[00:00:13] Speaker A: Welcome to two Travel Dads podcast. Here we share our favorite destinations, travel tips, stories from our adventures, and bring on awesome guests to share insights into their travelsome lives. Be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and check out our detailed show
[email protected]. podcast at the episodes hey, welcome to another episode of True Travel Dads podcast. I'm Rob, your host, who you have for every single episode. And today I've got a special guest who's been with us before.
Hi, Tammy Lee. How are you?
[00:00:48] Speaker B: I'm fantastic.
[00:00:50] Speaker A: Excellent. Tammy Lee and I have been friends for years, and she also works in travel and she runs an amazing recipe website as well. And she digs into all kinds of different things. And then her husband is also a really awesome guy. Um, and John runs parkrangerjohn.com. so we've got all kinds of different stuff going. And Tammy Lee and John live in Alabama, which I think is, um, pretty awesome. We've got a podcast episode all about kind of, um, making big life decisions and moving to find the joy in your life. And that's how they ended up in Alabama. And, you know, what's next to Alabama is Mississippi. And that's what we're actually going to talk about today before we dig into that, though, because we're going to specifically talk about Ridgeland, Mississippi, because you seemed very surprised by it. I did want to give you just a second to share a little bit about Gulf coast journeys and what you're doing with that because, I mean, last time we talked, you had been working on it a lot. And I feel like since we've talked, you have created not just like a snowball, but an avalanche. So what's going on with Gulf coast journeys and all of your. Everything you're just exploring along the Gulf of Mexico?
Yeah. Take it away. Tell us about it.
[00:02:09] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. Gulf coast journeys has become such a joy and such an amazing treat for interacting with people who are also excited about the Alabama beaches and about exploring this area of the country that is so beautiful. But maybe people don't know about a lot of the hidden gems. And so we're having just such a great time getting out and trying new things and going to new places. And we tried a new taco place yesterday, and it was unbelievable. Just enjoying life.
[00:02:42] Speaker A: Awesome. No, it's really. That's kind of when we first got to Florida, that was what we were doing, too, is just, wow, look at all the stuff that we can explore. And everybody around here was either. Yeah, this place is amazing. Isn't it great? And you should try this. Or they were like, oh, I never go explore. There was, like, nowhere in between. They're like, oh, yeah, we've been there. It was either like, here's lots of details about all the wonder, or it was, oh, yeah. We don't actually go explore anywhere beyond our neighborhood.
[00:03:10] Speaker B: Yeah, I think we're finding the same thing. You know, people who are super into trying new things or people who have gone to the same restaurant for 30 years, and that's their taste profile. That's where it's staying.
[00:03:22] Speaker A: Yeah. So. And with that. So when we're talking about Gulf coast, that includes, you know, Florida and the Panhandle, Alabama beaches, Mississippi beaches. Cause there's coastal Mississippi, which is amazing.
[00:03:35] Speaker B: But which is unbelievable and also a shockingly amazing place to visit.
[00:03:40] Speaker A: Well, tell what is it that keeps. So when we were talking about Ridgeland the other day, and then now you just said, shocking about the Mississippi beaches, too. What is it that's so astounding? Is it just that Mississippi is so much cooler? Is it more beautiful? Is it more laid back? Is it not hot? No.
[00:03:56] Speaker B: Oh, it's warm. I mean, it's definitely warm. We're not July, August yet, so we're still surviving, I think, coming from the Pacific Northwest, what we hear about the south isn't always the reality of living in the south. You know, there's parts that are, of course, what you hear about, but there's also these gems that are nothing like what you see on the news or nothing like how the south is portrayed. And so we keep exploring these new regions, going in, having no idea what to expect and coming out in awe of what we're finding.
The first time we went to Ocean Springs on coastal Mississippi, we kept looking at each other, and we're like, we had no idea, really, that the beaches looked like that, that there was such fun, amazing restaurants and how diverse the area was for entertainment and food.
And then going to Ridgeland this past weekend, the same thing happened and more. It just blew our minds. You know, we went in thinking we were going for nature, and we came out with five star restaurants that were unbelievable. And I would have thought I was in downtown LA or New York and unbelievable nature, to top it off.
[00:05:14] Speaker A: That's fascinating because especially, like, when I do think about Mississippi, I don't necessarily think of it as being, I don't love the word bougie, but it almost sounds like Bougie is kind of like the way to describe it, just in that it is much nicer than expected, because, like you just said, you know, when you don't live in the south, you don't hear about all the different aspects of the south. So, you know, you. You really do create this image in your mind about what you're going to find. So. So tell us about Ridgeland. I think it's. You said it's up by Jackson, right? Okay, so what is kind of like, the atmosphere and environment up there? Are we talking. Is it still, you know, swampy? Is it right on the Mississippi river? Are we getting more into farm country? What's it like up in Ridgeland?
[00:06:01] Speaker B: From Ridgeland to Jackson was less than, like, maybe a ten minute drive when we went to a park in Jackson. So it's very much adjacent to the.
[00:06:12] Speaker A: City, almost like a suburb.
[00:06:14] Speaker B: Sort of a suburb. Yeah, it's hometown, but it's so unexpected. And we pulled up, and our first stop was explore Ridgeland to get to the visitor center and get all the details of everything in the area. And you pull into this Renaissance shopping center, and there's a giant fountain with horses that looks like it came out of Italy, and it's this tuscan italian open air shopping center with really nice stores and really nice restaurants. And we just sat there looking at each other, going, oh, wow. Okay. We're gonna have so much fun getting shocking on for the next three days, because we just didn't know. We had no idea that Ridgeland was such an upscale community.
[00:07:02] Speaker A: So before you. Before you discovered that, what was the plan for going up and visiting Ridgeland? Was it just kind of being around and see what Mississippi's like?
[00:07:10] Speaker B: Our goal was, Ridgeland is right along the Natchez Trace Parkway.
[00:07:14] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:07:15] Speaker B: So our goal was to use Ridgeland as a hub for exploring Mississippi National park site. So, being able to go up and down the Natchez Chase Parkway, but have the same hotel to stay in at night, and then pop over to the Medgar and Murray evers home national Monument, which is one of the newest national monument sites. That's in Jackson.
[00:07:37] Speaker A: Gotcha.
[00:07:38] Speaker B: And then it's, like, super close to Vicksburg, super close to all these other really cool park sites that our thought was, this will be our hub, and we can just bounce out to all these different park and natural areas.
[00:07:51] Speaker A: Got it. That makes sense. So, yeah, we do that sometimes. We did that up in Columbia, South Carolina. It was great because we just, you know, stay in Columbia, and then you can head out and, like, hit the rivers. You can go over to Congaree and sounds like sort of the same thing there. So then once you actually got there and you saw, oh, my gosh, this is beautiful, did you totally shift your plans, or did you still go and visit everything? Because I kind of. That's what I want to hear about. I want to hear about what you did like Natchez Trace.
I know that there's lots of bird stuff happening in the southeast right now because of the time of year, and I'm sure that that's a part of it. So walk me through it. What. What are the awesome things you guys did? You guys did. And then I also. I know you told me that there was some shocking food that you loved, so we'll finish with that. But first I want to about all the nature, all the cool stuff to do and see so that when we head that way in a couple months, we know where to go.
[00:08:45] Speaker B: Have you driven the Natchez trace at all?
[00:08:48] Speaker A: Not since I was, like, six.
[00:08:49] Speaker B: Okay, well, that doesn't count because you weren't driving. Yeah, hopefully you were not driving.
[00:08:53] Speaker A: I was not driving, for sure.
[00:08:55] Speaker B: The Natchez trace feels like such a gift in the fact that you come from this city, you take this freeway on ramp, you come around a corner, you pull up on the road, and it's like the world quiet almost instantly. The only signage is speed limit signs and national park informational signs. There's no billboards. There's no restaurants. There's no outside influence outside of nature. And driving at most 55 miles an hour. So it feels like the world shuts off and you just get to take a deep breath, and that was unbelievable. We ended up driving four times, five times. Like, every time we had an hour break in between some things we had planned. We went back to the trace. Even if it was just to go to an overlook and look over their giant reservoir and listen to birds, it was just this calm zen. It just felt like such a gift in a busy, busy world.
[00:09:52] Speaker A: So thinking about Natchez trace, that doesn't that start up in Tennessee? I feel like it goes pretty Natchez.
[00:09:58] Speaker B: Mississippi, all the way up, I think, to Franklin, Tennessee. Nashville area is the cutoff. I forget how many miles it is, but it's at most 55 miles an hour, and so it's a journey.
[00:10:10] Speaker A: Is it just one giant green belt, then? Is that.
[00:10:14] Speaker B: Yeah, you go through some farmland in an area, but. And maybe it's living at the beach now that I didn't realize I missed the forest. And so being surrounded by tall trees was just. I don't know, it just felt amazing. It felt like you were in a different world. Literally ten minutes from a high end restaurant.
[00:10:32] Speaker A: That's pretty cool. So with, you know, tall trees comes lots of awesome birds. I'm always on the lookout for owls because, you know, owls are my app. Did you guys.
[00:10:42] Speaker B: And they love you.
[00:10:43] Speaker A: They flock to me, which I'm. So they do.
[00:10:45] Speaker B: I'm very jealous.
[00:10:47] Speaker A: So what was the. So what was birding a big part of this? What. What was it that you were specifically seeking out? Was there any, like, current migration that was. Got you all jazzed about it?
[00:10:57] Speaker B: I mean, you know, in my life, birding is always a prominent thought process. Even at the target parking lot. I'm probably running Merlin to see if there's a cool bird. But.
[00:11:06] Speaker A: So our target. Our target parking lot has a big pond that's full of turtles and an alligator. So I get you.
[00:11:12] Speaker B: I love that. I mean, I would have a long camera lens and be taking all the photos. And for you, there's probably two owls sitting, waiting to say hello. Yeah, the birds were unbelievable. I mean, it's a good thing there was no cameras watching me geek out because it would have been hilarious, because a tanager, this beautiful red summer tanager, landed on a branch right above my head, and I was losing my mind because it posed for, like, ten minutes.
[00:11:40] Speaker A: Cool.
[00:11:40] Speaker B: So I got the most amazing photos. Oh, my gosh. And we saw a personitary warbler.
[00:11:46] Speaker A: I'm sorry, what was what word? I'm sorry.
[00:11:50] Speaker B: Prothonotary warbler.
[00:11:53] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:11:54] Speaker B: Google.
[00:11:56] Speaker A: I'm jumping on it right now. I'm like, what in the world? Oh, cool.
[00:11:59] Speaker B: It's a really pretty yellow warbler that's got a really great call. And we were in a cypress swamp, which was, again, an unexpected surprise.
[00:12:10] Speaker A: Cypress swamps are my favorite feature of the sound.
[00:12:13] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. It felt like, you know, the Natchez trace was already a gift. And then you go down this stairwell, and you're in another world. And we kept looking around, and we're like, is this real? Like, here's a baby alligator. Like, you know, one to two foot alligator. So cute. Here's a warbler. Merlin picked up the bird call app. Picked up, like, 20 birds while we were standing there.
[00:12:34] Speaker A: That's awesome. I think technology. Fascinating.
[00:12:37] Speaker B: I love technology. It's a long. Like, the Natchez trace and ridgeland are along the Mississippi flyway for migration. And while it's coming towards the end of spring migration, we still saw so many birds. And I would bet that if we would have gone in April or earlier in May, I still would have been there because I would have kept extending my trip for all the birds.
[00:13:00] Speaker A: That's awesome. Yeah. And so the Mississippi flyaway, if you're listening, you didn't know what that is. It's actually this amazing route that all these migratory birds go from, like, the Yucatan and, like, Central America, and then they zoom across the gulf of Mexico, and they start at the mouth of the Mississippi, and then they work their way up, and they kind of follow the Missouri river when it cuts off. Ultimately, half of them go to, like, Canada and Alaska, and then the other half disperse through the northeast. And it's super cool. It's springtime in the southeast. Kind of baller if you're into birds, so. But we should talk about other stuff, too, because we.
[00:13:36] Speaker B: We could do 3 hours on birds.
[00:13:38] Speaker A: Which maybe that is something we put on the list is, let's just, like, start talking about birds and see how long we can record a podcast. Not today. Not today. Let's. Let's. Let's chat more about ridgeland. So, uh, with Natchez Trace, are there any specific sites within that? You said that there were some overlooks and stuff. Since I haven't been there, I don't really understand specifically if it's just like, go have a beautiful drive. Or are there some historic sites or unique geologic features amongst all the cypress swamps and stuff? What are you looking for?
[00:14:07] Speaker B: Honestly? All of the above.
[00:14:08] Speaker A: Oh, okay. Okay.
[00:14:09] Speaker B: It really depends on the section you're in. We heard that farther south from ridgeland, heading towards Natchez, Mississippi, that there's an ancient Missapean site. So the mounds in the middle of the road where the road comes around it. We haven't seen that section yet, but it sounded amazing.
[00:14:29] Speaker A: Kind of like up to Hilgie and stuff like that up in Georgia, like that sort of mound.
[00:14:34] Speaker B: Sort of, yeah. Same ancient culture. And then. So you go along, and there's park arrowhead signs that designate the names of the different pull offs. And so you can see how the Natchez was used as a historic road over time. But then you can also stop from the cypress swamp or stop for this reservoir, 55 miles lake or something like that. That's there right outside of ridgeland. Like, again, Ridgeland's outdoor recreation opportunities. Unbelievable. And so you have all these options, depending on what pulls you. You know, do you want birds? Do you want history? Do you want nature trails? You can really find anything along there. And then if you're not finding it on the trace within Ridgeland, running adjacent to the trace, is a ten mile multi use trail that is great for walking and biking. Explore Ridgeland just told us they rolled out a brand new bike share program where they have these gorgeous new bikes and helmets available at Explore Ridgeland. And you just download an app, and it takes like, a couple dollar deposit. Dollar deposit. And you can borrow a bike, and you're a couple minutes off the multi use trail and there's 10 miles to explore.
[00:15:50] Speaker A: That's pretty amazing. That's really cool. Especially. Especially thinking that. I know. I don't. We don't travel with our bikes, but then we always, like, next week we're going biking when we're in Montana, and we had to figure out bikes once we got there. Yeah.
[00:16:04] Speaker B: Bikes are never a part of my life, so I think it's very cool when somebody can ride one and not meet the asphalt. And so, as I lean to the right, I mean, it's just one of the things that really impressed us with ridgeland and shocked us is you don't hear about green spaces a lot in Mississippi, and the city was just surrounded with green spaces. Even in the city, they have a wildflower field that the city cultivates. And in one of the fields, you can just go, and if you're local, you can go pick flowers so you have them for your house when they're in bloom, or you can go and take pictures. And it is a massive, beautiful field with art structures in the middle of it. I mean, I could see families being able to do family pictures there every summer because it was so beautiful.
[00:16:53] Speaker A: That's a great idea for other towns in the southeast who might be listening. Hey, we all have these big, empty lots. Let's just, like, kind of rewild that and make it public space. I would love that.
[00:17:04] Speaker B: Yeah, it was unbelievable. It had paved, like, mowed paths through it so you weren't walking through the wildflowers and benches so you could go and listen back to the birds again and, you know, hummingbirds and everything like that. It. Ridgeland just amazed us with the green spaces.
[00:17:22] Speaker A: That's awesome. So what about, like, downtown ridgeland? Is it something that. Is it set up kind of, you know, like. Like New Orleans, where it's got that great historic quarter that is, you know, hundreds of years old and is beautifully maintained? Or is it something more of ravaged by the Civil War and then not rebuilt until, like, the nineties? Like, what's. What's it like there? Is it kind of a mix?
[00:17:45] Speaker B: I think Ridgeland feels like it is a modern city that's been able to really build their infrastructure smartly. So they have a lot of multi use areas where there are stores at the bottom, condos and office buildings up above.
[00:18:01] Speaker A: Oh, interesting. Okay.
[00:18:02] Speaker B: And then the green spaces built within. In the areas that we were. And so, I mean, where we stayed, we were at a Marriott, and there was, like, four or five hotels right there. Five minutes to the Renaissance shopping center that we talked about. And then there was shopping built in around the hotels, but then there's a lake with a trail around it for people to walk, and then a field with a trail around it to walk. And so I feel like it's a city that's really worked on its infrastructure in making sure that it's multi use and flows really well. We never felt like we were stuck in a traffic jam. We were able to. We started to find our way without gps really easily.
[00:18:46] Speaker A: That's awesome. So.
[00:18:47] Speaker B: But I wouldn't say there's, like. Not that we experience, like, a, like, old school, super historic area.
[00:18:53] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:18:54] Speaker B: And if there is, I might have just completely missed it in the fact that I was so in awe of all the other things.
[00:19:00] Speaker A: Well, and knowing that it's so close to Jackson, that historic area is probably up there in more of the Jackson area. And then as you head west over towards, like, Vicksburg and stuff, so that makes sense. Makes sense to be a more modern spot. So one of the things that you were telling me about when, in terms of it being such a surprising place, is you guys came across some great things, like french restaurants and just amazing food that kind of took you back because it wasn't what you were planning in Mississippi. Is it more of like a creole culture, or is it, again, going with that modern thing? It just happens to be that they've got some amazing chefs going on. What's the restaurant and food scene? Kind of like in this little pocket?
[00:19:42] Speaker B: I think you would say that it was modern with a mix of classic southern. Okay, so the first restaurant we found was called aplos, and it's called a simple mediterranean grill. And we walked in, and it felt like we were back in the greek islands with plants and vibrant, just open space and light. And then the food came, and I would drive the 3 hours dirigilin to get a gallon of that creamy feta dip if I could. And I'm pretty sure my husband would drive for their euro in a second. I mean, it was just. It felt like we were back in santorini. Santorini, sitting on a balcony looking out over the med with epic food. It had that vibe.
[00:20:27] Speaker A: It's funny because, like, here in the southeast, that's not something I think of much, except, like, when you go to Tarpon Springs and it's, you know, the whole, like, greek town. Yeah, but you don't see that much outside of there. What else did you guys come across there? I know you specifically. I think you dropped escargot in a conversation the other day. And I have to kind of, because that's not my jam, but sounded fascinating.
[00:20:50] Speaker B: Yeah, escargot is not my jam. Being a 30 year vegetarian, snails are not part of my life unless I'm seeing them on a trailer. For my husband, though, over 20 years of marriage, he has expanded his food likes, which is a whole other conversation. And he loves escargot. And so we went to a french southern mix of french and southern classics in the same restaurant called Anjou, and we had brunch. And again, you would have thought we were la. I mean, this restaurant was luxury. It was bougie. The food was unbelievable. They had zucchini beignets with another feta sauce. I'm loving the feta sauce. John had escargot, which he said was amazing. He had a parisian waffle with shaved ham, asparagus, a poached egg and mornay sauce.
I mean, he didn't talk during brunch because he just was focused on the epic food.
Every time I asked him something, I just got its unbelievable. And he kept going, all sitting overlooking this lake. And I had one of the best cocktails that I've had in a while. This perfectly balanced raspberry sour. And I already bought dried raspberries to try to make it at home because it was so beautifully balanced, perfect for brunch. And just this unbelievable french restaurant right in the heart of Richland. Again, not what you hear about from Mississippi. And it really made me question, like, what have I been learning about Mississippi? And what do I need to learn about Mississippi?
[00:22:28] Speaker A: Yeah. Gosh, no. Richland. Rich. I can't speak right now. Richland sounds pretty awesome. And sounds, would you say it's like a two day, three day destination?
[00:22:37] Speaker B: I would say two day minimum. Three day to really get to explore the nationals. Trace. And also be able to hop down to Jackson and check out a few things there. Go to the Murley and Medgar Evers site, because it's impactful civil rights site that I think everyone should visit and learn about. And stand in that living room and find out what this family went through to move civil rights forward.
[00:23:05] Speaker A: Awesome. So get the nature, get the history, get the food and nice long weekend.
[00:23:11] Speaker B: Perfect. Long weekend. Easy drive. I mean, we drove down to New Orleans so that we could get Trader Joe's shopping in on the way home. So, I mean, it's not far from New Orleans. It's not far from here on the gulf. It's a really nice central location to explore and get a different perspective on what you may have heard. Mississippi is.
[00:23:31] Speaker A: That's fascinating. So just because we're, we're looking at our fall travel and kind of putting something together to do New Orleans and then head up into Mississippi. Mississippi. So that sounds perfect. If we did three or four days New Orleans, maybe go down to huma and then go all the way up. Oh, we should talk about Huma on another day because over in that part of Louisiana, too, weren't you?
[00:23:56] Speaker B: We were alligators and more alligators and more alligators.
[00:24:00] Speaker A: Okay. So, yeah, we'll save that for a different day. But so that sounds like the easiest way to kind of put that sort of trip and plan together is pair it up with like a New Orleans to Jackson, Mississippi, kind of miniature road trip. Take a week to do all of that. And then you got the, you got civil war history, civil rights history, nature food and lots of humidity. Sounds perfect.
[00:24:25] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, you know, I probably, as we know, end of July, August in the south is air conditioning time, but late fall, I think it would be unbelievable, especially because then you're going to come into fall migration and have even more birds.
[00:24:42] Speaker A: Well, and so, and also just thinking about fall real quick. As you guys were on the Natchez trace, did it seem much more of. I know you mentioned that there's cypress swamps which cypress will, you know, change color and they'll drop all their, their needles and stuff. Was there a lot of deciduous forest, too? Is that actually because we're kind of stretched for fall colors here in the south? Is that actually a place where you can go and like, kind of get in some fall color time?
[00:25:10] Speaker B: I feel like it could be okay. It, I did keep telling John, I was like, you know, I bet this would be pretty in fall. I bet this would be pretty in fall. Just trying to drop those hints of are we planning another visit?
Because I think it has that opportunity to be, having not explored it in the fall, I don't want to guarantee that there's these unbelievable epic colors. And then people are like, yeah, that was a lot of green, but I still think it would be beautiful.
[00:25:37] Speaker A: Yeah. And I just pulled up the Natchez Trace Parkway website, and they have a whole leaf report that they do going on from Tennessee down through that corner of Alabama and Mississippi. So you actually. Yes, it is a fall color leaf peeping destination. I didn't even think about that.
[00:25:54] Speaker B: I didn't even mention the synchronous fireflies.
[00:25:56] Speaker A: Oh, how were they?
[00:25:57] Speaker B: They were short this year because of the drought in Mississippi, but hopefully they're coming back. We did see a couple, but in Richland there is a, right along the Natchez Trace Parkway, there's this unbelievable art center, and right behind it is where the old trace was. And they have a snappy sink Firefly festival where they do tours. So you have a naturalist with you. You're not chopping through the woods on your own. And they guide you along a boardwalk and through this field area where last year we heard that there was hundreds of synchronous fireflies. This year there was a little less. But hopefully they will recover from the drought and be a really vibrant population again. And they have tours available and you don't have to enter. A lot of, you don't have to do any of that to be able to see synchronous fireflies.
[00:26:46] Speaker A: Well, that's awesome because I know that, you know, for great smoky mountains and for congery, they, they do really restrict access so that it's not overrun with people. So that's, that's pretty cool. I think that should be it for today because there's lots more that we can talk about. And we will definitely chat more about Louisiana on another podcast episode because I have questions including how you incorporate Trader Joe's into your travel adventures. But that's for a different day. But, um, thanks so much for joining me today. And if you would like to check out more of what Tammy Lee and John have going on, you can check out tamileetips.com. we've got Gulf coastjourneys.com, which is all about the Gulf coast, and then parkrangerjohn.com, where you can read all about the Natchez trace, some amazing historical sites, and so much more. So thank you so much for being with me today. This is lovely. And yeah, we'll have you back soon.
[00:27:43] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:27:45] Speaker A: To Travel Dads podcast is created by Rob and Chris Taylor in St. Augustine, Florida. We'd love to answer your questions here on the podcast, providing both our experience and stories. To share our own insights into whatever you're wondering about, visit twotraveldads.com podcast episodes to leave your questions and to check out past episodes and show notes. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button and have an awesome day.
