Leaving Memphis we were once again excited. We were headed south back into Mississippi to the capitol city of Jackson where family members from New York and New Jersey were flying to meet us for a week on the road. We packed Bubbles up and we were off. Soon enough we were driving south through the rolling hills of northern Mississippi. This was quite the contrast from the delta region of the state that we had been driving through a week or so earlier. In the morning, sun and dew made the area almost looked like someone had taken a piece of Ireland and stuck it here in the southern USA.
In a few hours we approached the outskirts of Jackson and got to work preparing for our guests. We stopped by a few stores picking up some needed items for Bubbles before checking into our hotel (Bubbles can only accommodate Julie & I for sleeping). The big moment had then arrived. It was time to pick them up!
Arriving were my mom Cindy and my Aunt Lorri! For those that have been reading this blog for quite a while you may remember my mom had visited us previously for our Boise to Seattle leg of our journey. She enjoyed it so much that she wanted to do another trip with us. She had also convinced my aunt to come along and Julie and I were excited to be picking them up and showing them a good time for a week. Neither my mom nor aunt had ever been to Mississippi before and were pretty excited once they got off the plane. Once we saw them and exchanged hugs and how are you’s they eagerly told us how once off the plane people were welcoming them to Jackson. (Something like this does not happen in the northeast).
From the airport we headed back to the hotel where we settled in before heading to the lobby for a free happy hour (Go Jackson Marriott!). We then headed to a Spanish Tapas restaurant called Babalu in the cities Fondren neighborhood. The food was great and the conversation even better. We had not seen or been able to catch up with family since we left Rochester in January. It was a great feeling. After dinner we headed back to the hotel to rest up for our day of exploring Jackson tomorrow.
The next day we woke up, gathered the family and we were off. As we were once again in a capitol city the first stop was the state capitol building. As Jackson is a fairly small city it did not take long to drive downtown and find parking. This capitol building (like most of them) did not disappoint. The building was built in 1903 in the Beaux Arts style (A mixture of Italian-Roman, French and Baroque styles). Needless to say it was beautiful. As there were no tours that day we took our own tour. We wandered the building for a good hour before heading outside.
From the capitol building we wandered around downtown stopping at a restaurant called the Parlor Market (great food!) for lunch. Julie’s former co-worker recommended it and we loved it too! We then started to wander into what Google Maps had labeled as the “Historic District” but as it was pretty run down we decided enough of that and headed back to the van. Once in the van we decided to drive around the historic area for a bit. This was a bit sad as we could tell that at one time the neighborhood was vibrant and nice but in 2018 the buildings looked like they were all about to fall down with the yards being overgrown for the most part. As there wasn’t too much else to see in Jackson proper we headed a little north to the town of Madison where one of Julie’s former coworkers had once lived. To get there we took the Natchez-Trace parkway (which we had previously taken in our 1st excursion into Mississippi a week or so prior) stopping at a few places along the Ross Barnett Reservoir. The drive was very nice with water views along the way. From the parkway we headed into Madison, which turned out to be a bit smaller than we had anticipated. We stopped in a few of its stores browsing a bit before heading back to Jackson for dinner and our hotel.
The next day we packed up and hit the road. Today we were headed across the border to the college town of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. As this wasn’t the longest drive in the world (only roughly 3 hours) we took our time and decided to explore a town called Meridian just before we crossed the border into AL. We felt pretty lucky to randomly choose Meridian to stop in because as it turned out it became our favorite town in MS. Meridian as smaller towns go is on the larger end. For the most part all storefronts were full and work was being done all over the town to update and beautify the streets. While in Meridian we stopped in a place called Weidmann’s for lunch. This place was an older style restaurant (open since 1870) and it was packed. One of the unique things in Weidmann’s was their bread and butter to start, which they didn’t actually have. We were told that during WW2 there was rationing of bread and butter so they started to make their own peanut butter and serve it with Ritz crackers. People seemed to like it so after the war ended they kept this up and almost 80 years later this tradition has continued. After a great meal at Weidmann’s we continued down I-20 to Tuscaloosa.
Arriving mid afternoon we headed to downtown Tuscaloosa and started to walk around. Tuscaloosa it turned out was a vibrant and exciting college town. As we started to walk around we noticed a small beverage store with a sign out front alluding to to-go drinks as it was Friday. We stopped in and asked what was happening today. We were told that since it was Friday the town put a law in place that in downtown city limits you could buy a beer from a few licensed stores and drink while you shop. We thought this was pretty neat so we bought a few and headed out. Unfortunately for us the weather turned so we enjoyed our beer inside the store but nonetheless it was tasty. From the beverage store we continued our happy hour ways stopping at Black Warrior Brewing Co. for a flight then walking over to Jim N’ Nicks Bar-B-Q for dinner. While Jim N’ Nicks is a chain it’s a particularly good chain. Here we encountered our first taste of Alabama White BBQ Sauce. It was amazing!
For those of you keeping up with our travels you know that we (and by we I mean mostly Bryan, who’s writing this) love BBQ. As there are different styles of cooking BBQ depending on where you are (pulled pork in the Carolina’s, Ribs in Memphis & Kansas City and beef in Texas) there are also different sauces depending on where you are in the country. Most sauces now a days you can find in your local grocery store but Alabama White Sauce hasn’t made it that far yet out of Alabama. It is a peppery mayo based sauce that goes well with chicken or turkey. All four of us tried this sauce with our meals and all gave it 2 thumbs up. After a great meal at Jim N’ Nicks we headed back to Bubbles and to our hotel for the night.
The next day we woke up ready to explore Tuscaloosa a bit more. We hopped in Bubbles and headed downtown. To our luck and surprise we stumbled upon a festival. The Druid City Arts Festival was going on that morning so we checked it out. It turned out to be pretty neat with vendors selling everything from clothing to clocks and every sort of craft in-between. There was also a stage with local musicians performing. The only downside to this was that again it was a windy and slightly rainy day. As this was the case we hopped in Bubbles and drove over to the University of Alabama to check it out. As with most major universities the school was huge. It seemed to go on for miles. It was pretty impressive as even though it was huge with building after building it was immaculately maintained. The landscaping, buildings, roads, everything was top notch. From the University we drove back downtown for a quick lunch before heading back to Bubbles and the quick hour drive to the largest city in the state….Birmingham!
Next up….the Careys explore the beautiful city of Birmingham.
