During Winter Break 2019, the Michael W Travels family took a road trip to the Deep South.
This was an interesting experience for us and probably the longest amount of time we spent driving on a daily basis for a prolonged amount of time.
We headed off from our home in Brooklyn, NY, making stops in states like Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama and North Carolina. Some of the states we had previously visited, for others it was our first time checking them out.
While away on our trips, we try to not buy too many souvenirs. We’ll get the kids small things which I like to call explorer surprises. For myself, I like to get a t-shirt at times. I’ve also brought back tasty souvenirs from from places like Iceland and Kansas City. No, it wasn’t during the same trip!
During our Deep South Road Trip, a bunch of items caught my eye. I figured, since we were driving, it wouldn’t be any issue buying them to bring back with us.
Here are the tasty souvenirs I bought during our 8-night road trip.
Barbecue Sauce:
We’re big fans of barbecue and love to try the different styles offered around America.
Alabama is famous for white barbecue which is primarily served on chicken. During our visit, we tried this tasty item at three places- Big Bob Gibson, SAW’S BBQ and Miss Myra’s.
I was able to pickup Big Bob Gibsons’s sauces at Walmart for a cheaper price than sold in their restaurants. We loved SAW’s so we stopped in the following day to grab a bottle. It was a bit on the pricier side and when tried at home, Kim and I still liked it but it wasn’t as good as what we had remembered eating in Alabama.
Local Alabama Treats:
I read that Golden Flake chips and Buffalo Rock Ginger Ale were very local items in Alabama. While I didn’t try these items during the trip, I decided to bring the items home.
Theo and I loved the Golden Flake chips and he asked me to get more. I plan to look into seeing if I could order them but I will say, they are a bit on the saltier side.
As for the Buffalo Rock Ginger Ale, damn it was strong. I didn’t mind the flavor at first but it’s pretty spicy and it feels like it’s burning your throat. Lucas didn’t like it, I wasn’t a big fan.
Mustard:
Sierra Nevada Brewing is from California and when I read that they had a location close to Asheville, NC I had to stop in. While I wanted to see the brewery and try some beer, I really went for another reason, to pick up some of their delicious beer mustard!
I hate IPAs but I love the taste it has when added to mustard. I used to pickup their mustard at Whole Foods but they stopped carrying it there.
While visiting their NC taproom, I picked up a Pale Ale Mustard and a Stout mustard. I haven’t opened either bottle yet but I’m sure they’ll be very tasty.
Mayonnaise:
Duke’s Mayonnaise is very popular in the South. We’ve had it various times while eating out and it was enjoyable as much as mayo should be…
I can’t say that I can tell the difference between Duke’s and Hellmann’s but when I saw it in a supermarket in Virginia on the way home, I figured it didn’t hurt to bring a bottle home. (It’s available on Amazon but it’s sold at a premium.)
Final Thoughts:
Do you like to purchase souvenirs during your travels? Have you ever brought any edible souvenirs home?
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Carl WV- You should definitely dig in and look around if that interests you! BA has lots of excellent sites to check out, see what interests you and also look around in other places. I have lots of destination specific posts too, you have to look around! 🙂
Carl WV- Thanks, glad you liked the post. Take a look around and you’ll find lots of more posts which have nothing to do with credit cards, flights or hotels.
Your idea sounds great. We also need to hit up many more of the national parks!
I quess COVID-19, on-line shopping, stimulus etc.. I just looked through the headlines of a bunch and see nothing about anybody’s actual travel experiences. Maybe I need to look beyond BA?
Some escapism would be nice. Maybe it’s there and I’m just missing it.
NIce! It’s good to see a post on something other than credit cards, the flight, and the hotel room. I would have though we might have seen more of that on BA under the current circumstances. A lot of bloggers say they want to catch up on trip reviews, but I haven’t seen many do it.
I’ve been thinking about a road trip as soon as I feel comfortable with it. I’m 65 and not anxious to get on a flight or other penned in circumstances for a while. Some national parks and the like sound good.