A BYE WEEKEND!!!!

November 7-9th

We were so excited to realize that we had a bye weekend in November. With basketball just around the corner, we didn't think we would get another chance to head out of town for a while so this weekend was a welcomed surprise. We talked about a lot of different places to go and on Thursday we were still undecided but we eventually flipped a coin and decided to head south to Greenville, SC.

On the way down we found a real deal Philly Cheesesteak place in Spartanburg, SC called The Real Deal.

It was definitely a whole in the wall in the middle of nowhere. If it was for all the outstanding reviews there is no way we would have stopped at this dive but we were so glad we did. It was awesome and they serve Kool-Aid. That is a true sign of an outstanding restaurant.

Saturday morning we sent of with nothing planned and just went driving to see what we could find. I have read a lot about a small town called Traveler's Rest, SC and when we saw signs for it on the road into downtown Greenville, we decided to take a quick detour.

The Chili Cook-off Field

It is a quiet, tiny, little town full of tiny shops and a tiny, little downtown. We saw signs for a Chili Cookoff so we decided to follow. I think we got there a little too early since when we got there it was a tiny field with about 10 tents starting to set up homemade chili stands. It was a fun idea but no one had gotten there yet and none of the tents were really opened and chili really didn't sound so good at 10am.

So after our detour, we headed into downtown Greenville to explore. After walking around, finding the candy barrels at Mast General Store and try a new tea place, Tealoha, we made our way down to Shoeless Joe Jackson's museum.

The museum is in Joe Jackson's old home. It is a fantastic museum for any baseball fan. We learned so much and the people that are running the museum are great and are just as interesting as Joe Jackson.

After the museum, we decided to check out a fun place we read about for lunch. This, again, let us to a fun and random detour. It was a beautiful day so we decided to walk before we realized how far it was. By the time we realized how far it was, it was too late to turn back but it was well worth the hike out to Northgate Soda Shop.

You definitely felt like you had taken a step back in time when you walked into this place. The food and drinks reminded me of being back home and going to Doumar's. We loved it. The rest of the afternoon we spent hanging out in the downtown area, checking out the local shops.

The majority of the afternoon we explored Falls Park on the Reedy.

We stumbled across a few popcorn shops in Greenville, Poppington's and Amanda Henry's Popcorn Parlor. We clearly had to try some from both and compare. Our verdict? Amanda Henry's. Not only did it have better popcorn, but they have a TON of different soda's so we tried four different kinds of root beer too.

And took a nice long hike on one of the Falls Park trails that lead us to Major Rudolf Anderson Jr. Memorial Park. There was a replica of his plane and we spent some time there reading about all that had happened.

The evening was pretty uneventful, we found a Boston Market type place for dinner, Southern Fried Green Tomatoes. It was good but they had run out of a lot of things and it wasn't exactly what we thought we were getting into.

Sunday morning we headed back down to Falls Park on the Reedy after grabbing a quick bite to eat at Sully Steamer's Bagel Shop, so Jed could get a little work done before we hit the road home.

It was a beautiful day so once all the work was done we huge out on the rocks for a little while just enjoying the sun.

As we headed out of town, we tried to stop at the Frank Lloyd Wright house that was in the area, Broad Margin. Little did we know that it was privately owned and they didn't want the public around so we were not able to see it but for about 20 minutes we were the creepy stalkers that drove through a neighborhood over and over again very slow checking everything thing out...

We think the house is back there somewhere.

While we were at the Shoeless Joe Museum the other day, our guide recommended a barbecue restaurant we had to check out. So we figured our drive out we would grab lunch before starting the drive home. So we stopped at Henry's Smokehouse.

You know we couldn't make it all the way home with out a few random roadside stops and the first was one that we have driven by quite a few times but never actually stopped so I was super excited to stop at the Peach Water Tower/Peachoid/Butt Water Tower.

Our next detour was to Windy Hill Orchard. We missed there big Cider Festival the day before we were able to enjoy a flight of cider's, hang out with the chickens and pigs and find a friends sister working there!

Jimmy's Sister!

It was a great stop! We love finding all the random things in random places. On the last leg of the trip we realized we were going to drive RIGHT BY Joel & Leigh's house so we had to make a very quick stop to get our nieces and nephew all wound up before bed time. We were only there for about 10 minutes but it was fun for us to drop in.

It was a great weekend off and it came at a great time. Can't wait for our next road trip and the next football game.

Another Close One

November 1st

Halloween weekend with a Hokie football game is always fun. On Friday night we attended a Halloween party and then got up and out in the freezing cold to tailgate.

I think I was the only one that didn't over do it the night before and was hard headed enough to come out in the freezing cold. So this week, the tailgate was me, myself and I.

I didn't mind, it was nice to just hang out a little while before the crowds for the game showed up. Our friends from Northern Virginia came down the day of for the game and brought their two adorable little kids. It was the first game for both of them.

So when they got here, we headed over to the Hokie Village where we thought the kids would enjoy running around, seeing the cheerleaders, band and Hokie Bird but it was a bit of a bust because we got there so late.

We had a great time at the game but it was another heart breaker and we lost 31-33.

That night we grabbed dinner with our friends and caught up on life since it had been so long.

On Sunday morning, we went to show Jordan & Charlotte all the new (and old) things around town and campus. The kids loved running around the Drillfield, bookstores and downtown. We were even able to get in at Gillie's for brunch before they had to head home.

Does he look thrilled!?

It was great to see them and I hope they make it back again next season.