Hub City: Table Rock State Park

"In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous."

-Aristotle

Next up... Table Rock State Park. One of the best things about our move so far has been reconnecting with our college friend Thomas. The boys have their weekly boys' night, and I'm "allowed" to join them every so often. Thomas couldn't wait to have local friends to be adventurous with and had been raving about this hike since we moved in.

On Sunday morning we headed up to Table Rock State Park for a hike. Most of our hiking gear is still in Georgia, so we made do with what we had. Luckily, although strenuous, it wasn't anything we couldn't handle.

It was so relaxing to trail along behind the boys, listening to their random discussions... everything from their "Top Five" lists to their plans to make hiking part of their training regimen. Made the 7.2 miles go so much faster. Five hours later we were back down at the cars, relaxed and content after soaking in the outdoors all day, yet ready to take off our shoes and get some real food.

Hub City: The Beacon...

"French fries. I love them. Some people are chocolate and sweets people. I love French fries."
-Cameron Diaz 


Introducing a new feature, "Hub City Highlights," to share our adventures in and around Spartanburg SC. A little bit of trivia for you... the city got its nickname because of its location at the intersection of quite a few train tracks. A map of the tracks looks like the hub of a wheel. It doesn't hurt that it has also been designated as a "Bicycle Friendly Community."

First up... the Beacon Drive-in Restaurant. It's a bit of a local legend and Southern tradition. It's been featured on the Food Network's show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and been advertised on billboards as far away as California. And, on Saturday Rob and I got our own taste of Spartanburg.

 

Friday night delight...

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

-Henry David Thoreau

We were looking forward to spending our first weekend in this new city of ours. To wander. To explore. To dream. Unfortunately though, Rob ended up having to work all day today, which is a real bummer. And, last night he was just plain tired, so we had to downgrade our plans of wandering and exploring.

Instead, we wandered over to the pizza place next door and explored the menu. Turns out it's a pretty popular place, and we grabbed the last table in the dining room. We filled our bellies with pizza (me!) and chicken bacon ranch pasta (Rob!).

Then, we wandered over to the grocery store and explored the frozen food aisles. We each treated ourselves to a Butterfinger ice cream bar.

Finally, we wandered home and explored our dvd collection to find just the perfect James Bond movie to wrap up the night.

There will be other days to wander and explore the city.

Type + Photos = LOVE!

"Typog­ra­phy at its best is a visual form of lan­guage link­ing time­less­ness and time."

-Robert Bringhurst

Last week I fell head over heels in love with the work of Julian Bialowas, especially the 365 Quotes project. I'm still trying to decide which one to buy for my walls. This one, or maybe this one... oh wait, maybe this one, or this one... Maybe all of them.

In a moment of sheer inspiration and shameless imitation, I adopted his style for some of my Washington photos from our trip last summer. I had been struggling with finding enthusiasm and creative mojo for a photo book project to chronicle the journey... everything I put together just didn't feel right. That is... until last weekend, when I threw some big, bold quotes on top.

Here are some favorites. They might even be wall-worthy themselves.

Can't wait to tackle our Yosemite photos now!

Makes me smile...

"You're never fully dressed without a smile."

-Martin Charnin

Inspired by Brains On Fire's list which was inspired by Kat White's list, here is my list of twenty things that make me smile :)

1. Solving puzzles
2. Looking through old photos
3. Curling up with my husband at the end of the day
4. Cute kids doing cute things
5. Finding a good deal
6. Getting compliments on a home-cooked meal
7. Cake with icing
8. Singing to the songs on the radio
9. Completing a strenuous hike, bike ride, or other exercise
10. Catching the punchline of intelligent humor
11. Going home
12. Being able to chat online with people through the day
13. Planning vacations
14. Dreams of our future family
15. M&M blizzards
16. When Georgia Tech wins
17. Connecting with a child/teenager
18. A sharpened pencil with a full eraser--it's got to be really sharp!
19. Coming home to a clean house
20. My husband's song parodies