Oh the place you'll go...

Over this summer, I've seen a few other bloggers recap all the places they've traveled alongside their significant other.  I've loved seeing all the places each blogger had been & I like the idea of keeping a log of all the places Brandon and I have traveled...so I thought I'd follow suit!

A few places are obvious repeats (MI, VA), but each trip was unique so I wanted to document the repeats anyway.

Hopefully, as we travel more over our lives to new, different, and exotic places (a girl can dream right!?), I can come back and update this post :)

Since March of 2009, when I first met Brandon, we've traveled to...

Matoaca, VA - Lake Chesdin - June 2009

My cousin Ashley's HS graduation - and the first of many trips to the lake

Myrtle Beach, SC - July 2009

A first for B, although I'd visited many a time!

Folly Beach, SC - September 2009

When my love affair with Folly Beach began

Crowder's Mountain & Chimney Rock, NC - September 2009

Hiking on Labor Day

Grand Rapids/Hudsonville, MI - December 2009

Meeting B's family for the first time!

Crystal Mountain, MI - December 2009

Squeezed in a little skiing while in the Mitten :)

Beech Mountain, NC - January 2010

A little local ski day trip!

San Juan, Puerto Rico - April 2010

My Spring Break & a very memorable trip - where we got engaged!!

Atlanta, GA - June 2010

A weekend in the ATL & the Tigers vs. the Braves

Matoaca, VA - Lake Chesdin - July 2010

Back to the lake - my family vacay

Hudsonville, MI - August 2010

Our Michigan wedding shower :)

Folly Beach, SC - September 2010

Labor Day Weekend at the beach with good friends!

Blacksburg, VA - VT - October 2010

Central Michigan vs. VT

MTNs of NC - November 2010

A weekend in the Mountains 2 weeks before the Big Day!

Negril, Jamaica - November 2010

Our Honeymoon!

Hudsonville, MI - December 2010

Our first married Christmas in Michigan

Myrtle Beach, SC - December 2010/January 2011

New Years at the Beach

Greenville, SC - February 2011

A weekend away

Atlanta, GA - March 2011
Visiting my Parents

Coco Beach & Orlando, FL - April 2011

Spring Break & my first visit to Universal Studios!

Blacksburg, VA - VT - May 2011

My cousin Erin's College Graduation

Durham, NC - July 2011

Durham for the night for a Durham Bulls Game

Corolla, NC - OBX - July 2011

Family Vacay in the Outer Banks

Grand Rapids/Husdonville/Muskegon, MI - July 2011

B's Company's Summer Work Party & my first helicopter ride!

Nashville, TN - August 2011

Traveling with B up to MI for a long weekend with the fam

Hudsonville, MI - August 2011

Long weekend with the fam

Virginia Beach, VA - September 2011

Another Labor Day at the Beach :)

Detroit, MI - October 2011

Our friends Ryan & Kelly's Wedding Weekend

Black Mountain & Mt. Mitchell, NC - October 2011

Hiking & Camping

Asheville, NC - November 2011

Our 1st Anniversary Trip and a visit to The Biltmore!

Rothbury, MI - December 2011

B's Company's Christmas Work Party

Hudsonville, MI - December 2011

Michigan after Christmas

Naussau, Bahamas & Key West, Florida - April 2012
B won a cruise through work so we took it over my Spring Break from school!

Matoaca, VA - May 2012
Up to the Lake for E&R's Engagement Luau

Folly Beach & Charleston, SC - June 2012
Our favorite spot

Blacksburg, VA - VT - June 2012
Erin & Ryan's Wedding Weekend

Virginia Beach, VA - July 2012
July 4th at the Beach!

Carolina Beach, NC - July 2012
Family Beach vacay


Unless I've somehow left out a trip that I just can't remember, that's every trip we've taken together!  Each has been so fun and special in it's own way...so here's to many more trips together, babe!

Our 1st Year in Pictures

Before our anniversary month ends, I wanted to get in one last anniversary post :)  Overload much!?  This is an anniversary post I want to continue every year, though!

Megan, from one of my favorite blogs over at Tales of the Trees, does "A Year in Pictures" post every year for she & her husband's anniversary.  I loved the idea so I thought it would be a fun thing to start over here!

The jist is you pick a favorite (or sometimes the only!) picture from each month of the past year to document. Notice I didn't say the cutest or best quality, but favorite/most memory filled :) And that's pretty much it!  So here goes....

Our 1st Year in Pictures

November 2010
One of our first pics after arriving at our Honeymoon resort!
We were SOO tired but so excited to finally be in Jamaica!!

December 2010
At the ACC Championship - VT vs. Florida State
It was COLD!  But it was a Hokie win!!

January 2011
New Year's eve in Myrtle Beach!
It might actually still be Dec 31st in this pic.  I couldn't find any other January pics :(

February 2011
A rando date night :)
Sorry for the poor quality - old BB picture

March 2011
Ready for the St. Patty's Day Bar Crawl!

April 2011
Spring Break '11 - My first ever trip to Universal!!

May 2011
Memorial Day Weekend - On Lake Norman!

June 2011
End of the School Year/Welcome Summer Luau :) 

July 2011
At a Durham Bulls game on the way to the OBX!

August 2011
First Panther's (pre)game of the season!!

September 2011
All dolled up for a friend's wedding!
Pardon the lovely shadows our heads (and my poof :) were creating

October 2011
The top of Mt. Mitchell!  The sign speaks for itself!

November 2011
Asheville - Celebrating 1 whole year with each other :)

November 20th, 2011
Holding our wedding pic from November 20th, 2010

We made it one year babe! Here's to 100 more :)

I love you B!

OBX

I lied.  Well I didn't lie...I just didn't follow through on my plan to blog at least once while on vacation!  I had every intention to, but amidst the 15 people, the fun, and the lack of quick internet, it just didn't happen!  In fact...I didn't even tweet, instagram, update my facebook, or pin any interests.  It was kind of a technology break if you will.

But guess what!?  Break is OVER!  I'm back =)  And with a VERY long post...you've been warned!  I completely understand if you skip til the end, ha.

So a week ago Friday afternoon, Brandon and I began our trek to Corolla, NC in the OBX with an overnight stop in Durham, NC for a Durham Bulls game!

Notice our over packed car!  Ha, we thought we needed sheets & bath towels in addition to our beach towels.  The former not so much needed.  Oh well!

The Durham Bulls Stadium is right next to a cool area called the American Tobacco Historic District.  It has many cool restaurants to choose from, so we chose Tyler's Restaurant & Taproom.  We grabbed a seat at the bar and got some good eats before the game!

As you can see, the weather was looking a little less than perfect for baseball.  We tried to remain optimistic, though  After all....its VACATION!  So I threw my hair up and we waited out the rain :)

The rain let up for a bit and we got to see about 3.5 innings of baseball before they called another rain delay :( We waited it out long enough to split a drink and then called it a night.  

The next morning, we set off bright and early (for real) for Corolla!  Early as it was, it did not prevent us from running into Outer Banks traffic!  Our GPS said we should be at the house by 11:02.  We we watched our GPS creep up minute by minute and we finally arrived at 12!  A whole hour added cause of fun, fun traffic.  The week was definitely worth it though. 

Here is a picture dump from my camera.  I'll add a few captions to narrate :)

Ashley & Richard

Ryan & Roen in deep conversation

Wells wasn't so sure about the sun screen application

Brandon: "Roen, I'm digging this hole to burry you in."  Roen: "Good!  I wanted to be buried!"

Roen & Jude cheesin'

Ha, Ro loved being buried!!  She stayed there for a good 10 mins.

Wells liked eating sand :)

Brandon's attempts at surfing!  He finally got up for a decent amount of time and I chopped his head off...whoops!  I have never, nor will I ever, claim to be a good photographer :)

Ashley schooled was a lot better than the boys!  Haha...as were my photography skills this time.

B & me catching some waves!  So much fun, you feel like you're 10 again!

Uncle Scott tryin' to catch a crab!  I do not have a single beach trip memory without Uncle Scott trying to catch a crab, sand critter, etc :)

The next pictures come with some background.....just north of Corolla, there is a wild horse preserve.  A fence along the beach as well as a few cattle guards keep the horses to a confined area in Currituck county.  Not until 1984 was there even a paved road all the way to Corolla, hwy 12 just stopped in the town of Duck, and the horses roamed freely in Corolla.  Well not too long after the road was built, several horses were struck and killed by cars.  So it was controversially decided to build the fence.

They allow you to drive onto the beach up there, though, and there tons of houses up there that you can rent as long as you have 4-wheel drive to get to them.  So one day, we packed the whole house and parked right on the beach. Its a little nerve racking with little ones, though.  Its like a road right on the beach and the ocean seems to drown out the sound of approaching cars.

We were enjoying the beach (the water was FREEEEZING that day!) and low and behold horses are just coming down the beach!!

It was SO crazy to see them up close, just walking around!  They would stop every now and then, its almost like they were posing.  And then one proceeded to poop and another peed, right on the beach!  Haha, mother nature at its finest I guess!  But still, very cool!

Each night at the beach, one family cooked!  We had some awesome meals (that fat girl in me lived it up :)  

-Josh & Callie made delicious Mexican beans & rice with all the fixins and chips and salsa, etc!

-B & I made turkey burgers with corn on the cob, sweet potato/tater tot/zesty fries, and ramen noodle salad! (It was a success despite the corn never actually boiling & a tater tot falling to the bottom of the oven and burning.  It all turned out somehow!  I'm still a relatively new cook ok!? Hah)

-Tuesday night we ate out and got sea food.  Ashley, Richard, and I participated in our own all you can eat crab leg challenge!  Pretty sure I ate about 2 and a half pounds of crab...and it was goood!!

-My Mom and Aunt Stacy cooked some deliciouso Italian food complete with meat ball marinara sauce, chicken alfredo, and shrimp alfredo!  Talk about stuffed!

-Rob and Gale made their awesome chicken enchiladas!  That's right, Mexican two nights in one week...one very happy fat kid :)  ha

-Friday, every one left!  Aunt Stacy & Uncle Scott and Brandon & I were the only ones staying the final night.  We ate at a restaurant called Sundogs and Brandon attempted The Pound and a Half Burger Challenge!  Compete with a mound of chili cheese fries and pickle spear and 1 hour to down it all for a tshirt & his picture on the wall of fame!  I only got these pictures on my iPhone so the lighting is a little funny.

He started strong!  Lickin' his fingers and everything!!

Even smiling...mmmm, tastes so good!!

35 minutes later....he's feeling it!

And after 45 minutes, he threw in the towel!  It was those dern chili cheese fries that got 'em!  He just couldn't put 'em back...but it was a strong, good effort!

The things I failed to capture this past week: nights on the porch, the big family dinners, crowded in the living room watching True Grit, the all you can eat crab leg challenge, naps on the beach, Wells being the ham of the family, the list goes on and on :)  It was such a great trip and a part of me always wants to cry leaving the beach and my family.  

Just as I posted to twitter and facebook as we left...So long OBX :( the pleasure was all mine!  Until we meet again....

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