Needed: A Vactaion from my Vactaion

It was quite a trip! We piled into the car at 8 pm Wednesday night and proceeded to push it through all the way until 10 am the next day stopping only to suck down more coffee, fill up the tank, and occasionally switch out who was cramped but sleeping in the back with who was propping up their eyelid open to drive in the front. The driving was only interrupted once at 9 am Thursday morning for an obligatory breakfast at Waffle House. And oh the patrons of Waffle House, I don’t know which was more impressive; the lady smoking next to the new born infant or the one handed/one hooked hunter dressed in all camouflage. Then again the dude sitting at the counter with the pastel shirt and suspenders was up there in the running as well. My egg and (barely melted square of) American cheese biscuit was a perfect counterpart to my grits. The first of many meals that have probably added to the feeling that my cloths are fitting a little too tightly now that I am back up north.

-outside view of the hotel we stayed in from the back-

We were zombies all Thursday due to less than enough sleep in the car. We ate lunch at the South Carolina Yacht Club after seeing Eric’s dad’s house. It was delicious and very fancy pants. Then we went and took a look at his boat, very nice. It felt a little weird to be sauntering around a yacht club and looking at a boat I in my lifetime could never afford to purchase, it was somewhat a little out of body. Then again that could have been a slight hallucination of sleep deprivation. Thursday was a pretty laid back day, little bit of napping, big family dinner, then an early bed time.

-Eric's Dad's boat-

Friday- We hit the beach and the pool and relaxed a bit. Then headed in and cleaned up to go have what Eric kept referring to as a low-country-supper. Well they had something called either low country stew or frog-more-stew. Whatever it was we were having it for dinner. It was funny to get to meet some of Eric’s southern family, definitely was not expecting to have conversations about Hell’s angels, Americade, and finding out you are somewhat related to your husband at a family reunion when you are 7 months pregnant (ah cousins!). Needless to say…hilarious! It was another pretty early night.

-View from the Plantation Room where Friday's dinner was held, an alligator kept swimmming by all night-

Saturday- Eric went to help unload chairs for the wedding in the morning so I joined the ladies by the pool. I lucked out and Eric’s sister in law Diane was hoping to hit the outlets. You know this trying to dress a little more like an adult at work takes some new cloths…and cloth are way to damn expensive. So we took a quick ride and spent an hour, which was a good time to pick up some new lady like duds and head back to get ready for the wedding.-Laura coming down the aisle-

The Ceremony was at their house in Hilton head and was mostly just family. Here are some of the pictures. It was short and sweet but absolutely lovely.

Then we headed over to the yacht club for the reception. We got there a little early so Eric and his brothers Steve (yes, we both have a brother named Steve…its gets confusing) and Jeff and Julia (Steve’s lady) and Shawna (Jeff’s wife….have I got everyone yet.. hope so) walked around the grounds of the yacht club a bit. So so so pretty!

-Two Views from the grounds of the South Carolina Yacht Club during the reception-

We had to stand in the receiving line, and I can’t tell you how many people assumed I was Eric’s wife. It got a little tiring constantly correcting. Other than that we just hung out and had an amazing dinner and headed back to the hotel for the evening.

-the reception room-

Sunday morning woke up at 6 am to a very pretty sunrise, I think it was Friday morning when we work up and saw dolphins swimming in the ocean from the balcony in out hotel room.

-6 am sunrise-

We climbed back into the car at about 9:30 and drove and drove and drove. Stopped in Virginia for some Cracker Barrell..at this point I think I had definitely reached my saturation for country food/ southern food. At the end of it we finally after dropping off and driving around for a spot got into bed at 2 am. The time there was definitely worth it but I don’t think opting for driving will a consideration in future trips.

-[oldest-youngest for the siblings] Brent, Leslie, Jeff, Eric's dad, Steve, and Eric-

Eric's Family is just slightly bigger than mine (consisting of mom, dad, me Steve) and this isn't including wives, kids, and girlfriends in this picture.