Travel Tuesday: Thomasville, Georgia

Back in March, my mom and I decided to take a day trip over to Thomasville, Georgia, during my spring break.  It's about a 2 1/2 hour drive from here and only about 20 minutes north of Tallahassee, where my sister lives.  While she was in class, we explored Thomasville and then met up with her to shop and eat in the evening.

Thomasville is a picturesque south Georgia town.  Tiny, but charming.  The primary attraction of the city is its beautiful plantation home:  Pebble Hill.  This trip was my second visit to Pebble Hill, but it definitely won't be my last.  I love walking through the house and learning the history of the home, but, even more than that, I just enjoy walking the grounds and exploring the gardens, barn, and sprawling oak trees.

 View of the front of the house

 The back of the house

 Garden

 Stable and barn area -- they hold a lot of weddings here in the courtyard

 Collection of carriages

After we spent a few hours touring and meandering, we headed into town to grab a quick lunch.  We had already planned out exactly where we were going to eat, but, because we spent so much time at the plantation, we missed the 2:00 lunch time deadline for most of the downtown restaurants.  It was such a blessing in disguise, however, because we ended up eating at a place called George & Louie's.  It was complete perfection!

 Our appetizer:  fried green tomatoes

 Mom and I both ordered the fried shrimp with cheese grits

If you ever find yourself in southwest Georgia, I highly recommend stopping by Thomasville to look around.  There were also, what looked like, a few really cute downtown boutiques, but we didn't have a chance to visit any.  I'm planning another trip back really soon!

Travel Tuesdays: Apalachicola Style

Lately, I've been gushing over my recent travels, all while giving away basically no details.  Sorry, y'all!  It has really been a whirlwind two weeks.  Great weeks, but oh-so-crazy.  I live in Florida...the Florida panhandle, to be exact.  And, while I don't live at the beach, I live very near the beach.  Panama City Beach, just so we're clear.  So, when spring break rolls around, the locals find any and every reason to hightail it out of here.  Not that we don't love all of our visitors.  Truly, we love y'all.  Does wonders for the economy.  But let's be real:  things get kind of weird.  Which is why I've been a little MIA lately.  However, I have no travel plans for the next several weeks, which will give me plenty of time to get you all caught up!

When my sister, Olivia, had spring break a couple of weeks ago, she headed in town to spend it with family and a few friends.  My mom and I both decided to take a mid-week day off from work to head over to Apalachicola to shop and sightsee with her.

Apalachicola is a pint-sized town, located on the Apalachicola Bay and at the mouth of the Apalachicola River.  It is famous for the Apalachicola Bay oyster.  I know...oysters are a love 'em or leave 'em kind of item, but, around here, we are a love them family.  We've been scarfing them down regularly, thank you very much.

We destroyed these this past Friday night.

Apalachicola has relied on its prime location along the Gulf for a long time.  In fact, it was once the third largest cotton port in the United States.  Today, it's fishing and shrimping industry keep it on the map, along with the many historical homes and buildings that line the waterfront and are scattered throughout the town.  Many of these buildings have been or are in the process of being restored, and it was so fun to walk around and visit the little shops in the area.

The highlight of the day was, of course, lunch!  We ate at the Owl Cafe, a very well-known, prominent spot in the middle of downtown.  The lunch hour fills up quickly, and we had to wait a while to be seated.  Always a good sign when looking for a great place to eat!  I ordered gator and pork sausage served over grit cake, which is basically just pan-fried, block-style grits.  I cannot even begin to describe how delicious it was!  If you're ever in town, I highly recommend it!!

We spent the rest of the day wandering through town, shopping and chatting.  It was perfect.  We ended the day by driving over to St. George Island, which is a few miles down the road from Apalachicola.

Summer is only a short nine work weeks away, and I'm counting down like crazy!  I'm hoping to get more great day trips like this under my belt!

This is just trip number one.  More to come!!