SweetTea by the Tree
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life in the south

7/13/2015

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Things I've come to realize being on the road for two months:
  • Packing two suitcases full of stuff was a huge mistake. 
  • Grocery shopping is the actual best thing ever.
  • A living room and a kitchen in a hotel room make me so happy.
  • Sunsets are beautiful, regardless of where i'm at, every. single. time.
  • There is no sense of time when traveling


We're at the point in our tour when we have to move.. alot. I believe the max amount of time we'll be in a hotel is two, maybe three nights. So when I decided to take advantage of the bring along two suitcases, and two carry-on items, I didn't know what I was getting myself into. And to add to it, we did also get a backpack for work.. So that's a whole lot of stuff to be carrying along. It'll make the one nighters a whole lot of fun coming up! I'm two months in, with about a month and a half to go! Wooo! I've fallen in love multiple times with so many different places in the south. Everyone is so friendly, the food is absolutely amazing, and sweet tea just tastes like the best thing ever. We've been doing alot more traveling lately so I've been neglecting my computer (not to mention I broke my charger, woops!).. Here's a little summary of where I've been and what I've been up to lately. Enjoy!

June 22- exploring Jacksonville, FL. We tried to walk around the downtown area, but I definitely wasn't a fan. There weren't really any shops or anything to do, so we ended up driving around.. Forever. And found about nothing. We eventually made our way to the beach and walked on that for awhile. There was some dog get-together on the beach and my heart about burst from how adorable it was. There were so many playing catch and running around with each other.. I just wanted to pet all of them and sneak them on tour with us. We wandered around and found a random bar that was having a huge viewing party for the US women's world soccer cup game, so we hung out there and watched it. It's so much fun when everyone's super into and cheering when we scored.

June 24- trip to St. Augustine, FL. We saw the oldest wooden schoolhouse in the US and visited the Castillo de San Marcos. The entire city was so historic and beautiful. The buildings were all so old and the signs around the city described what had been going on in the area in the past. Really cool! 

June 25- Event day! We had a high jumper for our Olympic athlete. The center had gotten a high jump pole from the high school in the area, so we had that outside for cars to drive under as they entered the event. It was pretty sweet. The event went well until we were nearly blown away. A storm came up really quick and we were trying to tear down our tents before it all started.. A huge gust of wind came as we were taking down the tents and papers flew everywhere, and our tour manager thought I might be about to be blown away. Such power behind those Florida storms! 

June 26- Travel day to Charleston, SC. We're officially out of Florida! I loved being there, but I was definitely ready for a change. I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful area to be for the first stop. Charleston is definitely one of my top two places so far. The river walk, downtown area, buildings, food, everything was incredible. I spent most of this day walking around down by the river, exploring, and enjoying an iced coffee from a local shop. President Obama was in town that day for the funerals, so the town was a bit crazy- closed roads and lots of police. 

June 27- The center in Charleston was under construction, so our event was held at a parking garage. You might think that wouldn't work, but it was actually very successful! It was at an outdoor mall, so we got alot of walk-ups. It was also nice to have a change of scenery. 

June 28- another tourist day. Spent the day walking around the downtown area some more. Visited a local coffee shop to sit out the intense rain storm then walked around the outlet mall by our hotel. Spent some time working out and doing laundry, the necessities. Also skyped with my nieces, so that made my night!

June 29- travel day to Savannah, GA. I got there about lunch time, so I went to a little cafe for lunch, then walked around the downtown. I found a chiropractor because my back had enough of not getting cracked, so that was helpful. Then after driving around forever, I finally found some parking to walk around a little more. One of the guys had explored and knew all the places to go so he took me to a shop that had free honey tastings, another with a cookie bar with 16 flavors of cookies, and another with tea tastings. Yes, all of the good stuff. Then we just walked along the river for awhile. After that I went back to the hotel for awhile and took it easy. I ventured out to Chipotle for dinner followed by watching the sunset with a dairy queen blizzard on the outdoor patio there. 

June 30- Lunch at the Wilkes house. Most amazing meal of my life. It was like an Easter, Thanksgiving, AND Christmas meal combined. We waited in line for about 45 minutes to get inside a historic home where you sit at a table that has all of the dishes on the table. There was everything from macoroni and cheese to squash and coleslaw, fried chicken and amazing sweet tea. I ate until I was full and then ate for about ten minutes after that. I stood up afterwards and couldn't move, but we powered through and ate our moneys worth. It was all so yummy that I couldn't stop anyways. We went back to the hotel after that and me and Marie fell asleep for two hours. TWO HOURS! I was so tired from that meal that I stayed in bed most of the day after that. 

July 1- Event at Savannah BMW

July 2- Travel to Bluffton, SC and event day at Hilton Head BMW, followed by dinner at a restaurant that was conveniently placed in our hotel parking lot, followed by a skype night with the family all in St. Louis. 

July 3- Marie and I explored Hilton Head, layed out at the beach for awhile, then our team went to a local restaurant for dinner. It's one of the best on the island and there's always a two hour wait to get in. Luckily, one of the client advisors of the dealership had connections there, so he got us a picnic table right by the water for dinner, so we got right in. We all ordered the Low Country Boil for dinner- it's been featured on the food network, so let's just say that was also one of the best meals I've ever had. Oysters, crab legs, corn on the cob.. Everything was delish! The sunset over the river-- beautiful as always! Then the guys had bought some fireworks so we drove around til we found a spot in the middle of nowhere and they did a fireworks show. It was all good until one of them tipped over and we were all running to take cover when they started shooting off towards us. Super terrifying at the time as I darted behind the tree, but luckily noone got hurt and we can look back and laugh at it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!! We spent  a majority of the day at the beach. Heard some live music at the tiki hut at the beach, and went to dinner at the restaurant by our hotel again. (obviously we got lucky with tasty food right near us) and not to mention the good fireworks were also right behind our hotel, so after eating we got ice cream at the attached homemade ice cream shop, and watched the fireworks.

July 5- a rainy day so I spent alot of time laying around.. Marie and I finally left the hotel in the afternoon and went back to the restaurant we'd gone to on the 3rd. There was a two hour wait for two people, but luckily a couple was leaving the bar right as we got there so we got to sit right down. The women's soccer game was on, there was live music, and I got to eat some seafood pasta and watch another sunset there-- couldn't ask for anything better! 

July 6- I went to watch the sunrise at the island.. Though it was cloudy, it was still super peaceful to walk along the beach. I love early mornings, so it was a good start to just relax and enjoy the scenery. Marie and I went to Pickney Island to walk around the wildlife refuge trail, then we went kayaking in the marsh. It was so peaceful and cool to see. Then we cleaned up and went downtown Bluffton. It's the historic area near our hotel, and it was a quaint little town. We ate at a cool little place outdoors that had live music. One of my favorite things about the south.. The live music, everywhere, everynight! The town kind of reminded me of home because we just walked around the streets in the middle of the streets and it was so quiet. Nice to just enjoy the serenity of the area and the history of the town! 

July 7- I took the bike out on the island and rode on the trails for about two and a half hours. There's so many bike trails there and they're all so cool. The houses there are incredible and I just love biking, so it was a good morning. After that was a 5 hour drive to Fayetville, so I cranked up the radio and drove, drove, drove. Bri and I went to Mexican that night and drove around the area.

July 8- roadtrip to Raleigh. We walked around the downtown area, found a farmers market, and went to North Carolina State University. I've been in love with Scotty McCreery for about forever now, so Brian was ready to throw me out of the car by the end of the day because I kept saying Oh, maybe he'll be here (since we were at the college he goes to). Unfortunately I never did see him, but someday I will and we'll get married and live happily ever after! ;) We walked around the campus and student center, which was pretty awesome. Then we drove to Duke and walked around there. The basketball hall of fame was sweet, and the campus was also pretty. I always wonder what it'd be like to have went to a big school like those. There's so much to do there and there's so many people, but at the end of the day, I still love my school! 

July 9- Hey, I actually worked today! We had an event in Fayetville, then drove to Raleigh. I had to make a pit stop at Scotty's hometown to visit where he went to high school like we did a few years back with my sister. Then I ate at some BBQ place and went to our hotel.

July 10- Work day 2 at Raleigh and travel about 2 hours to Greensboro, NC.

July 11- Event at Greensboro.. Since it was our weekend and we just so happened to have a grill at our hotel, we HAD to cookout. We went to the grocery store after our event, and you'd think we'd never been before. I mean, it had been TWO MONTHS since I went actual grocery shopping, so I was pumped. I never thought I'd miss grocery shopping so much. I definitely have a new appreciation for it! So we grilled brats, kabobs, and corn on the cob. I made some snicker salad and everything just tasted way too yummy. Going home at the end of this and being able to have real food everyday will be one of the best things ever.. My stomach doesn't even know what to think anymore after eating out every meal of every day. 

July 12- Today I woke up and drove about 3 and a half hours to Wilmington, NC. I spent the day walking around the riverwalk and driving aimlessly checking out the beaches and cute houses. I went to the grocery store again (because this hotel is super nice and also has a kitchen in it). So, of all things, I buy a frozen meal and some frozen veggies. Ohhhh the good stuff. 

I don't really ever know what day it is anymore. We work on the weekends and enjoy days off during the week. I go by off days, work days, and travel days. We're about to get super busy, and time will fly even quicker than it already has. 

It's been a blast and I'm loving being able to see so much of the country. I love the sunsets over the water, but I do miss the sunsets over the pool and barns and the timber.  It's been tough missing everyone and everything back home, but I'm so thankful for Skype and being able to see my family and friends through that. It's been a journey, that's for sure! 

I'm going to try to write more often so this isn't twenty paragraphs long, so we'll see how that goes. I might even veer off from the travel blog and do something crazy like write a post about whatever random things are in my head (which is probably alot, since I do have lots of time to think while driving). Keep your eyes peeled for that! 

Until next time, loves- Keep it reel. 
(get it, like a fishing reel because I like to fish?) ;) 



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