We decided to close out the still-weird 2021 year and ring in the new, and hopefully better, 2022 with a quick trip out to The Carolinas for some Duke basketball, some good low-country cooking, and to get a peek at the ocean out that way as a possible snow-birding area for us in the future.
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Tuesday, December 28 - A change in the start time for the Duke game tomorrow in Clemson had us heading out today with an overnight stay in Franklin, North Carolina, which would give us a short drive the next day to the Clemson campus. Then the game got postponed due to Covid issues (and UT lost to Bama). We decided to proceed with the trip anyway. We were also scheduled to pick up Paige in Chattanooga, just like the good old days when she was a third wheel during her single years sometimes on our trips. but then she tested positive for Covid today. Speaking of the good old days, we went ahead and took good old Hwy. 64 into North Carolina - this was a favorite route for Ashlee and me way back when we didn't have any money for big trips, there was always the waterfalls and other scenery of North Carolina for us. |
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It was incredibly mild temperature-wise for late December, so we stopped for a stroll across the very low Ocoee River at the site of the Olympics so very long ago. |
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Our first stop inside North Carolina on Hwy. 64 was the incredible Dry Falls. Not sure how it ever got that name. It was good to see "old friends" again in the beautiful area. |
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Another old friend just up the road is Bridal Veil Falls that Highway 64 used to run under and up until a while back you could still drive under, but not anymore. Times are a changin' I guess. |
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We never spent any time in Franklin, NC, on our previous trips along Hwy. 64 in the past, but it's a great little historic town. We had a tasty dinner out of a food truck at the Lazy Hiker Brewery, and then another round of drinks sitting outside along the Little Tennessee River at Currahee Brewing (photo above) thanks again to those very mild temps. |
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Franklin, NC sure know how to do Christmas up right! Their downtown square was adorable! |
Wednesday, December 29 - We headed south in the fog and rain toward South Carolina this morning, bypassing Clemson since there was no need to stop there now and headed for Greenville where we had planned to spend the night anyway. On the way, we took a slight detour to check out the massive Whitewater Falls along the NC/SC border, but as the video above shows (or doesn't show) all you could do is hear the water falling in the pea-soup fog.
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| Our first stop in Greenville for lunch and a couple libations was Pangaea Brewing. Their unique and tasty Vietnamese pizza was a great find, and their beer was solid too. |
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Greenville's been our list to visit for a good while now and it did not disappoint. The whole city is built around lovely Reedy River Falls. The restoration of this area and park is quite a story. We really enjoyed spending time this afternoon here and the weather cooperated as well. |
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Our friend, Dana, and her husband, Tom, just happened to be in town as well celebrating her birthday, so we arranged to meet them at the Pour Beer Bar in downtown Greenville. We had a fun evening catching up and sampling beers from all over the region and beyond in this pay-by-the-ounce establishment. |
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While not directly lit, Reedy River Falls at night glows under the city lights. We enjoyed seeing the natural wonder again tonight just around the corner from our nice Embassy Suites Hotel. Thanks to Ashlee for using her Hilton points for free stays each night of this little trip! We even found out the rooftop bar at the hotel was still decorated with a Christmas pop-up theme, so that's another one to add to our list this season! |
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Thursday, December 30 - We continued southeast toward the coast and Beaufort, South Carolina, a possible retirement/snowbird locale we wanted to check out. Ashlee drove through a lot of rain throughout this trip and did a great job. We could see the clearing skies ahead of us as we got closer to the Atlantic Ocean. |
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The long drive in the rain paid off with clearing skies and some sun as we visited Hunting Island Lighthouse on the coast near Beaufort. I have actually been to this lighthouse before, but not with my baby. And she's as pretty as ever...the lighthouse ain't bad either! |
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Sunset at Hunting Island Beach was serene and pretty, but that magnificent white sand in Destin in hard to beat and you don't have to pay to be on it like you do here. Strike one. |
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Friday, January 31 - We took a nice Dolphin Watching and History Cruise with Coastal Expeditions late this morning. The sites were limited due to some patchy fog, but we did catch a few good looks at a good-sized dolphin playing nearby. The history of the area was interesting too. |
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While this turnstile swing-bridge going over to Lady's Island from Beaufort is kind of cool, it also symbolizes something we noticed pretty quickly around here. You wait in traffic here...a lot. We are all for "island time" but come on. Traffic in The Keys isn't even this bad! Strike Two. |
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While the Spanish moss in the trees everywhere is beautiful and quaint, it doesn't help with housing prices. This tree was in the yard of a modest little house for over $400K nowhere near the beach. Not worth it. Strike Three. You're out, Beaufort... |
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We took a drive over to Hilton Head Island to see what all the to-do was over there. Not overly impressed. Nice vibe and pretty chill, but same old ho-hum sand. |
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After an excellent late lunch at the Lowcountry Produce Market and Cafe in Beaufort, we opted to just spend New Year's Eve in the room, relaxing and watching old sitcoms. Guess we're getting old...but we did stay up til midnight (EST) at least! Happy New Year, baby!! |
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| Saturday, January 1 - Happy New Year! We spent most of it driving back from South Carolina, through Atlanta and Chattanooga, dodging storms and traffic. We got pretty lucky on both accounts, and the hours flew by thanks to some fascinating podcasts we found about The Murdaugh Family from the area we were just in. Crazy, crazy stuff! And it's still going on! |
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Our only fun stop going home was at the first Buc-ee's we've ever visited outside Texas. This fairly new one is in Adairsville, GA. Man, it was packed, but we were still able to use their super-clean restrooms, plus grab some giant sandwiches and cheap fountain drinks for the last leg home. Can't wait for the new one in nearby Crossville to open!! |
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With a few slight alterations due to some end-of-the-year activity changes, the new 2021 collage is up and she's a beauty! Still a somewhat limited year in terms of travel and such with Covid still creeping around and now even getting a new variant. But we hope the new year brings us another busy and fun agenda as is at all possible. |
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Monday, January 3 - We woke up to a beautiful snowfall today from an overnight weather pattern. Too bad our Christmas decorations look so good with snow on them, but just a couple weeks too late. |
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Thursday, January 6 - More snow, new day. We got an even bigger snowfall today that turned our place into a winter wonderland. This is also the first picture posted on here from my new IPhone 13 and its three lenses! So nice! Thanks for the upgrade, baby!! |
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Friday, January 7 - More snow fun. Who cares if Christmas is over! |
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Zippy thinks snow fun is dumb... |
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Sunday, January 24 - Ashlee got back from a week-long girls-cruise today and after taxiing everyone from the airport, we headed over to the Lebanon Square to Town Square Social for a tasty early dinner/late lunch. It's so nice to see our little previously ho-hum square becoming an actual place you want to visit. And more good things to come we are hearing! |
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Thursday, January 27 - Ashlee and I attended our first-ever Beer Dinner at Catch 22 in Mt. Juliet tonight hosted by The Black Abbey Brewing Company from Nashville. It's so nice to have something like this actually happening in our county! It was a 3-course delight, food-wise and beer-wise. We started with a pint can of their flagship Belgian blonde, The Rose. The first course (fried lobster tail) was accompanied by their fairly new Czech Condition pilsner. The main course of a succulent veal chop was accompanied by the lightly tart River Running Hibiscus Gose. Dessert (photo above) was an awesome Twix cheesecake with Lorna Doon crust and accompanied by their delightful Belgian quad called Ancient Ways. One of the owners/brewers of Black Abbey gave us some great introductions to each beer and a little history on this longtime Nashville microbrewery. Overall, a very fun and tasty evening! |
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Byron says the talking rabbits in the BBC "Watership Down" series are amazing! |
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