Hi Friends and Happy Monday! Sarah and I are so glad you are here! If you shared about your weekend, link up with us below...we want to hear all about it!
Here is what our "long weekend" looked like
Thursday
After getting Diana home around midnight from her amazing trip to California where she sang at Disney, had fun at the parks including Universal and toured the Dolby Theater and Hollywood...she got a mere three hours of sleep before our alarms went off at 3 am! We were up and out of the house by 3:45 and drove to Woburn to catch the Logan Express Shuttle. We jumped on and headed to the airport.
Our flight to Charlotte NC landed around 9:30 and then we made our way over to our rental car booth...grabbed our car and drove down to Columbia SC. We had a little time to spare before tour #1 so we stopped for lunch at Iron Hill Brewery. Highly recommend- great pizza and nachos and I enjoyed a fabulous Peach Margarita!
Then we headed right over to the University of South Carolina for our first tour. Diana loved it. We all liked it (but I still liked Georgia better- but I bit my tongue- I am learning not to say a thing- this will be her decision)
The campus was in the middle of another city but completely protected and just beautiful. We are becoming fans of the old southern charm for sure.
Sample Dorm Room- Pidge was impressed ;)
She asked, "when I visit Diana at college, can I take some classes too?" She kills us
We even bumped into some old dance friends from LDA!
After the tour, we made our long drive (2.5 hours) to Conway South Carolina and checked into our hotel. (Side Note: We had planned on visiting Clemson during this trip too however, right before we went, a friend advised us that it would be too much driving and she was right so we cancelled our Clemson plans)
When we got to our hotel, we checked in, quickly freshened up and headed out to dinner.
I made us some reservations at the Crooked Oak Tavern in downtown Conway. It was such a quaint area. The restaurant wasn't fancy but had some local specialties. We took advantage of the wonderful weather and ate out on their patio. We loved our server. She was actually a fellow New Englander from Connecticut! Her recommendations were fantastic- food was fab and her service was amazing.
The Crab and Pimento Cheese Dip- so good!
After dinner, we walked across the street to Stella's Homemade Ice Cream- so good! Then we CRASHED HARD
Funny Note: We got back to the hotel at the same time that a college baseball team was checking in and as we were walking to our room, Pidge claims "I love baseball." We were all HOWLING- ha ha!! The way she said it was just so unexpected and funny :)
Friday
We were up bright and early and after showering and getting ready, we headed out for the day. First up, breakfast at our hotel. Then we drove the five minutes over to Coastal Carolina University or CCU.
Friends- this was another beautiful southern campus but much more modern than the other schools we have seen and Diana loved it. She said she felt that she belonged there.
We thought it was beautiful and bright and cheerful and the kids there looked really happy.
During a stop and conversation on the tour, we stopped in front of the education building and Rob and Diana saw a cardinal there. We thought it may be Grammy watching over Diana :)
It was a success!
Then it was time for the "surprise" that Rob and I planned. We drove to North Myrtle Beach and met up with our besties. We successfully surprised the girls with this quick visit. We headed to the beach for the afternoon and it was simply luxurious.
We then headed back to their condo to freshen up...
and headed over to this beautiful little area for an awesome dinner at Taco Mundo and then some walking around exploring.
Though it was quick, we made the most of our time together and the girls had a complete ball.
Saturday
We slept in and then headed to a local diner for a lovely little southern breakfast.
After that, we headed back to our hotel, packed up and checked out.
Then we took our time getting back to the Charlotte airport. We stopped at a souvenir shop and took our time. It was about a three hour drive.
Snapped this pic and sent it to Lea..brought back memories of our road trip to PA a few years back. You can read about that and Rainbow, of course, HERE
Saw so many beautiful farms along the way...
We got to the airport around 1:30 and killed some time with a late lunch and walking around.
We were scheduled to leave at 7pm and then our flight was delayed until 7:30pm (not bad...or so we thought). Due to thunderstorms and rough weather up and down the east coast, our flight was cancelled. That has never happened to us. We were in a panic.
We headed over to customer service and they put us on standby for a flight that was boarding that very moment SO what did we do? We ran!! We almost died but we did it. We got to the counter and they rudely told us there were no seats and we probably wouldn't get on BUT with the power of prayer, several people did not show up and we got on a flight that ended up leaving an hour earlier than our original flight. We were all stressed and praying hard and God heard us apparently.
We landed in Boston around 9:30pm. Our flight was diverted once because of weather but we were grateful to be safe and get home on Saturday night.
Sunday
It was about unpacking, laundry, meal planning, groceries, mass, a birthday party, work for Diana, cooking and getting organized for the week.
Did I mention Remi is on Cloud 9 that we are all home? Papa Bob did a great job of taking care of him for us though :)
It was a quick and successful trip. All part of this college process- I am trying to enjoy it but at times it becomes overwhelming. Your advice is always much appreciated! So...what were you all up to this weekend?
