North Carolina or Bust!

I suppose it is time I write this post. I have been putting it off because A) it is a long one! B) I have been working on the shutter fly version of it C) my other posts have been spur of the moment thoughts.
(I am going to cheat a little and upload my shutter fly pages rather than the individual pictures. We took almost 200 pictures, and I want to share as many as possible :)

SO... here goes our 5 day journey to the East Coast!

Day 1: We left Montana not knowing when we would return! We knew Josh would be in school for 4 months, but we weren't sure if he would get a job before we would move back to MT. 

The first day we crossed the Idaho state line and the Utah state line.

We spent the first 2 nights with Gary & Raylene. Said our goodbyes to all of our Utah family friends before heading out on "Day 2" of our journey. We left at 5am so we could drive for about 14 hours before stopping in Kansas. We traveled through Colorado, and Josh got to experience tunnels for the first time! We saw an awesome sunset just after the Kansas border, and then we had Mexican for dinner. It was a long day, but we got to see a lot of new country!

Day 3: The next morning we drove for about 2 hours before stopping in Manhattan, KS where are friend McQ goes to school. He was home on winter break, but we found his car and left him a note :) Once we were there we found out the Wizard of Oz museum was just a short drive away. That was our first spur of the moment stop! It is a neat little place :) The next stop was St. Louis! We arrived just in time to check into our high-rise motel and get some dinner! 

Day 4: We toured the Gateway Arch, but it was freezing!!!! It was zero degrees and windy. While we were inside it was fine, but it was a bit of a walk between the car and the actual monument. Once inside, there is a display room that talks about a lot of different history. You have to buy tickets to ride up to the top, so we left on the next available spot. You line up along the wall, and when the "trolley" arrives, you crawl into these little pods. (Side note: we had to agree that we were not scared of heights or claustrophobic in order to buy our tickets.) It is about a 4 minute ride to the top. The pod travels a little ways, stops to re-level, travels a little further, stops to re-level, etc. It was kinda freaky! At the top there is a lookout with windows on each side. It was a cool view of the city, but not too much to see up there. We were hoping for a little more action. 

After leaving St. Louis, we got back on the road before finding a winery along the way. It was really small, and it wasn't growing season. However, we got to try all 8 wines, and we ended up buying a bottle! It was our next spur of the moment stop. After drinking a bit of wine at 11:30 in the morning, (haha) we decided we better have some lunch. That is when we had our first glass of sweet tea & some southern BBQ! Shortly after getting back on the road we saw the road signs for the world's largest Superman! How could we turn that down? (We don't even like superheroes, but when it is the largest something... you stop!) They also had a super geeky museum that I am sure many of our family and friends would have enjoyed ;)

After all of that fun, we continued driving through Kentucky and eventually into Tennessee. We had to try some Hot Chicken, and the local secret is that Hattie B's is better than Prince's! Prince's was on T.V., but Hattie B claims to have created her recipe after ordering Prince's on many occasions. We planned to try both, but the schedule didn't work out. Hattie B's was awesome though! 

Day 5: The next morning was the start of Day 5. We went Lookin' for the Pickers! They weren't there, but we did see their vans and all of the stuff in the Nashville store. It was really busy, so we didn't take any pictures inside. For those of you who watch the show, the Pig Head is hanging in the Nashville store :) 

Next we traveled down to see The Country Music Hall of Fame! Josh wasn't too crazy about it, but it is just one of those things you HAVE to see in Nashville! It was really neat, but we probably made it through quicker than most ;) We were pleasantly surprised to find out the Reba exhibit was there! (Josh has been obsessed with Reba since he was a little boy :) They also had a free guest speaker/concert. Marcus Hummon is the writer of "Bless the Broken Road", and many other hits. He was awesome! His son Levi, who is also a songwriter in Nashville, was there as well. 

Our next stop in Nashville was the Ryman Auditorium. It was another place that we weren't crazy about, but we are glad we have seen it. The concept and the history of the radio show that made country music famous is awesome! However, we wish we would have booked tickets to actually see the show rather than just tour an empty building. 

Our last stop to our busy tour day was the Belle Meade Planation. I am crazy about plantations! I like to think I should have grown up in a past decade ;) I LOVE to hear the stories and look at the old construction. Josh had never toured a plantation, so he loved it too! This was the highlight of our trip as far as tours go! They have a winery on site, so the wine tasting was complimentary :)

Day 6: After our long day of touring, we got a hotel room in Franklin, TN, just outside of Nashville. We booked it on Hotwire, so we had no idea where we were staying. It ended up being the cutest little town! It was dark out by the time we got there, so we didn't take any pictures. We definitely plan to go back some day :) We found some dinner at Pucket's boat house! That was the only seafood we ate on our journey! (We don't like seafood, but popcorn shrimp is still seafood right???) We ended up buying the awesome mason jar glass :) The next morning we got up fairly early and headed out for NC! We were sad to leave "vacation mode", but we were VERY anxious to get to our destination! After crossing the Georgia state line, we entered the Eastern Time Zone! 

We finally arrived in Franklin and found our place. It took a few tears to get settled in, but we were glad to be "home".
Read about that here if you would like! 

We drove 2,468 miles and crossed 11 state lines in 6 days! 

Charleston, SC

For Josh's first 3 day weekend just after we arrived here, we decided to take a mini vacation to Charleston, SC. We had some money saved from a graduation present to do something fun with. We decided we would go check out the coast, and see what all the hype was about for Charleston. We had a blast! It was a very relaxing weekend getaway. We used Hotwire to book a 4 star hotel in Mt. Pleasant across the bay right on the beach :) It was decorated in a nautical theme with a lot of seashells and palm trees. It is a little bit older hotel, so it was a little Grandma-ish, but we didn't mind at all. We stayed in Mt. Pleasant across the bay.

View of the private pier from our balcony

We were so excited to photograph this famous bridge that we crossed a couple of times each day.

Unfortunately the light is a result of photoshop :/ It actually looks like this. Still very neat!

First we toured Ft. Sumpter. It is the location of the very first battle of the Civil War. We heard a little synopsis of the battle while touring the fort. If you are interested in learning more, you can use this link. We aren't huge history fans, but we do love to walk around and look at all of the old stuff :) We also couldn't stop talking about how much Justin Saul and my dad would enjoy it! The fort is built on a man made island out in the bay. We took a little ferry ride there, spent an hour looking around, and rode the ferry back. I think this was Josh's highlight being the adventurous boy he is :)

The ferry - it was a very chilly ride!

Original canons - they swivel around to aim

The fort is surrounded by these hole
that they would shoot out of.

Original flag from the flag pole that was shot down
during the battle

Josh as a Junior Ranger!

After the fort we walked around a bit looking for what else we might care to do. We also had plans to tour a few other places the next day. That night we took a tour of The Dark Side of Charleston. We learned about the brothels and their connection to corruption and crime around the cities conception. It was very interesting! Our tour guide was so entertaining :) I think she enjoyed telling all of the "stories" just as much as we enjoyed hearing them! Here are a few shots from our stop at the graveyard!

The second day we walked around the City Market. It was the original trading location/grocery store of the Charleston area. It was a lot more commercialized than we expected, but it was still fun to look around. We also loved going in and out of the shops along the streets. Josh picked up a display piece in one of the shops and broke it. The lady was very nice and didn't charge us, but it was our little joke everywhere we went, "Josh, keep your hands to yourself!" 

After grabbing lunch, we headed to the Charleston Tea Plantation. It is the only tea plantation in the United States. It was a short drive away, but it was so worth it! We took a short video tour of the factory before boarding a trolley to tour the fields and green house. We learned about the growing and harvesting process. The tea is dormant in the winter, but they have a built an electronic greenhouse where they plant new "trees". While touring the plant, we were able to drink all of the hot and cold tea we could possibly consume!

Tea Fields

Tea Plantation Trolley

Nearest Tea Fields 

Big Green Machine for harvesting the tea

The next stop on our trip was the Irvin House Vineyards Winery & Firefly Distillery. We had no idea they were hosting an oyster fest that day! We aren't into oysters, but it was fun to watch a lot of drunk people listening to music and eating oysters :) The wine tasting included all 5 types of wine they serve, and we got to keep the wine glasses we drank out of! We also completed the distillery tasting. We tried 2 flavors of moonshine, sweet tea vodka (leaded & unleaded :), light & dark rum, lemonade vodka, and sweet tea bourbon. We weren't too impressed with any of the liquor, but we got to keep our shot glasses! No matter where you go, you are bound to say "It's a small world!" at least once. The couple next to us knew a couple who recently moved to Virginia City! They were so excited to visit with a couple of Montana natives :)

Pile of Oysters

Beer on tap out of this truck

Fire grilled pizza, also out of a truck

That night, we decided to take another tour from Bulldog Tours. We chose the Jail Tour. We hoped it would be really scary, but unfortunately we had a couple people on our tour who had way too much fun BEFORE the tour :/ The building is undergoing reconstruction by a group of college students, so that didn't help matters either. The stories were interesting enough though.

Take note of the wear pattern on the steps

Before we left for home (Franklin), we decided to find a genuine Dunkin' Doughnuts! We weren't too impressed with the coffee, but the donuts were good :)
Last, but not least, we toured the Calhoun Mansion. This place has a lot of history! It is now owned by a wealthy man who signed a contract to kept the home in its current, restored state. He has filled the 3 story home with his personal collection of art. It has more items than any museum I have ever toured. It is amazing! There are so many pieces in every room. It is loosely themed, but we were in awe the entire tour. We highly recommend this to anyone near Charleston! Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside. 

Here are a few other fun shots from our trip.

Famous "Angel Oak" Tree

Our first East Coast Sunset

Starbucks - City Life :)

Apartment entrance  -in the parking garage!

We had to try a Charleston Chew!

That is the last of our mini vacation!
We ate too much,
laughed plenty,
and explored till our feet hurt :)