Tennessee Road Trip Review

Yes, I can see that it is February 13th. It has been a whirlwind of a first half of the second month!!

Let's get the goodies out of the way before I disappoint my bestie and travel partner, Amy.

From January 30th to February 4th, I took a real roadtrip with my Pops and drove up to Chapel Hill, TN, so see my big brother and sister-in-law, whom I hadn't seen since May of 2013. (It was a 12hour plotted drive, closer to 14 including gas and pee breaks). Brian and I are extremely close, and we missed each other alot! The surprise of it all was that he thought I was bringing my husband John, so you can only imagine the reaction he had when it was Pops that looked up from the passenger seat as we pulled up!! Brian was SUPER STOKED!!

Admission time: I gained 7 pounds that weekend. We ate a TON of awesome, delicious, southern food.... but I also threw caution to the wind and ate and drank whatever it is that I wanted. Plus, I had Keurig coffee and hot chocolate almost every day! I am proud to say that as of the 10th I managed to lose that extra 7 pounds, but I know I put an inch or two back on my waist! (Damn you breakfast buffet with tons of bacon and sausage gravy!!!)

Here are some pictures from the day we spent in Nashville. We went to the Parthenon, which, aside from seeing family, was easily my most favorite part (I'm a history nerd like that!)

Me out front. I am proud of this selfie! 

A cool filter on my phone kinda lit the outside up..

My brother Brian on the left, Pops on the right.

I have a handsome family! <3

Pops and I in front of a miniature cast display of the sculptures on the outside of the building.

The drive up was freezing! The "polar vortex" had just blown through Atlanta the day we drove up, so being there at 2AM that night was crazy!! Atlanta's interstates had been backed up for 11+ hours, and we were afraid that we'd hit traffic, but there was not a soul on the road that night! Although, there were literally HUNDREDSSSSSSSSS of cars that had run out of gas or gotten into an accident that lined the shoulders of I-75 all the way through!! I wish I would have taken video or a picture..... it was CRAZY!!

I also saw my first snow (on the ground)  that night! Outside of Macon, GA we stopped for gas and there was at least 3" of soft, pillowy, fluffy light snow on the ground! I had never seen it before so I played like a kid on the enbankment of the gas station for like 10 minutes. Pops was amused. Luckily for our trip, we atually did NOT hit any true snow-falling weather. Just 1*F temps and some icy patches on the roads, but we purposefully drove at night so we wouldn't be worried about too many other cars on the roads.

We wrote our names in the snow! :-)

During my trip I also managed to get out 3 days and run. The first 2 were lucky as I got up around 4:30 and managed to slip out without anyone waking up or the dogs going nuts. I didn't take pictures as Chapel Hill doesn't even have a stoplight, let alone street lights lol. The one day I went during the day (when it was closer to 50*F and not 20*F) I got a shot of me pre-running UP the hill. I have to say, that was difficult. In FL we have flat land. Everywhere. So, running up a hill was a challenge. The first attempt I made it like 20' and walked the rest of the way. The second time I stopped halfway up and walked the rest. But on the third day, I pushed myself and made it up that damn hill on one try!!

From here it doesn't look so bad....

but try running UP IT! :-P

So, all in all, it was a wonderful relaxing trip. I missed my husband dearly, but enjoyed seeing family, eating great southern cooking, and spending time away from a big city. Once my brother sends pictures he took, I'll upload in here one of my brother, Pops, and myself that was from the same Nashville trip as mine.

My January Road Trip Review will come later today... so sit tight!