LOVE VACATIONS

I just got back from a week long adventure in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. When I say "Adventure" it's because we did 3000 things in the span of a week and would even travel for hours almost every night to get to the next place so we could get up early and play. Such good times! I'll post some pictures later on (at which point you'll need to disregard the hair. It's hard being a girl in humid climates), but here are a few of my favorite highlights.....

Middleton Plantation: Charleston, South Carolina: This was one of my favorite spots because it had miles and miles of BEAUTIFUL scenery with gardens, lakes, rivers, marshes, etc.. We took a carriage ride throughout the entire plantation and learned all about it's history, which I really enjoyed. Plus we spent the afternoon kayaking down the river and as we came around a bend there was an alligator directly above us on the side of a narrow channel, not even 10 feet away. It snapped it's jaws as we floated towards it unable to stop, scurried down into the river, hit it's tail at us in the water, and swam under our kayak. I'm proud to admit that I didn't scream, despite the fact that I had sort of let out a squeal earlier when we got the kayak place and they said there were hundreds of alligators and thousands of snakes throughout the plantation. We had spent the entire time looking for their beady eyes to poke up out of the water, but after taking pictures of a lot of floating logs we had sort of given up. When I finally did see one it happened so quickly, so I just put my paddle above my head, sort of froze in place, and said "Wayne! An alligator!" That was followed by me semi-calmly saying "I'm not freaking out a lot, but I am freaking out just a little!" (I had been coached before our rendezvous about not startling the alligators). Wayne immediatley started trying to paddle away from it, which obviously made sense since it was directly under us, but I just sat there, paddle in the air, not breathing. Ha, ha, ha! Sorry about that, buddy!

Mrs Wilkes' Boarding House: Savannah, Georgia: We found this restaurant in our "1000 Places to See Before You Die" book and it is truly one of my favorite places I've eaten. There are 10 of you at a table, 18 or so different Southern dishes to share, and you get to sit around and talk with random strangers while you eat. It was fantastic. There was a man who sat with us that had been going there regularly for over 40 years, and he used to go with his dad when he was little. The food was unbelievably good (I bought the recipe book) and the atmosphere was so much fun. Again, one of my all time best eating experiences ever.

Biltmore Place Estate: Ashville, North Carolina: We weren't sure what to expect when we got here and they told us it was 50 dollars to get in (cue the pow-wow to figure out if we REALLY want to see the estate) but after driving 3 hours to see it, it made sense to bite the bullet and fork over the cash. It was absolutely worth it! The house was enormous and it took us almost an hour just to walk through it, and then you had the gardens, the lakes, the forest, the walking paths. There was a ton of stuff to do, and that didn't even count boating, off-roading, churning butter, horse rides, etc.. If we'd known it was going to be such an incredible place we would have definitely come earlier, but we still enjoyed the time we had. This is somewhere I would absolutely love to come again, but plan better for, and maybe stay the night in the Inn that is on the property.

There are some highlights and more to come later. We literally went non-stop the entire time and would pull into the hotels exhausted every night, and fall asleep watching the basketball conference. It was a great combination of sight-seeing, exploring, relaxing at the beach, "world famous" restaurants, outdoor adventures, etc.. Something for everyone - the ideal vacation!