10-Day Texas-Louisiana-Mississippi Road Trip In February, we embarked on a 10-day road trip around Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. We experienced quite a contrast of sceneries from the hustling and bustling of Dallas to the country living feeling of Fort Worth, from the congested traffic of Houston to the lay-back country roads in Mississippi, from the Mardi-Gras raucous festivity in New Orleans to the old charm of Natchez.
The trip gave us diverse views of states and rejuvenated us of what this great country can offer without having to travel to some far away places. We drove 2,200 miles on this trip, tasted a lot of different cuisines, from the Best BBQ in Texas to the hole-in-the-wall Crawfish shack in Louisiana.
We were lucky that the weather was almost perfect for February other than one night of thunderstorm in San Antonio.
But most of all, we were blessed having dear friends to travel with. It just made our trip that much more enjoyable.
What a wonderful experience!
Day01 – Tour began
We started the trip with a visit of Texas Children Hospital where a friend of us got his medical training 43 years ago. It was an emotional visit. Not much resemble of what it was, the residency hall where he stayed is not there any more. The hospital’s façade is more colorful now, but the memory of a home-sick young medical trainee is quite an excitement to relive.
We then drove to downtown Dallas to visit the JFK memorial then to the JFK 6th Floor Museum. The Museum, located in the former Texas School Book Depository building chronicles the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. It’s a must thing to do in Dallas. The city is made famous for the wrong reason.
Day02 - Dallas
One of the advantages of doing your own tour is that you can set your own time and pace without having to please a group of 30+ travelers each having their own needs and wants…heheh
After breakfast, we headed out to the legendary Southfork Ranch. The whole world saw Americans thru the lenses of this famous show ‘Dallas’ back in the late 70s. As a matter of fact, cable channels are still broadcasting the reruns all over the world today. Dallas, a TV series about a wealthy family in the oil business, was translated and dubbed into 67 languages in over 90 countries, it holds the record for the highest rated episode with nearly 360 million viewers tuning in to see who shot J.R. and sets the world record for the most successful TV show.
We took the 45-min. tour of the mansion and the ranch. The receptionist was a nice old lady, little forgetful but charming and sincere with a Texas twang.
For lunch, we went to Klyde Warren Park. It was a chance for us to exam this 5.2-acre deck park of urban green space that is built over the freeway. There, we checked out variety of foods offered by these colorful food trucks parked along the side of the park. It was a pleasant lunch in a nice sunny day.
After lunch, we headed over to the SMU campus, where the George Bush 43 Presidential library is located, reviewed his two presidential terms’ work, highlighted by the 9-11 event.
Day03 - Fort Worth
We traveled to Fort Worth, once known as the biggest and busiest livestock marketing center in the Southwest. We enjoyed a leisure walk around the stock yard before viewing an actual "longhorn cattle drive" that rumbled down the road. It was for sure the Texas style of show. We then drove by the Sun Dance square in down town Fort Worth before heading toward Austin, the capital of Texas. This area is called the Texas hills country, filled with vineyards in an Old West charm.
After checking to the hotel, we enjoyed a great Texas steak dinner by the river walk in San Antonio. Nice cool breeze from the river, with wine and friends to share with, multi-colored lights coming from the barge traversed the river below, what a beautiful scene and relaxing evening.
Day04 - San Antonio
This morning we walked to the Alamo which played a critical role in the Texas Revolution. It was an interesting piece of Texas history telling the struggling between the Texins and the Tejanos.
We then drove to LBJ ranch, a National Historical Park. It’s the birthplace of Lyndon Johnson and known as the Texas White House, this is where LBJ and Lady Bird lived and are both laid to rest. It has the’ Air Force One’ parked in the hangar. It is quite a big ranch. In the summer time, this massive ranch would turn into a colorful natural carpet, covered with all kinds of wild flowers. Lady Bird Johnson was known for this wonderful endeavor.
In the process of getting to LBJ ranch, we were lost and tumbled into the famous town of Luckenbach, Texas. A tiny town made famous by a song with the same name recorded by the American country music artist Waylon Jennings.
We then traveled thru the heart of Hill Country and had a German beer and German sausage for lunch at Auslander in the beautifully preserved German village of Fredericksburg. Afterwards, we explored the quaint shops in town before heading back to San Antonio.
Day05 – Traveling day from San Antonio to Houston
We began our morning with visiting the Governor mansion, with white adobe-walls in San Antonio. It was closed during the president day so we just had a look from the outside, and then went on to El Mercado, the lively Mexican marketplace. We then went to Mission San Jose; viewed a short film relating the story of mission life in the 1700s and wandering the mission’s ground, one of the best preserved and restored Mission.
For lunch, we tried one of the best BBQ joints in Texas. The City Market BBQ in Lulling, TX. Just like we read in the review, it’s a little place, the walk-in smoke room serves as the kitchen is in the back of a grocery store, smoky and dark. Moist, juicy meats were served on butcher paper. The brisket had no peer, the pork ribs were excellent. It was a satisfying lunch and we got to carry out the smoky smell on our clothes with us on the way to Houston…heheh
We made it to Houston at around 4:30pm. We had ‘Lau’ in Houston at Tan Tan restaurant. For four of us, we ordered a portion for two and that was more than enough. We had ‘Banh Bot Chien with eggs’ and it was yummy.
Day06 – NASA Space Center
We had ‘banh cuon’ for breakfast in Houston, the state's largest and most diverse city, before heading to NASA. It’s about 50 minutes from Vietnam town in Houston. One could spend a whole day at this NASA Space Center. We got there at around 10:30am. Saw a few exhibitions, movies, we checked-out a number of interactive displays with everything from space artifacts to a full size rocket and space shuttle, we then took a tram tour of the campus. It was amazing as how they could put a man on the moon with such primitive equipments per our today’s standard.
Day07 - New Orleans
We started the day early, leaving Houston at around 6AM. We got to New Orleans at around 1PM. After check-in, we had gumbo for lunch at the famous Gumbo Shop then set out to explore the town. We saw the historic Jackson Square, enjoyed the gorgeous views of the timeless Mississippi. This is the week before Mardi-Gras so the streets were a bit busy.
We had Cafe au lait & Beignet at New Orleans famous Cafe Du Monde crowded with tourists. We dusted our face with powder sugars from the beignet, sipping the coffee with chicory and watching people went by. It was a memorable experience.
We took the ghost tour at night. We got a tongue-in-cheek explanation of ghost stories from these spooky old buildings from the wonderful energetic tour guide.
The hotel Le Marais (The Swamp) was convenient. It’s situated right in the French quarter yet on a quiet street away from all the noisy bars.
For the evening out, we splurged on dinning at the upscale Restaurant Revolution. The restaurant is gorgeous, elegant and romantic. We had the beer battered beingets and fire roasted oysters for appetizer, both were delicious.
After dinner, we walked the street of Bourbon at night for a taste of nightlife in this raucous city before retrieved back to our hotel for the night.
Day08 - Natchez
Before leaving for Natchez, we went to see the Great River Road Plantations on the outskirt of New Orleans. We chose the Oak Alley Plantation - The Grand Dame of the Great River Road with 300 Plus-Year-Old oak trees lining the front of the mansion. They said perhaps it’s the most photographed plantation in Louisiana. We took the tour of the plantation, learned quite a bit about slavery, sugar-cane industry and how the rich lived back then. Along the way, we witnessed these massive levees protecting the people along the flood prone Mississippi river.
From west side of New Orleans we drove to the east side, to Village De L’est where the Vietnamese community is. This community is a shinning example of a tight knit group of Vietnamese Americans rolled up their sleeves and rebuilt their village after the hurricane Katrina without waiting for hand-outs from the government. We went to see the Mary Queen Catholic church. We had lunch at Dong Phuong (The East) restaurant. We got some precious dried shrimps made in USA at a super market in the village before heading to Natchez.
To perfectly capture the thrill of doing this road trip; we took the long way to Natchez from Village De L’est by crossing Lake Ponchartrain, using The Ponchartrain Causeway, the longest bridge over water in the world, at 23.83 miles long.
It was a rural two-lane highway we took to Natchez, the charming and quaint Southern town with a rich cultural heritage shaped by people of African, French, British and Spanish descent.
Day09 - Back to Dallas
We waked the streets of Natchez after breakfast, saw a few old historical buildings with unique architecture before heading back to Dallas.
We stopped at Natchitoches, LA for boiled crawfish. For $35 you get 5 pounds of this plum, juicy creatures. It was a spicy and satisfying delicious lunch for two. The corn and potatoes that came with it were equally good. They give you hospital-grade synthetic gloves to wear to tear into these creatures, with a roll of paper towels on the table for additional safety. The table has a big hole in the middle so you can dump the remaining of these creatures after you "Pinch their tails and suck their heads"...heheh It was so delicious and fun!
Day10 – Return Home
We took our friends back to the airport for a flight home. What a wonderful experience having friends sharing our lives stories, laughing, enjoying quaint sceneries, unique local foods along the way.
As our "Brah" in New Orleans would say: Lay-say le bon tom roo-lay, i.e. "laissez les bon temps rouler" or "Let the good times roll"