Pinehurst? Yes please!

I had been planning all summer long to rent a car and take off with the kids to go to see Sara and her family in Northern Virginia for a week. But when I found out my friend Lauren, who lives in Omaha, was going to be at her parents house in the Pinehurst NC area, I decided to take off a day early to spend the night with her on my way to see Sara.

The kids were amazing during the 5 hour car ride. We only had to stop once for gas and the bathroom. I was psyched when I saw two toilets in the bathroom- 

It made for an even speedier pit stop!

 I was in awe the whole drive from Knoxville to my beloved Pinehurst. This was a drive that we would often take to go see Brian's parents while we lived in Pinehurst for 2 years. I remembered the roads, sights and landmarks- even though I hadn't made that drive since January 2005! 

When I got into the quaint, picture perfect village of Pinehurst, my eyes filled up with tears. This place holds so many joyful memories for me. I met Brian here. Our wedding was here. This is where our first house is. We brought Belle and Stormy home as tiny puppies here. I met two life long friends, Kristen and Lauren, here. The list goes on.

We met Lauren and Jason at The Holly Inn for lunch. 

 Lauren, Kristen and I all worked together and we would often get the chicken salad for lunch from The Holly. The creamy balsamic dressing was to die for, and the chicken salad was delicious too!

After lunch I wanted to take the kids sight seeing around town and our first stop was to see The O'Connors. We met Dick and Polly in the bar of one of our favorite restaurants in Pinehurst, Elliots, one night when we were out with Kristen while Scott was deployed. They were originally from San Francisco, loved wine and eventually became like surrogate grandparents to us.

The last time we visited Pinehurst was in June of 2005, when we stayed with them during the US Open. (They have an amazing house, with the famous Pinehurst #2 golf course across the way!) But after Macy was born and we were in Germany we lost touch. I was determined to see if they were still around, so I pulled in the driveway and rang the doorbell...

Much to my surprise, here comes Polly! She quickly ushered me in to see that my photo was still framed in the kitchen! The kids and I stayed for about an hour and they were sad to see us go, assuring us that our room would still be available for next summer's US Open.

I took the kids to see our old house next. Just driving through the neighborhood gave me butterflies of excitement! We rang the doorbell to see if the new owners would let us have a tour, but no one answered...

That evening we had a fun dinner with Lauren's family. Her brother, sister in law and their daughter were there too. They are just a great, fun family. There were many good laughs- especially when Tate declared loudly "this burger doesn't taste good!" I was mortified. 

After we got the kids to bed, Lauren and I snuck out to go visit The Jefferson Inn, which is where I met Brian. I was the bartender there and he was a faithful, thirsty customer. It had been closed for a number of years and recently underwent some amazing renovations. I was giddy with excitement when I walked through the doors! 

Lauren and I sat on the front porch, each with a glass of wine in hand and just enjoyed our time together there.

The next morning we were up and at em early, as we were getting back on the road with another 6 hour drive ahead of us and Lauren was flying back to Omaha.

I love this girl like a little sister! 

This is her sweet son Luke- 

We did make a pit-stop about an hour from Pinehurst. I was thrilled that my friend Erin was able to meet up for coffee! We were stationed together in Little Rock. Her last name is Tate and we asked her and husband Eli if we could use it to name our son- HA!

Erin and Eli live in Pittsboro, NC, across the street from the famed Fearrington Village. The night before Brian and I got married, we had dinner at the Fearrington House restaurant, and haven't been back since. So I was delighted when Erin said we would go for coffee there! 

This doesn't look like much, but this silo is the famous landmark of the Fearrington Village. Still a working farm, btw.

 Erin is about to have a baby boy- can you tell?

It was such a great bonus visit to be able to see Erin.  If only we had more time... I loved meeting their son, Hawken, and seeing where they live. I missed out on seeing Eli as he is in medical school and was already at the hospital for the day.

"On the road again..."