Tag Archives: Dixie
A Tale of Two Cities… Uh, Counties… No, States
Check this out: we’re on the border of Tennessee and Georgia. We find a community that is split down the middle with a blue line painted through the town.It gets weirder (YAY!) — the blue line goes straight through buildings. Shops, a church, even a bar.
But wait, it gets weirder yet. The bar is also in two counties. And one of them is dry… CONTINUE READING >>
The Weight of Six Million Paper Clips
In a small town in Tennessee there is a monument so moving, so touching and so unlikely that the story behind it is almost unbelievable.Here is a tale of a group of school children who found out that even the smallest idea can spark a world wide movement. And how compassion can change the world… CONTINUE READING >>
Little Rock / Big Gem
Join us on a rip-roarin’ tour of Little Rock, Arkansas!We visited the Clinton Presidential Library, hit the Big Dam Bridge, witnessed history at the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site and ate avocado popcycles at the River Market!
Then, we mounted Segways and … CONTINUE READING >>
Segway-ing Through Little Rock
We were pretty fired up at the prospect of mounting a Segway since jealously watching people riding them in Prague – we had wanted to give them a try. So… CONTINUE READING >>
Following the Freedom March in Alabama
It was a difficult few days for us as we were forced to confront thoughts and feelings that we would have much rather avoided. We addressed issues that many of us Americans would like to think have been completely resolved. But it seems to us that turning a blind eye is not the solution.The lesson we learned is that the light of day is best, because as much as this is fairly recent history, we were taken aback by how little we knew about the details. In Birmingham, the details are on display – front and center – and in Montgomery… CONTINUE READING >>
Singin’ the Blues Trail in Mississippi
Travel with your GypsyNesters as we roll down the Mississippi Blues Trail! We discover the legend behind Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil at the Crossroads, stay at the most unique inn we’ve ever seen – made of original sharecropper shacks, eat tamales – yup, there are tamales in The Delta – and BBQ, take on a Donut Tower, visit a REAL juke joint and the King Biscuit Radio Show and learn how The Blues influenced more modern music… CONTINUE READING >>Shackin’ Up in Clarksdale
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Clarksdale, Mississippi is home to one of the most unique inns we’ve ever encountered, The Shack Up Inn. This collection of sharecropper shacks on the old Hopson Plantation look like they haven’t been touched in decades, but inside… CONTINUE READING >>
A Town Standing on Stilts
There is something about driving to the very tip of a place, the end of the line, land’s end, that we can’t resist. It’s kind of like climbing a mountain for us, we do it because it’s there. In Louisiana that point where State Highway 1 hits the water is Grand Isle.Building a road across this expanse of wetland took extensive… CONTINUE READING >>
Mardi Gras Chicken Chasing
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Chicken chasing, colorful costumes and dancing on horseback? It’s Courir de Mardi Gras in Church Point! You’ve gotta watch the video to believe it…it’s, well, just watch… CONTINUE READING >>
Video – How to Volunteer at a National Park
Kay, a veteran parks volunteer – and fellow GypsyNester - discusses how to apply, where one lives at the parks, what is expected of volunteers and, most importantly… CONTINUE READING >>
Okee Dokee Okefenokee
Yes, the Okefenokee Swamp is a real place – and we were up to our elbows in alligators!Two things struck us, first, someone should try using an alligator next time they want to set the long jump world’s record and, second, The Okefenokee’s most famous resident, Pogo, had it wrong. We have met the enemy and he sure ain’t us. He’s all teeth and…. CONTINUE READING >>
Okefenokee Swamp Gator Gazing
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Our walk along The Boardwark deep into the Okefenokee Swamp – and, yes, there be alligators! Lots and lots of… CONTINUE READING >>
Savannah Squared
Savannah is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get. Or at least we didn’t. But the city is gorgeous and the pace slow, so it seemed like a perfect place to take a little bicycle tour.We did know that Forrest Gump waited for his bus somewhere in… CONTINUE READING >>
A Rose from Palm Fronds
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Meet K.C., a Savannah street artist. Watch as he makes a rose from palm fronds – and shares… CONTINUE READING >>
Factor’s Walk, Savannah, Georgia
Factor’s Walk is a hidden alleyway is where cotton merchants, called factors, transacted their business in the days when cotton was king. A series of stairways, bridges and catwalks access hidden doorways, connected by narrow streets paved with the ballast stones brought in by the trade ships coming in from Europe. In the 1800s, this was the Wall Street of cotton… CONTINUE READING >>Spanish Moss & She Crab Soup
Your GypsyNesters hit the Lowcountry of South Carolina! Join us as we learn about the Gullah culture and cuisine, visit the Penn School and check out the eerie Chapel of Ease.The remote chapel, located on Land’s End Road on St. Helena Island has some spooky folklore associated with it… CONTINUE READING >>
A Taste of Gullah Cuisine
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In South Carolina’s Lowcountry, on the Sweetgrass Basket Maker Highway, is Gullah Cuisine. They are said to have the best, authentic… CONTINUE READING >>
Haunted Chapel in South Carolina
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There are ghost stories that circulate in these parts, the mausoleum was broken into and raided by Union soldiers. The next morning… CONTINUE READING >>
The World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade
The town really decks out, dying the famous fountains of healing waters kelly green. Historic Bridge Street, the shortest street in America in daily use, is cordoned off. The entire route covers a mere ninety-eight feet.Each year a fabulous celebrity Grand Marshal is chosen. This year Bo Derek showed everyone… CONTINUE READING >>
Do the Charleston!
Without a destination in mind other than south to bug out of the snow, we headed for the coastal “Lowcountry” and discovered one of America’s most interesting cities.
Something stood out to us as we pedaled around – many homes had odd doors facing the street leading to outside porches. Having never seen such before, we dubbed them “porch doors,” and tossed around quite a few theories as to why they existed before finding out their true function. Known as “hospitality doors,” these portals were a way of communicating… CONTINUE READING >>
Isle of Palms Kite Man
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On the beach on the Isle of Palms in South Carolina, a man has found pure joy making… CONTINUE READING >>
Music of The Ozarks
Join us in a magical musical journey through the Ozark Mountains, where the melody is pure and simple. View amazing videos of Christmas caroling in a cave (can’t beat THOSE acoustics!), traditional folk music and a guy that plays spoons. All while learning about the area, its people and how washboards and washtub basses are… CONTINUE READING >>To Bean or Not to Bean, Is That Even a Question?
As the leaves begin to turn red and gold deep in the Ozarks, excitement starts to build. Competitors check and double check recipes. Others put the final tweaks on their racing machines. Before long, the aroma of beans and outhouses fill the mountain air — it’s time for the Annual Arkansas Bean Fest and Great Championship Outhouse Races. This fest had GypsyNester written all over it. How could we possibly resist?The festivities, as with… CONTINUE READING >>
Outhouse Races! Mountain View, Arkansas
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These aren’t your average outhouses, oh no, these are high performance porta-potties. Guess what happens at the… CONTINUE READING >>
Arkansas BeanFest!
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Home of BeanFest, Mountain View, Arkansas! Check out how crazy it gets up in the mountains of the… CONTINUE READING >>
Probing Hot Springs
We rounded the corner and stood face-to-face with a large box containing several firehose-like nozzles protruding from one side, and a bevy of levers, knobs, pedals, valves, gauges and dials on the other. The whole room was tiled and waterproofed, so obviously the idea was to soak down the patient until whatever afflicted them drowned — or begged for mercy. Hey, we’d be begging as soon as Igor… CONTINUE READING >>
