“Dad, how does football work?” I posed this question to my father in my late teens. I was a swimmer and a dancer, with little familiarity of team sports. But growing up in southern Georgia, I noticed that boys talked about little except football from August to February, and I didn’t want to be clueless. So my dad gave me the basics, and I shrugged, unsure of what made … Continue reading Fall and Football: Gameday at University of Georgia
For all my complaining over the heat and humidity around here, I start wondering if it’s all worth it when fall rolls around. Autumn in the Smokies will take your breath away. It’s not without good reason that the color changes along the East coast are so famous — and why songs, poems, books (and blog posts) about its scenery will never stop being written. I know I for once will … Continue reading Wanderlust Wednesday: Autumn Colors in the Smokies
This September, I’ve covered Chicago, New York, and Seattle — focusing on major American cities for Wanderlust Wednesday this month. Though it wasn’t intentional, I picked one location from the east coast, west coast, and the midwest. And now we’re going south to the Empire City of the South: Atlanta. Atlanta has won its way into my heart over the past few years. Born and raised in … Continue reading 3 Favorite Things About Atlanta
One of my favorite “weird and wonderful” nearby locations is the city of Durham. We live in the Triangle of North Carolina, which is formed by the cities of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, plus a lot of other surrounding cities and suburbs. Though we live in Cary and used to live in Raleigh, Durham remains our favorite city to eat, play, and spend time … Continue reading Keeping Durham Weird
This month, I’m going to be focusing on weird and wonderful places. Though I missed last week (whoops), I hope you’ll enjoy this collection of random and eclectic places I’ve been.
Up first is a city I can’t wait to do a full post on, New Orleans. I recently visited there for the first time this summer and loved it more than I expected! Continue reading “Not Your Everyday History Lesson: New Orleans Pharmacy Museum”
Welcome to Wanderlust Wednesday! This month, in the spirit of Parks and Recreation Month, I’ve been covering national parks, state parks, parks in other countries, and finally, a park that’s close to home. At the end of each month for Wanderlust Wednesday, I’ll be doing a local edition, focusing on a location close to where I live, which for now means in North Carolina in the United States. Continue reading “Wanderlust Wednesday, Local Edition: Yates Mill”
I’m featuring parks this July for Wanderlust Wednesday, and today I want to talk about Tallulah Gorge State Park in Georgia, a place we visited about a year ago after visiting Athens for a University of Georgia football game. (Go Dawgs!) The Georgia State Parks website describes Tallulah as “one of the most spectacular canyons in the eastern U.S.” Two miles long and nearly 1,000 … Continue reading Wanderlust Wednesday: Tallulah Gorge State Park
Even though it was years ago, I still remember where I was when I turned the last page of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I had read it in one sitting in my dorm room, staying up all night and skipping class to finish it. I remember closing the book, and then laying down on my bed. A dual sense of satisfaction and loss came over me. The story felt so real, and I was captivated by the magic of Hogwarts in a way that I had never been and have yet to be with a book. The satisfaction was because I knew I had just read one of the great stories of my lifetime, and I knew that I would read it over and over in years to come. The sense of loss came from the emotional ending, but it also came from the understanding that Harry Potter wasn’t real, and I would never get my Hogwarts letter.
Not long after the series came to a close, Universal Studios announced the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Along with every other potterhead out there, I was ecstatic. More than four years after the grand opening of Hogsmeade in Orlando, I finally made it.
Continue reading “Theme Park Guide: Wizarding World of Harry Potter”
If you remove the oppressive humidity from the memory of this trip, it might be one of my favorites of the summer. Alas, you cannot have southern beaches in the summer without humidity and sky-high temperatures, so we spent a good deal of time ducking from one air-conditioned building to the next, but it was still a good time.
My husband had not yet been to Savannah or Charleston and as many of my childhood beach memories revolve around those two places, it was time to visit. The two cities are so iconically southern, and I was excited to spend some time in areas with such rich culture.
At the beginning of the year, I made what is now becoming my annual pilgrimage to see one of my best friends, Katie, who lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Now with Katie as my guide, it’s like I’ve rediscovered Atlanta, a city that was once “just Atlanta” to me. A place I went on occasional weekends, since I grew up in Augusta, Georgia, just two hours southeast of the big city. A place that I thought I didn’t like, but that now has restaurants and locations I find myself wishing to be in from time to time. Thanks, Katie, for helping me re-appreciate my Georgia roots and the big city of ATL!
No matter what, I’ll always be a Georgia girl, that’s for sure.
There are a few reasons why I felt inspired to talk about where we traveled last year.
In the order that they were visited, I present 2013’s list of travel highlights!
And if you don’t want to view them in order, you can view them by location (just click whichever one you want to see).
Booked & Ready 