Summer Solstice in the South

On June 21st, without even thinking about the perfection of it, we arrived at my brother’s in Florida. By some amazing randomness the sun sets directly behind the mast of my brother’s sailboat on this evening. It was a pretty beautiful start to our six day stay (which we need after blasting from NH to the Deep South in three days!).

Now, we can’t just skip the trip to get to Florida though, can we?! We left Chattanooga, Tennessee, briefly touched Georgia & then entered Alabama (& immediately had to sing its anthem of course).

We are all about trying to embrace the different tastes and traditions as we travel across the country. So we stopped for some fresh peaches (and immediately ate several!).

And shortly afterwards (after spending most of the morning in the passenger seat reading reviews and mapping out options) we visited the most charming, home in the wall, right off the highway, Southern lunch spot. Perhaps my best spur of the moment find ever. The boys got to try fried green tomatoes, fried chicken & catfish, not to mention sweet tea.

The hospitality was off the charts and quintessential for the South, the boys immediately noticed the accent and all the ma’am’s and sirs used by the staff. Not to mention there were Bible verses all over the place. Doug grabbed a picture of this one because it’s a favorite of mine.

After the satisfying (albeit greasier than our norm) we made the final push to Niceville, FL to be with my brother, Phil, and his family, AKA cousin time!!!! The kids wasted no time putting on swim trunks, goggles & jumping in the pool to play together. 

We are now amidst days of cousin time and birthday bashes with my birthday on the 23rd, Penn's on the 26th and Eleanor's in between on the 25th.  More pictures and videos and updates to come for sure.