Home Again…

Well, I made it home after visiting five states in 8 days.  

One of the things that I enjoy most about my annual road trips is discovering the people, places, history, food and gardens of the different regions of the United States.

Annual road trips

My road trip, this year, took me to parts of the South.

I walked through the streets of Charleston, South Carolina and seeing historical places where events of the Revolutionary War and the Civil War played out.

I peeked over ornate gates to see hidden gardens in this beautiful city.

This native Southern Californian who grew up along the Pacific coast, dipped my toes in the Atlantic Ocean on Tybee Island.

I enjoyed visiting many of the 22 historical squares of Savannah, Georgia where many of the buildings survived the Civil War.

I found that Spanish moss really does hang from the trees down South, although it isn’t Spanish or a moss.

(It is actually a bromeliad and related to the pineapple).

An unplanned visit to the University of South Carolina yielded discoveries of beautiful gardens, including this herb/vegetable garden.

Smaller highways led us to small towns with tiny police stations.

Driving through North Carolina proved that spring has indeed sprung with the vision of flowering dogwoods everywhere.

Small roadside markets in Tennessee tempted us with their wares including boiled peanuts, toe jam and frog jam on our way toward the Smoky Mountains.

The gardens of the University of Tennessee had much to delight this horticulturist, including their kitchen garden.

A visit to Kentucky horse country led to the unforgettable experience of feeding thoroughbreds peppermint candies (with their trainer’s permission, of course).

Discovering the world of horse racing was very exciting even though I wasn’t betting.

I spent the night in a jail.  Seriously, it was a bed & breakfast that was located inside the old county jail in Bardstown, KY.

I did sleep in a regular bedroom and not this jail cell 😉

The last day of our Southern journey took me to a bourbon distillery where I tasted my first and last bourbon.

On our way to the airport in Louisville, we took an unexpected detour to Fort Knox as our GPS guided us there in our search of a UPS store to mail home our souvenirs.

The South is a wonderful place to visit and I made a few other discoveries while I was there:

– Southerners are the friendliest people.  Strangers wave to you on the side of the road as you pass.  When they ask you how you are doing, they really want to know.

– Their regional dishes have names like ‘Kentucky Burgoo’ and ‘The Big Brown’.  But, the servers are happy to explain to you what they are.

– Sweet tea is very sweet.

– The food is fabulous and fried chicken is served just about everywhere (after all, Col. Sanders created his ‘Original’ fried chicken recipe in Kentucky).

For those of you who followed along with me on my journey, thank you!

Noelle Johnson, aka, 'AZ Plant Lady' is a author, horticulturist, and landscape consultant who helps people learn how to create, grow, and maintain beautiful desert gardens that thrive in a hot, dry climate. She does this through her consulting services, her online class Desert Gardening 101, and her monthly membership club, Through the Garden Gate. As she likes to tell desert-dwellers, "Gardening in the desert isn't hard, but it is different."