road trip - South Carolina & Georgia pics

Our road trip included a stay in Beaufort, a some-what quick stop in Charleston-which is so beautiful, Parris Island (for the actual graduation), and then we stopped a few places in FL on the way back home. It seems like there's ALOT more to do in Florida. So glad to be back home!

My favorite place we visited was Charleston. I loved it! Absolutely beautiful. It was so busy, and all of the buildings/houses are so narrow but tall. I love the streets of these older cities, except they are SO not practical now a days-unless you have a smart car. Trying to manuveur my SUV through this little town was a pain. What am I talking about...Doug did all the driving! I guess I shouldn't be complaining ;) We drove past the Calhoun Mansion, which I read was one of the places they filmed the Notebook (one of  my FAVORITE movies ever.) We had a book of places to visit around South Carolina, so while riding to Charleston I was reading up on things to see there, and of course when I saw the word "mansion" I skipped right to that section. So I'm reading out loud and it went something like this: "blah blah blah, the Calhoun Mansion was used in the filMING OF THE NOTEBOOK!!! I LOVE THE NOTEBOOK! Oh my gosh, we have to go there! 35 rooms- I gotta see this." Even Doug seemed a little excited about it surprisingly. I was totally expecting the white house with blue shutters that was on the lake-but it wasn't. It was a beautiful old house but it was crammed in with all of the other old houses on Meeting Street. So I'm not sure what part of the movie was filmed here, but either way I still thought it was pretty awesome.

I love birthdays!

For Doug's birthday I surprised him with a trip to South Carolina to see his twin sister graduate from Marine boot camp - on their birthday(how cool is that)! He had no idea where he was going until the night before we left, when I gave him this:

The card says:

"You've been waiting so long to find out where you're going,

but unless you can connect the dots you'll go one more night without knowing.

No matter how hard you push I'll still keep it a secret;

rather than telling you now I'll break it down into pieces.

1: Pack a few layers, don't be silly;

it wont get below zero, but it will be chilly.

2: We're leaving the state and you'll soon know why-

there may be a few rocky roads we pass by.

3: I know that you think you're so smart and witty,

but our destination is about 700 miles from New York City.

4: We're driving the car 8 hours away,

Key West would be a blast, but not for this birthday.

5: The options for cruises were good & plenty,

but this test that was passed, isn't passed by many.

6: There will be hugs & kisses and celebration to come,

if you haven't guessed yet then you're sh*t outta luck!"