Redneck Disneyland

My hide was pretty chapped after being in the car so long yesterday so I took it upon myself to find even cooler pit stops. I’ve nominated myself the honorary Troop Leader so now I call the shots on what we do and see. Move over humans there is a new Sheriff in town!
I woke the household up early this morning for my first stop on Enzo the Troop leaders itinerary. Carnation Plantation in Franklin TN was the site of a very bloody battle during the Civil War. After the battle over 3000 Confederate called this their resting place and the homeowners made a memorial in their honor which is still upheld today. Beautiful grounds and amazing road to get there.

I called upon my finest feline debutantes to direct us to a good eatery. We went to Husk whose motto is “if it ain’t from the South it ain’t coming through the door”. Famous for their farm to table dishes and fresh eeverythingwe dined on the second best meal this trip. Located on the old Mayors house in DT Nashville it was one classy joint. I was dressed to the nines in my Sunday best but Blake was in boardshorts and a tee– you cant bring these humans anywhere. Our waiter was so awesome with his cute accent and his upsell of the most unhealthiest yet delicious biscuits and gravy.

Blake has a huge fascination with reality TV but not the kind where girls flash their tata’s like that Girls Gone Wild crap, no he likes Redneck stuff like swamp people, Gator Boys and Duck Dynasty. One of his other Favs is American Pickers where two guys from Nashville go around America pickin vintage items to sell in their shop called Antique Archeology. I’ve watched the show and wanted to surprise Blake with a stop at the shop which also happened to be in an old warehouse district. Very cool!

Locals told us to hit up The Grand Old Opry that made country music famous! Too bad there wasn’t a show cause we all would have went. We caught a glimpse of the famous stage and bought an ornament in the gift shop– womp womp.

It was getting late and we wanted to get to Justine’s house but I had one more surprise in store for Miss Catlin. The great Dolly Parton was born in TN in the Smoky Mountains and she has provided a BUNDLE of business for her hometown. We got off at Sevierville to simply get a photo with the Dolly statue but what we stumbled upon was a solid gold hit!

Within the town of Sevierville and Pigeon Forge is literally a Disneyland for Rednecks. Themed mini-golf courses, NASCAR raceways for kids, restaurants and the one and only Dollywood- Dolly’s amusement park. It was quite a site and also pretty neat that this talented woman brought so much business to a town originally of 300.
Instead of taking route 40 to NC we decided to take 411- the scenic route. It was magnificent and throughout it all Blake and I kept saying we wanted a summer house here. For one the Smoky Mountains are the backdrop and then it was filled with a killer sunset, rolling hills, tiny antique shops, sweet towns and BUSHS baked beans. Yup their factory is there and it was humongous.

It was a really cool drive and then it was topped off with a supermoon, fireflys and the Smoky Mt. We all decided we wanted to summer here for a week next year. So far good ol’ TN is taking the cake!

Tri-State HOG

If you are on a diet then don’t go on a road trip. I swore I would only eat veggies and fruit from roadside stands and dine at local yet somewhat healthy eateries. That ethos was thrown out the door the second we crossed the CA/AZ border. Yes, I could stop at groceries stores and get carrot sticks and hummus but that’s no fun. Sad fact is that there aren’t that many choices outside of the major cities, hence my ever expanding waistline. Today as we left LA and headed to Mississippi we got gourmet hot dogs. Then Blake got fries at McDonald’s and then I convinced them to get Krystal Burger in Alabama for dinner. The fat kid award goes to ENZO!!!!!
Maybe all this eating was due to the fact that we were in the car all day today!

We were supposed to go to Memphis but since it is literally 99 degrees everywhere we go we made a detour to the Gulf of Mexico for a swim. The water was a little brown due to a recent storm but the water warm and the sand as fine as wine. I declined the swim as I just got a kitty blow out in NOLA but Cat and Blake enjoyed the beach thoroughly.

After the Gulf we decided to power to Nashville to sleep tonight. This decision will take us through three states today, 4 hours of Howard Stern on Sirius, lots of food and lots of maps. We tried to find a plantation house in the Deep South but most were off the beaten path and we didn’t have time. Maybe tomorrow!!! I have 800 cousins in Bama and would like to spend more time in that Sweet Sweet Home…

Bama Sunset

Night before the super moon Alabama vista

Bon Temps

I’m feeling slightly abused on this Thursday afternoon. I get woken from my nap to take yet another ridiculous photo in front of some state sign next to a bustling highway. Not cute.
A few early observations about Louisiana, its smells damp where Texas was dry and brown LA is wet and green. It’s amazing how drastically something can change from a simple state line. It went from cowboys + cows to gators + crawfish. I can’t wait to dive my whiskers into a crawfish boil which is exactly what we are doing for dinner.

Well we ate at the above establisment and I think they smelled the Yankee on Catlin immediately. The pirate hooker of a waitress wanted nothing to do with them damn yanks. The food offerings were ok- they were really looking for the finger sucking, dumped on the table boiled crawfish experience. It wasn’t here. They ended up getting crawfish étouffée and shared some with me. I can’t pass up shellfish so I was in kitty heaven. It’s two more hours to New Orleans, I can’t wait to get to my newest accommodations as I’m quite tired of this car and this humidity has me feeling like swamp thing- luckily there are hundreds of swamps so I’m in good company.

AA

I’m a real road warrior! After leaving Marfa we had an intense drive ahead of us and I partied so hard in the car (slept). It was quite hot so I parked it towards the front, in between my two besties, and appreciated the AC that was blowing straight to my dome.

It was a fairly boring ride- lots of tumbleweeds and dirt. We finally got to a super cute town called Fredericksberg where a bunch of Germans settled years ago. I wish I had my lederhosen! Cat and Blake walked around the town and found out there was a peach festival that weekend so we found a bunch of roadside peach stands. YUMMO
We had no idea the LBJ was born in Texas let alone had his hometown named after him. Kind of incredible that an American president came from such a small place. There were also a ton of ranches surrounding Johnson City– apparently Texas is like Africa these days, they love their wild and exotic animals!
After sweating for 7 hours we made it to my Austin Aunts, Lauren and Elena’s house. Lauren was home and was so kind and she had two dogs that kept yelling at me but I didn’t mind. I got a huge room to rest my paws and those dogs were locked out! Cat, Blake and Lauren jumped in the pool while I spritzed myself with water and watched the boob tube.

The clan showered and headed to South Congress St for food and libations. They ended up at Perlas, this amazing seafood place and had the most perfect meal. Lauren introduced Cat to a new drink that is persecco and aperol liqueur, YUM. Elena was stuck in Dallas on a flight delay, which saddened us, so we went to Deep Eddies Cabaret, the best dive bar, to have a mini mug of beer in her honor! They also played the best music including Patsy Cline which reminded Cat of her mother who used to blast the record in their house when she was younger.

This morning we woke and really wanted to see Elena who was stuck in a meeting so we went to Home Slice Pizza for a quick bite. Cat is a huge pizza snob and LOVES this pizza. It’s NY style which is her fav. We then stopped by Elena’s office to say hi. She doused me in kisses and I really love her. Both my AA (Austin Aunts) are so awesome. I can’t wait to come back.
Blake wanted to stop at Jesse James Speed Shop. Cat doesn’t care for him as he cheated on Americas Sweetheart Sandra Bullock but he repairs cars/motorcycles and man are they awesome.

We are now off to New Orleans– my southern drawl is really coming out and I’m slower than normal. Which means I’m barely moving.

Enzo goes Cross Country!!!

Deep in the Heart of Texaco

What a long day of driving but when I tell you some of the things we experienced it was well worth it. After I was “cat burglared” the night before everyone wanted to get on the road. We went to Canyon Road in Sante Fe for breakfast and checked out all the amazing galleries. Sante Fe sure has some pretty talented artists.
We made our way down route 25 towards El Paso. En route we came across a little town called Elephant Butte, we thought the name was hilarious for obvious reasons. Little known to us there was a massive lake in this town so we decided to take a dip. It was beautiful blue water and 75 degrees. We even had to off road to get to the waters-edge.

After our refreshing dip we had a long haul ahead of us. Next stop was El Paso which is just insane cause you can literally see Mexico from the highway. Ciudad Juarez is right across the way, which is one of the most dangerous cities out there. We hightailed it out of there fast but the Mexican border was always in sight. We soon made our way down highway 90 and came upon the oddest thing. A Prada store was in the middle of no where — it was even stocked with product. I love a good photo op so we ended up taking quite a few.

After my Photoshoot we got into Marfa, our final destination and boy was it cool!!! We are doing something called “glamping” which means we are glamour camping. A tent or teepee is erected for us, has electricity and a bed. This is my kind of camping!!! We were staying at a place called El Cosmico where you can glamp or camp. It was funny cause all the older people (above 50) were camping and the younger set (20-40) were glamping. Ha ha.
We watched the sunset from our safari tent and then Cat and Blake headed to cochineal restaurant. For a tiny town in the Texas wasteland there sure are a ton of amazing (five star) restaurants, shops and galleries. However, this definitely is a weekend town. We wanted to eat at Pizza Foundation based off a recommendation but most places are closed during the week. Seems like a Friday and Saturday would be the best way to experience all of Marfa. Oh well, It was pretty unreal regardless.
I was just lounging on the bed roasting a squirrel wearing my Davy Crocker hat when the humans got back from dinner. Together we checked out the crystal clear sky filled with stars and fell asleep. I didn’t even try to break out this time as my saddle blanket on my bed was too comfy!

This morning we packed, took an outdoor shower in a luxury hut type structure and walked the town of Marfa. We saw the paisano hotel that was built for the oil boom (which never materialized) and was later where stars like Liz Taylor and James Dean stayed while filming GIANT. Lots of movies were filmed in Marfa, really interesting spot.
We are now off to Austin to see our friends Elena and Lauren. Can’t wait.

Enzo goes cross country—