We
all have that wonderfully cinematic image in our heads of the ‘Great American
Road Trip’. You know the cliché: the
wind whistling through your hair as you manoeuvre the open-topped sports car
through the majestic scenery of the open plain; the stereo pumping whilst the
sun beats down upon your journey to the next adventure.
Then
you remember your children in the backseat and, suddenly, the dream
shatters. You can only envisage the car
sickness, the sticky sweet wrappers and the nursery rhymes on loop as you
tackle the rush hour traffic of another unidentifiable North American town.
But, with a
little preparation and a sense of adventure, that once-in-a-lifetime road trip
through the dramatic scenery of the USA with the children is something you’ll
never ever regret.
So,
when we decided to visit the southern states of the USA, we knew a road trip
was the only way to see the real America. It would be an opportunity to see the iconic
landmarks of this wonderful country whilst taking the trip at our own pace,
choosing which aspects of Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana and
Alabama we wanted to see.
I
must admit that Coca-Cola World was an unusual location to kickstart the
holiday but, in the searing and sultry heat of Atlanta, the prospect of an
air-conditioned building with free ice-cold drinks, was far too tempting. The internationally-recognisable neon signage
of Coca-Cola took us on an unexpectedly interesting and entertaining beverage
adventure. When pharmacist John
Pemberton first concocted his drink in 1886, I doubt very much if he ever
dreamt of the worldwide monopoly that would flow from its success. In the Product Tasting Center, visitors can
try any of the franchised products from around the world. To see the children clutching their plastic
cups and tearing around the siphons, loading up on sugar for the next leg of
our trip was slightly unsettling but they were having too much fun tasting bizarre
combinations of Estonian Blueberry and Bahaman Banana to make them stop! And, as if one global conglomerate wasn't enough, we then stopped at the nearest Walmart to spend holiday money on lego creations, which are dirt cheap in the US. Now, that was a fun part of the holiday - attempting to get The Black Pearl back in our hand luggage!
After our
sugar-fuelled fizzy foray, our next mission was to fully explore the
wonderfully cosmopolitan city of Atlanta and her influence on the remarkable
life of Martin Luther King Junior. Nowhere
else in the world possesses such an electrifying history of civil rights and,
to be catapulted back in time to the inequality of 1950’s USA, was both
thought-provoking and profound.
Born
in Atlanta in 1929, King grew up in a suburb of the metropolis near to the
famous Ebenezer Baptist Church where his father would preach. This bastion of Christianity in Georgia is
situated directly opposite the Martin Luther King National Heritage Sight, a
museum which houses chilling footage of the Klu Klux Klan and key exhibits
detailing the Civil Rights Movement’s unfaltering mission. It is indeed humbling to consider that such
an iconic individual was born in such an unassuming neighbourhood yet went on
to represent a nation of citizens committed to positive change. For the children to be experience the life of
this great man was a real highlight of the trip. To listen to my son’s innocent questions and
to try answering them diplomatically and sensitively was a challenge. To begin our road trip in Atlanta put the
rest of the holiday into historical and cultural significance for us all.
In direct
contrast to the sombre history lesson in Atlanta, we drove on through the open
country to our next destination of Tupelo, Mississippi. Knowing that part of our planned trip was to
explore Elvis’ influence on popular culture, we were determined to see where The
King was born. The tiny two-roomed
clapper-boarded home where Elvis Aaron was born to Vernon and Gladys Presley in
1935 is now a Mississippi Historic Site and devoted fans swarm here to pay
their respects to the unassuming beginning of rock ‘n’ roll. It’s beautiful, calm and there is a
respectful serenity to the house. Having
listened to our Elvis CD on repeat all the way through Georgia, the kids were
quite in awe of this simple house with its deck swing and tiny rooms.
The
next day, in stark contrast, we journeyed over the state line to Tennessee and into
Memphis to follow in the trail of Elvis. Just outside Memphis, along an
indiscriminate stretch of highway is the 13 acre splendour that is
Graceland. Bought by a twenty two year
old Elvis Presley in 1957, this mecca for rock fans is a pilgrimage for over
half a million fans a year. Emotional
visitors are ferried around the site by minibuses and the audio guide starts
from the second you begin the musical journey up the winding drive to the
kitsch interior of Elvis’ heyday home.
Surprisingly, the house seems small and claustrophobic due to the cornucopia
of trinkets and souvenirs charting a megastar’s career. To see his grave at the end of the tour is
unexpectedly moving and the respectful silence stays with you.
To
complete our exploration into Elvis’ life, we then visited Sun Studios In
downtown Memphis where the music greats all recorded; grainy footage of Johnny
Cash and Jerry Lee performing are evocative of days gone by and, as you wait to
enter the museum, the small café takes you back to a vibe of rebellion and
revolution. The newspaper cuttings, the
jukebox and the sodas all make you feel as if you should be wearing ankle socks
and fooling around with a brylcreemed-haired boy in a leather jacket who Daddy just
wouldn’t approve of!
With
all the fun of a holiday such as this, practicalities do have to be considered
and accommodation is obviously a major cost of any holiday but on a road trip
through North America, it needn’t be a prohibitive outlay. If you’re willing to be spontaneous, there
are some amazing bargains to be found.
The trick, we found, was to source a motel/hotel voucher booklet at gas
stations or at the state visitor centres.
These books are free and are jam-packed full of vouchers for rooms along
whichever route you’re taking that day.
By not planning ahead, we were able to choose where to stop when we felt
we needed a break and, seeing that nearly all motel rooms come with two double
beds as standard, there’s plenty of room for an average family to sleep for
under $50 a night.
Obviously,
we did plan ahead to some degree and that little bit of research before we left
the UK was invaluable when it came to some of our favourite memories. In Vacherie, Louisiana, we had organised a
cottage in the grounds of Oak Alley, one of the most famous sugar plantations
of the south. Iconic 300 year-old oak
trees line the sumptuous quarter-mile path up to this ante-bellum beauty and staff dressed in period costume serve mint
juleps on the terrace overlooking the 25 historic acres of land leading down to
the banks of The Mississippi. To have
this stately home to ourselves at night was a highlight of the trip; equipped
with a torch, we left our former slave-quarters for an evening exploration (in
pyjamas) through the silhouettes of the mighty oaks. To hear the echoes of Oak Alley’s history
under a summer’s moon reminded us of the underlying cruelty of slavery in the south.
Another day another dollar and the mighty
Mississippi was beckoning us towards our next state of Louisiana with her rich history
and raw beauty. The seemingly-endless
Mississippi River following us, we drove through long sections of coastal marsh
over sweeping bridges which looked to be floating on the alligator-filled
swamps. Who needs in-car DVDs when you
have two eager kids with a bet on as to who will see the man-eating alligator
first?
We had been
warned about our next stopping point and I must admit that I was slightly
apprehensive in exploring New Orleans with two wide-eyed children in tow. I had been told to drive everywhere and to
stay centrally. Never one to be
conventional, however, I plumped for a house on the outskirts of the city, away
from the crowds in an original ‘shot-gun’ house. Built in the early 19th century,
these houses were designed to withstand a bullet attack on a house.
Consisting of
a narrow rectangular structure with three to five rooms in a row, these
structures would ensure that a bullet fired into the house from the front
doorway would fly cleanly to the other end of the house without taking a
victim. As I lay wide awake under the
mosquito net on our first night in ‘The Big Easy’, listening to the rumblings
of the monolithic cargo trains transporting goods across the continent, I
confess nerves and did perhaps check on the children more than was usual at
home!
As the sultry Louisiana morning sun rose in the sky, I realised that I
needn’t have worried and there, opened up in front of us, was a treasure trove
of delights. Beautifully
ornate iron balustrades looked down upon the narrow streets of La
Nouvelle-Orléans and each house stood proudly distinct from its neighbour with
its bright colours and individualised design.
This was a city unlike any other.
Matthew and Annie loved the laidback approach to life in the city and,
as we sat next to obscurely-wonderful people on the old wooden trams, I watched
their little faces trying to fathom how this place could be so wild and wacky
yet bear, simultaneously, the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in
2005.
As is wont with road trips, perhaps the most amazing day
came as a complete surprise. Tired of driving on our epic 500 mile
journey-in-a-day and needing lunch, we pulled off the I-85 freeway into
Montgomery, Alabama and parked in the first available spot we found. As I was faffing about in the boot, trying to
find more factor 50 to slather on my freckled-faced son, I absently-mindedly
read the sign next to me. We had parked
at the exact spot that Rosa Parks
had queued for the bus on that fateful December morning in 1955. The very spot where she refused to move from
her seat. Having already learned so much about Civil Rights when in Atlanta, it
seemed fortuitous that here we were standing at perhaps the most important bus
stop in modern world history. Further
exploration led us into the Rosa Parks Library and Museum where there is a
reconstruction of her famous bus with video footage of her involvement with
Luther King’s mission. For children,
this visual representation of the struggle really helps to contextualise the
events and, when the mock-up bus, shakes and rattles, it really does feel as if
you’ve been transported back to the injustice and inequality of yesteryear.
Arrival
back to Atlanta after our mammoth two-week journey saw us reflect on our family
adventure. Yes, there were tiring
days. The day we had breakfast in
Louisiana, elevenses in Mississippi, lunch in Alabama and dinner in Georgia was
a gruelling day of overtaking juggernauts on the endless highway for nine hours
but we saw so much and experienced the subtle changes as we crossed each state
line.
Even
through the epic travelling days, we loved every second of this amazing trip
and having Matthew and Annie in tow just enhanced the experiences. Seeing sights through the wonder of a child
is so refreshing and the enthusiasm for adventure in a six-year old is truly
contagious. As we dropped the hire car
back at Atlanta, we waved goodbye to our free-spirited adventure and began to
plan the next.
Would
we do a road trip again with two young children? You betcha!
To be in a spectacular country with adventures around every corner, planning
the trip together and deciding which aspect of ground-breaking history to
investigate next makes for a holiday of surprise, enlightenment and genuine
fascination.
Just
do it!
