Last Updated on July 26, 2015 by Stacy Averette
We love to travel. There are so many places I want to go—New York, Paris, Bermuda, Greece, Ireland, Key West . . . The kinds of places that involve air travel, tour guides, passports. Travel that would require me to buy a set of luggage, have the post office hold my mail for a couple of weeks, and whine about jet lag.
While we don’t do much traveling, sometimes we do need to get away.
Just the two of us.
To reconnect and refresh and rest.
To strengthen our marriage and our friendship.
So we don’t forget why we fell in love in the first place.
We believe it’s an investment in our marriage and our family.
Sometimes it’s a just a day trip and sometimes we stay overnight—depending on the budget and our schedules. We’re also careful not to cram too many activities into a trip. Too much sightseeing, eating, and walking will end up feeling like work and we come home needing a vacation. Our focus is downtime with each other—to talk and nurture our friendship.
Our favorite way to do this is to go to a city within a few hours of our home—a city we are relatively familiar with so we don’t waste time figuring out where to go and what to do. Recently, we went to Nashville. Since we used to live there we thought it would be fun to go back as tourists with the added benefit of knowing our way around. Here are some of the highlights of our trip.
See? Nothing fancy.
Just the two us.
Doing nothing.
Together.
We went to Centennial Park and just walked around. We ate at a great little place in Historic Edgefield called Sky Blue Cafe. Best brunch ever!! We also loved Cafe Rakka in Hendersonville. Guy Fieri featured it on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives recently. The Portbella sandwich and Pomegranate Tea were delicious!
Thanks to Rhoda at Southern Hospitality we also went to Fontanel to tour the beautiful Southern Living Idea Home and enjoy an outdoor concert in the courtyard. Erin McCarley performed as part of their Summer Biscuits & Jam series. Of course, they served biscuits and jam!! Good food and good music. I recorded a little of her singing. My iPhone recording doesn’t do her justice. She is a lovely young woman with a beautiful voice.
We had a wonderful time and we’ve gotten a great return on our investment. The proof?
Before a trip, this is how we look:
After a trip, this is how we feel:
I’d really like to travel to all the places I mentioned but for now, I’m good.
So if l tell you anytime soon that I’m going to Rome . . . just remember it’s a city in Georgia.