Thanksgivingggggg

Back to our favorite weekend getaway destination - Rabun Co. for this quick 4-day trip, we wanted to share with you about an awesome hike (or you can drive to this one), my dad's favorite Thanksgiving day activity, our favorite way to bring in Christmas (in November), and our favorite place to cut down our own Christmas tree. Additionally, we are practicing an attitude of gratitude this year, so we each wanted to share a few of the things that we are most thankful for.

First, I just have to share that one of my dad's favorite things to rope us into is the Turkey Trot in downtown Clayton. I am not a runner (and neither is Josh), but for some reason I work up on Thanksgiving morning and decided I wanted to run it. So let the record state - I finished the Turkey Trot 5k.

We first read about Glassy Mountain on the Wander North Georgia Blog. You should definitely check  out their site if you are anywhere in the North Georgia area. You can also read their post for better fetails on how to find the hike and tips about it. One thing we did learn that has changed since their post is that you are allowed to drive your car right up to the bottom of the tower as long as the gate is open. Anyways, the views are great (if you can get over the knee knocking climb up the tower). Cindy made it up to the top, though, so you should have no problem. They say at night, that you can see Clemson from the top of the tower. Like I said - pretty solid views.

Every year, the Friday night after Thanksgiving, is Christmas in Clayton when all the shops stay open a little later, and they serve cookies, cider and hot cocoa. This is a great small town tradition that allows you to start your Christmas shopping and enjoy one of the super yummy restaurants downtown. Make sure you stop and take a picture in front of one of the beautifully decorated trees.

Our favorite ‘Saturday after Thanksgiving in Georgia’ tradition is to head up to North Carolina to Osage Farms to cut down our own tree. Im sure there are a million places to cut down trees, but we have always had success here and our trees have always survived until Christmas. A few tips:

• Plan to be here a few hours - the amount of trees available is overwhelming and it takes a while for the workers to come get your tree, bundle it up, and tie it to your car   
•  There is very minimal (or no) service once you get close to Osage. They have big signs with Christmas trees on them for you to follow, but you’ll want to communicate with anyone you’re meeting up with before you head up the mountain 
•  I will say that even though they have guys with chainsaws there to cut it down for you, but that you should bring a good ole hand saw with you to cut it down if you really want the full experience
• Bring your family and take lots of pictures because it is SO much fun and SOOO pretty up on top of the mountain

Peep Cincy misbehaving :) 

Hilary’s Thankful List:

1. A husband who loves me

2. A family who supports me

3. A pup the cuddles me

4. A job that pays me ;)

5. A home that covers me

Josh’s Thankful List:
1. Family
2. Faith
3. Friends
4. Fitness
5. Fur Child

XOXO, 

J&H 

Rabun Co Spring Break

Another Rabun Adventure & More of our FAVORITE Spots to Share!

The Rusty Bike is one of our favorite breakfast joints. They have just about everything you can think of for breakfast and my favorite vacation splurge is a big 'ole blueberry pancake. We haven't found anything here for breakfast that we haven't liked, and my family eats a ton of different foods. The decor is just the cutest and it really is full of the nicest people. 

Pic feat: Mom, Dad, BFF Sarah, Sister Isabel, Josh & I :) 

This is the view from the top of the Black Rock Mountain State Park at the Welcome Center. You can see all of Rabun Country from here and even farther on a clear day. It really is breath taking and just a reminder to stand in awe of God's beautiful creation. Almost Christmas card worthy, right? There are 4 different trails that you can hike here and we've done all of them. Our favorite is either the Tennessee Rock Trail (highly recommend) or the Black Rock Lake Trail (our favorite EASY hike). 

This is a picture of pup & I walking around Black Rock Lake Trail. This (as I've mentioned before) is one of our favorite places to go with the pup for a nice, relaxing walk after a long hike the day before. 

This beauty is the bottom of Panther Creek Falls. I think I talked about this hike before, but let me give you the quick down low. The first time we hiked this trail, we had just gotten to town and didn't have the pup yet. We left on the trail with a bottle of soda, one of Gatorade, and only one bottle of water since this is what we had left from our travels. We had only eaten granola bars for breakfast and didn't pack many snacks. We knew this was about 7 miles round trip, but for some reason we thought this was a good idea. ANYWAYS - we turned around about half way through - or about 2.5 miles in we found out this time around. We wish we didn't, but we needed to do it at that moment. THIS TIME THOUGH, we had the pup and came prepared and it was such a great hike. Pup took it like a total champ, but it was pretty tough. There was lots of steep hikes and a few times that we had to climb on all fours to get down towards the actual falls at the end. This is still our longest hike to date, but one of our favorites (not that we would necessarily try it again)! :p

If you didn't already know, Clarkesville Lanes does bowling for $1 per game on Tuesdays (plus $2.50 for shoes)! This is a MUST on our family list when we go there. We rarely ever bowl at home, but we have a blast bowling here. They also have hand dipped ice cream and bar food that you can enjoy while bowling. This time, we stuck around and I kicked Josh's booty in a few games of darts! They have billiards tables too! It's a fun way to spend a night out for super cheap. 

This is my absolute favorite place to be during all of the winter months. Cuddled up with some cozy slippers, a small space heater, and a warm blanket with a good book in hand. You'll find me here in the coming months. 

Enjoy the cooler weather,

Hilary & Josh

Detroit Wedding Weekend

So we were literally in Detroit for less than 48 hours for this quick trip up for my cousins wedding. We left out of Ft. Lauderdale at 7:30 Saturday morning and headed back home from Detroit on 6:00 Sunday night. So when I say quick trip - I mean it. Can you tell by our photo above that we have sleepy eyes when we were boarding our flight to Detroit that morning? We also hate to pay for carry ons so we all packed in backpacks for our quick flight on Spirit. 

There were two quick things that I wanted to share with you about this trip. First is about our favorite Saturday morning downtown stop at the Eastern Market. We made our way across the street to the Detroit vs. Everybody store because we just love it (and I love all the graffiti - peep the pic above). Also across from the Eastern Market was the little store you can see in the background of Josh's picture. They were grilling food right out front of their store and it smelled absolutely delicious. It was served by a big sweaty chef and we just couldn't pass it up. Josh got the ribs and said that they were some of the best he's ever had. We never shy away from street food. {Not pictured: me stuffing my face with beignets because they are the best ever!} 

 

We spent lots of quick stops with family as we tried to visit everyone in the short time that we were there. Saturday night we went to my cousins wedding. We cleaned up pretty nice for being up since 3am, did we not? On a total side note, they got married at Wolcott Mill Metropark and it was seriously gorgeous. If you are ever in the area, definitely check it out - especially in the fall - I heard they have awesome activities! 

 

Until next time, I leave you with this studly photo. 

-JH

Fishing Charter - Sanibel Island

Every year our school hosts a fishing tournament as a fundraiser for our athletic department. This year, my husband, two sisters and I decided to charter a boat and fish in the tournament. We ended up chartering a boat from M. E. Fishing Charters and had Captain Gary Jenkins and he was so awesome. He kept us laughing the whole time, while helping us catch great fish. 

For the tournament, we needed to weigh in two reds and a trout - so that is what we set out to get. We met at Punta Rassa Boat Ramp at 7:30 AM (bright and early to start our adventure). Above is us about to take off - sleepy eyes and all (just in case you were curious, we were at a football game the night before until almost midnight so the morning came real early). 

Anyways, if you are a fisherman by nature, you might know how a day on the water goes already, but if not, let me brief you. First we went to two different locations for bait fish. You have to catch bait fish to use to catch real fish (like trout and reds). We caught little minnows and then lucked out (apparently) and caught some lady fish (which our captain chopped up to use as bait! - ew, gross!)

Then after a 30 minute boat ride, we were to where we would park for the day to catch those red fish. Our captain was out the whole day before scouting and had seen some redfish here. We hadn't had our poles in the water for 5 minutes, when we got a bite on not only one of our hooks, but two. These fish are fighters and both my sister, Bri, and Josh successfully reeled those suckers into the boat. Bri's weighed in at 5 lbs 9 oz and Josh's weighed in at 3 lbs 14 oz. We sat on that same spot for another 1.5 hours and only caught 10 catfish, 1 snook, and 2 trout (about 1 pound each). We ate some lunch while we waited, then tried another spot for redfish for about an hour, hoping to catch some. No such luck. 

We were happy though because we caught all 3 of the fish that we needed, so we counted the day a success and headed in to weigh in at the beach. The ride was crazy bumpy and we laughed the whole time as waves splashed all over us as we drove. 

And honestly, who wouldn't want to look at this stud all day?! (insert heart eye emoji)

Here's a photo of the red that Josh caught & the one sis caught! Seriously, y'all, fishing is kind of fun. 

And one more team picture of us with our Captain. 

 P.S. We LOVE our Qalo rings. They literally let us do anything that we want to do without worrying about losing our real wedding rings. They come in so many different shapes and colors and we seriously own 3-4 each. I probably almost wear them more than I wear my real wedding bands (sorry, but they are just seriously so comfortable!)

If you've never been fishing before, definitely go out on the water one day! And if you use Captain Gary Jenkins, tell him that we sent you by telling him "Look at me. I am the captain now."

-Josh & Hil