Southern Road Trip: Oxford, Tuscaloosa & Montgomery

Before we drove down to Mississippi, we visited downtown Memphis and the Lorraine Motel, where MLK Jr. was shot.

Lindsay was so excited to see the trolley... she said "Choo Choo Train!"

My big girl... sight seeing in downtown Memphis.

After a fun time in Tennessee, we ventured south to Oxford, Mississippi to stop by University of Mississippi, or Ole Miss. Jarrett LOVES to visit colleges while on vacation wherever we go, so we had lunch in the town square and drove around the campus.

 

Gorgeous, shady trees were all over the campus... and the stadium was HUGE. This is where the movie "The Blind Side" is set in.

Lyceum build in 1848, (the big building with the white pillars above) was the set of an event in the Civil Rights Movement where the MS Governor refused to let James Meredith, the first African American student be admitted in the 1962. Rioting ensued, and the state guard had to escort him inside. During the civil war, the building was used as a hospital for union soldiers.  

We visited Greek Row.. Jarrett snapped a shot of the KA house. I told him to use his secret handshake and get a tour, but he was chicken. Also, I think it would probably break some sort of code having a wife and two babies hanging out. LOL

A sweet student who lives in Oxford bought Lindsay a book from Square Book Store... The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.
We LOVED the cute town square, and all the school pride.

Ajax Diner..... We ate Shrimp Po' Boys with Pimento Cheese (just because it was on the menu and we never tried it). Ate a squash casserole that my Grandma Cross used to make... so yummy!

We continued to Alabama and to Tuscaloosa.  We stopped in at the University of Alabama (Crimson Tide, Roll Tide, Bama) where the school spirit was insane. Every car, building, gas station, etc... had some sort of school sticker. We saw where the huge tornado last year (almost to the day we were there) ripped through the community and left many buildings reduced to rubble.

This was just one of the many, many huge buildings all over the campus. Hands down, biggest university we have ever been to. It was a metropolis... more than 16,000 students. More than the town I grew up in!

We spent the night in Tuscaloosa and visited the pool. It wasn't heated, so we swam in the jacuzzi. It felt pretty good after the cold pool!

This picture was taken at 8:30pm and our happy girl was all smiles when she saw her waffle.

Alright east coast folks, make fun of us if you want, but we had to stop and eat a a Waffle House. We had been seeing them on the road for days, and wanted to sample the local cuisine. LOL. I think my favorite was the customizable hash browns...Who would have thought you could put sauteed mushrooms, onions, cheese, chili and make them even more yummy? A person can't eat like that everyday, but it was a fun stop. We woke up the next day and headed to Montgomery, AL.

We checked out the White House of the Confederacy. The home was restored beautifully, and it was fun to see all the period furnishings. My favorite was a gorgeous gown they had displayed.

Alabama State Capitol

The museum was closed, but we got to see the site where Rosa Parks stood her ground and kept her seat on the bus.

One of the places I really wanted to visit while in Montgomery was called Old Alabama Town. It is a collection of houses, church, and school that covered several blocks in downtown Montgomery and depicted everyday life in Alabama at the turn of the century. It was so hot that morning, we felt like people thought we were crazy dragging two babies around to the un-air conditioned buildings.

A sweaty Mama and Madison at a general store.

Old Town Alabama street

Already a great student! They still used this one room school up until the 1950's...nuts!

After we saw an ambulance called for a fourth grader who had overheated (he was ok after some water), we thought we better pack up our kiddos before any of us melted. We were so glad to get back to our air conditioned mini van to crank the air and let the girls nap while we drove back to Atlanta, where it all started.