The girls and I hit the road last week for our very first girls-only road trip. I was a little nervous about tackling a 9 hour drive with a 5 and 3 year old all by myself, but the girls were absolutely amazing in the car. They were such little troopers and we had SO much fun just hanging out and stopping at (almost) every rest stop along the way. 3 year olds have very small bladders!
After spending our first night just outside of Gainsville, we drove to Atlanta to pick up my sister Beth and niece Coryn from the airport (they were flying in from Seattle). The girls were SO excited to see their cousin and auntie.
My sister and I both LOVE famous attractions–the bigger the tourist trap, the better–so of course we had to make a stop at Atlanta’s most famous restaurant, The Varsity. It is so famous that apparently President Obama had just stopped there the day before we were there!
Overall we weren’t blown away by the food but the onion rings were really, really good.
Our final destination was Columbia, South Carolina where my niece will be attending USC on a full soccer scholarship. (Go Gamecocks!) She worked so hard to get where she is and we are SO proud of her!
While my niece and sister were busy getting oriented, I took the girls to Columbia’s children’s museum, EdVenture. I figured we would be able to kill at least an hour or two but we ended up staying almost the whole day. It was truly an amazing place!
My sister loves coffee as much as I do which means we stopped at many, many Starbucks along the way. Mmmmmmm…..
But the best part by far (and the point of the whole trip) was helping my niece Coryn get moved into her new dorm room. It was so much fun, in fact, that my sister and I may have gotten a tad bit obsessive about the whole thing….but decorating Coryn’s ultra cute room (on a budget, no less) is a story for another day.
And then suddenly it was time to say goodbye, and I have to say, my normally overly emotional sis stayed pretty darn strong considering she was sending her oldest daughter into the big, bad world 3,000 miles away from home. Sure there were some tears and that one minor panic attack, but other than that she was a ROCK!
After saying our goodbyes we headed back to Atlanta to bring Beth back to the airport, but not before stopping for lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. There we met up with my dear friend Jenny, who you may recognize from all her hard work on SWSL. It was just a strange coincidence that we both happened to be in Atlanta at the exact same time (she lives in Mississippi), but it was so nice to catch up, even if it was just for an hour!
The worst part of our trip was saying goodbye to my sis. She truly is one-of-a-kind. Whenever I am lucky enough to spend a few days with her I am always so thankful my girls have each other, and I can only hope and pray that someday they share the same bond that we have.
{Thanks for the laughs, Sista Sista. Love ya girl!}
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Suzana July 6, 2012 at 11:42 pm
That was so sweet Ruth! I’ve missed your blog posts since you’ve been pursuing that secret new (business?) adventure. This post made me tear up, from the love I see between your two girls in that second picture, to Coryn moving into her dorm, to the bond between you and your sister. I’m starting this coming school year as a high school senior so I can definitely relate to the college stress, for mom and daughter! Great hearing from you, hope it’s not too long before the next post.
Karen Taggart July 9, 2012 at 3:09 pm
Your post made me tear up!
It is just my sister and I in our family and we’re very close. In fact, she is the nanny for our 1 year old daughter and I am so fortunate for that. My husband and I really want our daughter to have a sibling to grow up with and I think your post finally made the decision for me!