Alabama

Alabama was one of the first states we researched and sadly, it was one of the states that took heavy losses when it came to the cull. The reason we dropped so much from this state was because the best way to see Alabama is to go north to south. For our trip, we needed to go west to east through the state.

I can see us going back to Alabama after MERTA and having a mini-road trip holiday that allows us to really explore this state.

The following site is one of the best road trip sites I have come across, it's just a shame it only covers Alabama: http://alabama.travel/road-trips

Best bit about this site... there is a mobile app!

State:	Alabama
Towns of Interest: (FB) = Firebreak	Birmingham Mobile
National Parks:	N/A
State Parks of Interest:	Rickwood Caverns State Park Gulf Shores State Park
Places of Interest: (N) = Night Stay	Mobile Gulf Shores State Park Birmingham (N) Vulcan Park and Museum (On the top of Red Mountain just outside Birmingham sits a 50-ton 56-foot tall iron statue of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. This enormous sculpture, the largest cast iron statue in the world, has been guarding Birmingham since the 1930s and is one of the city’s most important symbols) Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark (only blast furnace in the United States to be preserved) Pepper Place Saturday Market Kelly Ingram Park (Historic four acre park in the Birmingham Civil Rights District. It was the location for large demonstrations during the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s) Rickwood Caverns State Park (Guided cave tour)
Routes of Interest:	N/A
Where to Stay:	Birmingham The Redmont Hotel Birmingham, Curio Collection by Hilton ($117) Tourway Inn of Birmingham ($56) Kings Inn Civic Center ($57)

Georgia

We're going into Georgia twice - once at the start of the trip and then again towards the end.

The first time we're in Georgia, we're staying in Atlanta. This city wasn't originally in our plan but when I rearranged our route through the Smoky Mountains, it gave us an opportunity to stop here for a couple of days.

Atlanta has a bad reputation and I am a little nervous about staying here but I guess its like any big city, it has its good areas and its bad. We still need to do a little research into where the bad areas are and what we need to avoid. If we arrive and we really don't like or don't feel comfortable, at least we can just move on!

Next stop after Atlanta is at Tallulah Gorge State Park and there won't be a single high rise building in sight! Tallulah Gorge is a 1000 foot chasm carved over millions of years by the Tallulah River and it is home to the Tallulah Falls, a series of six waterfalls cascading down through Tallulah Gorge. One of the things I love about America is how in the morning you can be sitting in a coffee shop in the middle of a huge city and by the afternoon, walking in the wilderness with just the bears to keep you company.

State:	Georgia
Towns of Interest: (FB) = Firebreak	Savannah Athens Atlanta
National Parks:	N/A
State Parks of Interest:	Cloudland Canyon State Park Tallulah Gorge State Park
Places of Interest: (N) = Night Stay	Lookout Mountain Parkway Point Park (Rte 210 scenic loop passes the Park - see up to 6 states) Cloudland Canyon State Park (Panoramas of the hills and hollows) Route 157 (Lookout Mountain Parkway) Atlanta (Nx2) Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site (he modest home where Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was born and raised) Piedmont Park (Adjacent to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens in Midtown, perfect place to spend a lazy afternoon) Centennial Olympic Park ( 21-acre patch of land that features lush paths of grass, artwork, pools and fountains. The park was originally built for the 1996 Olympic Games and was a centerpiece of the festivities; now, it's one of the most visited areas of the city) World of Coca-Cola ( a museum dedicated entirely to Coke) Stone Mountain Park (Standing tall in this 3,200-acre park is a massive quartz monzonite mountain etched with the images of three famous Civil War figures: Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis) Toccoa Falls (Waterfall just outside Toccoa) Scenic Loop 15 (Tallulah Gorge Scenic Loop) Tallulah Gorge Visitor Center Tallulah Gorge State Park (N) Clayton (Trading post for the Cherokee Indians) Savannah (Nx2) (best explored on foot) Historic Trolley Tour (tour of the city in an old trolley bus) Historic Squares (The 22 squares of Savannah, most named in honor of a person, are the heart of the city. These communal mini-parks are scattered through the historic downtown. Make sure to visit Chippewa square where the famous bench scene in Forest Gump was filmed) Jones Street (was voted one of the most beautiful in North America by Southern Living) Forsyth (large city park located in the historic district of Savannah) Jen’s & Friends (dive bar with hundreds of creative martinis to choose from. And they come with edible accessories) Cathedral of St. John the Baptist Broughton Street (Bars and Restaurants) Drive Under the Oaks (for the best experience, drive under the oaks on the way to Wormsloe, an avenue sheltered in the impressive trees) City Market (in the historic district) River Street (Waterfront district, lively area, good for an afternoon stroll) Altamaha Historic Byway (Route 17) Darien (Sea food and wharf crowded with fishng boats)
Routes of Interest:	Altamaha Historic Byway / Route 17 Scenic Loop 15 (Tallulah Gorge Scenic Loop) Lookout Moutain Parkway (Route 157 - views of the three states)
Where to Stay:	Atlanta - need to check where is safe before staying Aloft Atlanta Downtown ($103) Atlanta Marriott Marquis ($120) Holiday Inn Express & Suites Atlanta Downtown ($111) Sheraton Atlanta Hotel ($92) Savannah Thunderbird Inn ($88) Quality Inn Savannah Historic District ($118) SpringHill Suites by Marriott Savannah Downtown/Historic District ($129) Tallulah Gorge State Park Tallulah Gorge State Park Camping ($20)
Useful Links:	http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/road-trips/low-country-south-carolina-georgia-road-trip/ http://www.exploregeorgia.org/slideshow/georgias-must-sees http://www.oldsavannahtours.com/

Florida National Park Boat Tours

We're seeing 2 National Parks in Florida and both of them are best seen via the water.

For Biscayne National Park, it was an easy decision on what tour to do. The National Park service provides the Boca Chita Key boat tours. Each tour lasts approximately three hours and includes opportunities to explore and learn about popular and scenic Boca Chita Key and Biscayne Bay.

For the Everglades, the decision was so much harder due to the number of tours on offer. I started with looking at the National Park run tours from Flamingo but the reviewers on trip adviser were very mixed, it particular, there was a number of comments about how little wildlife was seen.  The main purpose of wanting to take the tour was to see an alligator or two!

I ended up finding this site which compares different tours in the Everglades, not just boat tours but also buggies, walking and kayak tours too. After looking at a few more review websites, we decided on the Buffalo Tiger’s Airboat Tours who have a good reputation of getting people close to the alligators, maybe a little too close looking at some of their videos on YouTube!

Route Planning Complete!

Thanks to a monumental effort - mainly from Sam - we have now finalised our route for MERTA. Well, Version 1 at least! We've hit our target of all 48 states visited in 175 nights.

This is of course by no means the quickest route we could take - that wasn't the aim. We tried to strike a balance between seeing the things we wanted to see but without having to spend all of our time in the car. As such, we have had to make some tough calls and miss out places originally on our list. I'll be listing some notable exceptions in a future post.

First Accommodation Booked

We had another milestone over the weekend - we booked our first accommodation! We'll be camping for a night at Bahia Honda State Park on our way to Key West:



We'll need to keep on our toes as reservation windows gradually open, and will have to be especially on-the-ball for popular destinations. Of course some of our planned overnight stops take campers in on a First Come First Served basis, so we're going to have to be prepared to be a bit flexible!