More trip stuff

Day 3: To Athens and Charleston
Our third morning we woke up early and made the drive to Athens, GA to check out the first school. It was only an hour and a half to Athens, so the drive wasn't terrible. We pulled into Athens and were pretty surprised by the town, and not in a good way. It was really small, and honestly kind of dumpy, and we were debating whether or not to take the tour of University of Georgia still. In the end, we were there, so we decided to take the tour, and I'm glad we did! Their campus is beautiful, and huge. Half of our tour was by bus so that we could see more of campus than if we were just walking. After the tour we stopped and ate some lunch, and decided quickly that Athens isn't the place for us. It would be great for undergraduate students living on or near campus, but we are looking to grow away from college life, and expand our careers, and Athens just didn't seem to offer that.

We left Athens for the four hour drive to Charleston. We made it to Charleston around 7:00, checked into our hotel, and headed downtown for a few hours. Once we parked, we walked down King Street, which is the main street through downtown Charleston. We walked through Battery Park and went to the ocean for a little bit. It was starting to get dark, and we were pretty far away from where we had parked, plus we were both starving, so we turned around and walked back down King Street to find somewhere to eat. We ate at this place called Joe Pasta and it was (surprise) delicious. But the best part of that meal was how nice people were. Brandon asked our waiter what things we should do when we were in Charleston, since we were only there for a day, and after he told us a few things he went and asked his manager what other things there were to do (because he wasn't originally from Charleston). Then later, the manager came out and talked to us for a little bit and told us how he had recently been up to Utah. The night ended on a good note!

Day 4: Charleston
The next morning we got up bright and early to make our way back to Charleston (we stayed in North Charleston) to take a carriage tour. My grandma suggested that we take one and I am so glad we did! The tour was an hour long, but we got to see so many sites and learn so much about the history of Charleston. The houses there are beautiful, and I seriously cannot stress that enough. I have a serious weakness for houses with big porches, so basically all of Charleston was like Kryptonite to me (we have been watching too much Big Bang Theory, sorry for the nerd reference). But seriously the tour was so great. After the tour we hung out at the city market for a while and walked through a bunch of little shops on the same street. A few hours later we went to the Maritime Center and boarded a ship for a harbor cruise. The cruise took us out past Fort Sumter and out near Mount Pleasant, a little island off of Charleston. Mount Pleasant looked really nice from the boat, so we went over there after our tour and ate some lunch, then went down to the beach for a few hours. The beach was nowhere near as full of tourists as Charleston, so we stayed over there for a few hours, then went to Fort Moultrie and drove around looking at all the pretty beach houses.

That evening we went back into Charleston to meet Jennica and Rusty for dessert. Rusty had an internship with Boeing there, so they were in Charleston for the summer We hadn't seen them for quite a few months, and it was so much fun to not only see them again, but see them in a completely new place. It's so funny when we get together, because we pretty much just pair off and talk the entire time. Jennica and I talk while Rusty and Brandon talk, and our conversations rarely cross, which I think is a good thing. It's funny how similar Rusty and Brandon are, and Jennica and I will always just be us, and I love that. We hung out with them for a few hours, and after seeing a few palmetto bugs (ew) and basically running from the pineapple fountain to the market to get away from the bugs, we called it a night because Rusty had to work early in the morning, and we wanted to leave early in the morning. Our hotel was right down the street from their apartment though, so we still go to see them on the freeway until we had to go separate ways at the light.

Day 5: Myrtle Beach
The next morning we got up and drove to Myrtle Beach. We took the highway that goes right up the coast, but with all the trees we hardly got to see the water. The country we got to see on the drive was beautiful though. We really got down to our roots with the countryside and our country music on the radio. We took our time with the drive, stopping to look at the beach houses and pulling over to take pictures of all the crazy things we saw. Rather than heading right to the beach though, we were making our way to my Aunt Dar's houseboat in North Myrtle beach. We got to go to lunch with her and her long-time boyfriend, and ate at a little place they love right on the water. Dar has been living in South Carolina for quite a few years, so I haven't been able to see her all that often. Luckily she was able to make it to our wedding, and had already met Brandon. It was a fun little reunion, but we only got to see them for about two hours because we had reservations for parasailing that afternoon.

 I called the parasailing company when we were leaving lunch and asked if we could push the reservation back an hour and they said that was no problem, but that it was supposed to storm that afternoon so we needed to get there as soon as possible.  We finally got to the beach, but then couldn't find a place to park. Parking is way difficult in big, touristy areas; we learned that really quick on this trip. After we found a  place to park, then we got lost. Once we finally got to the right spot, they got us out on the water really quick. They used a jet ski to pull us out on a big banana boat raft to the boat. The water was pretty choppy because of the storm that was coming in, and the driver of the jet ski was going really fast, and I thought I was going to have to let Brandon go up and parasail by himself. I am terrified of open water like that, but it was my decision to have us go parasailing, so I couldn't back out. We went out to the boat with two other girls and let them go up first. Halfway through the sail, the driver of the boat let them drop in the water for a second, then pulled them back up. When it was our turn, I asked if we could skip the part in the water, and he said that was fine. So we got up in the air, and it was pretty cool! We couldn't see much because the water was so murky from the storm, but it was neat to just be that high up over the water. We even saw a small shark! They started to slow down so I thought they were going to pull us back onto the boat, but we just kept going lower and lower and weren't getting any closer to the boat. Well, they forgot my request and dropped us in the water anyways. Luckily it wasn't for too long, but I was panicking. Once we got back up in the air, I got over it pretty quick (ya know, since I didn't die and all) and then we saw a sea turtle!! I am definitely glad we ended up going parasailing.

After parasailing we went and laid on the beach for a little bit, but it was kind of raining and it was windy and the sun wasn't out, so we only stayed there for like 45 minutes. At this point though, it was already almost 5:00, so we went to our hotel and got kind of dressed up, then went back down to the beach to hang out on the boardwalk and get some dinner. We ate at Moe Moon's, and each had a tasty burger/sandwich and a pina colada IN A PINEAPPLE. Holy moly it was the most delicious drink I have ever had in my entire life. Brandon promised me endless umbrella drinks on the beach during vacation, and this was my only one and it was amazing. I still can't stop thinking about it. I even bought some V8 juice that is pineapple coconut because that's how much I loved it.

After dinner we walked around the boardwalk for a while, then went and rode the Skywheel. It's a giant Ferris wheel right on the water. When you went over the top and started going toward the ocean it looked like we were going to roll right into it! After that we went in some shops and people-watched. Brandon was going to take me dancing, but we couldn't find a place to go, and by the time we had somewhat figured it out we were both too tired to even worry about it.

I will blog about the next few days tomorrow. Again, you can look at all our pictures here even if you do not have Facebook!