East Coast Road Trip

The bad news: Angie moved away from Austin. I'm probably going to remain in denial for quite some time.

The good news: The fact that her movers wouldn't have her stuff to her for at least eight days provided the perfect excuse for us to take a trip. It just so happened that she would be in Mississippi at the same time I was in Birmingham, and she needed to get her car to Hoboken. Thus... our second annual road trip was born. (Can I say annual if there will likely only be two roadtrips ever? I digress.) Our plan was to meet in Birmingham and make our way up the East Coast, arriving in Hoboken by Friday. I would then fly back to Austin from New Jersey instead of Alabama. (Who loves flexible Southwest flights? This girl!)

What do roadtrips with Angie look like? Ta-da! We have lots of stuff.

Jenna dropped me off at Angie's car on Sunday morning, and off we went towards Savannah. Much like our road trip last year (from Austin to Washington, DC), we had only a loose agenda and no reservations at all. We would book hotels while driving towards a location, and learn about the city only upon arrival. Luckily we had some help in Savannah, as our friends James & Kristin have special ties to the city. We ended up spending two nights there and saw the following:

Moon River Brewery

In our defense, we split this tasting moon.

Bonaventure Cemetery

 

Tybee Island

St. John the Baptist Church

This is supposed to be on of TripAdvisor's top destinations in the world. It was pretty, but we call a big PR bluff here!

 Dinner at the Cotton Exchange

Mmm! Fried green tomatoes, y'all!

A night ghost tour

That's a haunted bell, ya'll!!! Everything's haunted!

We really liked Savannah overall, even though we didn't find it to be as haunted as the city claims. We also agreed it would be a nice spot to return with our significant others.

Next we headed to Charleston, South Carolina. Jenna had sent me some tips on things to see, but we still weren't sure what to expect. We assumed we could spend an afternoon there, and I think that was plenty of time for us. (Angie and I move quickly and efficiently when it comes to travel!) Our highlights were:

Lunch at Poogan's Porch

 

Also, but not pictured: Rainbow Row, Battery Park, Downtown, City Market, and South Carolina Pralines. Mmmmm!

Next we made our way to Asheville, Virginia. Neither of us had heard of this city, but our friends told us that we would love it. While we only saw the downtown area, Angie and I both indeed loved it. The entire area was so green, with flowers and rolling hills and trees everywhere. The downtown had a very Austin-feel to it. We had dinner at Doc Chey's and breakfast at Over Easy Cafe. There was definitely an artsy vibe to the area which hit home for both of us.

Meet Virginia.

 This was our view for most of the drive. Even through the rain, Asheville is pretty!

From Asheville, we headed to Charlottesville. Confession: I wanted to go to C'ville because I read a blog (Kath Eats) and I've always been enamored by the city. Since it was on the way, we decided to spend a night and explore. While on the road, Angie spotted a sign that said "National D-Day Memorial." We exited the freeway and headed in that direction.

I started researching the site while we drove and learned that the Memorial serves as the national memorial for D-Day veterans. It is located in Bedford because the town suffered the greatest loss of life (per capita) during D-Day. (We were told Saving Private Ryan was based on Bedford.) Having just visited Normandy, I was once again overcome with emotion at the memorial. It was beautifully done, divided into three parts representing the planning, execution, and aftermath of D-Day. The middle section was a tribute to the day, and representations of a Higgins boats, soldiers, bunkers, gunfire, bombs, and the Rangers at Pont du Hoc were heart-wrenching. The pictures obviously do not do it justice.

Another highlight of the Memorial was meeting Ted, a veteran who was on Omaha Beach on D-Day. We were so honored to talk with him. When I asked him if he has been back, he answered "Why? I don't think I left anything there." I showed him some of my pictures from Normandy and we talked with him for a bit. It goes without saying that it was an honor to meet him and listen to his story.

Onwards to Charlottesville. My first impression was that the people were so friendly. We had been expecting a bit of the opposite, so it was a great surprise. We spend the evening in historic downtown, and had dinner at Citizen Burger. The next morning we drove around the UVA campus and had frozen yogurt at Arch's Yogurt. (While I am not eating ice cream these days, I made an exception for the infamous gooey brownie/yogurt combo at Arch's. Worth it.) We had considered staying longer in C'ville, but since it was July Fourth, a lot of things were closed. So, we decided to hit the road.

Our next stop: Philadelphia! What better place to spend the Fourth than the birthplace of our country? Plus, Philadelphia has one of the nation's largest free events and we managed to get a hotel nearby. After walking around downtown, we headed to the event area and grabbed a seat. We had planned on eating at the event, but moving around was near impossible. The concert included the Roots, John Mayer, Neyo, and other local favorites. I was definitely underwhelmed by John Mayer who looked like he was about to fall asleep. But I loved Neyo - he was an amazing performer. After the concert came the fireworks!

Big square with giant toy pieces! Can you guess which toy I'm on?

Angie says, "I am sorry."

Yes! We got a spot! Little did we know it would be insanely crowded in just an hour.

Looking back towards downtown.

Midway through the fireworks came perhaps one of the scariest moments I have had in a very long time. Apparently someone had a BB gun and was shooting into the crowd. This obviously caused a surge of panic and people were running and pushing and shoving to get away. At that point we only heard that someone had a gun and was shooting, so I grabbed Angie's hand and we ran. On the plus side, nothing too serious happened (except some $&%*# idiot with a BB gun). On the negative side, Angie lost her phone and a flip flop, and I scored a massive bruise on my leg from the chaos. When we went back to look for Angie's things, the place was a mess. We found another phone (which I hopefully got back to it owner) but not hers. This was definitely not a fun way to end the evening, but in the end we are just thankful to be safe and that nothing too serious happened.

The next morning we took our final leg of the road trip - onward to Hoboken! Upon arriving at Angie's new place, we unloaded our stuff and reality that Angie is no longer a Texan sank in. But at least we had a great weekend in NYC ahead!

First time at her new place!