{All In a Day} SC Governors II - Spartanburg

While planning is in full-swing for this summer's road trip, our biggest adventure yet, I'm trying to keep our other trips pretty close to home...  So, last weekend, we officially set out to visit the graves of all the SC Governors (from the 1776 statehood to the present), a task that's a little easier to tackle (than visiting the graves of all the presidents & vice presidents) since all but FIVE (the body of ONE of those FIVE was lost at sea) thus far are buried in South Carolina...

With the little ones out of school for Presidents Day, we trucked north a tad and checked off a couple more on our list, BOTH buried in the same cemetery...

Governor Ibra Charles Blackwood served as Governor of South Carolina from 1931-1935.

Governor Blackwood was born in Spartanburg County, SC on November 21, 1878 and died in Spartanburg, SC on February 12, 1936.  He is buried in Greenlawn Memorial Gardens in Spartanburg, SC.

AND

Governor Donald Stuart Russell served as Governor of South Carolina from 1963-1965.

Governor Russell was born in Lafayette County, MS on February 22, 1906 and died in Spartanburg, SC on his 92nd birthday, February 22, 1998.  He is buried in Greenlawn Memorial Gardens in Spartanburg, SC.

{All In a Day} SC Governors I - Greenville

Adding to the ongoing list of people & places of interest to our son, we are now trying to visit the graves of all SC Governors (that's, of course, in addition to visiting presidential sites and running up state capitol buildings steps!)

The good news is that we were able to check off a couple on our list after school today...

Governor Benjamin Franklin Perry served as Governor of South Carolina in 1865.

Governor Perry was born in Pickens District, SC on November 20, 1805 and died in Greenville, SC on December 3, 1886.  He is buried in the Christ Church Episcopal Churchyard in Greenville, SC.

AND

Governor Martin Frederick Ansel served as Governor of South Carolina from 1907-1911.

Governor Ansel was born in Charleston, SC on December 12, 1850 and died in Greenville, SC on August 23, 1945.  He is buried in Springwood Cemetery in Greenville, SC.

I sure enjoyed the afternoon spent with my sweet little lover of history, amid his talk of ideas for live videos filmed "on location" and books we should write about all of our crazy adventures...

{Weekend Adventure} CU in Tampa

Wow!  What an exciting season!!!

Clemson seasons like this don't come along every year (though we came verrrrry close last year), so of course, we just HAD to make the trip down to Tampa, Florida to support our beloved Tigers in the College Football Playoff National Championship!

With the threat of snow looming over us, B and I hit the road Friday afternoon and didn't stop until we got all the way down to Valdosta, GA (and far away from any chance of snow or ice)...

Saturday morning, we continued on to Tampa, and made our way over to Playoff Fan Central, our favorite CFP treat...

From getting up close and personal with all of the important trophies (or versions of them)...

  

to checking out all the fun games & booths...

 

to collecting autographs from Clemson players of the past...

Antuan Edwards...

 

Dexter McCleon...

Adrian Dingle...

Leomont Evans...

and Tajh Boyd...

We ended the (cold & windy) night, with a stroll along the Tampa Bay waterfront...

before going at it all over again on Sunday...

 {We couldn't resist parking by the C81 marker in honor of Clemson winning the 1981 National Championship! - See what we did there???}


We started the morning right where we ended the night before, checking out the sights around Tampa Bay...

before heading into the convention center to catch a few more former players, who currently play in the NFL...

Sammy Watkins...

 

 Shaq Lawson...

and Jayron Kearse...

Hubby had drill all weekend, but finally arrived in town late Sunday night, just in time to rest a bit before GAME TIME...

 

and, THIS year, our favorite team DID come out on top!

Sooo very proud of our team...  What a year!!!

{Girls Trip} - Christmas 2016 - Nutcracker Ballet at The Fox

So happy to see the month of December roll around once again and the chance to go see the Nutcracker at the historic Fox Theatre in downtown Atlanta.

Much like last year, the 5 of us got up early, drove down to Atlanta and grabbed lunch before Hubby and B headed out to a movie...

Sharing the magic of The Fox with my sweet girls is just the best treat!

Our show got out earlier than Hubby and B's movie, and we had some time to kill until they could get back to pick us up, so the girls and I walked a couple blocks down the street to see the church where my parents were married and where I was baptized as a baby...

It was sweet to see them sitting right there in front of the backdrop of a few special memories from so long ago!

From there, we bundled up and headed back over to The Fox to wait under the marquee for our chariot to arrive!

I'm already looking forward to next year!