{travel} day 5 road trippin' USA... or at least the lowcountry

Today is a big deal. I am finally caught up on my road trip blog posts! Only a month and a half later.... oops! After this one I will finally get back to Spain postin'. Our final day of the trip was extremely busy. We started off the day by exploring St. Augustine, and then took to the road again to go see my favorite singer in concert in Orlando. We didn't feel like paying for any more hotels, so after the concert we drove back to Tampa. 207 miles plus lots of activities in one day? We were exhausted.

I have mixed feelings about St. Augustine. I used to love going as a kid because the old fort was exciting to explore, and it is on the water. It is certainly a beautiful and charming little town, and it used to feel like a step back in time in Spain. However, after living in Madrid for an entire year, "historical St. Augustine" just feels like a fraud! Although I will say that I have never been outside of the tourist quarter because I never have enough time to explore further. Is St. Augustine outside of the tourist quarter cool? Anyone?

Fun fact for the day: St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied European established city in America. It was originally discovered in 1513 by Ponce de Leon, and founded in 1565 by Pedro Menendez de Aviles. The city actually still has ties with the Spanish government. We found out that the king and queen of Spain are set to come visit and give a speech from a balcony of the oldest hotel in the city in 2015.

{travel} day 4 road trippin' USA... or at least the lowcountry

My handsome guy is taking over my blog for the day to talk about his favorite day on our road trip. :) I've edited in the pictures and links, but the writing is all Alex. Say hi, everyone!

Hello all. My name is Alex. This is my first venture into the blogging universe. Jennifer asked if I would like to be a guest-writer. I am going to write about one of the days of the road-trip that she and I took last December.  Jennifer thought it would be interesting to get my perspective and point of view about the trip (between you and me, I think she is just too busy living big-city, fancy-girl, European life so she wanted me to take a little load off). Regardless, I am happy to do it and contribute to her great blog. So coming to you from my modest old Gainesville house is Day 4 of the road trip.

{travel} day 3 road trippin' USA... or at least the lowcountry

{catch up on the beginning of this incredible road trip through the low country in these posts: day 1 & day 2}  aaaand we're back. Let the road trip posts recommence. Our third day traveling began with a bit of a hangover and a terrible brunch. However, it was an absolutely beeeeautifulll day so we pushed past the discomfort and made some touristy moves. This post will be short because all we really did all was wander around and obsess over all of the regal mansions and the stunning view of the Charleston Harbor from the Battery and Waterfront Park. Charleston is just such a relaxing place to be, especially on a day as warm and beautiful like the day we were there.

{travel} day 2 road trippin' USA... or at least the lowcountry

Today's edition of 'Road Trippin' USA... or at least the Lowcountry' is a really fun one! This might have been one of my favorite days of the entire trip, even though we spent much time in the car. Although we were sad to be leaving Savannah after such a short stay, we were really excited to get to Charleston. We decided to take the scenic route, US 17, with a few Southern Living & Heather recommended stops along the way. If you take anything away from my road trip blog posts, take these recommendations. Seriously. You will love it!

First Stop - Beaufort, South Carolina

Beaufort is a wonderful little town just south of Charleston. It had that small town feel I love so much with the huge plantation homes and oak trees, but with lots of tempting shopping and highly rated restaurants mixed in for good measure. This city felt like a destination, where one could come to shop, play, and drink in the gorgeous views of the Beaufort River, but could also almost immediately feel like a local as well. It was picture perfect.

{travel} day 1 road trippin' USA... or at least the lowcountry

The day after Christmas came very quickly. I had a lovely 6 AM wake-up call to jolt me out of bed after an exhausting day of opening presents, cooking, eating, and drinking. But my adrenaline and excitement helped out a bit. I had been counting down the days until that day since before I left Spain. It was road trip time!!!!

My boyfriend and I decided to plan this trip so that we could spend lots of quality time together before I had to get on yet another plane to go back over the ocean again. We spent many phone calls discussing which cities to go to on our 5 day trip, and finally settled on Savannah, Beaufort, Charleston, and St. Augustine. It could not have been a more perfect trip! Especially since my boyfriend surprised me with tickets to see Corey Smith in Orlando on the last day of the trip. So now I'm adding Orlando to the list! I'm going to write up the Cliff Notes version of this trip in this blog post, but if you would like my entire (very type-A) document on all of our road trip stops, hotels we stayed in, and restaurants we ate at, email me -- cookingloveandlife@gmail.com.