Heading to Florida over Memorial Day weekend. Leaving early Saturday morning from Lawrence and will try to be in Memphis by around 3 to take in the Graceland tour. We'll stay somewhere around Memphis (suggestions?) and then make our way to Fort Walton Beach Sunday and spend all week there at a condo.
Heading home on June 4th and will pull in probably Sunday afternoon unless I can talk my wife into driving through with me and getting home around 11 pm Saturday night. It's a 15 hour drive.
We originally wanted to come up through Texas and still might but it would make for two solid days of driving and really after relaxing all week, we will probably just want to get home, however, my nephew and his wife are house sitting so they will be there until Sunday so maybe we'll just stay an extra night on the road so we have the house back to ourselves.
At any rate, is there any specific place we should stop along the way that you would suggest? Here's the route we plan on taking down.
We had a trip to Destin a few weeks ago - drove from Dallas, stayed a week. Similar to what you did. About 11-12 hours non-stop, but with a kiddo and 3 other adults in the car, definitely not non-stop. (15 total on the drive back, the drive there we stopped one night in MS) Things I'd recommend:
- Sitting your ass on the beach with a cooler full of drinks
- Sitting on the beach
- Beach
Common theme. Our 18 month old for some reason hated touching sand, so it wasn't as fun of a beach vacation as we were thinking. Luckily the condo we were in had a pool, so we spent anytime in the sun at the pool instead. As for things to do:
- Visit Seaside - master planned community, very pretty. Think the Hamptons of Florida, if you will. Worth a visit, but would never actually stay there
- Boshamps was already previously mentioned - very good
- Harborwalk - the "touristy" area with a nice boardwalk, places to eat and drink, etc
- Beach Walk Cafe - further down on the other side of Destin - ate there one night (inside Henderson Park Inn) - very romantic, awesome view and food
- The Donut Hole - breakfast. Awesome selection of donuts, and their regular food and pies is pretty darn good too
- The Crab Trap / Boardwalk - TCT is a touristy joint, can't really say food was awesome, but that area with all the volleyball going on, shops, etc was kind of cool
- Fishing - my parents and the in-laws went - about $65/person for about 4 hours of actual fishing, caught a few things (check to see what's in season at that time, as they caught some stuff that was big enough to keep but off-season so they had to throw it back)
- Walmart - odd thing to say, yes, but they have a liquor store inside and by far, cheapest booze in the area, and a pretty good selection of liquor. If you must buy some, go there. Also if you need any coolers, beach chairs, etc - better than Alvin's Island or the like
As for Memphis - had family there, so spent a lot of time there as well as for work. My two cents:
- How much do you want to pay for a hotel? If ~$200, you can stay around downtown and checkout Beale Street. Their music/bar/happening place. Generally safe, unlike a lot of Memphis. Otherwise if that's more than what you want to spend, find a side of the highway Hampton (or similar) for ~$100 and visit Beale/downtown.
- Rendezvous has great dry ribs - it's literally in a dark alley but definitely has the reputation for good reason
- Blues City Cafe for wet (sauced) ribs - some of the best wet ribs I've ever had, actually prefer BCC over RV
- Flying Saucer for beer (believe you may have one in your area where you are at now)
- Plenty of various blues bars on Beale
- Given you'll be there one night, Beale is probably your best place to take it all in
- Graceland - oddly enough, I've never actually been there despite having gone to Memphis since I was an infant. From what family tells me - it's tiny and almost anti-climactic, hence my desire to not actually go.
For the car ride - download some podcasts. It's the only thing that kept me awake and alert the entire drive. Of the 30 hours of driving, I drove 27 of them. Recommend "Serial" - Season 1. I fall asleep driving home from work (40 minutes) so it was really good driving material.
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