Road Trip from Los Angeles to New Orleans
My best friend Jackie and I just went on a road trip from Los Angeles to New Orleans (where she's working for the summer). We covered about 1,910 miles in 3 days and 3 nights. It was the longest road trip I've been on as an adult, but honestly it was one of the best trips I've ever gone on.
We stayed the night in Phoenix, Marfa, TX, and Austin and made a few little stops along the way. Here are a few highlights from each place we stopped:
STOP 1: Phoenix, AZ
Where we stayed: Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel
What we ate: Belgian Waffles at Matt's Big Breakfast--so delicious!
What we did: We had to hit the road pretty early because we had a nine hour drive to Marfa, TX, so we just took in some sites on our walk over to breakfast. Downtown Phoenix has some gorgeous street art (or is it graffiti?).
PIT STOP: The Thing roadside attraction ($1).
STOP 2: Marfa, TX
Where we stayed: Riata Inn Marfa ($100 for the night). There weren't too many options in Marfa because it's such a small town. It wasn't anything fancy, but it's within walking distance to all the nightlife spots and we were only there to sleep, so this place got the job done.
What we ate: Meat Lover's Grilled Cheese Sandwich from the Grilled Cheese Parlour. This place was the only food option open at 10PM when we arrived in Marfa, but I would've chosen to eat there anyway. It was delicious! The shop is also a "Museum of Electronic Wonders" and there's old school televisions that play artsy films throughout the small shop.
What we did: Obviously, we went to Prada Marfa. That was really the whole reason for our stop in Marfa! We also went to a few bars--Padre's and Planet Marfa. Planet Marfa was my favorite of the two because it had a big teepee and an old bus you can hang out in.
STOP 3: Austin, TX
Where we stayed: Drifter Jack's Hostel ($34 per person). I'm incredibly thankful that we stayed at a hostel in Austin because we happened to be there during a huge storm. Seriously, there were tornado and flash flood warnings. There just really was no way that we could experience the Austin nightlife the night that we were there. But we ended up hanging out with a bunch of Australians at the hostel and played a fun game called "Werewolf" (basically it's just like Mafia). It wasn't the night we planned on having, but the people we met at the hostel made it such a fun experience.
What we ate: Fatty beef brisket from Black's BBQ and chicken and waffles from 24 Diner.
What we did: Again, there was a huge storm while we were in town, so all we did was eat and hang out at our hostel.
PIT STOP: Beer Can House in Houston, TX
PIT STOP: Gator Country in Beaumont, TX.
It's been my dream to play with a baby alligator and I FINALLY got to do it here. It was AMAZING! The folks that worked there were also super eager to show us around the place and teach us about these adorable creatures.
FINAL STOP: New Orleans, LA
Where we stayed: We were lucky enough to have family friends to stay with. They had the most gorgeous home in the Garden District and just so happen to be neighbors with Sandra Bullock, John Goodman, and (most recently) Jay Z and Beyoncé!
Check out my video below to find out what else we did along the way and all the fun stuff we did in NOLA! Hope this inspires you to take your own road trip this summer!
