Road Trips

There is nothing I love more than a road trip! I mean packing up a weekend bag and driving a couple of hours to spend the weekend away from home, what could be better? Even if it is just an overnight trip, it doesn't matter I still love it!

This weekend I took an overnight trip to one of my favorite towns -- Edenton, NC. It is absolutely the most beautiful town I have ever been to; grand old houses worth millions all lined up on the Edenton Bay, what could be better! My father grew up right in the heart on this town and my mother grew up on a farm in the outskirts of town. I love the fact the my grandmother, CC, still lives there and we get to visit her and the beautiful town on a regular basis! Whenever we are there, Mike always tells stories about what it was like growing up there and Susie talks about all of the visits she made into town, including her annual trip to see the Christmas Parade (which was today, by the way!) -- it is really cool walking the streets my parents walked regularly when they were my age!

We were standing on the porch of the Barker house and Mike pointed at this and said, "Yeah girls, I raised a lot of hell on those streets as a kid!"

This weekend Edenton had their 32th annual Christmas Tour! This is such an amazing event that I started going to last year (so for me this was my 2nd annual Christmas Tour) and it is probably my favorite event of the Christmas Season. The residents of Edenton open up their homes to the public, all decorated for Christmas, and you get to walk through and speak to the family and marvel in the grandness of their homes. This year a few of the homes on West King St, Blount St, Mosley St, and Pembroke Circle where open for tour. We didn't visit all of them, only the ones we were interested in seeing, but I saw some of the most grand and beautiful homes I think I will ever see in my lifetime (I would have taken pictures, but my grandma turned my phone off on accident and then told me it died). 

Caroline and I before we left for tour!

Caroline, CC, and I before the tour!

After the tour we went back to CC's house and had a big family dinner. I met my cousins Allison (3) and Elizabeth (18 months) at dinner and they are by far the cutest, most beautiful little girls I have ever seen! After dinner everyone left and I went to bed. This morning we had a huge champagne brunch at CC's and the little ones were bursting with energy. So my cousin Carrie and her husband Charlie could relax, I helped entertain the girls and had so much fun bonding with my little cousins!

My cousin Carrie and her oldest, the beautiful Allison. She hadn't quite warmed up to Caroline and I yet when we took this picture this morning!

The camera like Elizabeth and Elizabeth likes the camera, she posed for a bunch of pictures for me!

Elizabeth and I were making faces at each other. Probably my favorite picture of the whole trip!

After we helped CC clean up brunch, and everyone else had left, we packed up the car and made our way back to Richmond, leaving the beautiful town of Edenton and all of it's glory behind us. I always hate leaving but the town of Edenton always leaves me wanting more! I absolutely love it there and can't wait for my next visit!