The Fawcetts Great American Road trip: Part 1

Years ago Nick drove from New Jersey to Utah... non-stop. He decided never again would he do that. So we decided to make a vacation out of our move. Shellie and Alex wanted to come along and help once we got to Charleston. Unfortunately last minute Alex found out he couldn't get off work... So it ended up being the three of us. But it was still a blast.

We headed out on our 5th anniversary. YAY! Happy Anniversary to us! Its been a crazy 5 years... and the best 5 years! So before we left me and Nick went and had breakfast at Ruths. It was good as always. After breakfast we picked up Shellie got Swig and left. Right away we hit road work. Then rain. We eventually made it to Sidney Nebraska. We checked out the fist ever Cabbala's then had dinner. We got back on the road... we still had about 4-5 hours until we got to hotel in Lincoln. Well the weather kept getting worse and worse. There were flash flood warnings, crazy rain, thunder, and lightening all while driving in middle of road work. We were all on the edge of our seats. Terrified. It was so scary! We were still 2 to 3 hours away. We called our hotel and cancelled our room. They helped us find a hotel near to were we were at. So we find where we needed to exit thinking, "The hotel must be right off the exit". NO.  We couldn't see more than a foot in front of us. The rain was coming down so hard!! They had little to no street lights. Nick wasn't pushing on the gas but we were moving because we were basically floating in a river. There was a point that I literally thought we were going to die. No joke. We finally made it to the motel... and yikes. I was in tears... 1. I was so happy we made it to the motel alive 2. I was still a wreck from the scary drive 3. I was terrified about staying in this motel. Its a rule of mine that I only stay in well known hotel/motel chains. All because of Criminal Minds. I thought to myself, "Either die by drowning in a flash flood or get murdered in this hotel." I chose the motel.  It was one gross place. But I am so grateful that it was there!! 

Bags packed

Happy 5 Years

The scary Motel 

The next day we had to wake up really early since we didn't make it to Lincoln. On our way out of the town we stayed in we saw that the night before we crossed a few bridges. And we had ditches on both sides of us. We had no idea. We felt even more blessed that we made it safely to our motel without running off the road or floating away. We made it to Lincoln had lunch at Tom+Chee. Its basically a place where you can have all different types of Grilled Cheese... including on donuts. After lunch we just drove around a little bit and went to check out the University of Nebraska. Apparently T-Mobile isn't a big carrier there. We had no service. We couldn't figure out how to get on the road to Kansas. We had to stop at a couple gas stations to get help. We hit more road work. There was a game that we were trying to get to and it was super frustrating. Finally we started to move when a semi cut us off and almost hit us! We had to swerve off the road. We finally made it to the Royals game in one piece. I have been to MLB games before. But this was crazy!! It was packed. And they were tailgating! And it was so freaking hot!! But it was a real fun game. And I am glad we went. After the game we went to Arthur Bryants. Its a famous BBQ place. It was good... but not my favorite. 

Day three we woke up and explored Kansas City a little more. We had lunch at another famous BBQ place... Gates BBQ. I liked it better than Arthur Bryants. Then we headed to St. Louis. I was impressed with St. Louis. That arch is impressive. We got to ride all the way to the top! We walked around and explored. We had to try all the foods St. Louis is famous for. And oh my gosh... they know their food. We had Gooey Butter Cake. So good. After that we went to The Hill. The Hill is where all the Italian immegrants settled back in the day. And they have really good food there that they are famous for. So we tried their famous St. Louis pizza. So good. The best Chicken Alfredo Pizza I ever had. And the best combo too. We also tried toasted ravioli. That was way good too! I couldn't ever live in St. Louis... I would be eating way too much unhealthy food. 

Tram to the top

At the top of the arch

Gooey Butter Cake

Toasted Ravioli

The next day we woke up and explored St. Louis some more. We stopped by their Hard Rock. Then we went on the Busch Beer Factory Tour. It was very interesting. We got free soda since we didn't drink! Then we hit the road for Memphis... one of my favorite stops! We went through Illinois and Arkansas to get there. The night we got there we walked up and down Beale Street. Had dinner with a black Elvis singing to us. It was awesome. 

Day five went to the famous Sun Studio where Elvis, Johnny Cash and others recored when they first started out. We also went to Graceland. We learned to much about Elvis. And you know what I am very impressed by him. He was very giving and family oriented. It was way awesome. After Graceland we walked up and down The Mississippi River. We had dinner at Hard Rock. And it was so much fun. Once again Elvis sang to us as we ate. 

Mississippi River

The next day we to the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King got shot. That was humbling. Then we headed to Nashville. There we went to the famous RCA Studio B. Elvis recorded there along with other greats. It was one of my favorite things we did. It was almost a spiritual experience. They had the microphones that Elvis used. A piano that all greats used.... it was awesome. We also went to the Country Music Hall of Fame. That was also really cool. We walked around Nashville and of course went to the Hard Rock. We tried on boots and hats... it was fun. 

Lorraine Motel

Studio B 

The famous mic and piano

Country Music Museum 

To Be Continued....