people from the southern states?

[birt]

i'm planning a vacation/road trip with a friend next month.
so i was wondering if there are any locals who can help me out with nice places to go to (that i otherwise might never hear about)

we start and end in Dallas/Fort Worth.
Dallas->Austin->Houston->New Orleans->Nashville->Memphis->Little Rock->Dallas
we don't know yet if we would rent a car and find a place to sleep every night or rent a van we can sleep in. is roadside camping even allowed?

so we will try to avoid very expensive stuff, but we really want to fully experience all aspects of the southern states.

[tubenit]

I lived in Dallas for over 25 yrs ....................  IF you like Mexican food ............... try Papasitos & order sour cream chicken enchiladas. Uncle Julio's is good also.  Lots of museums and new Texas stadium to check out. Dallas zoo is pretty cool.  Charley's guitar shop (they "made" & worked on one of SRV's guitars).  Dickey's BBQ there has the BEST beef brisket bbq that I've eaten anywhere.

I lived in Ft.Worth also. Stockyards are fun. Botanical garden there is great also.  And Kimball Art Museum.

On the way to Austin, you'll go by New Braunfels. It's a cool German community that is worth stopping by and walking around the town square for an hour or two.

Austin.  Antone's night club.  Zillions of famous blues guitarists have played there.

I'm an 8th generation Texan,  and I strongly dislike Houston.  I would not go there. Hot, crowded, miserable traffic. One of my least favorite cities in the country.   

San Antonio, however, is one of my favorite cities in the world and there is tons and tons of stuff to do in SanAntone.   Riverwalk and there is a great Mexican flea market with remarkable arts, crafts, clothes etc..........    I would go there instead

Used to live in New Orleans also as a kid. Haven't been there since Katrina though.

There are ALOT of caverns open to public in Arkansas and some not far from Little Rock.

Nashville.  Please consider Gruhn's guitar shop. It's remarkable!!!  Many of the nightclubs on Musician's Row are great. Visiting the Ryman auditorium was excellent.

With respect, Tubenit

[birt]

great ideas, keep em coming.

as for Houston, we only put the space center on our list, not the city ;-)

plan ticket is booked (5 to 25 of july), car is booked.
we decided on camping/motels/motels/whatever we can find on the way. trying to keep it cheap.

[thermion]

+1 on uncle julio's in dallas! hit up deep ellum if you feel like a good time.
skip fort worth.
you can find way better bbq anything outside of dickey's, but dickey's is everywhere...price is a little high. best bbq in the universe = franklin bbq in austin. be ready to wait 2-3 hours for food. if you are going between austin and houston on hwy 71 peter's bbq in ellinger has pecan smoked brisket on par with manna from heaven, and the wait is much shorter than franklin's.
antone's is great, also there are a lot of cool clubs on the east side of I-35 near the river downtown (east 5th and 6th), this area is austin's original club district. longbranch, victory grill, etc. paul qui has a mobile kitchen in the back of the liberty bar that some say is the epitome of the austin food trailer experience.
new braunfels (on the comal river) has some of the best texas tubin' you're going to find. don't know if you can still take adult drinks on the river, though. still awesome.
yep houston is a crazy, dirty mess. and i love her. best after-hours entertainment i've ever seen (short of vegas or AC) and i live in austin. drink bottled water here (or draught) and don't breath too deep.
my dad was placed in san antonio so lotsa love there... do not drive on I-10 at night through beaumont, etc headed east your lungs will pay the price, lots of refineries dump their clouds at night.

[birt]

thanks for mentioning about the I_10 in Beaumont.
i'd love to hear about some places to stay/camp

[tubenit]

Thermion gave you some great advice! 

We'll have to respectfully disagree on Houston. I'll take San Antonio over Houston anyday.   

The travel by Beaumont at night is great advice.

Forgot about the New Braunfels tubing. I think there is camping available there?

You are going to have a very fun trip! 

I'll have to revise my BBQ review of Dickey's and say it like this instead:  It's the best beef brisket I've had of places whose names I can remember. I do love it.
 

With respect, Tubenit

[sluckey]

If time permits and you could modify your itinerary slightly, I'd suggest Pensacola Bch. It's about 4.5 hours east of New Orleans. Fantastic sugar white beaches, clear water, nice restaurants, and camp facilities at Ft. Pickens on the end of Santa Rosa Island. Then head north to the Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, TN area. The towns are very touristy, but they border on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. There's a little gem called Cades Cove nearby. It's an 11 mile loop around a valley nestled in the foothills. The loop offers many stops to visit old cabins, churches, and farm houses, as well as hiking trails to water falls, etc. Lot's of wildlife, white tail deer, black bears, etc. And there's a nice camping facility at the entrance to the Cove. Then head due west to Nashville.

Pensacola Bch. and Cades Cove will give you two extreme views of the South. Each has it's own unique charm.

[Ritchie200]

Slukey +1!

Pensacola: Navy air museum and THE BEACHES!  You have not seen a white beach until you've seen the beaches in Pensacola, Panama City, and Destin area....they don't call them sugar white for nothing!  From Pensacola take 399 out through the Gulf Islands National Seashore - fantastic.

Cades Cove: Just beautiful.  If you have some time, take the "back" way out.  A little gravel road called Parson Branch heads out southeast.  Pack a sandwich so you can stop along the way. You will see some of the most beautiful back country and valleys in the park (IMHO), without a soul around.  I actually drove it years ago (1993) in a Taurus, but an SUV with some clearance would do better.  It's only 8 miles but will take a GOOD hour if you take your time and enjoy it.  About 12 water crossings and there are places to pull off and have a bite to eat and look around.  It's one way and mostly deserted - a far cry from the rest of the park.  You exit the park onto Hwy 129 which is called the Tail of the Dragon, due to all the switchbacks.  Great drive that runs along a lake.  We take that around to Cherokee, another great place to stop and browse.  Then back into the park - if you are staying on the other side in Gatlinburg.

+1 also on San Antone!

Jim

[tubenit]

I like Sluckey's plan really well also! Not real keen on Gatlinburg but the surrounding areas in the mountains is quite beautiful! And there is camping there along with some bears.

Used to live in Panama City, Fla. also. Beaches are truly white sand and beautiful.

When I was there around '60-61, it was NOT a tourist place and not very many people around other than Tyndall AFB. There were lots of sand sharks around when we were swimming. Never thought much about it then. I actually lived in a screened in cottage on Mexico beach for a summer there. Great fun and great childhood memories.
 
Regarding Jim's positive comment on San Antone ........... keeping in mind that he likes strats and hates Tele's ........... this is the one comment of his that is worth trusting but extend him no slack beyond that one statement.
 

With respect, Tubenit

[DummyLoad]

austin:
zilker park/barton springs
BBQ - franklin's, iron works, stiles switch, donn's
capitol complex and texas history museum
6th st & warehouse district - always a party - live music everywhere - some places not for children. ;)
antones, black cat, casino el camino, saxon pub,  - great burgers; if you're a vegi, my apologies.
alamo draft house - get hammered, eat, and watch a flick.
detour out to wimberly/blanco/fredriksburg/enchanted rock, willow city loop (good bbq there), inks lake/ kingsland / marble falls - it's a full day trip but lovely hill country drive.

san  antonio:
alamo - "remember the alamo!" ;)
river walk - shops & great dining
sunken gardens
sea world/fiesta texas.
institute of texan cultures
canyon lake park
tubing down guadalupe river - new braunfels

corpus christi:
fishing!
beach! south padre island.
water street - good seafood dining, clubs, etc.
CC aquarium,
carrier USS lexington

houston:
san jacinto battle grounds / uss texas & gato class sub.
clear lake / NASA space center
detour to galveston - more beaches - sea wall blvd. - more great seafood dining & clubs.
detour up to lake conroe - boating/camping/cabins/fishing. 

have a pleasant journey. :-)

--pete

[birt]

after arrival we stayed in a motel in Forth Worth for the night.
then we went to Dinosaur Valley state park in Somervell and drove to Krause Springs, Spicewood to camp.
we checked out Austin and went to Hamilton Pool, Dripping Springs for a swim.
we camped at Somerville lake. lots of bugs at night but in the morning there was no one else around and i had an outdoor shower overlooking the lake with herons, vultures, raccoons and deer around me.
in Houston we saw the Space Center and the USS Texas. in Baton Rouge we visited the USS Kidd.
in New Orleans we went on a swamp tour, saw lots of gators, birds, turtles, snakes and gigantic black grasshoppers.
went to the voodoo museum and Bourbon Street, live music in a bar at Frenchmen street and po-boys in a bar at Magazine street. We stayed with a guy who moved there as a volunteer after Katrina and got hooked to the city. he showed us around a lot of neighborhoods.
from there we went to camp at Fort Pickens, Pensacola and got eaten by LOADS of mosquito's in the evening. at night we found out our tent isn't as waterproof as it once was. we got out of there early in the morning and hoped for a better experience in Destin. rented wave runners for a couple of hours and had a lot of fun. sadly the water was not clear because of the bad weather recently and we didn't see any dolphins. but i might be the first the have ever caught a fish with a jet ski. relaxed on the beautiful beaches. now we are in Montgomery, Alabama.

[Slimtim]

you're about 5 hours south of me.hmm bama yeah keep trucking not a whole hell of alot to see unless you head on down to mobile and the beaches.oh you could go see the first capital of the confederacy while you are in montgomery but that's nothing special.oh you can go check out the uss alabama in mobile.but you seem to already be north of all this so memphis to graceland and THE KING maybe.

[sluckey]

camp at Fort Pickens, Pensacola and got eaten by LOADS of mosquito's in the evening.

Oops, did I forget to mention that an OFF!® Clip On is a requirement? 

[birt]

yes you did.

we bought a spray at Cabela's in Forth Worth that had 95% deet on the label and loads of health warnings. seems like it's more dangerous to people than it is to mosquito's. yesterday we bought an Off! aerosol. i've used this in the past and it seemed to work, but i don't know if it will with these super strong bugs around here.

[sluckey]

It's been a long time since I've been to Ft. Pickens (or Santa Rosa Island) at night. I had forgotten about those vicious beach mosquitos on the bay side! There can be literally millions during the rainy season and they are mean. And the breeze from the gulf tends to push them to the north side of the island where the campsite is located. I live in Mobile Alabama and have to contend with the Delta mosquitos (close cousins to the beach mosquito). I hate the spray on repellants, but have discovered that the OFF® Clip On works very well. Each person must have one. More pricey than the spray on variety, but very effective without the smell and feel.

Another product that works very well is ThermaCell. It uses a small butane cartridge to heat/activate a repellant strip. These are excellent for sitting on a deck or after you bed down in a bag. They protect an area of about 12 x 12 feet. No good for walking about though.

The Tennessee mosquitos are not as nasty as the coastal mosquitos but we've had a lot of rain the last two weeks so be prepared, especially if you will be camping in Cade's Cove.

[thermion]

can anyone verify that listerine in a squirt bottle will work for repelling skeeters? i heard this but never tried it...

[sluckey]

Yes. But you gotta squirt it in their eyes. 

[Ritchie200]

Yeah, I've heard about Listerine and Skin So Soft and I've never had good luck with them.  If you want to stay "green" you can use a bottle of anise mixed with a cup of water.  Works great, and it doesn't smell TOO bad!    You just smell like Christmas cookies!  I use it on me and my horses all the time.  They only thing it does not repel is deer and horse flies - but nothing does...

If you are old enough - that was my hint from Heloise.

Jim

[PRR]

> 95% deet on the label and loads of health warnings. seems like it's more dangerous to people than it is to mosquito's.

The health warnings are CYA.

DEET is a lot safer than insects.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEET#Effects_on_health

There's maybe a 1 in 100 Million chance of seizure. If you work in the Everglades, you may have more mood disturbances.

Compare with the many serious diseases you get from insects.

I've had my hand swell-up from black-fly bites. Some victims must be hospitalized.

Lyme disease from tiny ticks is rampant, and awful hard to diagnose and treat.

Mosquitoes have been called the most dangerous animals on Earth. In North America, Malaria is no longer endemic, and many of the tropic diseases are rare, but West Nile and Eastern equine encephalitis viruses are concerns.

BTW: DEET doesn't kill the bugs. It makes you taste/smell bad and they fly away.

[birt]

> 95% deet on the label and loads of health warnings. seems like it's more dangerous to people than it is to mosquito's.
BTW: DEET doesn't kill the bugs. It makes you taste/smell bad and they fly away.

well, it there must have been something wrong with their sense of smell then ;-)

i'm in Memphis right now. Stax was really nice to visit!