SB12 Day 1: Birmingham

While PDubbs & I enjoyed our weekend free of schoolwork, studying & thesis-writing, we were anxiously anticipating the official start of SPRING BREAK! We have a lot of exciting things lined up for this week, beginning with a visit to my sweet baby sister in Alabama.

Up until November, I never thought I would say "sister" and "Alabama" in the same sentence. :)

J is now attending Samford University right outside Birmingham. And she loves it! Since B-ham is on the way to Nashville, PDubbs & I were fortunate enough to get the chance to spend some time with her.

We slept in today until 6:30 AM and took our time making breakfast, enjoying our coffees and soaking in the morning. We packed all of our gear the previous night so we could enjoy our time together before heading out at 8. All we had to do was pack our toothbrushes and hit the road!

PDubbs took the first leg of the trip as we headed north. We took a quick Starbucks pit stop in Tallanasty to enjoy a free drink, courtesy of PDubb's gold card status. We traded spots in Dorthan so I could continue the rest of the trek. Thank goodness for our 14.3 hour playlist :)

We hit 50K!

We finally arrived safely at our hotel without incident. We had a couple of hours to spare before J got out of class, which we spent exploring the locale stuffing our faces and watching TV. I don't know about you, but after any extended period of time spent driving, all I want to do is veg for a few hours.  J graciously offered to drive us around town and gave us a walking tour of the campus while we still had some daylight.

A forest of freshman hammocks

Samford is absolutely GORGEOUS! It's positioned on the side of a hill overlooking a valley. All of the buildings are made with the same red brick. And the best part is that the entire campus is within a 10-minute walking distance. J says she can leave her dorm 5 minutes before class starts and still make it on time. Living off campus for 3 years has made me appreciate how easy it was to live on campus freshman year but I never had it THAT good. And everything around her during that 5 minute walk looks like a a photograph straight out of Southern Living.

J also drove us to dinner at Chuy's Mexican restaurant. We shared some warm chips & salsa as well as great conversation while I sipped on a Chuy's Brew.

Chuy's Brew - delicious!

Thanks for the fun, J! It was so nice to catch up with her - I wish we lived closer so I could see her more than once every 3 months! But it absolutely warms my heart to see her doing so well here. She radiates a happiness that touches everything around her. And why wouldn't she be happy? Samford is awesome! Tomorrow we have some time to relax & sight-see in the morning before packing up for Nashville!