Really boring roads, but some cool stops in between

This morning I left the hotel in Birmingham around 8am. I decided I wanted to get away from Birmingham before I got breakfast, since the hotel I stayed at last night did not have free breakfast and didn't feel like driving around suburbia trying to find something to eat. I decided to sort of take the middle route of the two options I talked about yesterday. I decided to drive up I-22, which is the road between Birmingham and Memphis, catch the Natchez Trace Parkway in Tulpelo, Mississippi and take that down to Jackson.

Unfortunately for my search for breakfast, there is almost nothing along I-22, so it was nearly 45 minutes before I found an exit with any food, this time a Waffle House. While I was sort of in the mood for a nice big bowl of oatmeal, I've never had Waffle House, and I was extremely hungry at this point, so the pecan waffle with peanut butter and a glass of orange juice was just fine. I thought it was kind of weird for such a large highway (3 lanes in each direction) to be so barren. It turns out that I-22 was only completed in 2012, so there really hasn't been much time to build up around it.

Anyway, I made my way up further I-22 and got off to stop at my first destination, the Natural Bridge in Natural Bridge, Alabama, which is the main reason I took I-22. This is the longest natural rock

Unfortunately, you can't go up to the top

formation bridge east of the rockies. While this could have easily been a tourist trap, they only charge $3.50 for entry and there are a bunch of other cool rock formations too, so I think it is worth it and would recommend to anyone traveling in that area.

There are a number of cool rock overhangs at the natural bridge

I made my way back to I-22 and then crossed into Mississippi, stopping at the most ornate rest area I've ever seen. I decided that I was going to pick up some food for lunch in Tulepo and eat it

This is a rest area?

somewhere along the Natchez Trace Parkway, which is a scenic parkway through Mississippi. I was getting off the highway to figure out where to get food, I saw signs for the Elvis Presley Birthplace and Museum in Tulepo, so I decided to go there. They had the house he grew up in and the

Birthplace of the King of Rock and Roll

Pentecostal church he worshipped at as a kid on the premises. In the church they showed a re-enactment of a service he would have gone to, projected on the walls. It was kind of weird to see this

This old room transforms into a theater

old church transform into a theater, with projectors coming down out of the ceiling. The museum itself was kind of small.

I left and got some Subway, and made my way onto the Natchez Trace Parkway. While I had heard many good things about this parkway, I will say that I was completely unimpressed. It was three and a half hours of just forest and long, straight roads. It even took a half hour before I could find a picnic

Nice lake, but really far off the main road

area, which was nice, but five miles off the road. Also near the picnic area were some old Native American mounds from the 1200s. They did have stops every so often detailing the history of the Natchez

Native American mound

Trace, which was an old trading route, but they were literally just small billboards. Maybe I just drove on a boring section of the road, it does go all the way from Nashville to southwest Mississippi, but based on what I saw, I don't understand all the hype about it. It's really just a lot, and I mean a lot, of forest.

This is supposed to be a scenic overlook along the Natchez Trace, but it really isn't overlooking anything

I finally got off the Natchez Trace in Jackson, MS and searched my phone for a good deal on a hotel. I decided on the Cabot Lodge, which is a local chain with a mountain lodge theme. This is probably

There aren't any mountains nearby, by the way

the best deal I've gotten on a room so far, paying only $56 for a rather nice room. I will say that the lobby kind of smells like maple syrup, though I don't know if that is on purpose because of theme, or if it is just in my head. Dinner was at a local seafood joint, where I had oysters and a shrimp Po-boy (sorry, forgot to take pictures).

Tomorrow, I'm going to head over Vicksburg to check out the civil war battlefield and museum. From there I'll make my way into Louisiana and see whats along the road there, before probably spending the night somewhere in Texas.