Once upon a time, I was a little down in the dumps about life and Pearson was working his tail off all day every day in the lab. We were both in a rut and desperately needed a break. We needed to get away and relax. We needed some uninterrupted time together and we needed to recharge. Well, wouldn’t you know, Pearson’s beautiful cousin, Kayla decided to get married on this perfect weekend right in the middle of our little rut! Thanks, Kayla!

So we decided sort of at the last minute to make the trip all the way to Valdosta for the wedding this weekend. We weren’t going to at first because it was such a long way for just a weekend but then we thought, why not? We have the vacation time saved up. We have a dependable car. And as I’ve already said, we needed the time away!

So we packed up the car early Thursday morning, dropped Pip up at the boarding place and embarked on our 13 hour (each way) road trip for the long weekend.

Here are some tips for the next time you use your cousin-in-law’s wedding as an excuse to get away (because I know this very specific scenario happens oh so often!)

1. Pack a book. I started Little Women on the trip and I spent a lot of relaxing time reading both during the 30 hours on the road and at while hanging out at Grandma’s house!
2. Pack more than one pair of jeans. I only packed one pair and they got washed in Grandma’s washer twice. Once because I did yard work in them and got all sweaty and once because they got Diet Coke spilled all over them (I won’t point fingers at my mother-in-law for that one).
3. Pack shorts if you’re going to South Georgia. I forgot that just because the temps haven’t gotten over 60 much here yet doesn’t mean it’s like that everywhere. I cleaned up Grandma’s yard in 90 degree weather while wearing jeans.
4. Pack more than one set of lounge-wear/pajamas. Along the same lines as above, I only took one pair of pajama pants and that’s all I had to wear around the house too. Especially while I waited for my jeans to be washed.
5. Find out as many plans as possible before hand. I packed 3 dresses. One for the rehearsal dinner, one for the wedding, and one for church just in case. And I ended up only wearing one. We didn’t go to the rehearsal dinner and we left Grandma’s house before church Sunday morning to make sure we got back to Buford in time for church Sunday night so I didn’t need a dress for that either.
6. Take Dramamine in the car. This is a must for every road trip for me but especially if you’re gonna be spending a total of 30+ hours on the road.
7. Take pictures of beautiful scenery on the trip. I only took a couple. Apparently I was asleep for the prettiest parts of Tennessee.
8. Take pics of the mundane. Especially if you’re gonna blog about it. I have no pictures of the yard work or reading or watching TV. That’s a little understandable, but I also have no pictures of people. Like at all.
9. Take at least one good pic of the bride for heaven’s sake. Like I said, I have no pictures of people.
10. Take a pic of your party at the wedding. I’d say our crew cleaned up pretty good but do I have any pictures to show it? Nope. I should have at least had someone take one of me and Pearson. Bad blogger award goes to me for sure on that one!
11. Make sure you’re abs are in shape. If your family is anything like my in-laws, there will be lots of laughing over the dinner table and the card table.
12. Bring your hubby. This is a given but weddings always make me feel sentimental. The vows remind me of the vows we made almost 3 years ago and I am just so overwhelmed with joy to be married to my best friend.
13. Be prepared to meet new family and friends and be reunited with ones you haven’t seen in a while. It doesn’t get much better than that!

And for your viewing pleasure, here are the few pictures that I took that turned out decent.

The only decent shot of the scenery on the road and my reading material for the weekend.

The beautiful ceremony under the Spanish Moss.

The Reception. Hey I actually took a pic of the happy couple walking to the reception!

Thanks for reading!