"@#$%&*, You Drank the LAST *&$#^$@ Kool-Aid "

Friday morning came bright and early. We loaded up the truck and headed off to Charleston to celebrate my BIG 2-7 !

Such a happy traveler

We (and by we I mean Hubbs) barrelled down the interestate.. until we got to East Knoxville. Hubbs had just commented that he wanted to speed up but he knew the second he did we would see a cop. So what did Hubbs do? He sped up anyway..true NASCAR style. And just as he was pulling his best Dale Jr. in turn 4, BAM, Motorcycle cop.. radar gun..points his leather gloved finger at Hubbs and to the shoulder of the road. BAHAHAHAHAHAHA He gave us his over-rehearsed speech, knocked off 10 mph, wrote us a pretty green ticket and sent us on our way. (He didn't wish me a Happy Birthday, jerk) Happy to get that out of the way we continued on and laughed for the next 38 miles... that's when we spotted him.. the Dragon.. yes.. it's following us.. We laughed even harder and snapped a picture for credibility.

The Dragon

We were talking about the weather and how I'd read on FB (always reliable) that someone had reported snow on Mt. Leconte. I passed this info along to Hubbs and he says, "Where's that??"

REALLY ?????  REALLY ???!!!??!!

Obviously Hubbs isn't from Tazewell.. because if he was.. he'd know all about Mt. Leconte.. and he'd know that because Carolyn DeBusk had told him all about it... "Nooooooow Children" haha little SMMS shout out there for my homies! Enjoy.

Hubbs has a 5-Hour Energy addiction.. it's sad really

After 7 and a half hours of drive time, 3/maybe 4 pee breaks (I have the bladder of a pregnant 99 year old.. weird ?? So what) we finally made it to Charleston. Hubbs had booked a shmancy fancy room at the Crowne Plaza (conviently located next to the Tanger Outlets, whoop whoop).

I WILL have a bathroom door like this one day. 

The hotel was wonderful and the staff was super helpful and friendly. In particular was Roy, Roy was the shuttle driver for the hotel. He drove us to Downtown Charleston on Friday night. He was hilarious and very personable. So much in fact that he shared with us stories of his wife and children. His wife owns a motorcycle (Hubbs called her an organ donor) and his twin boys are looking at playing basketball at WCU. As he was telling us about his sons he describes to us their ever growing eating habits that keep up with their ever growing bodies. He was telling us how he had gone to the fridge one day only to find that his sons had eaten most everything AND drank the last Kool-Aid. This man used lanquage and racial references that would start a war. Hubbs and I looked at each other and muffled laughter. Good Ole Roy.

Friday night we had dinner at Hyman's (unforunate name, delcious food). Hyman's has been voted Best Seafood Restaurant by Southern Living Reader's multiple years in a row and collectively.

 I went all in on the Carolina Platter. Fried Flounder, Shrimp and Grits, Crab Cake and brocoli for good measure.

That bowl of grits in the right corner.. mine as well..

Did I mention we started off with Fried Green Tomatoes and complimentary Hush Puppies. Hubbs says they were the best Hush Puppies he'd ever had.. I still stand by Cookeville Boat Dock's recipe! Hubb's isn't a big seafood fan so he dove into a Prime Rib sammy the size of his arm. He lit up like Christmas when that plateful of red meat showed up to the table. It's scary how much he loves red meat.

We strolled the streets after dinner, getting our bearings and scouting out all the must see's. We walked... and walked... and walked.. 

Eventually we decided to head on back to the nest. We flagged down a cab because our shuttle was unavailable until much later. We look up to see this pimp black vehicle roll up to us, Taxi sign on top. We slide in.. I look to Hubbs and say, "this is the nicest taxi ever".  I look out the back window, behinf was the little yellow cab that could. Better luck next time my man. HA!

 The Driver, Derrick, chatted us up. Once he realized it was my birthday he punched a button on the dash and "Go Shawty, It's Your Birfday.. We're Gonna Party Like It's Your Birfday" came blaring throught the speakers. THIS was my kind of taxi. He immediately hooked us in to a game of "Name that Tune". In my head we were competitors, Hubbs claims it was a team effort. We had a blast all the way back to the hotel. When "Baby Got Back" came on I immediately felt like we'd been friends for life. Hubbs says he's never seen me sing it so hesitantly. It was like cash cab, lyrical version.. minus the cameras. And that... was only our first 8 hours in Charleston....