WORKCATION | PENSACOLA, FLORIDA

Matthew had to make a trip to Pensacola last week for work (Praise for clients near the coast!), so I tagged along with him....turning his work trip into a workcation! 

It was definitely a lot cooler than we thought it would be. Monday was the only real warm day, reaching almost 70. The rest of the week was in the high 40's to low 50's. 

In all honesty most of the day looked like this....working in the hotel room....

but I did high tail it over to the beach to eat my lunches and as soon as I finished up my work for the day. 

I went to a couple of different beaches/beach accesses throughout the week, but I think my favorite one was the dog beach. I didn't even realize I was at the dog friendly beach access until after I arrived. There were dogs EVERYWHERE....so basically heaven on earth. I even made friends with this little fella names Haus. Sweet boy kept trying to climb up in my lap lol.

and then one day I had the whole beach to myself at lunch. Very peaceful and relaxing.

Then this guy showed up and joined me down by the water...

Another favorite beach area. The sand was bleach white and beautiful!

I saw a sign that said there was sand on the road, but didn't think much of it until I literally came up on it. Is it snow or is it sand? Definitely looks like snow haha!

Matthew and I did try some new restaurants and enjoyed alllll the good food! A few restaurants worthy of mentioning....

1. Crabs - delicious crab cakes

2. McGuire's Irish Pup - very large and popular restaurant in the area with great food!

3. Global Grill - This adorable restaurant is located in downtown Pensacola. The best steak we have ever had! Matthew went three years ago when he was in Pensacola for the same client and he has mentioned it often over the years. He said I had to try it and I can confirm his opinion on it. Their worcestershire sauce is homemade in house with over 70 ingredients in it. The steak was cooked to perfection in the homemade sauce and then served over garlic mashed potatoes. My mouth is watering thinking about it again- YUM!

One afternoon Matthew had to stay pretty late at the client so I decided to watch the sunset on the beach. Without a doubt one of my most favorite times to be at the beach. 

It was a great week and I am so thankful I was able to tag along with Matthew on this trip!

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WORKCATION | PENSACOLA, FLORIDA

POSTCARD TRADITION

I told Matthew on our honeymoon that I wanted to start a small tradition in our marriage, where every time we go on a trip together I want to pick up a postcard or two and save them all to look back on over the years. I'm not a big fan of buying t-shirts or other souvenir items that cost a fortune and will soon be forgotten, so a .50 or $1 postcard was it. I have to give full credit to my parent's because this idea came from them. They didn't always pick up a postcard on their trip, but they did pick up travel/hotel pamphlets and documented things on them. I have LOVED looking at these over the years. 

On the back of the postcards I document the following, in bullet point style so it's not 4 paragraphs long or messy....

• The dates of our trip
  
• The reason or occasion of our trip
  
• Where all we went (landmarks, shows, etc.)
  
• Most memorable moments (ex. me packing over 50lbs in my suitcase for our California trip that caused Matthew to almost crumble with embarrassment in the airport when I had to put some of my clothes & shoes in his bag LOL.)
  
• If I can remember (most of the time I forget this and have to go back and add it later), the price of bigger things (ex. cruise ticket, plane ticket, excursion ticket, the cost of the hotel per night, etc.). My parents did this and I love seeing how much things cost back when they went on trips compared to things now- very interesting to me! 

Our honeymoon to Mexico!

Our cozy fall trip to Gatlinburg! If you have been a long time reader then you remember my post on the BEARS!

Our first cruise to celebrate our 1 year anniversary (a little late)!

Our Charleston trip to celebrate our second anniversary....that we planned a few days before we left!!

Our quick 48 hours in St. Louis!

and our latest trip, California! I haven't been able to blog about it yet, but I am hoping to soon!

How do you remember/document your trips?

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POSTCARD TRADITION

FIRST COUPLES TRIP | GATLINBURG 2018

This past Friday we loaded up our car, headed to Cookeville to pick Ethan and Rachel, and headed up to the mountains for our first couples trip! The Shoats spent the weekend all over Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. We ate, shopped, rode go-karts, and did all the touristy things in Gatlinburg....and enjoyed every second of it!

We arrived a little after 9pm on Friday night and after dropping our bags off we headed out to visit a new place (new to us), called The Island in Pigeon Forge. We got ice cream and walked around a few shops before it started to rain. After the rain set in we decided to call it a night and headed back to our hotel.

Saturday morning we got an early start to beat the wait at Paula Deen's restaurant. It was, hands down, the best meal of our trip. The food is served family style and it's bottomless. Needless to say we skipped lunch because we were so full the rest of the day. 

The dining area is upstairs in the restaurant with a gift shop on the first floor. The views were great from our table!

The gift shop was adorable too.

After our huge breakfast we drove up to Gatlinburg and went to the aquarium. It was a lot smaller than we remember, but it was still a fun experience. It's a great place for kids!

After the aquarium we walked the strip and went into a few different shops. It started to rain again, so we headed back to Pigeon Forge. 

TIP:

If you are going to Gatlinburg and wanting to find a place to park to walk/eat/shop the strip, park at the aquarium, it $6 (less if under a certain amount of time) for the whole day and it's a covered garage.

We decided to go through the new Alcatraz East Crime Museum and it was really interesting! I would not recommend taking children there as it's a lot of walking around and reading different facts. 

After the crime museum we ate at Timberwood Grill for an early dinner, since we skipped lunch. I got a burger topped with macaroni and cheese and bacon (calories don't count on vacation!) and it was delicious. After dinner we went back to the hotel to change and rest before going back out that night. We were exhausted from all the walking, ha!

Saturday night we went back to The Island and walked around, we also decided to have a late, second dinner (second dinner is totally acceptable on vacation) at Mellow Mushroom. We sat on their patio for a couple of hours, chatting and people watching. The weather was incredible and it was so nice to just hangout!

We had planned on riding the huge ferrris wheel, but it started to rain, so we called it a night and headed back to the hotel. We watched a movie and then went to bed pretty late.

Sunday morning we slept in a bit and then headed to Applewood Farmhouse for brunch! While we waited for our table, I browsed their Christmas shop- so many cute things! Our meal was incredible, just as I remember from when I was younger and went their with my family. The apple fritters were the perfect starter to our meal!

We went to Tanger Outlets and then to The Christmas Place (can you really visit Gatlinburg and NOT go to Tanger Outlets and The Christmas Place??) before heading to to go-kart track. Matthew and Ethan's one request was go-karts at some point during the weekend, so go-karts it was! We spent a couple of hours riding on different tracks. It was fun and the guys were l-o-v-i-n-g it.

It was a great trip and we are excited to plan future couples trips with our best friends!!

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FIRST COUPLES TRIP | GATLINBURG 2018