A little Pacific, some more Atlantic, plenty of putt-putt, and lots of smiles!

It's been over a month since the last post and that is mainly because we have just been completely flat out busy! With so much family the holidays are always super hectic. What a month!!

This year I was fortunate enough to have nearly a month off of work to celebrate the holidays in the States! Poor Rob only had three weeks.

My extra week of holiday started on 14 December when I flew to Sacramento to see my two best friends from High School, Lisa and Kelsey. I hadn't seen Lisa for four years and Kelsey for three! This visit was long overdue and such a good time, we celebrated Kelsey's birthday, dressed up at a Christmas party, then dressed up like a matching family for cheesy Christmas photos at the California Capitol building, saw Bingo The Musical, drank lots of beer, ate tons of Tillamook cheese, and even fit in a bit of hiking at Muir Woods National Park admiring the gigantic redwoods! To finish my time in California we visited the Pacific Ocean and drove over the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset. It was an absolutely perfect time with perfect friends! I'm already missing them so much.

Cheesy 'family' photo outside the Capitol.
(Matt, Lisa, Kelsey, Cindy, and Nick)

The Pacific (Kelsey, Cindy, and Lisa)

In Old Sac (Sacramento Old Town) (Lisa, Kelsey, and Cindy)

It's actually a normal tree, I just shrank! 

I was having tons of fun in California while Rob was finishing up work and catching up with friends in London. He flew out to Atlanta on 20 December where we met up with my parents and headed to Savannah!

In Savannah we hung out with my parents, played a lot of cards and even went to two pub quizzes (coming in third place both times). Before Christmas we drove up to Hilton Head to visit my Aunt and Uncle who have recently moved to lovely golfing community there. One evening we went an saw a variety show of Christmas carols, it was very funny at points and very 'southern' at other points, it really put me in the Christmas mood though!

Rob and my dad spent Christmas Eve at Hooters watching the Pittsburgh Steelers play. My parents, who are from Pittsburgh, have been die-hard Steelers fans forever and slowly, but surely my dad is converting Rob into a NFL fan, too. This year Rob was able to sport both a Steelers T-shirt and cap while watching the game! We had a fantastic steak dinner on Christmas Eve at my parents' friend's house where we all ate and laughed way too much.

On Christmas day we spoke with our family in Australia first thing in the morning then opened presents and ate breakfast before speaking with all our family in the UK and Germany. Once we had spoken to everyone and thoroughly admired all of our lovely gifts (me a fantastic ruby ring from my mother and Rob a great set of steak knives from me), I put on my favourite Muppets T-shirt and we all headed out to the movies to see The Muppets! I was so excited, as I've been waiting to see this movie for MONTHS, it doesn't open in the UK until February and it had been out in the States since Thanksgiving!! I could go on and on about how good the movie and soundtrack are but I'll just let you go and see it for yourself... easily the best movie of the decade! We came home to a turkey dinner, more games, and Christmas movies on TV.

My dog, Tinsel, with her toys
(a stuffed Christmas Dinner)

We woke up early on Boxing Day, packed up my parents car and we all drove to Cocoa Beach, Florida (stopping at the World Golf Hall of Fame for some putt-putt and St Augustine for lunch) where we spent two days hanging out on the beach! The water was so warm, nearly 20C/70F! We splashed around in the huge waves and visited the 'World Famous Ron Jon's Surf Shop' where we stocked up flip-flops, T-shirts and shot glass (proper American tat). I ate some fantastic crab legs at a local seafood and Rob had some Florida rock shrimp, which were delicious, too! A true seaside break.

Mom and Dad on the Oldest Street
in the US, St Augustine, FL

Cocoa Beach, the views from our condo

After the beach we headed to Cape Canaveral to visit the Kennedy Space Centre. We thought that we would spend a couple of hours looking around the museums and visiting the launch site but there was so much there and it was all so interesting we ended up spending the entire day there! The highlight had to be seeing the SaturnV rocket used for the Apollo missions, it was just so HUGE! Again, I highly recommend a visit.

Cindy, Dad, and Mom at the Kennedy Space Centre.

On the way back to Savannah we made a quick stop at some outlets for very reasonably priced American clothes! When we returned we quickly unpacked an repacked cause we were off to Raleigh in the morning! Rob and I rented a car and drove up to Raleigh, North Carolina to visit my best friend from University, Kimberley. During the drive up we decided to stop at one of the US South's hidden treasures... South of the Boarder, a Mexican themed rest stop on the boarder of South and North Carolina. We played a round of putt-putt (I won!), bought some fireworks and admired the sombrero-shaped gift shop, water tower and hotel.  It was certainly a 'cultural' experience.

One of many sombreros at
South of the Border, SC

In Raleight, we went bowling, ate Korean BBQ and chicken biscuits, drank lots of Tom Collins and Beer, saw a parade, and watched a TV broadcast of a gigantic acorn drop in the centre of Raleigh from a pizza shop where we celebrated the New Year! Our first acts of 2012 (beside the customary kiss and drinks) was to head back to Kimberley's house and set off our fireworks, a fantastic NYE. It was so nice to see Kimberly, too, it had been nearly three years! She and her boyfriend, Justin showed us a fantastic time!

Justin, Kimberly, Rob and Cindy... pre-fireworks

Just at the back, Rob during the fireworks!

Justin and Rob very please with the show!

On New Year's day we headed back down towards Savannah but stopped on the way at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the Birth Place of Cynthia Scott-Clark! Rob has always told people in the UK that I'm from Myrtle Beach, when in actuality, I'm from Ohio but was born in Myrtle Beach. Anyway, he has often wondered about my birthplace so we went. We had a lovely view of the ocean from our hotel and spent the day playing putt-putt and watching football. We played putt-putt at a course called Mt Atlanticus a 36-hole course and we played them all. Rob got eight hole-in-ones... EIGHT! I only managed two (both on holes where Rob had got a hole-in-one as well... very frustrating). At the end of the game you have a chance to win free putt-putt for life at the course if you got a hole-in-one on the 19th hole. We had watched several people fail miserably at this, Rob got up and did the same, straight in the water. Then I teed up, feeling pretty miserable about losing to Rob, I thought that sinking this putt would make up for 36 holes of total terribleness. I hit the ball, and it felt good, felt like a solid put, it rolled along the thin green and made it way directly towards the hole...

Gallery of Rob's Hole-in-Ones

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

... then it hit the bottom on the cup and bounce right back out!!!!!! I was devastated, I could have had free putt-putt at a course in the town of my birth, it would have been a reason to move back to the States!!! C'est la vie! 

The beach where I was born!

Another view of  Myrtle Beach, SC

The next day we drove back to Savannah and spent the rest of our trip hanging out with my parents. We spent a day visiting with some aunts, uncles, and cousins (such a nice time), played some real golf and lots of card games, drank yet more beer and even snuck in a little 5km run! On our final night, my dad ordered a BBQ beef brisket from a little roadside stand near their house, it was DELICIOUS. We love BBQ and I think that this might have been some of the best we've ever had, absolutely phenomenal. 

All in all it was a very busy (1,843 miles worth of driving) but extremely fun holiday. We saw a lot of the Southeast Coast and a lot of family and friends. It was really a fantastic trip, thank you to everyone I saw who made it such a wonderful time. We cannot wait to see y'all again soon!