Along with the conference it was Buddy Reunion 2012! I worked in Georgia on Jekyll Island at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center in 2010. While there I made tons of friends and had a blast. One of the people I met was Rachel.
Rachel and I became very close this summer. We are practically the same person born 1 year different and raised on opposite sides of the country. See we even match. Ha. We've called each other Buddy for as long as I can remember. Hence the reason this trip was coined Buddy Reunion 2012. We were so excited to see each other again. She has become one of my very best friends. We are in the same stage in life and just get each other completely. So excited that we met and have remained the best of friends.
We started the trip off right. When I got off the plane we headed straight to one of the best fast food places ever invented...
I sure wish they would bring Chick-fil-A back to Oregon. So delicious. As we grabbed our food we headed down the road to Plant City, Florida. This is where Rachel grew up and we were going to visit her parents and brother, who I just love as a second family. We visited with them that night when we got there but then soon hit the hay for the night. The next day we went to Mote Marine Aquarium and Anna Maria Island. Both of which were fabulous. Here are a few pictures from that day.
Anna Maria Island was so goregous. The water looked so inviting
I defanitely agree with this sign. Should've bought it for my house.
That night we met up with some of Rachel's girlfriends from growing up (that I'd also met and hung out with when I lived in Georgia). We had a girl's night at BD's Monogolian Grill full of delicious food, drinks, and great laughs.
The next day it was time to head to Georgia. I was defanitely excited to go back to my stomping grounds. We quickly were thrown into the conference which was amazing. I can't wait to go to the next one in 2014. I learned so much and have a better understanding of where I would like to go in life now. It's taken a long time for me to pick a path I wanted to go for my career because I want to do so much but this conference defanitely helped me figure that one out. I also got some great news in steps towards this new career path. **stay tuned for more on that in a blog post later this week.
The time in Georgia seemed to go by so fast. Between the conference and Rachel working late nights at the center I feel like I barely saw her. But one day we got to escape to my favorite city in all of the US...Savannah, GA. It was the coldest it had ever been when I've been there while we were there this time but it was still a fabulous day. Here are some pics from Savannah.
Honey helps heal Sea Turtles and The Savannah Bee Company produced a special honey to help with the rehabilitation of Sea Turtles. $3 of the proceeds from this bottle go to help rehabing the turtles at The Georgia Sea Turtle Center. You can find this honey on the Savannah Bee Company's website. If you like honey and you like sea turtles buy yourself some of this delicious honey!
The fountain in Forsyth Park is so gorgeous. This picture doesn't even do it justice.
Of Course we had lunch at Uncle Bubba's, Paula Deen's Brothers Restaurant
I had been looking so forward to these babies...FRIED DILL PICKLES = so delicious! Thanks Buddy for getting me addicted to these when I first lived in Georgia
Paula's Fried Chicken, Savannah Red Rice, and Green Beans was the meal of choice and boy was it delicious!
Needless to say, the day in Savannah was a fun, cold, but very delicious day. The only thing that would've made it better would've been if it were warmer and we stayed longer.
I turned 27 while I was on this trip. Can you believe it, 27. I had a mini panic attack with Rachel one night over getting close to 30. We haven't accomplished enough in life to be even close to 30. The brakes need to be slammed on, ha.
I finally got to eat at Southern Soul BBQ on St. Simon's while I was there. When I lived there back in 2010 it had just burned down :(. They had a food cart set up where they sold food but once they were out they closed. I always seemed to hit it on days when they were closed so I was excited to finally eat there. My oh my was it delicious!
Needless to say this trip was a fantastic one. I just love Georgia & Florida. I may not have been born there but I am defanitely transformed to a Georgia Girl at heart. I can't wait to move there and be back with all the southern hospitality and friends I've made. I may just have figured out how to move back too :) I hope you enjoyed my update. For now....
Georgia is on my mind!!!
Love,
Heather
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