HILLYARD HAPPINESS: USA

LAKE JOCASSEE

6/01/2016

I seriously don't give South Carolina enough credit sometimes. At basically t...

6/01/2016

I seriously don't give South Carolina enough credit sometimes. At basically the last minute we decided to drive 3 hours north to spend our Memorial Day weekend in the Appalachians. We've been missing the mountains so much lately and to our surprise, we found some absolutely amazing things to do and places to see right here in SC!

Aside from renting a canoe, we didn't really make any other plans--we didn't even have anywhere to camp when we left, and upon our arrival at Devil's Fork State Park we learned that there wasn't a single campsite available for miles--for the ENTIRE weekend. Crap. I had apparently confused the term 'walk-up' with 'walk-in'--which actually mean two VERY different things. Well, we had found a site that looked to be vacant and began setting up camp when this random dude and his little posse of kids told us he had all of these sites reserved for the whole weekend (pointing at 4 other sites that also appeared to be vacant). When he saw our distraught reactions, he quickly told us that the park required them to reserve the spots from Friday to Monday (which he had reserved in January--WHAT??) and that none of his friends would be showing up until Saturday. And then he kindly said we were more than welcome to stay there for the one night. So yeah--we got extra lucky this time and woke up to the most beautiful sunrise on the lake. Ohhh, and Libby thinks that sleeping with us in the tent is basically the greatest thing ever--haha! Spoiled dog. Something else that was totally new for both of us, was camping somewhere that doesn't cool down at night....We were sitting around the fire, cooking our little hobo dinners and realized that having a fire was complete overkill. Who knew camping without freezing your behind even existed. So much for all of the the jackets and sweatshirts I had packed--haha, won't be needing those! We are obviously still getting the hang of this place.

In the morning we set out to find the 'Jumping Off Rock' Overlook, where we experienced the most incredible vistas of Lake Jocassee. I honestly couldn't believe we were still in South Carolina, and not somewhere much more exotic. I probably could have sat there on the ledge for most of the day, just taking in the view. And the best part--you don't even need to hike to get there! A short 5-mile drive along a winding dirt road will take you straight to the spot. But somehow we were still the only ones there. I love that we were able to capture the serenity of this awesome place so I can experience it over and over again for years to come.

SAN DIEGO ROAD TRIP

1/12/2014

As a first timer in San Diego, I must say I highly approve. Thanksgiving this year was with Landon's family and we made the semi-quick t...

1/12/2014

As a first timer in San Diego, I must say I highly approve. Thanksgiving this year was with Landon's family and we made the semi-quick trip down there for Erin's soccer shindig. If you missed my little first-time video of the trip you can watch that here.

I was utterly thrilled to get out of Utah for some sandal weather. And boy, 65 degrees has never felt so good. The drive from Logan to Cali was somewhat gruesome, but so what, it was worth it. And we broke up the trek with a few stops in St. George and Vegas. The sun was just beginning to set as we finally neared La Jolla. We walked down to the beach to watch as the warm sun drifted beyond the horizon. I immediately forgot about everything important back home, namely school, and knew it was going to be a great vacation.

With just TWO more weeks in the semester to go, stress levels high, and end-of semester exhaustion kicking in, we couldn't be any more grateful for a week-long break. We got all re-energized and ready to kick butt on our finals. Landon even took Ryan out for a quick dive right off the beach. Unfortunately, the tide was kinda rough and the water was murky as ever so they didn't last very long. However, lucky for me, as I get a bit nervous ever since that traumatizing moment back in Hawaii.

No more than 30 minutes later, they both came trudging back to the beach. They had gotten pretty tossed around by the waves. As Ryan pulled off his goggles, we noticed his eye was partly full of blood from a popped blood vessel. The pressure inside his goggles was so strong that they bruised all around his eyes. Anyways, I'm glad they had some fun with zombie eyes as the only side effect. Its a dang good thing we didn't drag all the scuba gear along for nothing!

This little kiddo was completely fascinated by all the gear and weird looking equipment the boys had on. He was pretty much mesmerized until they were under the water.

Probably one of the strangest looking flowers I have ever seen. They were all over San Diego though, whatever they are. I love how vibrant the colors are.

This place is called Children's Pool. It was originally created as a wading pool that was shielded from the big waves so kids could swim. Eventually the seals came in and claimed their territory. Now there is a rope blocking the entrance to the cove as normally the beach is completely lined with seals lying on the warm sand. They must have been out for a swim when I took this.

During the day the seals are all over the place. They were actually pretty boring to watch since all they do is lay there all day long.

Ned basically dubbed me as the squirrel specialist. Boy, what an honor! haha Ever since I took pictures of a few squirrels on our hike to the Palisade lakes they don't let a single squirrel pass without me snapping a picture. So here's the one acorn hunter that fortunately crossed our path. He's practically famous now.

My freaking cute sisters making some ridiculous asian tourist pose above and my adorable in-laws, who are crazy in love. :)

Hellllloooooo handsome. I sure married an absolute BABE! With his stunna shades on.

We saw some pretty sweet cars - completely out of our budget unfortunately. haha

Erin kicked some real butt at her soccer games. She's a feisty one, I tell ya. That head guard became part of her uniform after several head butting incidences. What a tough sucker. She sure rocked that number 17 like a boss. And we can't wait for her to come play for the USU team.

Next we headed to Old Town San Diego. This place was awesome. It was a mix between the history and heritage of the American settlers and a lively Mexican market. We especially loved the taffy machine, cinnamon candied almonds, the Mormon Battalion museum where we panned for gold, and of course the cannon. I, of course, enjoyed all of the photo opps.

I know right? Aren't we just adorable. I sure think so. :)

Clearly it wouldn't be an authentic old town without some regular ole spider webs.

I also insisted that we stop by the temple. You just can't go to San Diego without a visit. I've seen all the pictures and wow, it was far more incredible in person. And I was thoroughly surprised to discover it was right next to the freeway. I had no idea! It seriously looks like a castle right out of Disneyland. Absolutely beautiful.

I love that no matter where in the world I go, I always have this great guy by my side. He always makes life so fun and amusing. There is no one else I would rather be with than him. What a fantastic Thanksgiving. We have so much to be grateful for. Seriously! I've never been so blessed in my entire life. Thank you to everyone who makes life so easy for us. We love you all!

P.S.

I have to share our little adventure on the eve of BLACK FRIDAY - aka Thanksgiving Day. We needed to grab some food for breakfast and Landon was having an ice cream craving so we, in our right minds (haha) decided to make a quick trip to Walmart around 8:00 pm. We knew it was Black Friday, but for some reason we thought no one would be checking out until midnight.... WRONG. We began squeezing our way through aisles to get some bagels and yogurt, meanwhile getting the most confused looks from everyone around us. We didn't realize until after gathering everything that we were signing up to wait in a 5-hour-long line that wrapped all over the store just for a few breakfast items. No thank you! We put everything back, walked out shaking our heads, and went across the street to a food market with a total of 5 people in the entire store. Sheesh what were we thinking! I sure hope all of the Walmart people were happy with their purchases after such a treacherous wait. We were sure pleased with our gallon of ice cream. :) But about half way through, Landon realized that we didn't have a freezer to store any leftovers - which meant that ice cream had to be consumed before we went to sleep! Let's just say he didn't feel so well the next morning. haha Life lessons learned: don't ever buy more ice cream than you can handle and never go to Walmart on Thanksgiving.

People of Walmart

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LAKE JOCASSEE

SAN DIEGO ROAD TRIP

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