OBX

Kansas, 2 days rest, Australian with me for a week, 2.5 Weeks on the road on the East Coast, Austin...fly to North Carolina, hang in the Outer Banks for 1.5 days, drive parents back to Texas in two days. Needless to say I have done NOTHING that wasn't absolutely necessary for the past two weeks. I've even used my bike rather than my car if I had any errands in Corinth.

My brother, teaching the kiddos to catch crabs.

The Outer Banks, North Carolina.

Cutie Pie on a wild horse safari.

Wild Horses.

Cutie Pie and wild horses.

Turns out North Carolina is quite the racecar/monster truck haven. We actually got to RIDE in a monster truck at Grave Digger's place. If you look close, you can see my niece and nephew in the driver's seat here.

Nephew caught sand frogs at the Dunes.

Nephew, me and Mom at the Dunes at sunset!

Only a handful of these complete family pics in existence! Sure wish I had some more from the trip. Should have taken my tripod.

"Driving to Texas from North Carolina? Oh that will be a beautiful drive."

And it sure would have been if I wasn't a nervous granny GEEKING OUT driving in the rain for hours and hours with semis and motorcycles whizzing past me whilst my hazard lights flickered through the fog. Talk about stressful. I need a massage. But the good Lord let us make it home safely at 11pm on day two :)

...Key West. The End.

The Big Finale. Key West.

Key West is a best kept secret. Maybe not to you, but I haven't heard much about it in my life time. I had some friends take a honeymoon there, I used to have a client that was a huge Jimmy Buffett fan, and I've heard of Ernest Hemingway. Outside of that I just haven't had a ton of friends talk about it. But it was beautiful, not very crowded, and lovely. I'd go back in a heart beat.

Driving there from Miami at sunset.

Key Lime Pie at Blue Heaven. YUM. We made buddies with the manager Hanrow, and bartender Tyler here. Needless to say we went back for seconds!

So maybe the morning after the 4th of July is not the best time to go deep sea fishing...but we did...and we survived...and we each caught fish!!

Our BEAUTIFUL hotel at night time. I truly don't think I've ever stayed any place this nice before.

Biker babes. I LOVE riding bikes. Love. It.

Closer to Cuba than the mainland. No mom, we didn't go to Cuba :)

On top of the Conch Hotel on Duval Street. Known for its sunsets, you can see the whole island up here.

 Early morning goodbyes to Key West.



...Florida (part 1)...

We left Savannah and headed to Orlando, in my first confrontation with rain the whole trip. We camped at the KOA, and created probably one of my favorite scenes of the trip. At the time, I was reading "Love Does" by Bob Goff. SO GOOD. John caught up on the first few chapters where I was and then we began reading the book aloud to each other while waiting for our laundry. Kind of a silly thing to do I guess, but that book was perfect for reading out loud and I haven't belly laughed that hard in a long time. So fun.

The next morning was a dream come true for me. Go ahead and make fun, but I LOVE the Harry Potter books. And movies. Love them. So where did we go? The Wizarding World of Harry Potter of course!!!

If you like the stories, this place is truly magical. Every detail of the entire park has been made to mimic the books.

Butter beer was sweet and yummy and reminded me of the granitas we sold at the coffee shop in high school.

Even fake snow on the roofs to make you feel like you were walking the streets at Hogsmeade.

Olivander's wand making shop. Where the wand chooses YOU ;)

The best ride of my life. Inside a real Hogwarts Castle!



...Virginia, North/South Carolina, Georgia...

Sometimes roadtrips don't go according to plan, and that can make all the fun difference! We left D.C. and decided to leave the coast and drive further inland to see some mountains!

Shenandoah National Park. The skyline drive was beautiful.

North Carolina has these pretty flowers planted all along their highways!

This is Lake Lure, and I'm really sad this is the only real picture I have of North Carolina. Because North Carolina was on of my favorite parts!

We took a little detour and went to the Atlanta aquarium, which was fantastic. John wanted to see the whale shark, which is neither a whale, nor a shark, but I guess is a big deal for aquariums?

We left Atlanta and stayed the night with my friend Jessica in  South Carolina.

The next afternoon we had reservations for a Sunday lunch at "Lady & Sons". PAULA DEAN'S RESTAURANT!!!! I was WAY too excited about this. But it was yummy. I love southern food so much!

East Coast Tour part 2-(D.C.)...

The problem with writing these blogs way after the fact is that I'm not so in the mood to tell stories and create vivid pictures as I was each night as the days had unfolded. Perhaps I need to start carrying my laptop with me on trips? I've always avoided it, but I think it'd be a good idea. So I dropped Mel and Luke off at the airport in Baltimore, spent the night with my brother in Maryland, and picked up John in D.C. the next day. D.C. was fun. That was the third (and probably the final) time I've been there. We went through the Museum of Natural History, the Air and Space Museum, and the Native American Museum.

Reminds me of Night at the Museum II...

Little Washington Monument

Big Washington Monuement

We got to stay with my friends Jason and Hannah in D.C. I love this couple so much. Jason is the ACU guy I randomly met in Australia. They were so sweet to feed us and let us stay at their place. It took me like 10 minutes to figure out the timer on my new camera in this picture. This was the best I could do without the manual or the tripod :)

Jefferson Memorial



...Maryland.

Maryland concludes part ONE of the east coast tour. And yes, we missed Delaware. It's okay though, I'm over it.

Luke's first crab that he had to crack himself!

Mel was a pro already, but my sister Stacey gave the rest of us a crabby lesson :)



My sweet brother bought us crab, let me and my friends crash at his place, and even heated up the hot tub for us!

I love her so much.

Sunset in Maryland

This was a cool spot my bro drove us to after dinner.

Ace of Cakes!

Edgar Allen Poe.

Good morning Baaaaltimooore!

She found my headlamp and my phone. Cute, cute, cute!



...Philadelphia...

Running the Rocky stair at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Luke beat me. He's competetive. He also skipped stairs.

Mel is the queen of finding amazing places. I think she found this Philly Cheesteak feud on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives. So, it's Pat's vs. Geno's and they are right across the street from each other. PAT'S WINS HANDS DOWN!!!