4 hours – one direction, one highway… so. much. fun. The experience taught me not only WHAT are road trip essentials, but that road trips TRULY ARE essential.
Essential Item #1 – full tank of gas… BEFORE day of departure.
Goes without saying, but I found myself filling up (yes, at an Exxon of course, and yes, I did get Plenti points) at 3:30pm day of departure. It’s a shame when you’re all ready to depart and find yourself needing to fill up… waiting while your car fills up, and of course getting distracted by the snacks in the convenience store. Am I the only one that can’t resist mini Oreos? Lesson learned – don’t get sidetracked by an empty tank and don’t waste time or money or calories on junk food. FILL UP THE NIGHT BEFORE.
Essential Item #2 – throwback tunes
Somehow, I’ve managed to accumulate over 1000 songs in my iTunes library. I’m hoping the majority of those were from CDs and were not purchased at $1.29 a song… I really don’t want to do that math. Either way, there’s something highly entertaining about shuffling a music library that includes some S Club 7, Keith Urban, Bowling for Soup, Nelly, John Mayer, Blink-182, and EVERYTHING in between. Really, it’s quite fun when Taylor Swift is the opening act for Wiz Khalifa.
Okay… the list goes on and on, but I’ll save that for another time…
6:52 pm – Stretch break
I was pretty close, but I’m not good at sitting still for too long, and besides, tearing through half a tank of gas was a good reason to get off the highway, refill and stretch my legs while I still had daylight. I made my first stop in the town of Jennings. With a topped off gas tank, a small coke from McDonald’s (successfully resisted ordering food), I was back at it… full steam ahead to visit the beautiful Por-tee-yah. Driving through Louisiana is exactly how I would imagine driving through Louisiana. Sounds crazy, but if you picture what a highway through a swamp would look like, that’s exactly what it’s like driving east on I-10, yes, the same I-10 that I get on every morning to go to work. After four or so hours, I reached my destination… excited as ever.
10:00 am – en route to New Orleans!
Portia proved to be the most amazing host – no surprise there. I can honestly say I never thought much about New Orleans… it wasn’t exactly a place on my bucket list but I soon found myself squealing with delight and taking picture after picture on my iPhone as Portia showed me around the French Quarter. Whimsical architecture and quirky shops surrounded me, along with scents of southern soul food. In that moment, I could not believe I never imagined coming here.
New Orleans has a unique vibe – the streets remind me of Venice with their aging and gritty facades, interesting crowds, and gems tucked around every bend. But it also has a distinct southern charm, and a clear connection to music – evidenced by the full jazz bands that performed for us on every street corner. It’s impossible to absorb all the smells, sounds, and sights but I did try my hardest.
12:32pm I think I died and went to foodie heaven
Beignets. Need I say more? Up until a week before my trip I had never heard of Café Du Monde, or beignets for that matter. I stumbled upon Café Du Monde by accident after work one day, when I was looking for recipe cards and a recipe box in World Market back in Houston. Well, when World Market didn’t have exactly what I had in mind I did what I usually do – spend time perusing the entire store and buying things I did not go there for nor really need. Well, I DO need decaf coffee… I mean, that’s an essential right. Well, low and behold, I stumbled upon Café Du Monde decaf ground coffee and ended up purchasing it. Funny what a coincidence it was. Well, since Portia is now a Louisiana native, she took me to a place even better than Café Du Monde. Quaint and tucked away on a side street, Portia and I found ourselves eating beignets and sipping on lattes at Café Beignet, and what a treat that was!
5:28pm – Reveling in middle school jams
While I could have sipped on a latte and spent all day eating beignets, Portia and I found ourselves belting the sweet sweet words of our favorite Usher songs at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival later that day. Hydrated with strawberry lemonades, we smiled and sang to “Love in this Club” and “Yeah!” watching Usher smile and dance and be all cute up on stage. Like New Orleans, it was another thing I wouldn’t have said I needed to experience, but watching Usher up on stage made me wonder how I could have imagined not seeing Usher perform live because oh my goodness was he awesome (and so darn cute!!!)
Also, picking to watch Usher perform over Maroon 5 was a great choice. Well, it was partly our choice anyway. We TRIED to catch the last twenty minutes of the Maroon 5 show, but Maroon 5 decided to end 20 minutes early and end the show on a song that wasn’t even their own. MEANWHILE on the other stage, Usher continued to sing and dance and be all cute, and yes, Usher actually started his show TWENTY minutes early. Anyone else Team Usher?
9:00pm – Real friends…
Real friends get super excited about stopping at a Nike outlet on the way home and giggling their way through a second dinner at Zaxby’s. Yes, there was actually no other way I’d rather spend my Saturday night. It’s amazing how much fun you can have eating fried chicken off the highway in a random Louisiana town, let me tell you.
What makes a road trip essential? The feeling that you actually got to see something new, eat something new, or realize something new… and that the places you would never expect to go could be some of the most fun. Well, let’s be honest – any place is fun when you’re there with an awesome friend.
