Maryville, TN to New Orleans, LA

Woke up to the rain and headed out to Lookout Mountain where I had hoped to spend a bit of time at Chickamagua and Chatanooga National Park, but because of the furlough, the entire site was closed up and because of the fog, there was no view.  So we literally just drove to it, drove past it, and then drove away from it which was too bad.

Interstate 59 did take us through the far northwest corner of Georgia and I snapped a single picture as we were gassing up.  After that, we drove to Birmingham, Alabama and the weather progressively got better.  We had a quick burger and beer at Back Forty Beer Company and then drove across town to Kelly Ingram Park which was ground zero for the Civil Rights Movement and I wanted to see the sculptures which turned out to be incredibly moving and powerful.

We left Birmingham and headed for Dunn's Falls Park in Mississippi, but even though it was supposed to be open, it was closed when we drove past.  No matter because the sun was setting.  Yes, the sun had come out on us and it was beautiful.  Mississippi is flat, but the red clay in the setting sun was lovely.

We swapped driving at a truck stop on the Mississippi-Louisiana state line and Ron took us the rest of the way to New Orleans.  We crossed Lake Pontchartrain in the last light and got to our hotel in New Orleans where we checked in, but quickly left and headed for a beer at Parleaux Beer Lab.  They had already closed their kitchen, but still had some red beans and rice to offer.  And their beer was fantastic.

Since we were still hungry, however, we took a Lyft to the Bayou Beer Garden and shared a basket of catfish (my first) and another beer.  Both were excellent!  Really enjoyed our evening in New Orleans and would like to got back some day!