The Carolina road trip in words and pictures

Well, we blazed our trail to North Carolina and back home in 4 days. Melanie's car's probably still wheezing a bit. It was a whirlwind full of many miles covered, junk food eaten, Chick-fil-a all day all the time and basketball games. It was a highly successful venture. We left in the afternoon on Friday, New Year's Eve, with much anticipation for places and things never before seen.


Excitement filled the stale air in the car.


There were no disappointments along the way. The biggest problems we faced were picking movies to watch and bad weather with rain and foggy conditions following us the entire trip.

Friday night found us ringing in the new year on the highway somewhere around Atlanta as someone in the car said, I think it was Olivia, since those of us on the trip made it into the new year ahead of our family, we were living in the future! It was a very profound statement.

That night we were entertained by fireworks along the way and one huge new development occurred while driving at night. Did anyone know shining a light from a cell phone on a passing 18 wheeler allows for making awesome shadow puppets on the side of the truck!? This brand new information made for some entertaining moments indeed. It helped cut the tension around Birmingham when the rain was coming down in sheets. The combination of the dark night, much rain and one headlight being out made it difficult driving. Thank God all ended well.

After about 11 hours in the car and crossing over into the eastern time zone, therefore losing a valuable hour, we arrived at our hotel at 1:00am. When we went to check in, the girl's grandmother was from Monroe! How crazy is that? It really is a very small world. So Friday night we tucked ourselves in, slept quickly and Saturday morning awoke ready to began the second leg of our trip, after unsuccessfully trying to get chicken biscuits from Chick-fil-a.


Me looking weird.


We were always waiting on Caitlin.


To our disappointment, the rain we had outrun the night before caught up to us as we slept. It was foggy and therefore difficult to see the South Carolina countryside, although what we could see looked strangely like Texas and Louisiana.

With 7 passengers, the car was packed like a sardine can and the 5 girls were basically sandwiched in between pillows, blankets and books but they switched out regularly so people wouldn't get too claustrophobic.


We continued on our journey eating our way across 6 states until we arrived in North Carolina at about 2:00 pm eastern standard time. When you lose an hour, you miss it terribly.

When we arrived in Durham, we made our way directly to Duke University's campus...because we were closest to it....not because of favoritism.


The entrance to Chapel Drive.


Everything is very Englandy looking.


I was stunned to discover it's Gothic architecture. I don't know what I expected, but Gothic wasn't it. We inadvertently found the entrance to the Duke chapel, which is huge and I'd never call a chapel.


Even their signs are cute and snazzy.


Since the students weren't there because of the holidays, we had the run of the place! There were a few sight seers like us but for the most part it was like a closed session for us to drive around and look through every nook and cranny we could find. We took much advantage as you'll see later.

People leapt with joy to be out of the car.


Standing on Chapel Drive.


Caitlin and Olivia decided to join Emma and Maggie.


Emma having a moment to herself.


Carlie acted very much like a grown up and even joined the girls for a picture on the Duke campus. For anyone that may not know, Carlie hates Duke basketball down to her core...her loyalties lie with UNC. The other 4 girls feel the same way about Carlie's tarheels. No one really knows what a tarheel is.

But a tarheel is just a ridiculous as a Methodist college being a BLUE DEVIL!



Many photos were taken cause how often do we go there?


What to do next? Walk to the chapel and see what's gonna be on the agenda.


But before we do let's get a few more photos for posterity.


Carlie's about to dash off to UNC.


And another photo.


This place was highly impressive.


Walking to the chapel.


These buildings line the drive to the chapel.


So lovely but a little creepy.


This place was gorgeous. I wish we could have seen it with the sun shining but there was no sun to spare.


I've never done any research about Duke so I had no idea what to expect. It was a delight to see the campuses of Duke and UNC, as well as the surrounding cities. I just wish it wasn't so far away. This 14 hour road trip isn't for the faint of heart when you're doing it in 4 days!

Coming up next, the inside of the chapel.

It's quite beautiful.

Stay tuned.