This past weekend in Greenville SC was such a blast! We took off Thursday afternoon for David’s parents’ place, who have recently settled in to their new house just outside of Greenville. The drive wasn’t bad, just under 3 hours, and we were so excited to see them! The stimulus for our trip was the Southeastern Great Homeschool Conference taking place over the weekend, which is exactly where David and I headed Friday morning after breakfast.
Note to self: I need to emulate my daughter’s posture.
I mentioned this briefly on social media and had an overwhelming reply of curiosity about our interest and research into homeschooling, so I decided I’d split those thoughts into a separate post (manana!).
We spent a few hours at the conference before checking into our hotel in Greenville and heading out to explore!
Greenville is one of my favorite towns. Cities? I’m not sure what it is considered exactly but it’s my favorite size for a city. It offers so many incredible restaurants and things to do, but isn’t overwhelmingly big. Our first venture was Falls Park, a beautiful green space that surrounds the Reedy River that runs right through downtown.
The weather was perfect- mid 70s I’d guess- and people were out everywhere enjoying it. We walked all through it, then looped through downtown, logging over 15k steps according to my fitbit, before we decided to stop for a refreshment.
On a lucky whim, we stopped at The Trappe Door, which turned out to be incredible. The bartender was not only friendly, but one of the most knowledgeable I’d ever met, which gave me great comfort in asking him to make a drink anyway he chose. You guys, he made me a GIN drink (something I never, ever drink) … and I loved it!
We also ordered a charcuterie board, on which almost everything was made it house from the pork pate, to the dehydrated strawberries to the olive tapenade.
We all but licked the plate clean before Christen (who lives in Greenville), met up with us. We switched venues to the Aloft hotel bar and wasted no time chatting each others’ ears off.
Christen and I met freshmen year of college in the dorms and have been BFFs since. Now with 4 kids between us, we don’t get together as often as I’d like but when we do, we always have a ball! Her husband, Brad, joined us too and we all grabbed dinner outside at The Lazy Goat, a tapas spot on the river.
Fried goat cheese balls!
and great conversation.
David and I soaked in the glory of sleeping in the next morning until 8:00 am (!!!) before deciding to try brunch at Tupelo Honey Cafe. Apparently when kid-less, we pretend it is spring break instead of just the weekend and David ordered the biggest, baddest Bloody Mary of them all.
Those olives were stuffed with PIMENTO CHEESE. Amazing.
Again, David’s order was more impressive that mine and this omelet consisted on pimento cheese, jalapenos, bacon, fried green tomatoes and ham. I’m currently on operation ‘load David up with kale’ this week to try and counterbalance the indulgence- ha.
It didn’t end there though.
More wandering led us through the General Store, a health shop where we tried nettle leaf tea and finally to Dark Corner Distillery. We went in for a quick look-around and ended up splitting a tasting.
What can we say, we’re suckers for local and craft beverages and loved trying the different whiskeys.
Finally, we packed up and headed back to the girls that clearly had been having zero fun with Mema and Grandpa.
I believe Hailey’s exact words were- can we stay here forever?
No worries, Kaitlyn’s loose puddle jumper was quickly corrected.
Love you too, kids.
We savored another beautiful day of southern spring weather with walks outside and a boat ride before heading back home Sunday afternoon. All in all, an incredible weekend that has me feeling fully refreshed and ready for the week ahead. Thank you Mema and Grandpa!
Did you have a good weekend?!
If you could choose one town for a weekend getaway, where would you choose?
sherry says
What a fun, energizing weekend, for all!
Lee says
Jason’s parents live in Clemson which is about 40 minutes from Greenville. We might go there this weekend actually.
Brittany Dixon says
Small world!! We hope to make it to a CLemson game in fall 🙂
Kate says
Weekend get-aways are so much fun. It’s so refreshing to visit a different city and live to a different pace. We actually went to Regensburg this weekend – did you check it out when you stayed in Munich? If you haven’t you should totally add it to your list!
Have a great week!
Brittany Dixon says
I don’t think I did but I’d love to go back and go! I think we did a lot of the main attractions- neuschwanstein, beirgartens, oktoberfest then took off to salzburg. WOuld love to go back and see even more 🙂
John J. says
Glad you had such a good time. We did as well with golf, music by Eric Dodd at Perk Avenue, dinner by boat at Gaby’s, fifteen mile bike ride – and hot dogs on the grill! Happy Monday!
Parita @ myinnershakti says
What a fun weekend and how nice that your in-laws are only a few hours away!
And not sure what my one town would be but it would def be on the water 🙂
Melissa says
I look forward to hearing more about the homeschool conference. We’ve been homeschooling since my now thirteen year old was five! 🙂
My favorite weekend getaway is probably Duluth, MN. It is only a few hours away, and it is a gorgeous part of the state.
Brittany Dixon says
Oh wow I feel like it’s the other way around- I’d love to hear about your experience! Why did you decide to homeschool? Pros/cons? Do you use a certain curriculum?
Melissa says
I don’t expect you to remember this, but several years ago I was blogging regularly and you asked about our decision to homeschool. I wrote the following post in response. https://benotsimplygood.wordpress.com/2011/02/09/homeschooling-how-did-we-get-here/
What I said back then still holds true, but with a 7th grader in the house, I have stepped up my recordkeeping. My personal philosophy is that it is not about grades; it is about what we learn, but with high school on the horizon, I am more conscious about the need to produce a transcript. In the younger grades, I kept records of what we were spending our time doing, but I did not assign grades. I have now started doing so, and have started being more intentional about keeping track of extracurriculars. That is still not my emphasis with my children, but it is what *I* need to work on.
I’d be happy to chat more about homeschooling. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask!
Brittany Dixon says
Yes, Melissa, I very much so remember! I am clicking over to read it now- THANK YOU!
Josephine sharpe says
I’m feeling envious, I’d love a weekend away just with the hubby and no kids, but given the kids grandparents are in Australia and we live outside London, we will have to make do with a babysitter and dinner out on Saturday night ;-). I would probably pick to go back to the Gold Coast in Australia, where my husband and I went to Uni and had so much fun. I’d revisit the restaurants and bars we used to go to and spend some time on the beach. Although a little long distance for a weekend so we may need to plan a family vacation out there once baby number 2 has arrived and dump the kids with their Nannas. Only problem is that 26 hour plane flight with a baby, is my version of hell.
Brittany Dixon says
26 hours on a plane with a baby sounds like my version of hell too 😉
Hilary says
I have been itching to head out to Charlestown for awhile! I can’t wait to make it out there and explore!
Heather says
Greenville is so pretty! We’ve spent so little time in that part of the country and that’s something I want to remedy eventually.
Also very interested in your homeschooling post!
Kelsey says
I love, love, love Greenville! The Lazy Goat is my fave. There’s also a Persian place there called Pomegranate that is outstanding. Are you going to do a recap of the conference? I’d be interested in hearing more about it!
Brittany Dixon says
I’ll be doing a brief recap! We didn’t see any speakers since it was more of an exploratory trip this time 🙂
Jessica says
We’ve been meaning to check out Greenville for some time now since it’s a short drive from Charlotte. It looks really cute based on your pictures! May I ask what hotel you stayed in? Was there a good selection of places to stay right by the Falls?
Brittany Dixon says
We stayed at The Hyatt in downtown Greenville. It was a nice place to stay! I honestly don’t know how many other hotels are right in downtown because a friend suggested the one we stayed in, but I’m sure google can help more than me. You definitely should go through- it’s incredible!
Alyssa @ renaissancerunnergirl says
I really want to take a trip around the Southern states and explore all the small towns like this. I have all these places to see, from Asheville to Atlanta, and I haven’t spent any time in that area of the country at all except visiting colleges in NC for a few days. It’s the same with most of the West, and lots of the national parks in the interior. I grew up in such a Northeastern bubble!
Brittany Dixon says
We will have to switch spots because I’d love to explore the northeast! I’ve barely been there at all 🙂
Lauren @ Oh Hey! I Like That! says
Ohhhhh Tupelo Honey!!!! That place is AMAZING!!!!
Edye says
Nothing can beat a fun weekend getaway. I’ve never been to SC before, only NC. But, it looks like a fun state 🙂
Blessings,
Edye // Gracefulcoffee