Ya'll Come back now!

I'm sure it has been said: "When in the South Do as the Southern Folk do!" And that is exactly what we just did!! We had the true Southern experience while we were out in South Carolina visiting Grandma and Grandpa Seay on a vacation adventure that we will for sure look back on fondly for years to come.


Grandma Seay took good care of us while we were out in South Caronlina, and she made sure to feed us some biscuits and gravy and grits for breakfast every day. We were kind of lucky that Grandpa Seay wasn't up for cooking otherwise it would have been "brians and eggs!" YUCK!


We started our adventure in Tennesse where George's Aunt and Uncle live. Since all of his cousins happened to be in town, they took us out to see Ruby Falls, a waterfall deep inside a cave. It was pretty cool, but a little too animated for my taste... I was just waiting for a bunch of creepy little dolls to pop out and start singing: It's a Small World After All.


This was my first run in with a creepy bug: Believe me there were lots of them, and I got eatten alive by mosquitos while I was out there.


SOOOOOOOOOOO GREEN!!!!!!!!!! We drove the long "scenic" route from Tennesse to South Carolina on Sunday, and boy was that a treat!! But I will admit that the windy roads through the hills and the trees started to make me a little sick after a while.


Our little pet "varmit" Isn't he cute??


The first night at George's grandparents house, we discovered that there was a mouse in the house: We set a bunch of traps upstairs, but that mouse was too smart for us because that night Dean came into our room in the basement panicking because she had gotten up to use the bathroom and had found the mouse in the bathroom, so she slammed the door on it and George ran and got one of the traps. After we set the trap in there the first time, we waited a second, heard the trap door shut…waited… and saw the little shadow run across the gap under the door. George reset the trap, shut the door, and we tried one more time… heard the trap door shut… waited… the shadow of the tiny mouse ran past again! So, George tried one more time…heard the trap door shut… no shadow… no shadow… That’s when we knew we had him caught. The next morning we let it out in a bucket for everyone’s viewing, and found that it was REALLY cute. I couldn’t let the poor thing die, so we drove it out to the end of the road, and let it go in the forest. Hopefully it won’t find its way back. All I know was it was a little freaky the rest of the trip thinking there could be more of those running around the house.



Our Owl Friend:

Driving down the Seay's driveway one night we came accross this owl. It had a huge wingspan and guided us down the driveway flying about 6 feet in front of our car. It was pretty amazing. I hope it didn't eat the mouse we had released into it's woods earlier that morning.

I just can't get over how green it is there:

Grandma and Grandpa Seay's house out in the woods:

Grandpa Seay's old tractor that George dreams about owning one day:

My most favorite of all, the driveway:

Grandma and Grandpa Seay have a driveway that is about a mile and a half long, and it's covered in trees like this (see above). The first night we were there George and I went for a walk through the "Enchanted Forest" that was pitch black, with a little bit of fog from the humidity, and MILLIONS of little glowing fairy bugs (lightening bugs) OH MY!! It was the coolest things I have ever seen in my entire life. I really thought for a minute that I was in a fairty tale.

Halfway down the drive way, is a small road branching off to the neighbor's house, who lives by a little pond. George and I went out to check out the fishing at the pond, but didn't have much luck. The pond was mostly filled with turtles... there were tons of them and they would pop their little heads out of the water. We also saw a few copper head snakes, which was okay except for when we saw one slither into the pile of grass that George had just been standing on to fish :(

Rails to Trails:

Aunt Star and Uncle Butch took us for a bike ride with their family along the Rails to Trails road. It was fun getting to know their family. They then treated us to some ice cream at the Beacon, which as you can see below, fits it's title well "The Pig's Dinner" But man was it good!

Apparently The Beacon is a world famous burger joint, . I’m not sure why it is world famous, but I can see why people who like burgers, onion rings, fries, and ice cream would like it… they give you a LOT of everything.

Pig's Dinner:

Georgia Peach:

My only regret is that the peaches weren't quite in season yet becuase i would have loved nothing more than to eat a sweet fresh Georgia Peach right off the tree.

Myrtle Beach:

For the weekend, we took a spontaneous trip to Myrtle beach with George's cousin Kell and his wife Lindsay. The condo we stayed in was RIGHT on the beach.

George and Kell fishing on the beach. They only caught a few small fish, which is actually kind of lucky because later we found a guy who caught a little sand shark, and if I had seen that before I went swimming in the ocean, that would have been the end of it for me.

Here is the Shark and Jelly fish that we saw off of the pier. Again, I'm glad we saw them after we were done fishing.

George and me on the Pier:

Kell and Lindsay on the Pier: (Very good hosts)

The water is SO warm in the Atlantic ocean... it's nothing like the California beaches. We were out swimming in the water in the late afternoon, and took a long romantic walk down the beach that evening, and it still wasn't cold. But it was good that we got up early the next morning to fish and swim becuase by 9:30 a huge storm blew in with so much lightening, that the life guards made everyone leave the beach.

NASHVILLE TENNESSEE:

Our last stop was Nashville Tennessee, where we had to pick up our flight home the next evening. Luckily we had enough time to explore the city and see the night life. That is such a fun city... they play music along the streets on speakers, and this is the main street that is filled with shops to buy souveneirs, boots, guitars, etc. and also bars and cafes that have live bands playing all day and all night.... all the people hoping to make it big one day. It was all very exciting.

Elvis stealing my purse:

The Country Music Hall of Fame: looks just like a giant piano

George and my performance on the stage at the Ryman Adtorium:

This was the original home of the Grand Ole Opry radio show, and believe me, a LOT of famous people have stood on that same stage.

Giving Alan Jackson a Kiss goodbye:

It was so sad having to say goodbye and go home, but we made so many memories on this trip, that I'm sure it will stick with us for a long time. I think the best part for me was getting to spend so much time with George. We would hang out all day, stay up until 2 in the morning laughing and talking about everything that had happened during the day and just random other things, and then sleep in until noon in the nice cool dark basement. It was so relaxing and laid back. I get the feeling that’s how it is out in the South, and I like it out there!!