Vacation Part 1: Traveling, Chattanooga, and getting to Hilton Head

For the first time since our honeymoon, we planned a vacation, flew to a location far away from where we live and spent a whole week there. Jeff and I joke that we don't take vacations, we just move, but that really has been how our lives have looked the last five years. We have been blessed to move often enough that we always have something new to check out within driving distance to our home. But, when a wedding invitation of a friend from Tennessee came in the mail back in February, we decided to spend a little extra time after the wedding and head to the beach. Ever since we moved to Canada, I have been begging Jeff to take me to the beach, so when we finally booked a trip to spend a week in Hilton Head Island, SC, I was beyond excited.

We flew into Atlanta for our trip. Our friend, Ashley, lives there and was actually flying to St. Louis the same day. It was great to see her and eat lunch with her for a bit.

The wedding we were attending was in Chattanooga, so we arranged with our friends Matt and Jaclyn, who live outside of Nashville, to meet up Friday night, before the wedding on Saturday. It was so great to see them! Before our trip, Jaclyn and I were joking about staying at the Chattanooga Choo Choo, which is a hotel in the city that has actual train cars you can sleep in. We went through Priceline to get a hidden deal and funny enough, we ended up getting rooms at the Chattanooga Choo Choo! No train car rooms for us, but we walked around and checked them out.

All the car rooms outside. They didn't look too big, but we never got to see one inside.

Boone is big on the word "choo choo!" so he was saying it all the time!

Burning some energy after a 3 hour plane ride and 2 hour car ride! 

Boone was such a trooper the whole trip. He slept in 4 different places in a 

week and it didn't even phase him.

It was so fun to take Boone to Tennessee! So many good memories from that state.

This kid is obsessed with trucks, trains and cars. Obsessed.

A little Choo Choo history.

My guys.

There were nice gardens in the courtyard. I wouldn't say it is the nicest hotel, 

but with the deal we got, it was worth the experience.

The crew, which I now affectionately call The RoBeatys.

Downtown near the waterfront in Chattanooga.

Riding the free trolley through Chattanooga on Saturday morning. Matt and Jeff went to a local power plant to tour the area and we checked out a local market.

Before we headed to the wedding, we ate a delicious lunch at Mellow Mushroom! 

It's one of the many restaurants we miss from the south. It is so delicious.

Our wonderful small group from Tennessee. Miss these people so much. What a wonderful group! Congrats Bryan!

Boone fit right in with the boys from the group. Jonathan (on the far right) and 

Boone have both been born since we left Tennessee. 

Sunday morning we headed out towards Hilton Head. Boone enjoyed a little snack from the wedding. They gave out Moonpies as favors and he was a big fan.

Once we reached Hilton Head Island, it was about dinner time, so we all hopped on our bikes and rode to a local restaurant called Hot Mama's Bar-B-Que. It was delicious! And I absolutely loved our first bike ride. We were staying in the Sea Pines area of Hilton Head and it was gorgeous. Huge trees with Spanish moss hanging off of them and gorgeous golf courses line the area. 

We bought Boone a bike helmet a few weeks ago, but he has screamed every time we put it on him. I knew he was going to need to wear it while he rode on the bike with Jeff, so I was really worried he would just scream the entire time. Fortunately, he was so excited to ride with Jeff he was actually excited to put it on everyday.

After dinner, headed back home.

So, there's a bit about the beginning of our vacation. We have so many pictures, but it has been so fun to look through and remember how much fun we had.