A Weekend Away

Over the weekend Mike and I got to enjoy a little getaway up in the mountains. Mike actually took some leave, (for the first time in over a year!), and we drove about 6 hours west to a little town in South Carolina called Landrum to stay at The Red Horse Inn. We stayed in our own little private cabin and for 3 days we ate great food, shopped, and most of all relaxed to our heart's content!

I found the Red Horse Inn online a couple months ago and immediately fell in love with their cabin-style accommodations and stunning mountain views. We were probably the youngest guests there by a couple of decades, but that didn't even matter once we got settled in. We had a very friendly neighbor named Secret who was very thankful for the bag of baby carrots we brought along, and in-cabin pizza delivery that was over the top delicious!

Our friendly neighbor, Secret!

On Saturday, we explored the little towns surrounding Landrum even though it was pouring rain. We ate some good food at a local pub, did some antique shopping (I know... Mike is a trooper!), and stopped by a local coffee shop for a big waffle cone for M and some hot coffee for me! Then on Sunday, we drove out to Caesar's Head State Park and hiked out to the Raven Cliff Falls and WOW was it beautiful! All the leaves were changing and falling, the weather was a crisp 60 degrees, and the fresh mountain air definitely did us both a bunch of good :)

Monday we slept in and enjoyed some gigantic muffins for breakfast before packing up and checking out of the Inn. Getting back to Jacksonville meant driving through Charlotte and we all know what that means... IKEA! I seriously cannot pass one without stopping in, it's an issue. We got there with the intention of finding another dresser for our bedroom and ended up leaving with two... Whoops! But we now have a complete set for our room plus a ton of clothes storage and trust me, between all of mikes work clothes (the socks alone people... I mean really) and all of my stuff, we were in desperate need!

We made one more stop in Raleigh for some Qdoba queso (another MUST on any trip we take in that direction) and then it was back home to lovely Jacksonville. Mike and I rarely get to take time away just for the two of us so this trip was extra special. I'm so glad we were able to sneak away for a few days before Mike's work schedule gets a little extra crazy and also before the holidays start and we just get too busy!

Tuesday morning it was back to business and we picked up this handsome pup!

Please excuse my dirty floor...

I wish we could've brought him with us, he would've loved the mountains! Maybe next time ;)

Up next for the Beards... I'm still working on that fall bucket list of mine. I haven't made much progress on the soup making, mostly because temps have still been in the 80s here! Nice, hot soup on a hot and sweaty day? No thank you! Thankfully it looks like it's starting to cool down which means soup galore! We have two different pumpkin patches on our radar and a lot of excitement coming our way in the next couple weeks! Halloween, family coming to town, the Marine Corps ball... It's the most wonderful time of the year! Well, at least until Christmas time ;)