Southeast Travel stories

Some of Mississippi's greatest culinary treasures are found in unexpected spots such as roadside shacks, old gas stations and groceryand drug stores. The state's tourism division, along with the Southern Foodways Alliance, based in Mississippi, each have trails dedicated to the unique culinary culture of the Magnolia State.

By Blake Guthrie This summer marks the 40th anniversary of the landmark film "Deliverance," and Oconee County in South Carolina and Rabun County in Georgia -- which border the Chattoga River where key scenes were filmed -- are throwing a festival to celebrate.

For a golf retreat that literally rises above and beyond what you're used to in the Southeast, Primland does the trick nicely. Primland, a 12,000-acre resort -- nearly the size of Bermuda -- is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwest Virginia, far away from cities and towns.

Visit Cashiers and Highlands, N.C. one of three ways: On a budget, spending a bit more, or when the getaway calls for a splurge. BUDGET: Stay: The Jarrett House is a bed and breakfast inn, complete with Victorian style furnishings. It is one of western North Carolina's oldest operating inns and is located in historic Dillsboro.

It’s only about four hours away by car and it offers a bevy of fun and entertaining possibilities. Known alternately as the Queen City (named after Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, a major arts patron and the wife of former British King George III) and the Hornet’s Nest (a title it captured during the Revolutionary War because local resistance fighters would swarm about like “hornets”), Charlotte was once the textile capital of the United States.

When Mike and Donna Holder bought some property in Carroll County after responding to an ad in the Atlanta Journal in 1997, the couple had hopes of starting a rural bed and breakfast. Little did they know at the time that they would be uncovering a forgotten chapter in Georgia’s history, as well as setting the stage for a new entry in the Guinness World Records.

On Aimee Cebulski’s first visit to the Gulf Coast, she fell in love with the sunsets, the white-sand beaches and the food, but most of all, the people. Her visit is captured in an episode of “Getting Away Together,” on PBS.

The smaller-than-Mayberry village of Magnolia Springs lies nine miles inland from the beaches of the Alabama Gulf Coast. Driving on U.S. 98 between Pensacola and Mobile you hardly notice it's there, as the tiny town is tucked away down a county highway, nestled among the magnolia and oak trees on the banks of the short Magnolia River.

Dave Matthews Band, Jack White and The Red Hot Chili Peppers are headliners this year. The festival is getting some national attention.

Major league baseball teams started coming to Florida for spring training almost a century ago, traveling by rail from the often still-frozen North to get in shape and play some exhibition games in the sun. For baseball fans needing an early fix after a long winter, spring training is hard to beat.

This is your guide to event-related travel in the Southeast, including festivals, tours, exhibits and more. Georgia Lula — North Georgia Canopy Tours offers teepee and rustic camping, zip-lining, disc golf and geocaching.

If you are dreaming of dining at Cinderella Castle on spring break, and you don’t already have your reservations, it’s too late. It’s not too late to see the landmark at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, of course, but access to Cinderella’s Royal Table — a restaurant in the castle where you meet Cinderella and several other princess characters — is one of several signature Disney experiences that get snapped up six months out.

Austin likes to call itself weird, but, really, it’s not any weirder than Georgia’s Athens, which is similarly laid-back, football-obsessed and imperiously proud of its music scene. Austin doesn’t have Athens’ Victorian architecture, of course.

Plan a weekend visit to Jackson, Miss., three ways: on a budget, spending a bit more, or when the getaway calls for a splurge. BUDGET Getting there: Round-trip rates of $383.40 require a one-week advance purchase; US Airways. Stay: A downtown National Historic Landmark is the King Edward Hotel.

Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday, but the term is also used to refer to celebrations at any time during Carnival. Fat Tuesday is Feb. 21 this year, and the traditional colors of purple, green and gold -- standing for justice, faith and power, respectively -- will be flaunted all season long at parades and balls around the Southeast, particularly in the Gulf Coast region, where Mardi Gras was first celebrated in the New World, and in one historic town along the Georgia coast.