The kids had the whole week of Thanksgiving off from school, so we decided to take advantage of it! We spent the autumn break road-tripping to New Orleans, crossing off several states for the kids and even one more for Paul.
The 2,440-mile round-trip drive presented Paul with his first visit to Arkansas, and Edith also visited Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama for the first time. With some slight detours, Atticus added not only those states, but also Texas and Georgia -- two that Edith visited before he was born.
But the goal of the week wasn't just to get the kids to 40 states total and Paul to 48 (although that didn't hurt!). We did a lot of sightseeing and relaxing, although the kids will tell you their favorite part was the indoor pool.
The trip south took several hours longer than the trip home, both because we spent the extra time to cross the Texas state line, but also because we spent a couple of hours in Memphis. Edith became a convert to barbecue after lunch at Charles Vergo's Rendezvous, an old-school classic restaurant in the basement of an alley building downtown. A few blocks away was the famous Beale Street, with a surprising number of tourists for the middle of the day. No neon or bar stops, but we took some photos -- including on tin front of an Elvis statue. (Graceland will have to wait for another day.)
Texas did indeed add several extra hours to the drive, but I couldn't get so close without crossing the state off of Atticus's list. Texarkana was the destination, just across the border and back. We made a failed attempt to find a "Smokey and the Bandit" mural that may or may not have ever existed. Sadly, we didn't even pick up a case of Coors.
Next week: Spending Edith's 10th birthday in New Orleans!
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