That's What Shell Said

8 years ago my husband and I eloped on New Years Eve. (More on that another day) A few years ago we started going on a trip every year to celebrate our anniversary and to just get away from everything. Normally we stay pretty close to home, but last year we were freezing in Branson, Missouri and decided that maybe we should try somewhere warmer the next year.

It wasn’t long into January before I started researching beaches on the East Coast. I’ve always been in love with the East Coast (thanks to all of the Nicholas Sparks books I have read) but I had never been.

By chance, I found Tybee Island Georgia while I was searching Pinterest and Google, and I found that they do a big fireworks display on the beach for New Years Eve. Sounded great to me! So, we booked a hotel for two nights and started our countdown.

We are friends with a couple that live in Florida, so we decided that we needed to see them while we are over that way. Eventually one thing led to another and our drive to Tybee Island became a full fledged road trip.

We started off by leaving Kansas on Thursday morning after my husband got off work and we headed to West Monroe, Louisiana for the night.

Our first roadside stop was in Paris, Texas so we could see the “Eiffel Tower”. This was a fun little stop and it’s also home of the Red River Valley Veterans Memorial. This memorial is gorgeous and such a great little place to stop.

From there we continued to West Monroe. The drive to Louisiana from Texas was beautiful. The roads weren’t busy at all, and I just stared at all the beautiful farmhouses and trees. There is something about beautiful white farmhouses with round columns that makes me want to drool.

We arrived in West Monroe around 6:00. If you didn’t know already, the show Duck Dynasty is/was filmed there. We used to watch it a few years ago, but we haven’t watched regular tv in a few years. The Duck Commander Warehouse/Store was closed by the time we got there, but we knew that was going to happen. This wasn’t really a destination, more of a pit stop to sleep for the night. However, I had spent 3 days drooling over the menu at Willie’s Duck Diner and trying to decide what to eat for dinner. So naturally we pulled into the parking lot and there was a sign on the door saying “Closed until further notice”. Apparently they are closed for remodeling, but there was nothing on their Facebook page or website about that! Ugh. Luckily there was a Logan’s Roadhouse in the same parking lot, and I’m always up for steak so we ate there. My electric lemonade was delicious by the way.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in West Monroe. Great hotel. The location felt pretty safe and we had no complaints! We love Holiday Inn Express. I always feel like its a safe bet and at least you can grab breakfast before you head out for the day.

Unless you leave the  hotel at 6 AM…. which we did, but that’s ok because we grabbed some coffee and hit the road. We stopped on the way out of town to snap a picture of the Duck Commander store.

From there we worked our way on to Florida. We drove through Mississippi, and Alabama which wasn’t a bad drive. Still not a lot of traffic, but when we got to Mobile, Alabama we took a tunnel under the water and it basically gave me a mini panic attack. Thank God I wasn’t the one driving. I didn’t even know this was a thing! This girl that has been landlocked her entire life was freaking the hell out.

We came out the other side and there was the sea. It was foggy and cloudy so the view wasn’t spectacular and I didn’t get any good pictures but I swear that salty air immediately cures all of my anxiety. For someone that’s only been to the beach once, I sure fell in love with the sea hard and fast. In Alabama I finally saw some Palm Trees, so of course I screamed like I was dying and Justin thought we were about to wreck and realized he should have brought duct tape for my mouth on this trip.

It wasn’t too long from there before we were in Fort Walton Beach! I have a lot to say about Fort Walton so that will be in my next post! Stay tuned!