Texas Road Trip 2021
Montgomery-New Orleans-Houston-San Antonio-Fredericksburg-Bandera-Dixie Dude Ranch-Dallas-Crater of Diamonds in Arkansas - Memphis-Atlanta
2.987 Miles
46 hours and 34 minutes of driving between cities
15 days
12 cities
7 hotels
My son has been obsessed with Texas for years so this year we decided to take a road trip to see Texas.
I would book the cowboy ranch first as it was hardest to book and work around it. Book all hotels in advance and tickets to museums, crater digging, Nasa, swamp tour, Duck master if you do it. Most of the other places we winged it.
Items you may want to bring with you besides normal stuff (amazon affiliate links if you click on the name it will send you to the link fo rthe ones we have)
Packing cubes-great to make a medicine one, first aid, etc
We bought cowboy boots ( get the long socks too) and hat in Texas for him
Tips:
Make sure to have an oil change and car checked before you take this trip.
We went the first two weeks of June so it was hot, but we live in Atlanta so were used to it. We had some things planned ahead and some we added as we went. I noted below two places we wished we had done on this trip.
Once you hit Alabama, you will be an hour behind Atlanta time zone for the whole trip.
When we pack the car we had a cooler in the back of car but where my son could reach it. We had snacks and games for him too.
We make a trash bag and trash at stops along the way.
I always have a change of outfit and sweatshirt in easy reach if needed.
Itenary
Day 1
Atlanta to Montgomery
3 hours 20 mins
Montgomery Renaissance hotel
Click here to read about what we did in Montgomery. We left at 6:30 am to get there right when places opened and I highly recommend that.
Day 2
We ate breakfast on the road in the car (covid times). We left Montgomery and we are off to drive to New Orleans. 4 hours 23 min away.
We stopped at the Mississippi Welcome Center. Make sure to ask at each visitor center for pins or other items.
We then went to Biloxi, Mississippi. My mom had always wanted to see what it looked like and was maybe 5 mins off the highway. We got off the highway and took a right and drove a few miles to check it out. I had not been since they rebuilt it from a hurricane years ago.
We stopped at this area near Shaggy's to get out and look at the beach, before the casinos.
We saw this cute place on the beach and decided to try it and we loved it. We would definatly go back here. Shaggy's 1763 Beach Blvd, Biloxi, MS
We stopped here to get some souviners. It is a huge store that has everything! Sharkheads 1703 Beach Blvd, Biloxi, MS 8:30 am-9:30 Pm (10 on Friday and Saturdays)
We ran into a casino for a few minutes to check it out. I played $20 and wone $125!
We hit the Louisiana Visitor Center and then hit the big easy, New Orleans. Don't fotget to ask for freebies and pins for the kids!
Read about what we did in New Orleans for the rest of day 2, 3 and 4.
Day 5 We woke up ordered room service to go, we had to get those beignets one last time and headed to our next stop,Texas!! This is the Texas Welcome Center!
Houston, Texas
4 hours 54 mins
We Stayed at the Houston Marriott Marqouis with a pool in the shape of Texas!! This pool inspired our trip!
Read what we else we did in Houston here.
Day 6 We checked out and drove about 45 mins to Nasa. We spent a few hours here.
We should have added on Galveston onto this part of the trip as it was only about an hour south of NASA. We regret not going there.
We then drove to San Antonio. It took about 3 hours 18 mins.
Day 7 San Antonio Click here to see what we did
Day 8 San Antonio
Day 9 San Antonio to Fredricksburg about 1 hour and 11 mins.
We got up early and drove to Fredricksburg, Texas. A quiant little German town, with shopping, dining and lots of wineries in the beautiful Hill Country!
From Fredricksburg we drove about an hour to Bandera and looked around the town. There is not much on the way, but the drive is beautiful. Make sure to have gas in the car before you start out.
Day 11 Drove from Dixie Dude Ranch to Fort Worth, roughly 5 hours . We wanted to stop at Dinosaur Valley on the way, to see the dinosaur foot prints. We had a ticket ahead of time, but due to the rain the tracks were not visible so drove through Austin instead. This was the most traffic of the trip. We stopped at In and Out Burger there as we had never been to one. We then drove to Stockyard in Fort Worth for the 4:00 Bull running but missed it by 10 mins due to traffic. We had dinner at and walked around, click the link above to read about it.
We then drove to the hotel, Ritz Carlton Dallas. It is the only Ritz in Texas. It is about 30 mins away, but we hit Firday night traffic and took over an hour.
Day 12 Check out what we did in Dallas/Frisco.
We wished we knew we were only 2.5 hours from Oklahoma City as we would have added on a night there.
Day 13 Drive from Dallas to Memphis (6 hours 34 min). We took about 1.5 hours longer and drove to Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas where you can dig for your own diamonds!
We then finally arrived in Memphis, after we had lots of traffic as one of the bridges was under repair. We pulled up the famous Peapody Hotel . we checked in and had our things sent up to the room. We had room service for dinner as we were tired.
Day 14 Read all about what we did in Memphis here.
Day 15 leave Memphis and drive to Atlanta (6 hours and 35 mins). We stopped in Tupleo, Mississippi to see where Elvis Presley was born. It is maybe 4 mins off the exit. Read about our quick visit here.
After a long trip it was nice to be back home!!
For quick references on cities:
Check back every Tuesday for a new fun place to take a family vacation!
Check here for other vacations we have taken.
