{Girls Trip} - Christmas 2020 - Nutcracker Ballet at The Greenbrier

What a weekend!

A few years ago, I started the tradition of taking my girls to Atlanta to see the Nutcracker at the historic Fox Theatre each December (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019). Sadly, it was decided that after a 24 year run, last year would be the final year that The Fox would host the Atlanta Ballet production.

Since for me, the uniqueness of the venue is just as important as the performance itself, (last year) I decided that this year would be a natural time to break away and try something new and different for our annual Nutcracker show...

Little did I know when I started thinking about a change, that we'd be in the middle of a pandemic come Nutcracker time ~ goodness me...

Thankfully, we've learned a lot about how to continue on during the pandemic, and though my plan was to travel a bit (we haven't been much of anywhere this year - aside from a day trip to Ohio and back this summer), it was still to keep to ourselves in a place where, while there were plenty things to do, it would be easy to spread out while doing them and keep away from others...

So, when I found out that one of my very favorite places to visit also hosts an annual Nutcracker performance, it didn't take a thing to convince me!

The girls an I left early Sunday morning and stopped to grab breakfast at Pepperbox Doughnuts in Charlotte, NC...

While in the neighborhood, we did a little mural hopping to get our blood flowing...

Confetti Hearts Wall by Evelyn Henson

Doughnut Wall by Gina Elizabeth Franco

Krispy Kreme Headquarters

From Charlotte, we continued north and grabbed lunch to go...

from The Village Coffee Shoppe...

at The Draper Mercantile in Draper, VA...

From Draper, we continued on to our final destination, and checked into The Greenbrier!

The girls were in awe as we toured around a few spots...

and made our way to our first scheduled activity ~ ice skating...

After ice skating, we enjoyed dinner and dessert at Draper's...

and I introduced the girls to my very favorite draperies in the Colonial Lounge...

before catching "Miracle on 34th Street" in the theatre on the big screen...

The next morning we took a carriage ride around the property...

and got to enjoy the remaining snow...

before having breakfast in the Main Dining Room and exploring some more...

We spent some time at the indoor pool...

before a late lunch at The Forum...

After lunch, we headed over to Colonial Hall for a (masked) performance of The Nutcracker, danced by members of the nearby Beckley Dance Theatre...

We popped back in to visit my favorite draperies once more...

and headed back to the Main Dining Room for dinner...

and a great view of the lingering Christmas lights once more...

before popping into Draper's to indulge in our nightly scoop...

The next morning, we hit up the girls' favorite spot ~ the indoor pool ~ once more...

before beginning the trek home, making a stop at Jeni's Ice Creams for a sweet, afternoon treat...

in front of an equally sweet, striped wall...

Confetti Stripes Wall by Evelyn Henson...

What a wonderful getaway with my favorite girls!

Until next year...

{All In a Day} To Ohio and Back

It has been on my agenda for quite some time to visit our final presidential grave, the William Henry Harrison Tomb outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. More than once, we've cut it from previous road trips due to time, as it has usually been on the final day's agenda, and we are almost always pushing it by rolling in late at night with Hubby planning to be at work early the next morning.

So, I'd planned to incorporate it into a short weekend trip back in the fall, but couldn't really find a weekend that worked. Then, I loosely had it as a possible option for a little road trip over spring break, and well, we all know why that plan didn't materialize! Besides the fact that, other than a couple of quick trips to the beach visiting with family, we've been staying home, well, this grave happens to be inside a tomb that has to be unlocked each day, and it's been closed since mid-March!

Oh my word...hindsight is 20/20, right???

 With nowhere to go and no family adventure planning to keep me occupied (we are typically in full on "road trip" mode in July), I've been stalking, I mean checking, the website (more) frequently (than I should be) looking for it to open back up, and finally it did!

So, being that I have no interest in staying in a hotel right now, I figured we would pack some food and make a day trip of it...because it's normal to travel from South Carolina to Ohio and back in a single day, right???

Ahhh, my family knows me better than that.  Normal or not, it's doable in my brain, and we shouldn't catch anything from a dead president or any of his dead family members!

We got a bit of a jump on the road trip yesterday spending the night with my mother, an hour closer to our destination.

Being it a Friday, Hubby was at work, so my mother accompanied me on the trek - I get it honest, I suppose!

We headed out super early (like SUPER early), and things were going along just fine until we hit a little backed up traffic near the Tennessee/Kentucky line due to an accident. This put us behind about 30 minutes, but we were still making good time until...

Leave it to my GPS to toss me some sort of unplanned adventure...

Remember the "stuck in the 'closed for the season' state forest" incident??? Bless...

We planned our first stop as the William Henry Harrison Tomb, the main reason for this trip in the first place, and knew that we needed to cross the Ohio River to get from Kentucky to Ohio. I kind of figured we'd cross via one of those big bridges in Cincinnati, but no... That's not near adventurous for us, right???

My GPS evidently decided that we needed a little unexpected fun (actually it must've just been the closest route), but imagine our confusion as we turned onto what I thought was Anderson Ferry Road...

until...

So, it went a little something like this...

"Wow, we're heading right down to the river!"

"Hey, kids...  Help me look for the left onto Anderson Ferry Road, please."

"There it is! Wow, there's a company called Anderson Ferry there on the corner."

"Oh cool... They must offer a ferry service."

"Ohhhhh, looks like we are now TAKING the ferry service! Okay, then!"

Well, check that one off...  Kids' first car ferry (amidst a pandemic), floating across the Ohio River!

So, after that excitement, we were finally in Ohio...

The small community of North Bend is only about 10 minutes down the road...

We arrived at the tomb and checked off B's final dead president...

39/39

From there we checked off two more "plaque stops" visiting the former site of President William Henry Harrison's home, also the birthplace of his grandson, President Benjamin Harrison...

as well as the former site of Benjamin Harrison's boyhood home...

We'd heard that North Bend may soon be getting the William Henry Harrison statue that currently stands in Cincinnati, so figured we'd so see it while it's still standing...

President Garfield was there, too!

From there, we made a stop at the Cincinnati Bengals' stadium...

as B is checking off NFL stadiums these days, too!

We'd packed a picnic lunch in order to cut down on necessary stops and decided to stop in the quaint village of Mariemont to eat...

I'd read about it and have wanted to visit for awhile.

We picnicked (in our car) on the town square and grabbed ice cream for dessert...

before beginning the trek back home...

This is one place I'd like to visit again someday...when the pandemic is over...

We stopped to pick up dinner at Petro's in Knoxville, a favorite spot L and I discovered on her Ten Trip back in September...

and made it home before the clock struck midnight...

What a day!