the country “by foot”
“O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed his grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea!”
Enjoy a 20 minute vlog of our wild southern road trip adventures!
CALIFORNIA
We squeezed in one last trip to the happiest place on earth and said goodbye for now to California…
ARIZONA
Stepped into the old west…Old Tucson is like stepping straight into the old west. Since the 1940s, hundreds of famous western movies have been made here at this famous filming location. Everywhere you look it’s easy to imagine John Wayne strutting down the dusty streets… …or Clint Eastwood and his posse having a shoot out. As we watched the sunset upon the wild Arizona hills covered in cactus we arrived in Texas.
TEXAS
We tried to find the basement of The Alamo in San Antonio, with no such success. Even though Pee-wee’s Big Adventure brought us there we learned some amazing history about the war and Davy Crockett. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take any photos inside.
LOUISIANA
Our next destination was Louisiana where we stopped in Lake Charles and swooned over all the southern mansions and even got to hold a baby alligator.
New Orleans was the stop we were most excited about so we tried to spend some extra time there. We ventured out into the French Quarter on a Friday night and got were a little disillusioned by the wild partying on Bourbon Street, a far cry from the evening magic of the New Orleans Square at Disneyland. However, the next day, despite the Saturday crowds, we discovered the charming enchantment of New Orleans.
We couldn’t get enough of all the decorative iron work and ferns. Of course we had to get gumbo and beignets, DELICIOUS!Perhaps one of our most favorite moments of our trip was strolling around the historic garden district in that evening. Every mansion was a dream, and we realized that dreams do come true in New Orleans (Cue “The Princess and the Frog).
ALABAMA
Our next stop and last night on the road was spent in Montgomery, Alabama. We went into the capital city on a Sunday afternoon to find it almost completely vacant, except for the families dressed in their Sunday best, walking out of old brick churches. We visited the first white house of the confederacy and the church that Martin Luther King Jr. was a preacher at. A lantern is lit there in his remembrance and the footprints of those who marched from Selma to Montgomery in peaceful protest of civil rights, where Martin deliver his speech in 1965: “How long? Not long!”
We hope you enjoyed coming with us and we soon plan to share more of our adventures that wild year of volunteering via Workaway and how it changed our lives! Have you ever taken a big road trip across America? Bye For Now, -Jonas & Lindsay
