Dixie

Last weekend we were able to do something way fun. We traveled from Jacksonville, Florida all the way to Washington, DC. It was a blast and the weekend trip went by far too quickly. Here is a little sampling of all of the fun that we had.

1. The first stop that we made was at this old plantation home in Georgia. It was the Hofwyl-Broadfield plantation. It was a beautiful place with HUGE oak and magnolia trees that were draped with spanish moss. The house was absolutely charming with huge porches, spacious rooms, and gorgeous barley-twist furniture. The only major ado was that while we were walking around, pushing the kiddos in the stroller, spanish moss somehow kept becoming entangled in the wheels of the stroller making it impossible to push and making long trails behing each wheel. We still have the moss stuck in the wheels now even though we have tried repeadly to clean it off. Also, much to my chagrin, Dallin decided that he wanted to taste the stuff. A little clump of moss had fallen onto Darin's shoulder and Dallin grabbed it off when he was being held. I tried to get as much moss as I could out of his mouth, but I still think he swallowed a little bit.

2. On the evening of the first day we decided to stop and hang out for a while in Savannah, Georgia. We found an area of town where old cotton warehouses were converted into hip little restaraunts, bars, and shops. We enjoyed walking around and looking at all of the historic buildings and admiring all of the charm that Savannah had to offer. We found this candy shop on the river front named River Street Sweets it had the best pecan pralines I have had in a while! Oh how I love pralines... I wish that we could have spent a little bit more time in Savannah (and in that candy store ;).

3. We stayed that night and most of the next day in Charleston, South Carolina. Oh what a beautiful city! Darin was kind enough to watch the babies while I did a little bit of antiquing. I found a couple of cute dishes for my collection and I found a lot of amazing old furniture that I had to pass up on including two chairs that would have looked great in my living room--and on sale none the less (darn you airline fees). I also wanted to get a new vintage purse (oxymoron I know) so we stopped at this little vintage shop. It had some great merchandise at the front of the store but due to the funky smells and odd looking smoking paraphernalia from the back of the store I quickly selected a sleek silver clutch, paid, and then bolted out of that shop.

We walked around the historic Charleston battery and rainbow row. The babies enjoyed seeing people's dogs and the horses that pulled the carriages for tours (because they now love animals), Darin enjoyed reading all of the history and I enjoyed looking at the houses and yards. There was really something to fascinate all of us in Charleston.


4. Driving north, we came upon the little town of Wilson, North Carolina. That is where we decided to spend Saturday night. Since it was a Sunday, we found the local ward there and attended Sacrament meeting. I don't think that I have ever been in a friendlier ward (except that time in Oklahoma when there were only about 14 other people besides us). Almost everyone introduced themselves to us and doted on our babies. The people who spoke gave wonderful talks. One woman in particular spoke on being in debt and I about giggled outloud when she said in her talk, "I hope I'm not meddlin' but..." and then added a bit of town gossip about the real reason she thought a local couple got a divorce--debt (she didn't say the name but I just loved the accent and terms she used). I really wish that I could have popped a couple of tires on the rental van and settled down in this town. Hospitality, beautiful green landscape, slow lifestyle, what more can you ask for. Just like Mayberry.

5. Petersburg, Virginia was our final stop before we reached our destination. We stopped here for lunch at our new favorite eatery, Panera, and we let the babies crawl around in the van before we made the last leg of our journey. One memorable thing about this stop was that while we were at the Panera an older middle-aged couple was sitting at a table next to us eating. We were kind of playing with the babies and enjoying them when the older couple stood up to leave. The gentleman came over to us and said, "Keep enjoying them, because they grow up so fast." We hear comments like this quite often but this man had tears in his eyes and he just said it so sweet that it has just stuck in my mind.

Well we made it to DC and Darin has been doing his training for a week now. We only lost a few of the babies' toys in the process, but that is another story. I was so happy that we were able to make that trip as a family and we were able to see a little bit more of Dixie than we would have if we had traveled by airplane. We had a great time and really enjoyed the South. I look forward to going back again sometime soon. O I wish I was in the land of cotton, Old times there are not forgotton... For now we will look away and enjoy our stay in DC. More adventure is sure to come!