Family Trip: Augusta

As has become our Christmas Break tradition, we took a short trip to a driveable fun stop. This year's destination: Augusta, GA. We also planned things on the way there and back in Charlotte. :)

Including....

Cirque!!!

They were having a show in Charlotte,

so of course we had to go.

It was under the big top, which was fun.

It was called Bazzar

We got VIP passes, so we got to visit with a couple

of the performers afterward and get our pic taken with them.

It was fun to hear their stories. They are both international performers.

One of them has been with Cirque for many years. The other was

a street performer who posted videos on YouTube and ended up

getting recruited by Cirque just a couple of years ago.

So fun to make memories with the five of us!

The girls were going to acro poses here, too, but a

worker told us, "No tricks!" I guess they don't want 

people to hurt themselves.

We got dinner at Optimist Hall,

which the girls and I love and the boys hadn't tried.

I love that everyone can find something they like.

One of our most random fun stops was in a little city outside of Charlotte called Mint Hill. A friend

who knew that we liked to shop in cute downtowns recommended it. Unfortunately, it looks like their cute little local shops have mostly been torn down and replaced with Dollar Tree and Papa Johns. :( But while we were driving around and figuring that out, we accidentally happened upon "Your Local Game Store." We stopped by and talked with the employee as well as a fellow customer and found two new games to add to our collection. They have open tables where anyone can play games and we had some time to kill, so we tried them out!

One is called The Mind.

It's just a set of cards with numbers from 1-100. You play in rounds. First you just deal one card to each person. And without talking, you have to figure out which order to lay the cards in to get them in ascending order. We had so much fun with it. But then we figured out that we were playing it wrong. And the kids don't like to play it the way the rules are written. Ha!

The other one that is a BIG hit is called Just One.

I love this game and have played it with several groups since we got it.

It's a cooperative game where you're trying to get one teammate to guess a word. The other teammates each write down ONE WORD. And if more than one of them write the same word, they aren't allowed to show that clue to the guesser. It's so fun, easy to learn, quick to play. Perfect party game.

The big red giving machines came to Charlotte again.

Yippee!

We stopped and bought some fun stuff, including a goat,

chickens, and a game kit.

Such a great idea to get people to donate.

I had also signed us up for a volunteer opportunity

at a soup kitchen, but it fell threw. Boo.

Instead we stopped in Columbia, SC at the Saluda Riverwalk

and tried to do some birding. We didn't see much.

But judging by our faces, we still had fun. :)

The girls and I found some fun, local shops

like we were hoping for in Augusta.

This was one of my favorites!

Art on Broad

Isn't it so fun?

I wanted to buy everything!

But I settled for just one.

Augusta has some beautiful historic buildings.

I love this church.

We stopped at a park.

Jumping pic

This fish dive didn't go as expected

Sweat Family Circus Tricks

You never know what B will find to climb.

How long can I make them do tricks for me?

STRONG

My research said they had pickleball courts at this park.

But it was a lie.

They only had tennis courts.

So we played pickleball on them for a bit.

One of the highlights of our time in Augusta was

taking a family bike tour through downtown.

James Brown is from Augusta, so a lot of the

street art celebrates him.

We went through Bike, Bike Baby.

This is our guide with us.

We had a really good time, but it wasn't quite what

I was expecting. The guide had just printed up info

about the sites and would read it off. It felt like we 

probably could've just googled it ourselves.

Downtown Augusta in the background

Riding on this bridge was so fun.

When you made it to the other side, you were in SC.

Fun to ride to another state. :)

We also stopped by the childhood home of

President Woodrow Wilson.

thrilling....

More cool street art

We're not big bikers and I was worried if I'd be sore

the next day, but it was perfect and all of us enjoyed it.

Ok, this stop was hilarious.

Or at least the minutes leading up to it were.

Our guide asked us what kind of music we wanted to listen to.

And then he BLASTED it from his bike.

It was so loud it hurt my ears.

We ended up having to ask him to turn it down.

(I must be old...)

Andrew said, "Let's listen to something with Augusta Flavor."

So, of course, our guide picked James Brown.

Which was great....

at first.

Then we as we were nearing Springfield Baptist Church,

one of the oldest African American congregations in the US, 

formed in the late 1700's... James Brown's song called "Sex Machine"

came blaring out of our guide's speakers.

Andrew and I were DYING.

It was cringy and so inappropriate.

But he saw no problem with it... It was awkward.

Everyone else in the family likes time to just relax

at the AirBnb. But I am more in to exploring than relaxing,

especially when I travel.

I've embraced the differences and 

will plan some activities that are optional for the fam.

And usually everyone else opts out. Ha!

This year, that included a solo birding trip to

Phinizy Swamp. I had a great time! :)

Isn't this the best swampy pic?

This little guy is a swamp sparrow.

Great Egret

Palm warbler...I think

Anhinga

Lots of Great Egrets

We enjoyed some yummy food in Augusta.

We had Mexican one night.

Elotes!

El Rey

We had planned to do an art activity as a family,

but there were some unforeseen hiccups and it didn't work out.

So instead we did the Sorcerer's Secret escape room.

Made it out in 46 minutes. It was fun, but not

necessarily our favorite.

We did spend some time birding as a family.

It was a beautiful afternoon and we enjoyed it.

The girls and I spent one afternoon thrifting 

and shopping.

Since the Masters is in Augusta,

there was lots of Masters Gear available

at the thrift stores.

Love hanging out with these two.

They keep Augusta National, the golf course where the Masters is held,

on pretty tight lock down. Our AirBnb was not far from it, but we 

couldn't even really get a glimpse of it.

Andrew and I drove around trying to find a view.

But we failed.

There's a little sign so you know it's there.

Got to spend a couple hours at Dave and Busters!

Yes!!

Took 2nd, 4th, and 9th on the Space Invaders Leaderboard

Advantage gamers!

Some of our favorite moments were playing Herd Mentality

at the AirBnb. We laughed and laughed.

Stopped for groceries at Lidl.

I thought this sign at the exit was cute.

Yummy pizza for dinner another night.

It wasn't as good as the pizza place in Fayetteville, WV,

but it was still good.

And, finally, we stopped for some go-kart racing for

Andrew and B.

Ready for some serious racing

GoKarts were made for Andrew-sized people.

Watching and cheering

There were some REALLY good racers there that day.

But Andrew and B also did well.

And they love it.

Super fun trip! I love exploring new cities and making memories together.