Wednesday, June 26, 2013

SC Trip #2

After spending the first six days in Columbia, on Thursday we drove the couple hours to Greenville SC and spent a few days seeing friends.  We stayed at another Homewood Suites, which was nice.  We arrived Thursday afternoon and got settled, then Thomas had a gathering with work people which I skipped so he could hang out and not be locked into leaving at 7pm.  Benjamin and I ate dinner at the hotel, it was pretty good, fried chicken and beans and rolls.  He was terrible though, just cranky and out of sorts, and it was a rough night.  But it was good for Thomas to see people and catch up.

Friday was pretty low-key, we had some ChickfilA for breakfast and met up with a friend for lunch.  We ate at Corona's, our favorite Mexican place.  It was so great to have "normal" Mexican food, which doesn't really exist in Arlington and definitely not in Amman.  I love cheese dip, and it was heavenly.  Thomas took Benjamin back to the hotel for his nap and I got to hang out with my friend, and we hit up a thrift store and shopped around Target.  It was great to catch up and have a relaxed day.  After she left, we went downtown and ate at Sticky Fingers, but the BBQ was definitely not as awesome as the Palmetto Pig in Columbia.  But Benjamin enjoyed his hot dog and it was fun to be back in my favorite town.  Seriously, if I could live anywhere, it would be Greenville SC.  If you haven't been, and the opportunity arises, check it out.

Saturday we ate brunch with friends and had the best time hanging out with our old crew from 5 years ago.  Among the four couples there were just two kids before Thomas and I moved away, and now there are... oh math time.  Four plus two plus two plus one... 9?  Yes, nine children.  I'm so thankful for friendships that endure despite distance and long periods of non-communication.  It's so fun to get together and see everyone and their kids and just enjoy the gift of community.

Enjoying fellowship at the coolest house around.

My favorite picture ever, taken by the immensely talented Cheri Ritter.

Saturday afternoon I got to see another girlfriend and it was great fun, wandering around different stores and just catching up and talking.  We all ate at PF Chang's for dinner and I was shocked that Benjamin was so hungry he ate some crab wontons, and then also ate the skinny and lightly brined carrots and cucumber meant as the garnish.  He's a funny one.  Sunday morning we met another friend and her husband and two kids for brunch, which was fantastic.  I hadn't seen her since her wedding shower a few years ago, so it was great to reconnect and see how much life has changed for us both. 

After that we hopped in the car and drove to North Myrtle Beach and bunked down with my parents at their condo.  It was fantastic to just relax and enjoy the ocean and outlet shopping, and eat delicious seafood.  Benjamin was very unsure about the whole beach thing on Monday, but today he was crying and fighting Thomas when they would come back out of the water.  We never even made it to the pool, just hung out at the beach for a couple hours at a time. 


Happy buddy!

Doesn't look like much, but Goodfellas is amazing!

Thus ends the second installment... stay tuned!
-Rachel  

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