Georgia and the Carolinas
From Nashville we were headed to Georgia to spend a few days in Atlanta and then made our way to North Carolina via Savannah and Charleston.
Atlanta
Atlanta was the first time on this trip that we were in the same place for 3 nights. We rented an Airbnb and it was nice to have our own apartment instead of a hotel for a change. Traffic in Atlanta is insane so getting around was a bit bothersome. Anthony, one of Markus’ friends and former co-workers, was in town as well so we met up for dinner and beers twice. Since Anthony is originally from the area and went to Georgia Tech, it was really neat to have a local show us around. We also visited the Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola where you can mess up your stomach while sampling over a hundred sodas from around the world.
Savannah, Beaufort, and Charleston
We took our time getting to North Carolina and spent one night in Savannah as well as Charleston. It was incredibly humid both of these days, making it a bit difficult to enjoy the cities. In Savannah we walked around the historic center, taking a lot of breaks to sit in the various squares and enjoy the atmosphere. In the evening we randomly ran into the Chromatic Dragon, a gamer pub where we ended up playing some Mario Kart. The Spanish moss on the trees is hauntingly beautiful. On the way to Charleston we made a stop in Beaufort, a cute little city where a lot of Forrest Gump was filmed. We ended up not seeing much of Charleston because we got there at 1:30pm and Markus wanted to go to Fort Sumter. Megan originally agreed to go, however once she realized she was in for a 3-hour long excursion she quickly became less interested. Fort Sumter was where the first shots of the American Civil War rang out, making it a very important and interesting National Monument, for Megan it became known simply as a “45 minute boat ride to a rock.”
Charlotte and Raleigh
From Charleston we drove on to Charlotte, NC to stay with Jessica and Nick and their growing family. We went to the Lexington Barbecue Festival, which has been called one of the top ten food festivals in the U.S.–this is a well deserved title. The one disappointing thing about the festival was that we had hoped to be able to try barbecue from various different places, but their was no choice. That being said, the barbecue they had was AMAZING. We enjoyed most of the weekend staying in at Jess and Nick’s, this was a welcome change from all of the traveling. It was incredibly nice to spend a lazy weekend in with good company. This was the first time we’d seen their baby Jackson in a long time, so it was incredible to see how much he’s grown. Jessica has also insisted that we discuss the Harris Teeter in our blog, so here goes: There’s a freaking on point bar located inside their local grocery store, which also offers yummy snacks and sandwiches for free! Every grocery store should come with one. After the weekend we went to Raleigh to stay with Jessica’s mom, Cathy, her brother Justin and his wife Laura also stopped by. Her dad, Stan, was in NYC ringing the bell at the Stock Exchange, so sadly we missed him, but it was so cool to see him on tv with his company. Cathy, as usual, made sure we were well fed and had plenty to drink. We realized after the Carolina’s that we sadly did not take a lot of pictures. We have one picture of Cathy, which we have promised not to share.
