Well, it's officially a tradition now! This year was the 3rd annual weekend trip with my 3 closest college friends. After a cottage in New Hampshire in 2013 and a Savannah getaway in 2014, we bounced a lot of ideas around for this year's trip. But when Jess's job prevented her from being able to take more than Saturday and Sunday off, we knew we needed to find a meeting place close to her. And we settled on New Bern, NC.
New Bern seems to be a town with mixed reactions. Some people who've been there say 'what a cute little town!' while others say 'why would you go to New Bern?' Even the hotel staff seemed a little confused why we would choose New Bern as our getaway location. And the truth is, it really doesn't matter to any of us where we go. We just want to be together! Unless we're talking about a trip to Europe... because when Europe is on the table, there are no other options!
We loved this little outdoor chapel at Christ Episcopal Church, especially with the Spanish moss!
New Bern's mascot is the bear and they had bear statues all over downtown! It was too hot to go on a bear scavenger hunt (although it was tempting), so we just took pictures with our favorites.
New Bern is also the birthplace of Pepsi, which was invented at Bradham's Pharmacy in 1898. So of course, we had to stop by the store, even though Juli (our resident health nut) doesn't drink soda, Jess prefers Mountain Dew, and Karen and I both drink Coke products. But I couldn't resist getting a Pepsi while we were there.
One of our new traditions is setting up the camera for group photos. Last year, our Air BnB place had a nice big mantle to set the camera on, but this year I knew we would be a little challenged with our hotel suite. So we put a side table on top of the desk and set the camera on top of that. And good thing I brought my flash along, because we all know how terrible hotel lighting can be!
You know you're a photographer on vacation when your friends each take less than 15 photos all weekend with their cell phone and you take 131 with your DSLR and 30 with your phone. And I don't regret it one bit!
Another tradition we started last year in Savannah is a shopping day. We usually knock out all the fun touristy things we wanted to do in one day, so the second day, we grab our purses and search for some new clothes! I got horribly outmatched this year on our shopping day, but I'm still pretty stoked about my new skinny jeans and beautiful long curtains!
There's no telling what God has for the four of us over the next 365 days, but we know we'll be comparing calendars and finding a weekend that we can all mark off for another reunion! And it can't come soon enough!