Leland, MS - Birthplace of the Frog

I was doing a bit of route planning today, and between Google Maps and Roadside America, I found a fantastic place to visit on our trip between Clarksdale and Natchez in Mississippi. Leland, MS, is known locally as the Birthplace of the Frog. In other words, it's where Jim Henson is rumoured to have been inspired to create Kermit! Another claim to fame for this small town is that the 'escape from the train' scene at the beginning of 'O Brother, Where Art Thou' was filmed here!

Another one for the list of things to do and see...

A belated happy new year, everyone!

In the first few days back at work, there has been a flurry of emails between Glasgow and Gloucestershire making plans for our trip. After nearly three years of planning, we can't believe we're going away THIS YEAR! There's nothing like getting back to work after a couple of weeks off to get you planning your next break.

Jo and I are going to meet up in Birmingham in a couple of months to finalise all our arrangements and book our flights. At the moment we're concentrating on doing our research on hotels. TripAdvisor.com has been a great find and has stopped us wasting our time and budget on some very dubious places indeed. This weekend I'll be spending some time booking us in here - check out the fantastic photos - and the slightly more palatial but rumoured to be haunted Burn B&B. The best thing about Natchez is the traditional cuisine, if anything looks like it might be good for you, they deep fry it until it's very very bad but no doubt it'd be all the more tasty for it.

In light of these new discoveries in Mississippi, we've decided to change our plans and miss out a trip to Katy, TX on this trip. I am starting to feel nervous about being behind the wheel again, so an 18 hour detour is possibly not a good thing. One day I will FLY to Houston and maybe hire a car when I get there. Plus, I hear Katy has a rather large mall, and I am saving my shopping time for New York.

We are really struggling to find a good recommendation for a hotel in Nashville or Memphis. The Loews hotel we will be staying in for our time in New Orleans has a branch in Nashville, and despite the lure of the CDs recorded by guests of the hotel (famous, singing guests, obviously), TripAdvisor tells us it's in a bit of a dodgy area. Jo pointed out that we would probably end up just using the services of the Concierge to call taxis for us, so we decided to skip that one.

If you're going away ANYWHERE this year, I would definitely recommend TripAdvisor before you go. They aren't paying us to say this by the way, they're just great. Also, I've been relying on RoadsideAmerica for hints on quirky stuff to do while we're on the road - I've been addicted to that website for literally years and used it before Jo and I went away last time to get good tips on things to do and see.

Until next time,

Katy