New Orleans

A big drive south from Memphis led us into Louisiana where we spent three nights in New Orleans.

Us in Jackson Square in the French Quarter of New Orleans. St Louis Cathedral is in the background.
We went for a walk through the Barataria Preserve south of New Orleans. This area is dense swampland inhabited by lots of scary things (namely alligators, snakes and spiders) and some other not-so-scary things that managed to scare us the most - like squirrels! There is an alligator in the photo above but it's a little hard to see.
Alligator lounging in the mud.
Another alligator.
MC in the swamp.

We also took an airboat ride through the swamp and saw loads more alligators and birds. The following photos are taken from the boat.



It looks like grass but we're still in the swamp gliding through the weeds.


Gators in the water.





Back in the city - the historic French Quarter with its elegant Caribbean-colonial architecture.
Jackson Square in the heart of the French Quarter. This part of the city feels very European.

We have been spoilt with beautiful warm weather in New Orleans, hopefully it follows us all the way to Texas which is the next roadtrip stop.

Nashville and Memphis

Emerging from the Great Smoky Mountains, we very quickly found civilisation again in country music and cowboy-crazy Nashville.

The neon lights of lower Broadway, Nashville - lined with honky-tonks and cowboy outfit souvenir shops.
The Willie Nelson museum, established when Willie sold all his worldly goods to pay off $16.7 million in unpaid taxes in the early 1990s.
The Walk of Fame. Dolly even owns her own theme park ('Dollywood!') just out of Nashville.
The Ryman Auditorium, the so-called 'Mother Church of Country Music'.
The Country Music Hall of Fame.
Our motel in Nashville, complete with honky-tonk band playing by the pool.

After two nights in Nashville, we drove west to Memphis, quite a sad city with countless abandoned buildings.
It doesn't look much from the outside, but inside is a bustling diner with a neverending queue of people waiting to try the best fried chicken in the world (allegedly). It was pretty good. And cheap.
The Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated in 1968.
Elvis was discovered in Memphis and bought Graceland in 1957. He lived here till his death in an upstairs bedroom in 1977.
Graceland. Its Colonial-style exterior belies a completely retro 70s look after Elvis redecorated in 1974 with vinyl walls, fake waterfalls and green shag-carpet ceiling.
The front room, complete with 15ft couch on the right.
Elvis's Wall of Fame. And an Elvis impersonator...
Some of his funky one-pieces.
His grave in the Meditation Garden at Graceland.

After lots of Southern fried chicken and country music overload, we headed south to our next stop - New Orleans.

Skyline Drive, Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smoky Mountains

After a busy few weeks seeing the big northeastern cities, we were quite happy to get off the beaten track a little and drive inland from Washington DC towards the Shenandoah National Park. The park lies 75 miles west of DC and kicks off with the Skyline Drive, a 105 mile-long road running down the spine of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Impressive views abound throughout the Skyline Drive.
We saw lots of wildlife on this drive, including this wild turkey.
And this white-tailed deer.
Our first night tenting! Cooking hotdogs and smores for dinner.
A woodpecker.
Pretty fall colours on the Appalachian Trail.
Our campsite along the Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park.
Black bear! We were a little scared in the tent that night after seeing this guy earlier in the day - John even slept without his precious eyemask and earplugs and was well-prepared with a piece of wood beside his pillow so MC felt quite safe....!!
Where the Skyline Drive ends, the Blue Ridge Parkway picks up, running from the southern Appalachian ridge in Shenandoah National Park to North Carolina's Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
You can sort of see in this photo why they're called the Blue Ridge mountains.
More pretty views. Unfortunately our timing was a little too early for any spectacular fall colours but some of the leaves are starting to turn here.
Deliverance-like river along the Parkway.
Scenic Mabry Mill.
More views from the drive.
There are lots of hiking trails off the Parkway, we took a short one to see some waterfalls.


Two little waterfalls.

The Blue Ridge Parkway ends at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park which straddles the North Carolina-Tennessee border. The mountains (Southern Appalachians) here are the world's oldest mountain range.
John on the futuristic observation tower on Clingman's Dome - the highest point in the park at 6643 feet.
On top of old Smoky!
MC on Clingman's Dome.
MC's shop in Cherokee.
More wild animals - male elk in the Smoky mountains.

Our journey through the Smokies into Tennessee leads us to our next stop - Nashville.