Road Trip to Alabama

For the first time in our marriage Jon and I are taking a road trip together. I need to report to Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, Alabama on Tuesday, July 5, so Jon and I are making the drive together. After dropping me off, Jon will finish the drive to Washington DC solo to get us housing in the city and drop off my car. Then he will fly back to San Antonio and hang out a few weeks in San Antonio before he drives his car to DC in August.

We packed the car with our suitcases and essentials to live on in DC like an air mattress, sheets, towels, ect. Driving an SUV definitely has it's perks, like lots of storage space. I was worried we wouldn't have enough trunk space, but we actually had room to spare.

I'm not very good on long car trips (hence this is our first road trip together) so we decided to take 4 days to drive to Alabama and make lots of stops. Our first stop was in College Station to visit my dental school classmate Roopa and her husband Arun. They treated us to a delicious lunch and a visit to the Bush Presidential Library. (If you ever have a chance to visit a presidential library, do it. It was a very interesting museum, not a musty library)
Saturday night we stayed with our family friend Christy Renee in Houston.
Sunday we hit the road again and crossed into Louisiana.
Our first meal in Louisiana was seafood at Landry's. Jon ate gumbo and fried crawfish tails; I had stuffed shrimp wrapped in bacon. Both were delicious.

Sunday afternoon we arrived at Nottoway Plantation, called Louisiana's White Castle. It has been completely renovated and turned into a resort. It was absolutely beautiful. We took a tour of the house and loved all the period pieces and details.



We stayed in the Overseer's Cottage. Staying in the room was like living in a piece of history, just brought into modern times with running water, electricity, and cable TV.
Our first stop on Monday (Happy Independence Day!) was at Oak Valley Plantation. Oak Valley is known for it's 2 beautiful rows of oak trees that are over 300 years old. The tour of Oak Valley was also very historical and informative. It also makes me very appreciative to have A/C! I can't imagine wearing petticoats in the South in July.


We're spending the night in New Orleans, then tomorrow it's off to Commissioned Officer Training in Alabama. When you make lots of stops, road tripping can be fun!