Jackson Free Press

Allison and Eric Bieller are 30-something millennials who, four years ago, had good-paying but high-stress jobs when they decided that there had to be more to life.

The couple, who were high-school sweethearts from Poplar Bluff, Mo., headed off to different colleges in Nashville after graduation. Eric attended the International Academy for Design and Technology and graduated with an associate's degree in graphic design in 2007. Allison went to Belmont University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in business administration in 2009.

They got married in 2008 and moved to San Francisco in 2010 to begin their careers. Allison worked in human resources for an online clothing company Modcloth and in 2013, Eric had co-founded tech startup sqwiggle. Then in 2015, they started traveling the world seeking to "experience as many adventures and delicious food as we can," Allison says. They gave up their jobs to travel the world seeking new foods, sights and adventure. They now fund their lifestyle by blogging and vlogging their travels. Currently, they have nearly 300,000 subscribers on their YouTube channel.

"Our goal is to make the world feel a little smaller and inspire others to break out of their comfort zone," 
Allison says.

The couple has traveled all over the world and across the U.S., and most recently, the couple came here to Jackson. In 2019, Visit Jackson invited Eric and Allison to visit the city. They spent several days in June seeing the 
attractions and going to various restaurants and trying the food here. They also created two YouTube videos of their time in Jackson. Together the videos have amassed almost 100,000 views.

It was the couple's first visit to 
Mississippi. "I will say that we did not have a bad meal while we were (in Jackson)," Allison says.

They had breakfast at Brent's Drugs and the next day Urban Foxes. In the video, Allison refers to Urban Foxes this way: "The perfect house. It is beautiful on the outside and you walk inside, and it is filled with pastries and coffee. How much better does it get?"

They had tapas for lunch one day at Babalu Tapas & Tacos and tried flavored vodka at the Cathead Distillery. They also went to Deep South Pops in Highland Village for a beer float. Eric loved the beer float, saying it was like a sugary bowl of cereal.

They had lunch at the Cultivation Food Hall, where Eric had "trash grits" from Fete au Fete, and Allison had pizza from Bocca Pizzeria.

Their favorite meal was at The Iron Horse Grill.

"It was not a healthy meal by any means," Allison says. "We got everything they had that was fried," including the tamales, which were their favorite dish.

They visited several cultural or historical sites while waiting for their food to digest and make room for the next meal, including the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, the Governor's Mansion and the Mississippi Museum of Art. They were especially interested in the civil-rights museum.

"There was just so much history to digest and the exhibits were all so detailed and well done," Eric says. "It showed us that, while Mississippi may have a troubled past, they don't plan on forgetting it and are dead set on learning from it."

Their favorite part of the trip, however, was the food.

"The restaurant game in Jackson has blown us away," Eric says.

Allison says: "... There was the classic great southern home-style cooking, but then we also had amazing Greek food and amazing Italian food. It was just all over the place; it was wonderful."

Will the Biellers come back?

"Yes, definitely," Allison says.

Eric says: "The food scene alone makes (Jackson) worth a visit. We didn't have a single bad meal during our stay. We did drive over a few bad potholes though."

Find The Endless Adventure on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, or visit theendlessadventure.co.

Places Where The Endless Adventure Went

Urban Foxes (826 North St., 769-572-5505)

Mississippi Civil Rights Museum (222 North St., Suite 2205, 601-576-6800, mscivilrightsmuseum.com)

Cultivation Food Hall (1200 Eastover Drive, Suite 125)

The Iron Horse Grill (320 W. Pearl St., 601-398-0151, theironhorsegrill.com)

Deep South Pops (1800 N. State St., 601-398-2174; 4500 Interstate 55 N. Frontage Road, 601-398-0623, deepsouthpops.com)

Brent's Drugs (655 Duling Ave., 601-366-3427)

Governor's Mansion (300 E. Capitol St., 601-359-3175, mdah.ms.gov)

Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.; 601-960-1515; msmuseumart.org)

Babalu Tapas & Tacos (622 Duling Ave., Suite 106, 601-366-5757, eatbabalu.com)

Cathead Distillery (422 S. Farish St., 601-667-3038, catheaddistillery.com)