Athens

Last week, my parents offered to keep the boys overnight during spring break. Greg and I had talked awhile back that we were going to go to Savannah on our next date night, so I immediately looked into that. It was spring break, so finding a hotel in the area we wanted to stay was impossible. We thought about Atlanta, but Greg wanted to go somewhere we haven't been. There's a brewery in Athens that he wanted to try and I didn't care where we went, so we decided on Athens. I spent a few days trying to find some fun things to do and see while we were there. My parents house is closer to Athens than we are, so we spent the night with them and the next morning we were able to get up and go straight from their house. We ended up leaving pretty early, maybe 7:30ish.

There's a couple ways to go, but we picked the route that goes through Oconee Forest. It was a beautiful drive and it was nice to talk on a car ride. The first stop we made was at Bear Hollow. It's a free zoo and park. They take injured animals and treat them there. Some of the animals are released back into the wild, but some end up staying there. It was a really pretty place and fun to walk through.

We were so close to the bears, we both commented that we've never been that close to a bear before. (except for the time I was at a park in middle school with some friends and a bear wandered on up to the park!!)

After Bear Hollow, we went to the UGA campus. I read about the Georgia Museum of Art, so we checked that out. Another free find! It was fun to look through and we had no specific plans or anywhere to be all day, so we just took our time. Also, we found out the hard way after walking on campus that nothing makes you feel older than being surrounded by college students!!! Greg kept asking me "is that cool now? Is that in style now" Like I knew! Haha, I was as clueless as him.

After the museum, we went and grabbed an early lunch at a brunch place that got great reviews. It was small and there was a little bit of a wait, but it was worth it.

I got the breakfast tacos with grits and Greg got the pimento burger. I wanted the grilled pimento cheese sandwich, but switched to the tacos when I found out Greg was considering them--I thought it'd be nice to get something we'd both like and split it. After tasting the pimento cheese on his burger, I regretted the tacos--I should have got the pimento sandwich--it was amazing!!!!

Greg is always such a trooper with me taking pictures. At least now, I can take one on my phone really quick without anybody even noticing. But, he was a trooper back in the day when I had to get my "real" camera out and take pictures.

After brunch, we decided to go see if there was any chance we could check into our hotel early (like 4 hours early) And we were, and we got to upgrade our room for no extra charge! It wasn't a fancy hotel by any means, but it was in the best location and we were able to walk to almost everything. So, we unpacked and walked to a bar and had a few local beers.

I don't know how people traveled before the internet. We looked up "good bars in Athens" and within seconds had a list of bars, their ratings, menus, prices, list of beers, etc. Trappeze Pub was highly rated, so that's where we went and we both really enjoyed it.

We went back to the hotel and took a shower (and a tiny nap) and then we got to Terrapin Brewery right when they opened at 5:30 and there was already a line. We've been to breweries in Atlanta (sweetwater) and Virginia (Star Hill) and we really enjoy them. I like doing tastings of different beers, you get a fun souvenir glass, and you can get a free tour, which we always think are fun. 

Our first samples. It's so fun to try the different beers they have. For some reason, I always like whatever Greg gets more, so we end up switching a lot.

 

They had live music, corn hole, picnic tables because you can bring your own food, set up outside so you could be outside or inside and it was a lot of fun. I enjoy people watching. There's such a variety of people that come to breweries. Couples, groups of girls, groups of guys, families with kids, young, old, the group of people there was just all over the place.

After having a couple beers, we went on the guided tour. It's so fun to hear the story behind the brewery. Who came up with the idea, where did the name come from, how much they've grown since when they sold their first beer. I enjoy it. Greg was ready to take this with us. ;)

Floor to ceiling beers!!

Proof that I was there, frizzy hair and all.

After Terrapin, we went to check out another Brewery called Creature Comforts. We got there about 45 minutes before they closed, so we felt rushed, it just had a different feel to it. The beer was nothing like the beer at Terrapin and we missed the tour. :( So, we didn't love this one as much, but, it may have just been our specific circumstances that night. I'd give them another try if we were in town again.

My beer tasted like an Arnold Palmer, which grossed Greg out. But, I liked it.

Posing in front of the Creature Comforts brewery stuff.

They had an instagram challenge and it was fun to look at the one that hashtagged the special word--that's all it took to get picked and put on the wall. But, it was fun to look through the pictures.

I had to put some pics of the two of us, so there's proof that I'm actually here, too.

After an early brunch, a bar, and two breweries--it was time to eat. We picked a place that came up high rated online and it did not disappoint. We got some chips and queso and spicy pork burrito that was actually spicy and delicious.

We ate our dinner and then went back to the hotel room to figure out what our next move was. It was about 8:30, so our next move should have been shower, pjs, and watching tv--because we're old, but I insisted that we get back out. We can't go back to the hotel at 8:30 when we're kid free. So we went out on a hunt for a snack to eat in the room while watching tv. We did a lot of walking, which was good for us. We passed by the Georgia Theater, so I was able to get a picture of that. yay.

After a couple miles of walking, we were able to go back to the hotel and get ready for bed and watch mindless tv for about 10 minutes before we passed out from exhaustion. We're old. Getting up early, all the walking, all the drinking, we didn't stand a chance of being cool and staying up late. :)

We got up the next morning pretty bright and early. We had breakfast and then we left and drove back to Dearing, GA to get the boys. They seemed very excited to see us, but only so they could tell us about all the fun things they did with Mamaw and Papaw.

We had a great time, we could have gone anywhere and had a great time. We're very lucky to have my parents who are willing to keep the boys overnight like they do for Greg and I to get this time to do things like this. And the boys were so excited about all of it and had a blast..

Our next trip will be to Savannah or to Dahlonegea (where all the wine vineyards are) I'm putting it in black and white on my blog. Non negotiable! :)