Everyone has been asking me where I went during my road trip and if they could get a list of all the places we visited, where we stayed, what we did, etc. So here it is:
Day One: Virginia Beach, VA – Florence, SC
Directions: Take 58 West to Emporia then 95 South through North Carolina and into South Carolina to Florence.
We left town after I got off work so we only drove about 6 hours then crashed for the night at a random hotel along the interstate, Florence Days Inn South at $40/night. We ate dinner before we left and took pictures with our feet in the sand!
Day Two: Florence, SC – Mobile, AL
Directions: From Florence take 20 West into Georgia to Atlanta then take 85 South from Atlanta to Montgomery AL, then 65 South to Mobile.
We ate breakfast at the hotel this morning (always look for a continental breakfast when choosing hotels around the same price range) then enjoyed an artichoke pizza at Antico Pizza in Atlanta. This was recommended to us by a friend who attended the University of Georgia and it was her favorite place to eat. We sat up front, but if you walk into where the kitchen is, you can sit back there and watch the chefs cook right in front of you. It’s also BYOB, which we obviously could not take part in since we had another few hours to drive. Also, be prepared that they only serve whole pizzas so don’t go in asking for a slice. They’ll look at your like you’re an idiot and laugh.
We arrived in Mobile around 7pm and checked into our hotel, the Admiral Semmes Hotel. The hotel was beautiful inside, and for only $119/night it was a steal in comparison to other nearby hotels that were over $300-$400 per night. I chose this hotel because it’s only 2 blocks from Dauphin Street, which is Mobile’s restaurant and nightlife hub. We ate dinner at Spot of Tea, which seemed to be the best option that was not bar food or pizza. We were greeted with live piano music which I loved. The menu was pricey and the food was worth every penny but I will say that the decor was a little strange with metal chairs from 1984, plastic cups that looked like they belonged at Pizza Hut, and then with the live music it was just a weird mixture. It seemed like whoever owned that restaurant was a great chef but didn’t know the first thing about making it look right up front. Anyway, it was yummy.
After dinner, we drove to the grocery store for a bottle of wine – be warned, the closest convenience store or grocery store is a Winn Dixie a few miles away so buy whatever you need before you start enjoying the adult beverages on Dauphin Street. We walked around Dauphin Street for a while until settling in at Grand Central Station which had two different bar areas – one with a live rock cover band and the other with a more acoustic feel. We were back and forth between both the whole night. We probably missed some fun at some of the other hot spots on Dauphin Street including Club Retro, Martini’s, and Boo Radley’s (who proudly claims to be the only bar on Dauphin Street selling Boone’s Farm wine… not sure if that’s something to brag about but whatever), but Grand Central Station was a blast. When you go in you have to pay $5 to become a “member”, which allows them to stay open as long as people are still drinking. You get a membership card and everything – very official. We were there on a Friday night and it was about half-full, but apparently Saturdays get crazy, just FYI.
Day Three: Mobile, AL – Austin, TX
Directions: From Mobile take 10 West through Mississippi and Louisiana to Columbus, TX then take State Road 71 West to Austin. This route takes you just past New Orleans if you want to make a pit stop there for a night.
We left Mobile around 8am with a cup of coffee and the car headed west with a planned stop in Slidell, LA to eat breakfast/brunch at the La. Pines Cafe. It’s a few minutes off the interstate (maybe a 7-8 minute drive) but when you arrive you are greeted by a very friendly staff and a very down-home restaurant. Most of the diners seem to be regulars as the waiters greeted them by name, but as you look around you see a huge map of the U.S. where people can chart where they’re from. There were marks all over that map! The food was delicious and I definitely recommend it for breakfast.
The drive between Mobile and Austin was probably my favorite because it’s just so peaceful. There’s not a lot to see other than a few cities that you drive through, but just as you reach the city limits it’s back to fields and mountains. We spent hours at a time not even saying a word, just listening to our road trip mixes and enjoying the view.
We had planned to stop in Houston for lunch at the Red Lion Pub but with such a late breakfast, we drove right through and only stopped for snacks later before finally arriving in Austin, TX later that evening. It was UFC Fight Night and if you know anything about me, you know that I love me some UFC. We were staying with a friend of Ben’s that night, so we told her to make the plans so we when she mentioned Twin Peaks (a restaurant kind of like Hooters, but “better” so she says), Ben didn’t put up much of a fight. I was happy cause I got to watch the fight, Ben was happy cause he got to watch the waitresses. Win, win.
Later that evening, Eve took us out to 6th Street, which boasts a large collection of bars and restaurants highly populated by college students and twenty-somethings looking for a fun night. We went to two different bars, the Chuggin’ Monkey, and Maggie Mae’s although I did absolutely no research on Austin nightlife and honestly, the three of us together could’ve been in an empty room and still had a blast, so I’m not sure that these are necessarily recommendations as much as just a testament of what we did… and we had fun so I guess that counts for something.
Day Four: Austin, TX – Lordsburg, NM
Directions: From Austin take 290 West about 100 miles, then get on 10 West… and just keep driving.
As beautiful and amazing as the scenery was yesterday, two days of the same thing gets REALLY boring. This was one of our longer driving days but worse than that, we were just stir crazy! Note to self, unmedicated ADHD adult + active energetic recoverng musical theater major + total lack of stimulation x 12 hours in car = problem. In all seriousness, it wasn’t that bad. We’re both good travelers and found ways to entertain ourselves with my “If…” books, music mixes, question games, and naps (for me, not him obviously). I’m usually a serious napper during car rides but this was the only day that I took a nap, and even then it only lasted about an hour. We stopped 2 hours short of our original destination of Tucson just because we were so over being in the car.
We ate dinner just outside of El Paso. Since we could literally see the US/Mexico border from the interstate, we decided that Mexican food would be good. I searched my UrbanSpoon app on my phone and it told me that there were 583 Mexican restaurants in the area. We just picked one that was off the interstate.
Finally in Lordsburg, we stayed at the Hampton Inn: clean rooms, clean bathrooms, comfy beds, and free breakfast.
Day Five: Lordsburg, NM – Los Angeles, CA
Directions: From Lordsburg, take 10 West all the way to Los Angeles.
Although our final destination was San Diego, my older brother lives in Los Angeles so we spent a couple of days there before finally arriving in San Diego. We stayed at the Best Western Hollywood Hills, ate dinner at Birds within walking distance from the hotel, and did some bar hopping down Hollywood Blvd. And we just couldn’t kick the Mexican theme of the last 48 hours – all the bars we stopped in were Mexican. I had my fair share of pina coladas and they were delicious.
My older brother got off work around 9:30pm and met us out, then walked us around the corner and into some random hole in the wall that looked like nothing from the outside and turned out to be this amazing little restaurant inside. They were having some kind of wrap party for a movie or tv show or commercial (that’s LA for ya) but Knate was friends with the doorman so we walked right in and everything the rest of the night was on the house. I wish I could tell you the name of the place but I honestly don’t even think it was written on the outside. It’s one of those you-gotta-know-somebody type of places. VERY cool, though!
Day Six: Los Angeles, CA
The next morning, Ben and I ate a delicious breakfast at 101 Cafe, which is connected to our hotel. AFter a leisurely breakfast, we drove out to Universal Studios, rode some rides, took some photos, did the Studio Tour which was pretty cool, and when they closed at 5:00 we spent the rest of the evening walking around CityWalk. Knate met us later back at the Cafe for dinner but I was done for the night. Zzzzzzz…..
Day Seven: Los Angeles, CA – San Diego, CA
Directions: From Los Angeles, take 5 South all the way to San Diego.
The drive to San Diego was beautiful. We arrived in the afternoon in time for lunch, so we went to Hodad’s – a total beach/surf burger joint – then walked down to Ocean Beach to put our feet in the sand. We made it! I had a lot on my San Diego To Do list, so we hopped back in the car and were on our way to Cabrillo Tide Pools. This drive is also amazing and when you finally get there you don’t ever want to leave. Teh photo on TripAdvisor doesn’t even come close to doing it justice. It’s the most beautiful place, high rock cliffs overlooking the ocean, areas where you can walk down to the water and explore, it’s just amazing.
After the tide pools, we drove to Old Town San Diego and probably could’ve spent an entire day here exploring. I think if I were to move to San Diego I’d want to live in Old Town. There is a definite Mexican influence but the place is just crawling with restaurants, shops, etc. For dinner, we headed over to the Gaslamp Quarter which is more of a tourist destination if you’re talking to a local, but for us it was a great place to find dinner. There are TONS of restaurants in the area and we finally settled on an Italian restaurant. Again, I have no idea what the name is (so much for Meghan, the tour guide) but we were more interested in the menus than we were the name of the place… but the food was perfect.
I caught a 9:30pm flight so after dinner I was off to the airport!
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