To South Carolina and Back- Part 2

The scenery was different here as opposed to where I come from.  The trees were tall and dense and the grass was.. green.  It was a nice change.  The only thing that stayed about the same though, was the heat.  But being an inhabitant of South Texas, I was used to it.  I can honestly tell you, the first thing I did upon arrival was bring all of my stuff in, stumble tiredly up the stairs and collapse on the bed where an NCIS marathon was waiting.  Ah, yes! I thought, This place will do. 

I was pretty much a slug for the rest of the day, taking advantage of every precious inch of space I had because I knew it wouldn't be long before I was stuffed back into that mini van.  That night we were given the privelage to go out to dinner with a family I had grown up with.  I hadn't seen them since I were little and it was awesome to catch up with them.

The next day, we were Ashville, NC bound for a little sightseeing trip! (By the way, Asheville is where most of The Hunger Games was filmed.. Just saying.)  The trip up there was beyond beautiful and when we finally reached the little town, I was almost in love.  I mean, a cute, little historic town in the mountains! What could be better? Well, Ashville ended up being a lot like Austin except not as big.  Hippies and tattoo parlors everywhere, and we even saw one guy with a bunch of murderous stickers plastered to the back of his car.  Odd? Apparently not for Asheville.  Nonetheless, it was a neat experience and I definitely enjoyed it.  On the way home mom insisted we stop off at the North Carolina Arboretum (Which is just a place with lots of flowers and stuff) she has an "Arboretum pass" so why not?  I've been to the Dallas Arboretum but this one, out of the two I've been to, might just be my favorite.  It was in the mountains for goodness sake!

After this little adventure we headed back to Spartanburg.

Back at the hotel we found various means of entertainment.  Basketball, NCIS marathon, workout room, free food and some tennis. Very fun.

The next day we were out early and off to the Spartanburg Expo Center for the very first day in the three day 'Freedom Girls take South Carolina' experience.  Well, the next three days were awesome, to say the least.  We talked to people, made many business connections, sold dolls, received lots of encouraging feedback and dad even had the opportunity to teach a few classes.  It was long and tiring but definitely an amazing experience.  There's no doubt that we were all completely wiped out when it was over.  The day after the conference we packed up all our stuff and headed home.  Adios Spartanburg!

To South Carolina and back... 42 hours trapped in a minivan (Part 1)

This trip began like any other trip.  As always, I was throwing things into a bag at the last minute, hoping I had packed everything I would need.  The house was bright and busy and everyone was either packing bags, finishing laundry, sweeping or doing the dishes.  Trip preparation is never fun.

We were more or less awake the next morning at 6:30, bright and early.  The morning was crisp and cool but slightly damp which was unfortunate because I knew out of us three kids, I would be the one forced to climb on top of the car and load stuff into the big black bag of doom.   Nevertheless, we got everything done and managed to fit all of our junk into the back of the car.  In case I forgot to mention previously, we were headed to SC for  Teach Them Diligently, a large Homeschool Convention, to teach workshops and also set up a Freedom Girls booth!  Do you know what this means?  No, you don't.  The beloved, roomy back seats of our car were put down to make room for 40 doll boxes and on top of those space-stealing boxes were two, quite large, freedom girls signs that not only took up the back of the car, but also intruded into my small limited space as well.   And of course, mom wanted to bring half of our pantry and Sydney thought it would be a good idea to pack a bunch of games into a separate suitcase.  Squished? Yeah, a little. 

We crossed the Louisiana borderline at about 4:00, welcomed by a sign that said, "Welcome to Louisiana" and referenced "the wetlands".  The Wetlands huh?  After a few hours of driving in Louisiana I knew exactly what they meant.  The scenery changed from wide open, green and grassy Texas plains to tall leafless trees, property fences drowned in mire and swamps.  We drove a little further before stopping in Lafayette for the evening.  The next morning we continued on, despite minor storm warnings.  Miles and miles of swamps stretched out before us.  A little later on in the day we passed through Baton Rouge and then came to New Orleans.  Honestly, I couldn't figure out why anyone would want to live there, but maybe that's just me.  An interesting fact about New Orleans is that the cemeteries have tombs that are huge and above ground.  Instead of burying the dead bodies under ground they lay them in these stone tombs that sit above the ground.  Why do they do this?  Because that part of the state is below sea level.  When water floods the city, it has no way of running out.  If the bodies had been laid underground then eventually the water, that frequently inhabits the city,  would erode the dirt in the cemeteries and surprise! Lots of dead bodies. . .what a nightmare.  The city itself was not really the most appealing place ever, but it was a cool experience nonetheless!

After a few more hours of driving, we found ourselves in Mississippi. There was an almost dramatic scene change here.  We went from swamps to miles and miles of tall trees and green grass.  Fascinated with all this beauty, I succumbed to just staring out the window.   Mississippi was, by far, the quickest state to drive through.  In about 2 short hours, we were in Alabama.  Alabama and Mississippi were very similar.  We rarely strayed from the interstate except for a few bathroom breaks and only then did we see a change in scene.  Tall, dense, green trees lined the interstate and guided us on our journey through the state.  Although it rained a few times, most of the time we could see the rays of the southern sun brightly shining through the trees. 

Well, we got through both Mississippi and Alabama in a day and ended up staying in Hogansville, Georgia that evening.  At that point, we only had a few more hours to go.  I had been to Georgia before but it was good to be back.  I'd always loved Georgia and nothing had seemed to change about it.  It was still as vast and beautiful as ever! The next day we arrived in South Carolina! I would say, if you haven't been to SC then you definitely need to head up there for a visit.  The girls were beyond excited when we arrived at our destination, the hotel we were staying at was more like a small apartment complex.  With an upstairs and 3 separate TV's (We don't have cable at home) we all thought this was paradise, UNTIL, we found out the pool wasn't open.  All our dreams, shattered in an instant.  (Okay, so that statement is slightly untrue).  We made up for the lack of swimming with basketball and cold showers.  

After 21 hours in a tightly packed car, it was good to be here,

{To be Continued}