greatescape2007

2008-02-28T21:04:00.001Z

An update is on its way...

Yes, we really did go, and yes we took photos and yes we had a great time and yes I kept notes... More news soon!

2007-07-18T11:36:00.000+01:00

Racing the clock to Nashville

Thank goodness for coffee! At 5.30ish we were up and (staggering) about, and best of all, just about on time. So far so good. Jo locked up the cabin while I psyched myself up for another epic drive. The worst part of it was going to be the first 5 minutes, gingerly inching down that bloody hill in the dark. Not much fun in daylight, so you can imagine how it felt when you couldn’t really see the edge of the road you were about to drive off.

We made it down without incident, the satnav lady gave us the quickest route to Nashville, and it wasn’t looking good. We had about 3 and a half hours to get there, if all went to plan, and while we weren’t convinced we would make it, we definitely pointed in the right direction, so not much to do other than get on with it. Besides, everyone drives so fast, and it was still early morning, and we probably wouldn’t need to stop for McDonalds…

With Jo keeping an eye on the satnav and me keeping both eyes on the road, our ears were listening out for country music on the radio because our big plan for that night was a show at the Grand Ole Opry, and we had no idea what to expect!

Humming along to the radio and probably driving faster than we should have, we got a bit of a surprise about two hours into our journey. It turns out that when you cross into Middle Tennessee (where Nashville is) from East Tennessee (where Cosby is), you move into the Central Time Zone. And it also works out that it was in our favour, we got an extra hour! At first when the timecheck was done on the radio I thought the announcer was doing a John Humphries and getting mixed up with his hours, but sure enough the clock on our clever wee car changed as well.

We were still cutting it fine, though, and after a bit of trouble just outside Nashville where we hit the tail end of rush hour, we hit Nashville Farmers Market with 10 minutes to spare. Thank goodness you can’t miss the big pink bus in the car park!

2007-07-17T11:34:00.000+01:00

A spare day in Ridge Retreat

With our extra day in the area, we decided to take another drive along to Gatlinburg, specifically the arts and crafts area. Both Jo and I are very crafty, in the best possible way, and were looking out for new ideas, as well as souvenirs and gifts to take home. I loved the quilts and wall-hangings in the cabin, and was interested in trying to find something similar for back home – in fact I’d been talking about it before I even set off for the States. After lunch in the area, we quickly discovered that the do it yourself versions of quilts were more in our price range than the pre-made versions, we stocked up on patterns and fabrics, had a bit of a potter around a few of the different areas (looking at candles, woodcrafts, paintings and more pottery, all made locally, if not onsite) and headed back to the cabin to get packed up, tidied up and have once last shot of the hot tub on our last day of luxury!

In our haste to book an extra day at Ridge Retreat, we forgot why we had intended to drive to Nashville a day earlier, because we were due on a tour bus at 10am in central Nashville the next morning! And Nashville is a good 4 hours’ drive from Cosby.
There was only one thing for it, fire up the barbie, load up the car, finish the beers and get an early night!

2007-07-15T11:33:00.000+01:00

Hooray for Dollywood!

Today was Dollywood day! I love theme parks and I love Dolly, so today was always going to be a fun day. Up bright and early again, we saw the crowds at Rockefeller Center on NBC’s morning show, and looked forward to getting morning coffee at Dean and Deluca’s in a couple of weeks’ time. Then we snapped out of it and jumped in the car because we knew Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge were bound to be busy on a summer weekend and we wanted as much time in the park as we could get. If I’d known quite how bad Pigeon Forge was going to be (traffic-wise, we’ll get onto the tourist tat in a minute…), I think we’d have parked the car in Gatlinburg and hopped on the Dolly Trolley. We ended up bumper to bumper and even the sat nav lady was confused by the road layout of the tackiest place on earth. It was like as if a giant sat down for a meal of Blackpool, the “attractions” at Niagara Falls, the cheap end of the Vegas strip and that rancid shopping mall where the DMV is in Herald Square then sicked it all back up again.

And yes, we did kind of realise it was going to be like that, but we didn’t bank on the sheer scale of it all. The Gatlinburg sky ride, which we’d also planned to do, was a bit too vertiginous for our liking, as well – some things you just can’t get the scale of from the internet. So by the time we got to Dollywood, we were settled into just the right kind of tacky, and ready to have some serious fun. Everything from the uniforms of the staff down to the architecture of the buildings was lots of fun, and of course, Dolly’s butterflies were on everything! We started off enjoying the thrill rides, and the wet rides, and wandering around getting a feel for the place. We saw the eagle enclosure and took in part of a bird show, then wandered around the showcases of traditional local crafts and business. By far my favourite part of the day, however, was (and this won’t come as a surprise to many people) was lunch! I’d seen some great reviews of Aunt Granny’s, a traditional meat-and-three cafeteria onsite, and we weren’t disappointed. The aircon meant that even while it was 90 degrees outside, inside there was plenty of sweet tea and down home cooking, give me roast chicken, spuds, cabbage and gravy, and I’m more than happy. We didn’t even have room for dessert.

After lunch we took in a few more rides, did a bit of shopping and saw a magic show, before taking the steam train for one last look around the grounds. I would recommend a day out at Dollywood to everyone, even if you hate country or traditional music, there’ll be something you like here. The gift shop is an experience in itself, we came away with Dolly t-shirts, postcards, a few Dolly emery boards, a cookbook, the ubiquitous pencil (I’m a collector), some fragranced potholders and all kinds of other stuff. Fantastic!

Then it was back to the cabin for a good rest after what turned out to be a long day – we only just made it back before it turned dark. And we didn’t want to be out in that!

2007-07-14T11:31:00.000+01:00

The Smoky Mountains and home sweet home

Up bright and early for the next day of our adventure, we pootled along the Cosby Highway to the rental office for our original cabin. Greeted with the remark ‘so you girls had a bit of an adventure last night’ we realised just how small the community was! The owners of Cosby Creek Cabins did us proud by not only waiving the charge for the previous night’s rental but also offering us an alternative, more Mazda 6-friendly cabin. It was with some trepidation that we set off for another back road, uphill all the way (and yes that means more sheer drops either side), but to our amazement, we arrived at one of the most stunning buildings I’ve ever seen, let alone stayed in. They’d done us proud, I think they gave us one of their best units and we were on a mission for the rest of the day to enjoy it. After 10 minutes, we decided that 2 nights just wasn’t enough and got on the phone to change our plans. We decided to knock a night off our visit to Nashville and add one to our stay in Cosby.

Everything about the house (Ridge Retreat) was amazing, the building, the view, the location, the sun flooding onto the porch, the hot tub, the enormous fridge, the outdoor grill, the games room, the lawn, the quilts and wall-hangings, the mezzanine en-suite bedroom, the bathroom on every floor and the cubby-type bedrooms. We were even pleased to see a washing machine! We decided to scrap our plans for the day, hit the supermarket and stock up on magazines, nibbles, barbecue food and beers – rock on! The news of the floods at home and the almost incessant rain we’d had earlier in the year made us want to make the most of our good fortune and enjoy the weather.

Of course you can’t send two girls just to the supermarket when there are other shops in the vicinity. A few blocks away from the supermarket is the Gatlinburg arts and crafts community. We felt like we were getting the full down home experience by dropping in at a couple of outlets, selling reclaimed and recycled just about everything, shops making pottery, wall hangings, goats milk soap, lye soap (a local specialty) and we even met one of the area’s hardest workers, Willy the kid, kitted out in a trendy studded collar and happy as anything to see visitors. A few dollars lighter, we headed back to the cabin and set about the serious business of hot-tubbing, drinking, relaxing and barbecuing.

So the sunshine was the highlight of the day, but oh my goodness, when darkness falls in the Smoky Mountains, it falls hard! City girl that I am, I have never been so glad to sleep with a light (and a Bridezillas marathon on TV) on in my life! It’s not just the absolute pitch darkness, but the creepy bug noises that go with it – I’m with Jo on this, who goes camping in that? I had already been bitten by something awful as well as being bitten by at least a dozen slightly less awful things, and I have to recommend the Savlon spray we had with us, over any of the repellent we used. It’s going to happen, you’re better to try and make yourself feel better afterwards instead of trying to prevent the inevitable. Settled down on the couch with the night outside and the doors very firmly locked, the house even started making creepy noises – at least I hope it was the house, we started to wonder if we had done the right thing by extending our stay. Believe it or not, we managed to find Most Haunted on one of the more obscure cable channels and that didn’t improve matters either. Once we’d gotten over ourselves, we had a relatively early night looking forward to the next day of our holiday.

2007-07-13T11:29:00.001+01:00

On the road

Thanks to the time difference and a general air of excitement, we were up and about bang on time at 5am (the more socially-acceptable 10am on UK time). We waited patiently for the first hourly shuttle bus of the day, we weren’t going to miss that baby and face the wrath of an NY cab driver on a short fare again, to take us to the JetBlue terminal in time for our 7am flight to Charlotte, North Carolina. We boarded the plane after enjoying a quick (and so cheap!) breakfast in the terminal. Anyone who knows me, knows how much I hate airports, hate leaving for the airport, hate waiting at the airport etc, and it went like a dream for once. JetBlue was amazing, we got to watch real time actual live telly! How does that work? Why can’t they put it in trains or other people’s planes. JetBlue should start transatlantic flights, I’d never fly with anyone else ever again. At the time, the airline was also sponsoring the Simpsons movie, so we spent the flight flicking between the dedicated Simpsons channel (with loads of ‘new to us’ episodes) and MTV for the truly atrocious and utterly addictive My Super Sweet Sixteen.

After only 2 hours, we landed at Charlotte, picked up the first of many souvenirs at the airport gift shop, reclaimed our luggage and hopped on board the Hertz courtesy bus to go and pick up our shiny new car. We were expecting a Toyota Corolla (I drive an Aygo at home), and were shocked to find a big shiny gold Mazda 6. Luxury! Having only driven without instruction about 10 times, the shine of the lovely car was slightly dulled by an abject terror of driving. Thank goodness for SatNav and Jo keeping me on the straight and narrow, one less thing for me to worry about while we were on the road. So after kind of getting lost on the outskirts of Charlotte (which was not an unpleasant experience, except for when I did about five miles with the handbrake on), we pointed the car in the direction of Chimney Rock and went for it! As the suburbs turned into the wilds of North Carolina, we had plenty to look at outside the car, and not just the sheer drop on either side of the winding roads.

We stopped off at Chimney Rock for a spot of hiking, but between readjusting my legs to drive without a clutch pedal and doing a fair old climb up to the top of Chimney Rock, my legs were aching and a wee bit shaky when we got back to the car. No time for malingerers though, we had a luxury log cabin to get to! It wasn’t quite lunchtime and already we felt like we’d achieved loads. Next stop was Bat Cave (what a name!) and an unscheduled pitstop at Lake Lure for some lunch, a look at the beach, and the local wildlife. En route to Cosby, TN, we had our first taste of freeway driving, including along a stretch sponsored by Al Gore, and quickly learned that nobody BUT NOBODY sticks to the speed limit! You get beeped at by other motorists until you break the law. Things had gone like clockwork all day, but just as we were almost at our rental in Cosby, we took one turn too far on a road which was a little too inaccessible for my newbie driver status and ended up having to call out a recovery service while night started to fall around us. Thank goodness we could get reception on my mobile! Anything less than a 4WD wasn’t going to get up that dirt path, and I ended up wedging the car across the road with the back end in a tree and the front end pointed at the murky drop to the river. I know when I’m beaten, and our knight in shining headlights, Sonny, turned up and got us out of that particular tight spot! Not only that, but he also offered to escort us up to the cabin in his monster truck (no chance, I wasn’t sure how I was going to drive back down again) and instead found us somewhere a little more accessible to stay right on the main road. This one still had a hot tub, and as we hadn’t bought any groceries, we were more than grateful for the free bags of microwave popcorn provided!

2007-07-12T11:26:00.000+01:00

On our way!

After so many months of planning, researching and saving we were finally off on our big trip! Jo set off from Birmingham via Amsterdam and I packed up my ginormous case and headed for Madrid to catch my Iberia flight to NY.

As soon as my mobile started working once we’d taxied to the gate, I phoned some friends with very ambitious plans to get a cab into the city and so some catching up. As soon as I stood up, I realised just how tired I was, and the realisation of just how nuts that plan was stuck me. So despite protestations from people I hadn’t seen in months, I settled down for an hour or so in T4 waiting for Jo. A few UK-originating flights landed as I waited, and one mother greeted her teenaged son’s concerned ‘why didn’t you call us, you were away for weeks?’ with the funniest thing I heard all day ‘it’s Europe, sweetie, you know they don’t have phones there’.

Some hours later we finally met up at JFK’s terminal 4 and hopped in a cab to our airport hotel. After some tired shenanigans with the hotel lift alarm, we woke refreshed the next morning, brewed the first of many in-room coffees, and boarded the first courtesy bus of the day back to the airport for the next stage of our journey.

2007-07-06T11:15:00.000+01:00

HMTQ

Not really holiday related, but the Queen and Prince Phillip drove past me this morning on the way to work. It was the Royal Garden Party at Holyrood yesterday and when motorbike police stopped the traffic at the roundabout I knew it had to be Her Maj. As ever, I forgot there was a camera in my mobile and didn't take a picture of her lovely pink suit and hat, as well as her fab car with the flag on the top, but I was about a foot away on the pavement and it was quite exciting to stand and gawp in what's probably a very annoying way.

Anyway, back to the trip - we'll be there in a week, hurray!

2007-07-03T20:13:00.000+01:00

Last minute change of plans

We were really hoping to stay here but the owners are going to be out of town that weekend. Instead, they have booked us in at a similar, but not as grand, place just down the road. I really hope it's nice. At first I was a bit gutted about missing out on the swimming pool and the glass of wine on arrival - I like those kind of nice touches to a place - but then I remembered we'll only really be arriving, getting changed, going out to eat and then up and out the next day.

So no biggie, really.

If you'd like to see our interactive map for the trip, email me and I'll send you the link so you can follow us on our journey. Only a few days to go and we are keeping our fingers crossed for our international travel plans.

2007-06-14T20:11:00.000+01:00

Less than a month to go, now

I keep thinking: ooh, this time next month... In the last few days we've been busy finalising bookings of the things we want to see and do on the road, and putting together a map of our journey. Email if you want us to send you a link so you can follow our progress.

This week we've booked a ghostly pub crawl around the centre of Memphis, and our trip to Graceland. We've also booked ourselves onto a NashTrash tour - not sure what we're letting ourselves in for there!

I was watching Entourage for the first time last night and the main characters were in Utah for the Sundance Film Festival, staying in a cabin not too different-looking from our place in the Smoky Mountains.

So if you're speaking to either one of us in the next few weeks, I'm afraid there won't be much on our minds other than the holiday (and all the things we need to do before we leave). We are very excited!

2007-06-03T20:01:00.001+01:00

Happy Birthday, Jo!

Well, today is Josie's special day and one of our last milestones before the trip gets underway. We have less than 6 weeks to go before we cross the Atlantic and get started on seeing more of the South than ever before. No last minute changes in plan yet, but give us time!

There is very little left to do now by way of practical preparations, all our accomodation is booked, our flights are done and dusted, and most importantly, we have a car organised so we'll be able to get from a to b. I've been practicing my driving and have my first ever road trip to undertake next weekend, from Glasgow to Aberdeen. It doesn't compare with the Natchez Trace Parkway, but the Forth Bridge is pretty spectacular. If the roadworks aren't in full swing next weekend, we might drive back that way.

I have successfully driven to a friends house in Edinburgh completely unsupervised, so that experience coupled with a LOAD of trips to Tesco and legal permission to drive has given me a bit more confidence than I had this time last year. My rental car will be quite similar to my home car, so I'm hoping I can get to grips with the automatic transmission without too many surprises.

Only thing left to worry about will be the packing - aaaargh!

2007-04-25T13:54:00.000+01:00

Exchange rate

Not much to report but whooooo, quite happy with the old exchange rate at the moment and getting very excited about the big trip. In the meantime, found this article on long haul travel which might come in handy for a quick read before we head to the airport. I have another big load of stuff up on eBay so I'm hoping that I can transfer any extra cash into dollars while the going's so good.

In a change of plans, thanks to BA withdrawing their flights from Birmingham to Madrid, Jo is now flying via Amsterdam and we'll be meeting up at JFK. Wish us luck! Jo gets in just after me so I think I'm going to have to get one of those signs (and find out which terminal she gets in to, must put that on my list of things to do...)

2007-04-15T20:42:00.000+01:00

Jetpacks!

Okay, so I'm only a part time student, but I like the look of these things. We've been wondering how we were going to organise a phone while we were away and this looks like the perfect answer.

After my first trial run in the new car to Tesco yesterday, I'm a little concerned about the 'other side' of the road. A bit more practice on the 'right side' of the road before the start of July and I should be right as rain.

Fingers crossed...

2007-04-03T15:10:00.000+01:00

We've booked almost everything

Over the sunny weekend in Birmingham, we managed to finalise almost all our bookings for our trip. We reserved our cabin, we booked tickets for the Grand Ole Opry, we booked our internal flights and car hire and also our stay at the Burn b'n'b.

You never know who is going to be onstage at the Opry when you book. We're going on a Tuesday night, and going on the recent form, some of the bigger stars tend to play on a Friday or Saturday (like Vince McGill, Reba McIntyre) but that's not to say that we won't still enjoy soaking up the atmosphere and taking in some traditional entertainment. You can listen in online, too, here.

We're also delighted with our cabin and looking forward to firing up the BBQ and relaxing in the hot tub. We're also quite curious about what the local supermarkets will be like, and while we're on the subject of shopping, I hear there's a craft community in nearby Gatlinburg where we can browse quilts and wall-hangings to our hearts' content. I have a feeling we'll want to take a little bit of country style back with us.

2007-03-27T22:21:00.000+01:00

Thank goodness this trip is planned...

...because I'm having a root canal op on my actual birthday, next Thursday!

Jo and I are meeting up in Birmingham this weekend to finalise all our plans and decide what we'll be doing with our time when we're out in the States. We are going to look up all the visitor attractions and sights that we would like to see, and get to work on planning them in. And then, of course, I'll jot them down here so I can keep you posted.

2007-03-14T21:40:00.000Z

Good news!

After being disappointed by the lack of availability at the Shack Up Inn, we were delighted to find out that a food festival is taking place at Greenville, MS the same day. We'll be rolling up to check out the hot tamale contest and the regional costumes on display.

Jo and I are meeting up at the end of this month to finalise all our arrangements, and to help celebrate my birthday a few days early. We'll be booking our car, too, which is pretty exciting. The big question at the moment isn't manual or automatic, but SatNav or JoNav?

2007-02-26T13:57:00.000Z

Bad news!

We've been too slow in booking our place at the Shack Up Inn and now it's fully booked for the one night we're in town. It's the only night we can stay and for some reason, every cabin is taken that night but free the rest of the month! It's a bit of bad luck, but we're hoping that this means something even better is going to come along.

We're going to re-plan that leg of the trip (the Mississippi bit) when we meet up at the end of next month, so if you have any ideas for something to do in the north half of Mississippi, then in the south half, let us know.

Or we may take a detour and skip Mississippi altogether - I wish this blog had voting buttons!

2007-02-14T08:44:00.000Z

We're definitely on our way!

As of last night, our flights are booked. We'll be meeting up in the fantastic Madrid airport before continuing on to the States. It's all starting to feel very real now.

Hope everyone has a great day today.

Katy

2007-02-05T20:52:00.000Z

Thanks for asking, everyone...

...but it's not going to be like Deliverance. Honestly.

2007-01-20T10:57:00.000Z

Leland, MS - Birthplace of the Frog

I was doing a bit of route planning today, and between Google Maps and Roadside America, I found a fantastic place to visit on our trip between Clarksdale and Natchez in Mississippi. Leland, MS, is known locally as the Birthplace of the Frog. In other words, it's where Jim Henson is rumoured to have been inspired to create Kermit! Another claim to fame for this small town is that the 'escape from the train' scene at the beginning of 'O Brother, Where Art Thou' was filmed here!

Another one for the list of things to do and see...

2007-01-13T12:51:00.000Z

A belated happy new year, everyone!

In the first few days back at work, there has been a flurry of emails between Glasgow and Gloucestershire making plans for our trip. After nearly three years of planning, we can't believe we're going away THIS YEAR! There's nothing like getting back to work after a couple of weeks off to get you planning your next break.

Jo and I are going to meet up in Birmingham in a couple of months to finalise all our arrangements and book our flights. At the moment we're concentrating on doing our research on hotels. TripAdvisor.com has been a great find and has stopped us wasting our time and budget on some very dubious places indeed. This weekend I'll be spending some time booking us in here - check out the fantastic photos - and the slightly more palatial but rumoured to be haunted Burn B&B. The best thing about Natchez is the traditional cuisine, if anything looks like it might be good for you, they deep fry it until it's very very bad but no doubt it'd be all the more tasty for it.

In light of these new discoveries in Mississippi, we've decided to change our plans and miss out a trip to Katy, TX on this trip. I am starting to feel nervous about being behind the wheel again, so an 18 hour detour is possibly not a good thing. One day I will FLY to Houston and maybe hire a car when I get there. Plus, I hear Katy has a rather large mall, and I am saving my shopping time for New York.

We are really struggling to find a good recommendation for a hotel in Nashville or Memphis. The Loews hotel we will be staying in for our time in New Orleans has a branch in Nashville, and despite the lure of the CDs recorded by guests of the hotel (famous, singing guests, obviously), TripAdvisor tells us it's in a bit of a dodgy area. Jo pointed out that we would probably end up just using the services of the Concierge to call taxis for us, so we decided to skip that one.

If you're going away ANYWHERE this year, I would definitely recommend TripAdvisor before you go. They aren't paying us to say this by the way, they're just great. Also, I've been relying on RoadsideAmerica for hints on quirky stuff to do while we're on the road - I've been addicted to that website for literally years and used it before Jo and I went away last time to get good tips on things to do and see.

Until next time,

Katy

2006-12-17T18:37:00.000Z

Secret Santa

Hello everyone!

My secret santa at work got me a greatescape-themed present - some fantastic plasters for our first aid kit, and an offer to pay for the road atlas for our journey. Thank you secret santa!

Not so secret anymore is the generous present I received from my sister and her fiance, who have rustled up some dollars to cover my entrance fees to Dollywood, the Alligator tour and the Lost River Caves. With the map and the money, getting to go to these places seems a bit more real now...

Hope everyone is enjoying the festive, um, festivities wherever you are and I hope you have a lovely time over the Christmas and New Year break. I'm off to finish writing my cards...

Katy

2006-11-23T09:02:00.000Z

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Best wishes from Katy and Josie for a great holiday weekend to all our readers in the States.

Not long 'til Christmas! And just think, in eight months we'll be halfway through our trip, probably driving south from Memphis in the humidity and sunshine of a Mississippi summer. Seems difficult to imagine with the cold and the rain outside...

2006-11-06T20:50:00.000Z

It's amazing what you learn from Google Ads!

Like this great deal on visitor attractions in New Orleans. Why not click on them today, you'll be surprised what you might find...

Well, we're another month closer to our great escape and of course, another month closer to hitting the big 3-0. My friend Keir had his birthday party this weekend, and it reminded me that in seven months' time both Josie and I will be 30 ourselves! I want to say a big thank you to those of you who have visited our blog, clicked our ads and given us gifts towards our list so far.

A big thank you to my Dad, who has kindly agreed to sponsor our stay in the Smoky Mountains. I'm really excited about this part of the trip and will relish the opportunity to stretch my legs for a good few days in between all the driving. I also wanted to say thank you to my colleague Clare, who gave me a voucher for WHSmiths literally SECONDS after reading this blog - it's earmarked for puzzle books for our journey so I don't talk Josie's ear off on the flight the way I do when I'm at my desk next to Clare!

Hope you all had a good bonfire night and please keep reading for more updates.

2006-10-02T14:15:00.000+01:00

Woop! Woop!

Jo and I are no longer travelling alone to the States next year, we have Woop Woop the bear coming with us! To find out more about Woop Woop check out his website or you can become his friend via MySpace. We're going to have a bear-illiant time!

An update from my previous post, I made £170 on eBay. However, I spent it all on my trip to Spain so I'll be digging around in my boxroom again for another big sales campaign towards the end of the year - wish me luck!

Remember, if anyone has any must-see places to visit, you can post them here as a comment, or drop us an email at greatescape2007@googlemail.com. We are wondering if the 2007 Roller Derby season will have started by the time we get to the States, and have been looking for matches en route, like in Knoxville, so if anyone can help us out, we'd be grateful.

Please keep checking back and clicking those ads!

Speak to you soon,

Katy

2006-07-29T18:55:00.000+01:00

This blog is annoying

You have to start from the bottom and work your way up for it to make sense!
Hope you are all having a good weekend, I am in the middle of putting stuff on eBay - hopefully it will be enough to cover the cost of some of our flights! I will keep you posted, all my sales are due to start on Thursday and I will post the link here.

Katy

2006-07-28T15:49:00.000+01:00

Our holiday wishlist

We've put together a list of things we would like to arrange in time for going away, and we're hard at work saving up for them. If you usually buy one of us a Christmas or birthday present, please consider putting some money towards one of the things on our list, we would be ever so grateful!

Let us know what it is you would like to treat us to, and you can use PayPal to help us out if you want to pay online. We'll send you a photo and a postcard of us enjoying your gift while we're away to say thank you.

If you can think of anything that should be on our list and isn't - let us know! We'll be updating this list as we save up and receive any gifts, so you'll know what we still need before we set off.

Gift (Price) x Quantity Required

Entry to Graceland (£16) x 2
Rand McNally Road Atlas thank you secret santa!
Mountain Trail Map thank you Jan and Tommy!
Film developing and CD (£12) x 15
New Orleans guidebook thank you Jan and Tommy!
1GB picture card (£35) x 1
Sunscreen (£12) x 3
Aftersun (£12) x 2
First Aid Kit thank you secret santa!
Help us offset our flights by planting trees with Carbonneutral.com (£26.50) x 1
Help us offset our driving by planting trees with Carbonneutral.com (£12.50) x 1
Travel insurance for Josie (£58) x 1
Pack-mate roll bags (£12) x 2

Boots vouchers for spending at the airport on travel essentials!
WH Smith vouchers for spending at the airport on holiday reading! (thank you Clare for one of these!)

Dinner and jazz riverboat cruise in New Orleans ($50) x 2
Souvenirs from Katy, Texas ($3) x 6
Six pack of diet coke and ice for the drive! ($3) x 6
Morning coffee ($2) x 32
Entry to the Country Music Hall of Fame ($16) x 2
10 gallons of gas ($35) x 10
Entry to Dollywood ($20) x 1 (thank you Anna and Jamie for one of these)
Night in a mountain lodge thank you Katy's dad!
Champagne for the first night ($40) x 1
Hurricane cocktails in New Orleans ($8) x 4
A day driving a convertible ($60) x 2
Parking and toll money ($20) x 15
Lost River Cave tour ($15) x 1 (thank you Anna and Jamie for one of these)
Laundry money ($12) x 2
Alligator swamp tour ($15) x 1 (thank you Anna and Jamie for one of these)
A night in a 5 star hotel (with Duck Parade!) ($200) x 1
A night in a motel/mid-range hotel ($100) x 12
Very nice dinner somewhere in Lower Manhattan ($80) x 1
Traditional Cajun dinner ($40) x 1
Traditional Creole dinner ($40) x 1
Dinner at BB Kings in Nashville ($70) x 1
Brunch in a diner ($12) x 8

We are fully aware that some of these are a bit cheeky, so there is a nice range of stuff so you can pick out something you like the sound of. You're only 30 once, I suppose! And there will be a full report on everything posted here either while we're away or within a few days of getting back, so you know where your presents went and how much we enjoyed them. We will also keep you posted so that you know what we still need at all times. You can also help us out by clicking on the ads at the top of the page.

Thank you thank you thank you!

2006-07-20T20:48:00.000+01:00

Where will we visit?

We've been busy planning our itinery and have planned out where we're going to visit. We'll be spending nearly three weeks in the States in total, and spending two to three days in each of the places we're planning to visit.

When we leave the UK, we'll be flying into New York. From here, we're going to take a flight down to Charlotte, North Carolina, and catch up on some sleep before hiring a car next day and heading for Pigeon Forge.

We want to hit Dollywood, then spend some time exploring the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Top on the list of priorities, after this, is renting an amazing cabin and staying there for at least three nights, enjoying the great outdoors.

From there, we'll be heading for Nashville. We want to visit the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Grand Ole Opry and experience the nightlife. A day trip from our time in Nashville will be to the Lost River Cave, reminds me a bit of the Blue John Mine a bit closer to home.

It seems only right to head for Memphis after Nashville, and after Dollywood, it's only fair that we pay Elvis a visit. From Memphis, our next destination will be Tupelo, birthplace of the King.

A long leisurely drive down through Mississippi will be next, calling in on antebellum houses and remnants of the historic south. This part of our trip is the least planned for the time being, and we're counting on readers to submit ideas for things to see and places to stay.

Before heading to New Orleans to 'laissez les bon temps roulez', we'll be taking a major detour to Katy, TX. Well, why not? We plan to spend three or so days in New Orleans at the end of our trip, ditch the car and enjoy everything the city has to offer. We're particularly looking forward to beignets, gumbo and the most potent cocktails I can find!

Of course, no trip to the States would be complete without a good old night out in New York, and fingers crossed, some shopping in the East Village. And then we'll be heading for home - phew!

If you have any recommendations for where to stay and what to do in Memphis, Nashville, or New Orleans, post a comment or drop us a line. We look forward to hearing from you.

2006-07-16T16:14:00.000+01:00

Contact us!

You can get in touch with us at greatescape2007@googlemail.com, or you can post a comment here. We're looking forward to hearing from you, especially if you have hints and tips for our travels. We particularly want to know about must-sees and must-dos in Nashville, Memphis, anywhere en route from Tupelo, MS, to Kentwood, LA, and things to do in New Orleans. Also it would be helpful to know where to avoid, including tourist trap rip-offs and flea-bitten hotels. We'll be posting more details about exactly where we want to visit as we continue to plan.

2006-07-16T16:12:00.000+01:00

Welcome to our blog!

Next year, to celebrate being 30, Katy and Josie will be travelling across Tennessee and beyond. We've been friends for nearly 15 years and have travelled around California and Nevada together, where we had such a brilliant time we've been planning to do it again for years. This time we're going to see Dollywood and Graceland where last time it was Elvis lookalikes, and Tom Jones who were the big draw!

We're also swapping the Greyhound bus for a hire car, and doing a proper American road trip all over the deep south. As the planning for trips like this is always half the fun, we thought we'd include our friends and families on that bit as well as posting as we go along on our trip as well. We hope to post loads of photos and stories so we can really make this an adventure to remember. You'd think we were going for three months, but it's actually more like three weeks - that's a long time on the road!