Life at Cloverhill

Honeymoon Road Trip Travel

Honeymoon Road Trip – Part 1: Heading out on the Open Road {Nashville & Arriving in Laurel}

At the beginning of this month we got back from an epic sixteen day road trip through the Southern US for our honeymoon. It is hands down one of the best times we’ve ever had. So much to see and so much to do. We drove through sixteen states (Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York. phew.) and were on the road for somewhere around 7500 km (4660 miles). I talked a bit before about where we were planning to go and a big thank you to everyone who sent us recommendations! I’m breaking up the trip into a series of posts over the next few weeks and I’m warning you that they’ll be picture heavy. I took thousands of photos and I’m slowly editing them late each night as I try to pare them down for the posts. By the end of this – I can almost guarantee that you’re going to want to pack your bags and head out on the open road yourself.

DAY 1

Our goal for the first day was to get as far South as we could. We set a lofty goal of Nashville and even booked a hotel there to force ourselves to keep going. It was our longest day on the road, but it also seemed to go by really fast – I guess we were both just so excited to finally be on the road!

Our first stop was to McDonalds in town for breakfast. It may seem odd but it’s a tradition in my family. I can remember going on RV road trips and we’d always pick up our breakfast on the way from the McDonalds just down the street from my parents’ house – egg mcmuffins and hashbrowns all around. This time we got breakfast burritos and I really think I need to learn how to make these so we can have them at home.

We got on the road and made our way across Southern Ontario towards Windsor to cross the Ambassador Bridge to Detroit. We stopped for a late lunch/early dinner at a Cracker Barrel near Dayton, Ohio. It’s one of Garrett’s favourite places to eat when we’re on the road and you won’t find me complaining about it. I can never get enough of those buttermilk biscuits and I really need to make the grilled chicken tenderloin at home soon.

I always love going through the “general store” to browse all the goodies and spotted this book that my Twitter-obsessed mama would love.

As we were leaving the parking lot, I snapped a shot of this super fun retro Denny’s, even though we didn’t eat there. #americana

The rest of the day was spent driving over bridges, through tunnels and past lots and lots of farmland. I read this book out loud while Garrett drove – it was just what we needed to get into the Southern state-of-mind.

 It didn’t take long until we started feeling we were getting close.

As we started to get farther South, the foliage was so lush! A really nice contrast to what we’d been having back at home earlier this spring.

We rolled into Nashville around 11pm local time and as much as we would have loved to just crash – but we were in NASHVILLE on a SATURDAY NIGHT! You can’t go to sleep when you think of that. So we drove down to Broadway and parked the car.

After a quick walk down the strip we heard the music coming from Roberts Western World and it pulled us in. Nathan Belt and The Buckles were playing an awesome rockabilly set, so we grabbed some beers and stayed to listen for awhile. Then the reality of being on the road for almost 14 hours set in and we were both ready to hit the hay.

DAY 2

We had another driving day ahead of us, but at least this one had time for a few stops along the way and we’d be at our destination in time for dinner.

I propped up a pillow, threw on some shades and had a little nap.

 While Garrett listened to local radio and took the wheel.

It was a very dreary day at the beginning, but that didn’t take away from the beautiful scenery around us…and I still managed to get a slight sunburn on one side.

We stopped into Birmingham, Alabama to get some supplies at Target and Garrett thought he’d get a haircut at this place in the plaza. He normally does it himself, but we’re on vacation, so why not!

He met up with me in a shop and I couldn’t stop staring at his head. It was the worst hair cut I’ve ever seen on him. He couldn’t see it , but it was all choppy on the sides (see that little tuft at the back) and had funky lines going on at the top. We couldn’t help but laugh…and then walk back to the shop to kindly ask the lady to fix it up a little. The good thing about a bad haircut on a guy is that it was grown out within a few days, but it was pretty funny to see.

It wasn’t long past Birmingham when we started seeing signs pointing us to Laurel, Mississippi (and New Orleans too). I should back up and tell you why we were stopping in a small town in rural Mississippi.

In 2012 I came across a Hooked on Houses post that showed this beautiful 1925 craftsman that was lovingly being taken care of by Erin & Ben Napier. When I realized that these folks were our age and had this amazing home, I went over to Erin’s blog Make Something Good Today and it was so up my alley. It’s one the blogs I have to read everyday – she is such a beautiful person inside and out, and talented like you wouldn’t believe. Just check out her wedding stationary company, Lucky Luxe (I’ll be doing a post on that later this summer).

Fast forward to this fall when I was telling her about our plans for our Southern US honeymoon road trip and she was an unbelievable help with recommendations for where to go/stay/eat. I just started printing off her emails to put in a binder to take with us because they were full of so much useful information. We realized we’d be passing by Laurel on our way to New Orleans and I knew that we just had to stop in to see Erin, Ben and the whole Laurel gang I’ve gotten to know through Instagram.

When I told Erin we’d be staying in Laurel for the night, she would hear nothing of us staying out by the highway and called over to the Wisteria Bed & Breakfast in town to book our room for us. Just look at this place!

The whole place was like something out of a movie.

Our room was HUGE and incredibly reasonable. I’ll share more photos of it tomorrow, but this is showing about half our room.

When we walked in, Garrett spotted a sweet little package left by Erin. Mississippi shaped sugar cookies with little hearts for Laurel made by The Bake Shop. A perfect treat to nibble on while we settled into our room.

We headed over to Erin’s house for dinner and were joined by her dear friend/cousin-in-law Mallorie and her sweet little daughter Lucy. I was in such shock to actually meet all of these lovely ladies in person that I completely forgot to take my camera out of my bag. #bloggerfail

Thankfully I was able to grab these photos from the post Erin did. She made an awesome dinner – spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread, salad (with this amazing dressing), sweet tea (our first time trying it) and then watermelon with Louisiana strawberries to top it off. After two long days on the road, it was so great to have real food and great company.

They also gave us some completely unexpected (and incredibly thoughtful gifts), including this Map of Canada (I’m showing them where we live). We brought our own Canadian goodies for them too, including one of my favourites – Coffee Crisp. It was a big hit there too.

We walked Mallorie and Lucy back home around the corner and took a sneak peek of their awesome home (again…I wish I took pictures!), then it was around the block with Erin and Ben’s dog while we waited for Ben to get home. I could have stayed up all night talking to them but they had a big day planned for us in Laurel, and I can’t wait to tell you all about it.

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Just in case you’ve missed the previous Honeymoon Road Trip posts:


Comments

  1. Well this is the coolest EVER. I’m so glad we finally got to really hang out! Mal and Ben and I are all poring over this at dinner!

  2. Love the pictures so far! Can’t wait to see the rest. Looks like you guys had a great time!

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