Winin' and Dinin' in Charming Charleston

For a final hooray weekend, before I begin my new job, Ryan and I headed down to the "low country" for a couple nights in Charleston. It's about a three hour drive and is just the perfect getaway for those of us living in the "upstate."

These are a couple pictures of our adorable hotel. A little old school, but perfect for the setting!

There is tons of great shopping in Charleston! - and by shopping, I mean for seersucker, of course! Life is worn in light blue, light yellow and really all shades pastel. This is a great, well known store - Dumas and Sons. 

This restaurant, Husk, is world renowned (little did we know!). We tried to get reservations and the next one was October. 

Being right on the water, it is very windy when you walk along the coast. 

This was at dinner Friday night at Amen Street Fish Bar. We got grouper prepared different ways, of course with (fancy) cheesy grits and (fancy) fried green tomatoes. We were in foodie heaven!

Breakfast & the paper were delivered to our room each morning! That sealed the deal for a 5 star rating on Trip Advisor for this hotel!

Our future "Wintah Home" below!

There are oyster shells everywhere! Including on people's dinner plates - yuck. But beautiful line to the beach!

Dream dinner party porch right here!

Joggling bench! One of life's simple pleasures. You can just bounce for hours! 

Happy hour on a hot summer day!

We loved our mini vacay and hope next time to get to visit all the many islands off the Charleston coast! But for now, this girl's gotta work...

Our week at Windy Gap

We ventured to Weaverville, NC for the week of June 24-30 to experience Young Life as Adult Guests with Fayetteville, AR where Carlyle is a leader. He brought 40+ kids to camp this year and we had the honor of spending seven glorious days here!

Along with club every night, we refereed sand vball tourneys, judged blob competitions, did the blob ourselves, hiked, biked and hung with kiddos ages 15-18. 


Below is a picture of our cabin, "Overlook Lodge." It was so homey with a gorgeous view!

One night was a western night with a fried chicken picnic, square dance and 1800s themed carnival

Throughout the week, we were reminded of the incredible sacrifice Jesus made at just the right time.  We were inspired and encouraged by the selflessness of Work Crew and Summer Staff who give up a month of their summer and enthusiastically serve the campers and staff totally as volunteers. 

Our problems got small as we heard the stories of people who endured abandonment, pain and experienced the redeeming power of the gospel. Amen.

We look forward to joining the Greenville YL team and have begun making contacts already. What at adventure ahead of reaching all kids for Jesus, taking them simply as they are. 

Table Rock State Park

Saturday was our first time to test out our inner granola and begin exploring all the outdoor beauty South Carolina has to offer! Upon researching, I found out SC has 47 state parks! And y'all - this state is not that big. So what an exciting bucket list for us to start.

We ventured 30-40 mins away to Table Rock State Park, loaded with a picnic lunch, sunblock and trail maps. The park is filled with camp sites, cabins for rent, a swimming hole, water falls - we barely even scratched the surface with a one trail hike. 

We didn't quite know what we were getting ourselves into - turned out to be a 7+ mile hike! Almost four miles each way. It was a gorgeous trail - so green, minimal creatures and quite the work out!

         The view at the top was so worth it!
               ...And the walk back down much easier!