Hello from sweet home Madison, Alabama! We’ve officially clocked over 1,800 miles in the car in the last week, and honestly, we have had the best time! Sadie struggled in the hotels a couple nights, but otherwise everything has been smooth sailing (knock on wood).
Our game plan to get from Austin to Madison (1,000 miles) was to split the trip up over three days. We loosely planned out each day and looked forward to seeing loved ones, eating at yummy places, and seeing some neat places (all strategically planned around nap time, of course!)
Friday: Austin to Dallas to Mount Pleasant, Texas
We left my in-law’s home Friday after Sadie’s morning nap and headed to north Austin to see a couple of our dear friends that we met during our time at Fort Campbell when we were all brand new to Army life.
We enjoyed a delicious lunch and conversation at their beautiful home before hugging goodbye and heading north to Dallas.
My cousin Chris and his sweet family recently moved to the Dallas area from New York City and we were so excited to see them. Chris was so accommodating during college when I was running up to New York to see Jamie all the time, so we were all looking forward to being reunited and catching up.
We enjoyed an excellent dinner, and the girls had a heyday playing with their second cousin Clara! Around 8ish we hit the road yet again so that we could get another couple hours of driving under our belts. I’d reserved a hotel ahead of time in Mount Pleasant, Texas, and by the time we got there we were more than ready to call it a night.
Saturday: Mount Pleasant, TX to Memphis, TN
On Saturday we only had about 400 miles to knock out with our sights set on Memphis. We ate a long lunch in Little Rock at and cannot recommend this spot enough! The girls were able to stretch their legs and play (albeit in the dirt, but I was picking my battles!), Teddy was allowed to sit outside with us (obviously a must in this heat), and we enjoyed incredible food. The curry chicken salad was to die for! This place is highly recommended on Trip Advisor, and we understand why!
The girls crashed as soon as we got back in the car, so we gassed up and ventured close by to a couple iconic spots to view from our car: as seen below (known for the Little Rock Nine) as well as the governor’s mansion.
Our final stop for the day was Memphis. Jamie had never been to the downtown Memphis area, and I only have happy memories from a long weekend vacation with my family there 10 years ago.
We rolled in around 3:45 and headed over toHotel to see if we could watch the iconic duck parade at 5. I had seen it once before and knew Hadley would get a kick out of it! We weren’t sure if Teddy was allowed inside, so we were ecstatic when they said he was welcome. 🙂
A few kind gentlemen spotted us with the kids when we walked in and invited us to snag their table once they left so that we had a prime spot to watch the show. We were so grateful! We found out that Teddy actually had to be outside of the columns during the actual show, so I volunteered to watch from a distance with him since Jamie had never seen the show. You can see them seated in the bottom left of this picture (Jamie is wearing a gray t-shirt.)
We planned to walk Beale Street after the duck parade, but Hadley went bananas over the horses and carriages outside the hotel, and in typical Jamie fashion he couldn’t say no to her. 🙂 Even Teddy got to go along for the ride!
We grabbed dinner to-go from the infamousafter our ride and decided to make our way back to the hotel so that Sadie could have a chance at getting to sleep around her normal time (7:30ish).
Sunday: Memphis, TN to Madison, AL
We all slept in on Sunday morning and hit the road around 9:30 for our final three-hour drive to Madison (three hours seemed like a breeze at this point!) We haven’t been here since Thanksgiving, so I’m thrilled to be “home” for the week.
And the randomly-generated winner from the Sugar Dumplin Instagram giveaway is….
Shayna Hughes!
Shayna, I will send you a direct message via instagram to get your information. 🙂
Hi! I’m Erica, and I absolutely adore sharing my life on this website with you! I come here almost daily to blab about all of the things related to being a regular wife and mother in today’s ever-evolving society. I share about our new home, what’s on our kitchen table, what we’re hanging in our closets, where we’re traveling to next, my crazy 5 a.m. work outs, how I make time for girlfriends, our faith, and much more. We always have a lot of balls in the air and somewhat thrive on the chaos. I believe in the power of story-telling as a form of inspiration and entertainment, so I’m here to do both! I was born and raised in north Alabama and recently re-planted roots here again after my husband transitioned out of the Army (he is now in the Reserve and it’s going so well!) I’m a super proud mom to three little girls (ages 7, 4, and 1) who seem to be the stars of the show around here (for good reason – they’re pretty great!) I’m so glad you found me and are here reading! I hope we can get to know each other here on the blog as well as Facebook and/or Instagram. xoxo