Hello from Athens, Georgia! It has officially been a week since we left California, and what a week it has been. We left San Diego early Monday morning of last week (with four new tires after getting a flat as soon as we arrived in SD), and made it to El Paso, Texas that night for dinner.
Not exactly what you like to see at the beginning of a big road trip.
We took off early in the morning Tuesday from El Paso and headed to New Orleans. We drove through the widest part of Texas, which I’ve done many, many times, and it always drags on for a looong time. We finally pulled into New Orleans around 1am, and went straight to sleep at my friend Liz’s apartment.
New Orleans
As soon as we got up in the morning, Liz took us down to the French Quarter to get beignets and coffee at Cafe du Mond. The lines were crazy long (as I was expecting), so instead of waiting for a table we sat and ate by the water and got powdered sugar everywhere.
About to enjoy our beignets and chicory coffee.
Me and Liz, one of my dearest friends.
Beignet.
I know for next time not to wear black pants when eating beignets.
When we were done, we headed back to the French Quarter and walked through the market while enjoying some mimosas.
Cocktails to go.
Definitely felt weird drinking outside of bars.
Liz and Jeremy enjoying some oysters.
The most gigantic oyster I’ve ever seen.
Walking around the French Quarter.
Later that night, we went to dinner at a restaurant called Cochon, which is really well known and it was delicious. We ate fried alligator, more oysters, shrimp dressing, and lots more dishes.
Oysters and fried alligator at Cochon.
Liz and her boyfriend, Alain.
Liz works for a French folk artist, and we visited the workshop the next day. Since it was such nice weather, afterward we picked up some boiled crawfish and ate it by the levee.
Liz at work.
Picking up fresh boiled crawfish.
We ate a crawfish pie while we waited… it was delicious.
Liz teaching us the proper way to eat a crawfish. First step: break the head off.
The levee.
Very concentrated eating.
My first crawfish.
Jeremy sucking juices out of the head. I did not partake in this step.
That night, we went to a restaurant near Liz’s apartment and had some wine, some frog legs, and lots more delicious food.
Frog leg action shot.
It was really hard to leave after having such a good time. Liz and I met our freshman year of college at UGA, and have been really close ever since. We lived together for four years in Athens and have experienced a lot together. I hate that we live so far away from each other. But alas, we were on to Charleston the next morning.
Charleston
The drive was supposed to take 12-13 hours, but thanks to a crazy accident in Atlanta, ended up taking closer to 16. It was a really long day. When we got to Charleston, our friends had set up a bonfire in their backyard and we hung out a bit before going to sleep. The next day, we got up and our friend Matt took us to the oldest tree east of the Mississippi.
Angel Oak.
Then we rented some bicycles and rode them to Folly Beach. The weather was a little dismal and cool, but it was perfect for us. And because of it, there weren’t many people on the beach at all. We pretty much felt like a bad-ass bike gang, and we even had a stereo playing some music.
Pretty Charleston.
For dinner, Matt (who used to be a cook at Husk in Charleston, one of the best restaurants in the country) cooked us shrimp and grits, and it was amazing.
Shrimp and grits.
After dinner, we went downtown and went to this crazy awesome drag show. Who knew Charleston would have such a good one??
Front row seats for the drag show.
We are having such a good time, eating delicious food, and seeing so many old friends. It has pretty much been the best week ever. We’re seeing more friends tonight in Athens, then heading to Columbus tomorrow to spend some time with Jeremy’s family.
I have been without internet I feel like forever, so I’m missing a lot in the blog world. What has everyone been up to??
Lily Runs the World 
Geez, I feel like this is all so crazy action packed and exciting but you still have your entire European adventure to come! Glad you’re having such a good time!
I know! Even though we’re having such a good time, I’m excited to have a few quiet days in Columbus!
Have fun. I moved to CHS 10 yrs ago. Glad you enjoyed the town.
It was great! I’d been a few times when I was in college, but I felt like this time was definitely the best.
Love it, thanks for sharing the photos. And Cochon is pretty awesome, isn’t it?!?!
Oh man, it was DELICIOUS. I didn’t even mind waiting two hours for a table…
I’ve been to both Charleston and Georgia, and I guess I never realized that Athens was so close to SC! I always thought it was further inland. Your trip sounds like it’s going awesome so far!…minus the flat tire.
It’s pretty nice how close Athens is to SC and NC and even Tennessee! It’s been such a good time, I can’t wait to get the next step of our journey started!
Great photos! (That old tree is pretty amazing.) And even greater friends and food. Glad you’re having a good time.
Thank you so much! The tree was really awesome.
Looks like great times!!!
It’s definitely been a ton of fun!
I simply love following your adventure – what a journey, what a life you live! I hope we’ll get to catch up when you are in the UK – I’ll take you out for a run and a muffin too, at the very least! 😉
I hope so too! I’ll take you up on both of those for sure!
Looks like a great time! Love all the pictures. Makes me want to go now.
If you ever make your way to Victoria please let me know and we could meet. 🙂
I definitely will, thanks!!