The Holidays

It’s always fun to hear about friend’s holiday traditions and how they got started.  Since my daughter left home, my husband and I started a tradition of taking a trip for an extended weekend right before Thanksgiving.  It began with Myrtle Beach, where we discovered that on those off days you could get ocean front hotels for very little money.  Often times, my husband would be the only person brave enough to actually swim in the ocean – it can be quite cold that time of year. But it was fun to walk the beach and eat fresh seafood without the usual crowds.  We did this for about 3 years in a row before deciding we needed a change.

The next two years we spent in Nashville after becoming late in life country music fans.  Nashville is a very fun city with live music everywhere, if you have not been there, I highly recommend it.

This year I wanted to go to Asheville, NC and do some hiking.  We booked an airbnb months ago and had received many recommendations from a friend’s daughter on where the best trails and restaurants were located.  Unfortunately, forest fires have been rampant in that area and it looked like hiking would not be an option.  I quickly cancelled that reservation and booked us a couple of nights in Greenville, SC, a city that was recommended to me by friend and fellow blogger, Laurie (Life on the Bike).

Turned out to be a very fun place to visit.  A waterfall park with a 9 mile walking/biking trail is located right downtown, along with over 100 great restaurants.   So while we didn’t get to hike, we did enjoy being outdoors along with dozens of others who were enjoying the sunny fall day.

Where we go doesn’t really matter much, we just enjoy exploring new places together. And that is what I am most thankful for this year.

 

Hiking the City of Philadelphia

Summer is coming to an end and it won’t be long before hubby has to go back to work. After a few mini vacations in the mountains for hiking – we decided our last trip of the summer should be spent in a city.  We found a great deal on an airbnb in the heart of Philadelphia! Rittenhouse Square proved to be an excellent spot from which to walk everywhere we wanted to go.

We learned about how the city of Philadelphia came to be divided into 5 squares, and how William Penn and Benjamin Franklin are the most revered figures.  Statues of both men can be found throughout the city.

That’s William Penn on top of the City Hall.

The electrifying Ben Franklin.

When we go to a city, we like to explore as much as possible on foot.  When I say we hiked the city, we probably walked over 6 miles each day.

We love the variety of food!

Lobster salad

Salmon pizza

Chipotle Grilled Shrimp

Of course you can’t go to Philly and not have a cheese steak.  There is some debate about who has the best ones – our friend Janet recommended Jim’s Steaks so that’s where we went. It did not disappoint.

The architecture is a mix of old and new.

 

 

These mosaics are created from recycled materials

The crazy parking!

The history.

This city has it all and we will have to go back several times to experience all it has to offer.  That will not be a hardship.