HerCanberra’s Guide to America’s South
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It seemed like everyone went to Europe this Summer. But we headed east, to the USA, and then south, and even further south, to the American Deep South.
For a family of four it was an incredible adventure, combining nature, history, blues and jazz music and a big dose of education on America’s Civil Rights movement (really important for our 13 and 17-year-olds as well as us). Oh, and some quintessential American food experiences (some more ridiculous than others).
Here’s a Top 10 pick of experiences for those who aren’t afraid to wander further afield than Hollywood or the Big Apple when they get to the US.
Glamping
Declaring right here and right now that my accommodation preferences veer towards the more stars the merrier, but I ate my words in this transcendent place.
The Shash Dine Eco Retreat is on Navajo land in the Lake Powell region.
Glamping on Navajo land.
It has glamping accommodation of a few tents, wagons and a hogan. The hogan is a traditional mud structure made with enormous yellow juniper logs. It’s surprisingly cool inside and smells divine. Camp beds were arranged around a central fireplace and we had nothing to do but sit outside around a large campfire, walk to the ridge, take in the vast, vast skies and watch a spectacular sunset. It was so quiet. And so beautiful. The chaos of city life (ie a few nights in Vegas when we arrived) evaporated as we were all captivated by the experience. While temps were high during the day, the desert cools down at night and we took advantage of the communal fire pit. My inner dialogue took on Cormac McCarthy tones as we lit some logs and stared at the flames. Then we realised how hungry we were, and how far from food. My husband (the organisational powerhouse behind the trip) had booked a local Navajo cook to deliver us dinner (recommended by the hosts) and we speculated whether it would be enough to quell our appetites. Silly mistake – as it is everywhere in America. Sure enough, a pick-up wound down the dusty path and out came our dinner, giant platters of tortillas with refried beans, shredded lettuce, tomato cheese, sour cream, jalepenos, you name it. A more perfect meal we could not have conjured. My daughter said it was a prime scenario for some s’mores. Then, like in a dream, a friendly French family arrived to stay in the tent a few hundred metres away. They were carrying bags brimming with s’mores ingredients and insisted she have one (the best she has ever eaten she declared). As the last light faded, we washed our faces and brushed our teeth in the solar powered bath house nearby and collapsed onto our camp beds.
Hogan living.
Again, I reiterate that camping is not my strong suit, but I slept like an actual juniper log. At about 4am I woke to sneak outside and watch the sunrise. It was one of those travel experiences I won’t ever forget. By around 7am, our host Baya delivered breakfast to the campfire, a herbal Navajo tea, coffee, fruit, yoghurt, muesli bars and we chatted to the French family about the hiking and nature walks we had enjoyed and were planning. I’ll say right now that this was one of the best days and nights of the trip, and if you ever pass that way, you should book.
Antelope Canyon
Having done a fair bit of trekking around Zion National Park in the past, we had seen some magnificent natural sights, but nothing quite compares you for Antelope Canyon (as featured on the cover of National Geographic, several Apple homescreens and a million Instagram hashtags).
Risking life and limb for a photo at Horseshoe Bend
But first, make sure you take in Horseshoe Bend, which is a 20-minute drive away and an incredible geographical feature. For our morning in Antelope Canyon where we had booked a tour with Ken’s Lower Antelope Tours. (You cannot see the canyon unless on a guided tour and you need a Navajo day park pass to access the area.)
Antelope Canyon is a sacred site and possibly one of the most photographed natural phenomena in Arizona (how could it not?) Formed by millions of years of water and erosion it is hard to describe how magnificent it is. You must be fit and able to climb up and down ladders and squeeze through some tight crevices. The way the light filters through the red underground rock formations, contrasting stone and sky with shadow and sand is worth the airfares to the US. Our Navajo guide Jess was a delight and was full of information in how this canyon is a sacred space and holds Navajo spiritual significance, as well as being highly experienced in getting great photos of the family (bonus!). Bucket list item ticked.
Antelope Canyon, a bucket list destination.
The Grand Canyon from above
It’s one of America’s biggest tourist draws and no matter how many times I’ve visited, the Grand Canyon, in all her vastness, is a must-see. While we have driven along it, walked through bits and done lots of look-out shots, this visit we bit the bullet and took in the views via the air, waking up bright an early for a Canyon Spirit Tour with Maverick Helicopters.
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It wasn’t a cheap 45 minutes, but you see the canyon in a whole new light once you have been over the edge and through it. Props to our pilot for pointing out some of the most interesting geological features (by this stage we were all fascinated by erosion, the twisting turns of the river valley, volcanic rock and mineral composition).
Sidenote: Back on firm land and back in the car, we took a line out of an old Eagles song and made our way to Winslow Arizona (such a fine sight to see, according to the song Take It Easy) where we enjoyed a long lunch at La Posada’s Turquoise Room which is in a rambling Santa Fe style adobe hotel built in the 1930s. For me this was a good day as frankly, the food situation was getting me down (more about that shortly). To be served a delicious burrito bowl with vegetables and a heady slice of cornbread (well actually I had three) filled a hole and I was good to go.
The Tanque Verde Ranch
For our urbane Canberra kids, the chance to kick back at a cowboy ranch in the middle of the desert of Tucson, Arizona, was one not to pass up.
This ranch is located on 60,000 of cactus-dotted landscape nestled amongst the Rincon Mountains and adjacent to Saguaro National Park and Coronado National Forest. Established in 1868, Tanque Verde Ranch combines luxury accommodation with all those glorious outdoor activities of horse riding, hiking, yoga, fishing, mountain bike riding, cowboy stuff (have you ever penned a stubborn steer? Me neither) and a tonne of activities from silversmithing to soap making.
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Our accommodation was a self-contained unit with vaulted ceilings, a claw-footed bath and views onto rolling mountains and cacti.
Fun fact: Paul McCartney owns the ranch next door and indeed sings about Tucson Arizona in The Beatles song Get Back.
We spent three days doing all the wholesome things – sunset horse riding through the national park, morning hikes and mountain bike rides and afternoon swims in the pool. We delighted in a cowboy cookout complete with country music singers and relaxation levels were high.
The Best Music Education. Ever.
A lot of our trip was based around music – seeing live music and focussing on blues and jazz, including touring a lot of small museums and points of interest along the way (the Grammy Museums of both Mississippi and Los Angeles, Sun Studios in Memphis, and the birthplace of Muddy Waters in Rolling Fork, recently demolished by a tornado).
The south is all about the blues.
But if we had to ditch all of that and go one place which gives you the biggest bang for your buck it would be the Museum of the Musical Instrument in Phoenix. Now I have written before about dragging our offspring through museums and galleries around the world, perhaps against their will. But this was a joy. You strap on headphones and walk through galleries representing the musical history and culture of more than 200 countries. As you walk past the display, a selection of their music comes on. It is truly a brilliant immersion. You can find the earliest known musical instruments through to Prince’s purple piano, a sparkly outfit and guitar from Taylor Swift, Jimmy Hendrix’s Black Widow guitar, the pencil-on-paper musical score of The Police’s Every Breath You Take and for musical purists a huge selection of original and historic instruments. Every major artist from every country gets a gig and instruments are available to see, hear, and often, touch. An absolute must for music nerds and even those who aren’t cannot help but be taken in by the sounds.
America’s Civil Rights Movement
If you learn anything about blues music, you learn its history as a form of creative expression arising out of oppressed African American communities post the Civil War. Our trip involved so much driving in and around small towns and out-of-the-way places, with such an immersion in music, that we had a taste of an America that is not usually on the tourist trail. Just as Australia is a country where the Indigenous and non-Indigenous experiences are starkly different, we saw first-hand the huge divide between black and white America. It was sobering and often uncomfortable. I sat in my white privilege on the rickety veranda of Dockery Farms, a cotton plantation and gin considered the home of Mississippi Delta blues. We then drove down the road to the tiny town of Money, where 14–year-old Emmett Till was accused of flirting with a white woman in a shop where he was buying lollies. He was later hauled from his bed, his body dismembered, and then thrown into the Tallahatchie River by the woman’s husband, who would later be acquitted by a jury of white men. Emmett’s mother had his coffin modified to include a glass lid so that no one could be under any misapprehension as to what happened to her only son. Rosa Parks said it was the thoughts of Emmett Till which ran through her mind a few months later in Montgomery, Alabama, in those fateful moments when she decided she was not moving from her seat on that bus. The civil rights movement ignited from this tiny hamlet.
The Civil Rights Museum in Memphis is built with the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luthur King was assassinated.
We spent a day at the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, which included the history of 12 generations of slaves who worked the cotton fields. We have walked through the bus Rosa was on (with a lifelike brass statue of her diminutive frame seated near the front). The museum is housed in the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King was assassinated. We listened to his oratory, including the “I’ve been to the mountaintop” speech before we walked single file past the balcony where he was killed. Yes, my kids went to Disneyland like all the other kids who visit America, but I am so grateful for the opportunity to have shown them this other side of the country.
Slept the night in a Wheat Silo and lived to tell the tale.
I can’t imagine many Australians venture to Clarksdale, Mississippi, but if you ever get there, you have a chance to test out wheat silo living. The Shack Up Inn is a settlement of silos next to a dilapidated blues club which is so full of Americana junkyard props that I almost got a headache and thought of Baz Luhrmann…
I mean…
The silo itself was delightful, two-storey, spacious and decked out with comfy furniture and more whacky props. Home to many blues legends, Clarksdale also houses the Delta Blues Museum. Staying overnight on the Fourth of July we found a bar open on the main street and joined the locals listening to Watermelon Slim and his slide guitar. What a trip!
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Americana, just go with it
Call us crazy, but as kids who grew up fully immersed in Hollywood and US cultural imperialism, my husband and I did some things which may not be for everyone but which we, and even our kids, genuinely enjoyed. Elvis Presley’s home Graceland in Memphis, is a shrine to the 50’s musical icon and 70s interior design. It was the kitschiest, most crazy day as we ate chocolate covered pretzels, fried everything, and slurped down peanut butter thickshakes while we toured the museum that has sprung up in this formerly quiet part of town and which still draws ridiculous crowds. In the backyard are the graves of The King, and, sadly, his daughter Lisa-Marie and even grandson (due, it is said, to the family curse).
The loss earlier this year of icon Tina Turner also cemented our desire to make the slightly out-of-the-way trip to Nutbush, Tennessee, to pay our respects. About an hour out of Memphis along an unassuming, farm-lined road, blink and you will miss this enclave which basically consists of a sign “Nutbush Unicorporated” and a tiny dilapidated local hall, proclaiming itself the birthplace of Tina Turner. Yes, I taught my daughter the Nutbush in anticipation. Yes, we filmed it.
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In LA we chose to stay in an unconventional hotel, The Charlie, which is the former home of Charlie Chaplin (an original Hollywood silent film star and no my kids had no idea who he was either) and which turns out to have been better than any other places we have stayed in LA.
The Charlie in West Hollywood and our beautiful art deco appartment with balconies and a rose garden and window seats to stare from.
The gated compound of several art deco apartments in West Hollywood (THE place to be, let me assure you) has been converted into a boutique hotel and was divine in every way. From the décor, the rose gardens, the private rooftop balconies, and the very real connection to history (Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, and Bette Davis all stayed there for extended periods).
New Orleans
Much like Vegas, New Orleans is a party town. Americans fly in for the weekend and partake of loud music, multi-coloured cocktails (which are allowed to be carried around the streets as you bar-hop). It’s hot, clothing choices are questionable, and tourists flock. It is therefore quite a chore to negotiate and I decided on the first day it was definitely not my scene despite staying in the elegant Bourbon Orleans Hotel.
Southern specialty at Muriel’s of Shrimp and grits. Was a fan from the first mouthful.
By day two, however, I started to warm to the place. The French Quarter is brimming with pastel coloured terrace houses and once you got off the main strip, the cafes, restaurants and bars became more interesting. Known for its cuisine, we tried lots of local specialties including my first bowl of gumbo, followed by shrimp and grits at Muriel’s in Jackson Square. Can recommend. We also ate beignets against our better judgement (fried pastry liberally doused in icing sugar) and went back for more.
Which Brings me to Food
When you go to the US, you have to suspend a little bit of disbelief in the political system, sensible gun laws and the fundamental tenets of sound nutritional advice. From the moment we stopped outside LA Airport upon arrival to purchase Randy’s Donuts we decided we were just going to go with it for the sake of experience. We were open to try any food, from the Crumbl Cookies that have taken over TikTok to fast food from Chipotle (not bad) to the ubiquitous and invariably soggy po-boys. But in amongst all the deep-fried sugar-coated, salt-laden artifice loosely labelled as “food”, were some culinary gems —the most glittering of which was securing a table for Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix.
Yes it was worth the wait and no crumb was left uneaten.
If you’ve seen the Netflix series Chef’s Table Pizza, this is the home of Chris Bianco and his wood fired creations that truly take pizza to the next level. You’ve got to really want this, as the queues are usually three hours long, or more. But once your teeth sink into the Pizza Rosa (crushed pistachios, red onion, Parmesan and honey) you realise you’re in another dimension and time is relative. Hats off, also, to the Eataly chef in Vegas who managed to balance entire burrata balls on each slice of pizza for a truly delicious version (it would want to be at nearly $40 a slice once you do the dreaded conversion). We had outstanding Mexican in numerous places but my favourites were the dinky diner Irene’s in Globe Arizona and the waaaay cool West Hollywood Tu Madres. Same same but different. And as mentioned, New Orleans yielded numerous fine southern dining delights. The coffee? Don’t even. Not anywhere. As in, just don’t. But it was a small deprivation in what was otherwise a momentous trip.
