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As you could have probably predicted, my October Instagrams are basically all from my recent trip! Ben and I spent the last three weeks exploring the South by car. It was really wonderful. We saw mountains, beaches, swamps, and caves. We ate fried chicken, fried okra, fried pickles, fried green tomatoes, fried zucchini, and just about every other fried thing you can imagine. We saw a bear, deer, dolphins, alligators, raccoons, and snakes, all in the wild--even a wild boar (but it was already dead). We went to so many beautiful cities, swoon-worthy houses, and adorable shops, and ate so much amazing food!! I would highly recommend doing a road trip like this. We feel like we got to see such a variety of things and spend so much quality time together. I still haven't uploaded all my "real photos" from our camera, but these iPhone pics will give you a little sneak preview of some of the things we did. For those of you that already follow me on Instagram, I added some additional photos from my phone (and a few from Ben's) so it's not all the same stuff you've already seen.
In Nashville, we went to Monell's for dinner our first night. It was adorable, and we loved the family-style arrangement--we were seated a table with about 10 other strangers, and they brought us dish after dish of Southern food that we passed around the table. It was a great way to get a taste of so many different dishes that we might not have ever ordered otherwise, from corn pone to fried catfish to fried pickled green tomatoes. We also visited Opryland, Antique Archaeology (owned by Mike from the show American Pickers), the famous Loveless Cafe (which did not disappoint!), and the Barista Parlor...to name a few. Of course, we also walked around downtown (so much good live music, it's overwhelming--and we like country too, so we were loving it). We came back to Nashville at the end of our trip, and we got to see the Mammoth Caves during that time, which was awesome. I'd never been in a cave before, and we took a three hour tour lit only by lantern light, which was really cool. I also loved Jeni's ice cream--the brown butter almond brittle was sooo good.
We zipped through North Carolina really fast--next time we go to the South, I'd like to spend more time along the coast there and see the wild horses in the Outer Banks! Our favorite spot might have been the Biltmore House. It was incredible. I wish I could have taken photos inside too--the servant's quarters (and the whole thing, really) reminded me of Downton Abbey. The grounds were huge and really lovely...and I found a frame that had chicken wire stretched across it with airplants tucked in! After that, we drove through the Blue Ridge Parkway. The leaves were just starting to turn, and it was beautiful--one of Ben's favorite parts of our trip. In Raleigh, we went to a darling design store, ate Carolina barbeque, and visited a cute chocolate factory that was across the street. Then we were on to Charleston!
Charleston was my favorite city of the whole trip. I loved it. All the houses downtown were so cute, I had to stop taking photos of every one I liked because I would have been taking photos constantly! The food was really yummy too. Our favorite dinner was at Poogan's Porch, which ended with a dessert of chocolate pecan pie & bacon ice cream (y'all know I love bacon) ;) We also visited the Boone Hall Plantation, which was in The Notebook. It's driveway was lined with oaks dripping with Spanish moss (breathtaking) and we also got to tour the inside of the house and the grounds--it's still an operating plantation. We tried to get coffee at local places during our trip, instead of just going to Starbucks all the time...this lavender latte I got from Black Tap was one of my favorites. We also did a harbor tour in Charleston, which is where we saw the dolphins!
After Charleston, we headed down to Savannah, going to Hilton Head along the way. In Savannah, we checked out Forsyth Park, River Street and City Market (where we bought lots of pralines)! We also saw Antonio Banderas right by our hotel, filming for an upcoming Spongebob movie. The next day, we went to Tybee Island, which has a really adorable lighthouse, and checked out some antique stores that were really awesome. I loved this antler wreath and the staircase lined with frames upon frames, and I found a whole box full of vintage spools--perfect for this DIY I shared last month! Pensacola was more beautiful than I'd expected. The sand was soooo nice and the water was really blue and warm enough to swim in! We rented jet skis, ate some good seafood, and went to a cute design store called duh! But most of all, we just lounged on the beach and soaked in some sun.
The last stop on our trip was New Orleans. We had beignets and cafe au lait for breakfast every day while we were there, and we may or may not have gotten them to go in the afternoon too (the photo on the bottom right can neither confirm nor deny this. Okay, it confirms it). We also visited the stunning Oak Alley Plantation and did a swamp tour, which was one of my favorite things we did! We saw tons of alligators, and I thought the cypress trees growing out of the water were just beautiful. We also crossed the longest bridge in the world! And of course, we checked out the French Quarter, Jackson Square, and the Garden District, where we saw Sandra Bullock's house and a huge above-ground cemetery.
All in all, we had a blast. But I did miss you guys, and I missed blogging!! I'm excited to share my camera photos with you all soon--so stay tuned for that. How have you all been??? How did your month go?
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So glad you had such a great time! Lovely pics. Its fun to see so many varied areas of our country.
I just loved following you on Instagram this month. Your trip looked so fun! I'm jealous. :) I can't wait to see your camera pics! Btw, is that your real handwriting on the photos today? I feel like it resembles your "fancy" handwriting.
Aww, thanks Jenn! I love following people's trips on Instagram too. I always get new ideas. It's not my real handwriting--it's actually a free font I posted about here: http://www.athomeinlove.com/15-fabulous-free-fonts/ (Janda Stylish Script). I do really want to get a tablet eventually so I can add my own handwriting to blog photos :)
Beautiful photos! Looks & sounds like you had a wonderful trip!
Happy Friday :)
I did--thank you! Happy Friday to you too!
Oh, so much fun and look at all the variety of things you did and saw (and ate)! So inspiring! I'd love to visit your country someday =)
xoxo
Thank you Eleni! I would love to visit your country someday!!!
What an incredible adventure!
Hi Aillen!We have such simmilar tastes about the decor. Welcome back!
With love from Portugal,
Manuela
I love road trips! I want to travel both coasts since I live so far from each of them.
My October was definitely not as fun as yours. Thanks for posting all the pictures. :)