Greer, South Carolina trip
Alyssa and I arrived home late last Sunday (Mother's Day) from a trip to Greer, South Carolina. Alyssa's soccer team participated in an ECNL showcase event in Greer. Her team played one game on Friday, one game on Saturday and one game on Sunday.
Originally, Donnie planned to go and I planned to stay home with the older teens. However, Donnie has had an influx of work recently and didn't feel like he could take two work days off. So, it was Alyssa and I who planned for, packed for, bought snacks for and drove/ rode 462 miles to South Carolina. I had just been to Indianapolis with Abby the weekend before. Abby and I only stayed one night; Alyssa and I stayed three nights in South Carolina. It was amazing how many more items we needed for the three night trip. Part of the reason for bringing lots of items was that the weather looked iffy. I had to bring a lot of rain compatible items- from umbrellas, to a chair with a top to it, to rain boots.
We headed out Thursday around 9:00 am... and made our first stop less than five minutes into the trip. It was a planned stop for Alyssa's favorite breakfast :). We got it to go and were on I-75 headed south a short time later. We stopped for lunch in Knoxville, TN at a Chik-fil-A there. One kids meal (me) and one 8 count chicken nugget meal (Alyssa except that I had her soft drink and she had the chocolate milk from my kids meal) later, we hopped back in the car headed down (south) yet up (mountains!).
Alyssa's teammates who arrived at the hotel by 6:00 pm did a team jog around the hotel. Alyssa was super hungry when the jog ended so we headed out of the hotel to explore our options. There were some cool stores nearby I hoped to check out while we were there (since she only played one game per day I thought we'd have a lot more down time than we ended up having- we didn't get to go and do much on our own but that was ok). Alyssa asked if we could eat dinner at Chipotle. Sure? We both got kids meals (I was not super hungry from all the snacking I'd done in the car) and I was very impressed with the amount of food in the kids meals. I wouldn't have wanted to eat another bite. And it ended up being our cheapest meal of the trip :). We relaxed when we got back to our hotel room and made preparations for the next day's soccer game.
The soccer games ended up being a bit disappointing. Alyssa's team hadn't played a game in almost a month due to weather related cancellations so the girls were a bit rusty. It wasn't a tournament so there was no final to try to make. They lost the Friday game 0-1. Saturday, they lost 0-2 and Sunday they tied 1-1. The soccer was definitely a bit disappointing but the good news is that they got the three games in. The forecast looked sooooooo bad! With not just rain (par for the course in the spring) but thunderstorms predicted on Saturday and Sunday. Friday, the sun popped out right as our game was starting and many of the girls and parents ended up with a sunburn because of it. Saturday and Sunday's games were both overcast with a tiny bit of sprinkling rain during both games. Saturday, right after their game ended, we heard thunder and delays started happening because of it. But, it didn't affect us since our game was complete.
Friday evening, Alyssa and her teammates ate together at a Mellow Mushroom in downtown Greenville. We parents were instructed to not eat with our daughters... So, we went to downtown Greenville, too but we ended up at a bar instead. Before we parted ways with our daughters, we all went to the waterfalls in the downtown and played on the rocks. It was so pretty! Actually, the whole downtown was pretty but the waterfalls gave the city a unique quality since most cities don't have them.
Saturday evening, instead of driving anywhere for dinner, all of Alyssa's teammates and parents who were there walked to a restaurant. It was an entertainment/ dining destination sort of like Dave and Busters. It was so nice to be able to walk there instead of drive. It was just across the street from our hotel. The restaurant was extremely loud (all of us parents commented on it) and Alyssa and I left before most people did because Alyssa wanted to get back to the hotel to work on a school assignment. Fine with me!!
As soon as Alyssa's game ended on Sunday- about 1:00 pm, we headed out of town. I had already gassed up and of course we'd already checked out of the hotel. We stopped a couple of times- once to eat lunch (Bojangles- I'd never eaten there) and once to get gas. We arrived home by 8:30 pm.
I've been on quite a few soccer trips with Alyssa. No two are alike, of course. This one seemed odd because she only had one game a day and I thought we'd have more time to do some exploring in the area. None of her games were early, which was great for sleeping in purposes. However, that meant that by the time the game ended, we drove back to the hotel, showered, etc. it was almost dinnertime and the day was nearly over. It was also one of our furthest drives for soccer. We've driven to St. Louis and Chicago. We flew to Colorado last summer. Alyssa has driven with Donnie to Tennessee and the DC area (probably a longer drive than the one we just did) but I didn't go to TN or DC so this was my longest drive with Alyssa. I enjoyed spending time with her, of course. She is absolutely the sweetest (as long as she's not hungry :)). It was a shame that on Mother's Day, I only got to see Jacob and Abby for a few hours before bedtime.
Thursday- getting ready to leave Springboro
Heading into Kentucky... and then Tennessee
Heading into North Carolina... We didn't get a picture of South Carolina's sign. It snuck up on us too quickly.
Alyssa and some of the girls from her team
The only picture of Alyssa and me from the trip.
Alyssa and Maddie
We had Chick fil- A for lunch on two occasions- one day right after another. What can we say? We like CFA.
Our hotel: We had to stay at a Crown Plaza hotel. It was nice but I'd rather have stayed somewhere cheaper :). I did like this welcome sign auf deutsch.
A few soccer pics-
Before the start of Saturday's game
Before Sunday's game...
Originally, Donnie planned to go and I planned to stay home with the older teens. However, Donnie has had an influx of work recently and didn't feel like he could take two work days off. So, it was Alyssa and I who planned for, packed for, bought snacks for and drove/ rode 462 miles to South Carolina. I had just been to Indianapolis with Abby the weekend before. Abby and I only stayed one night; Alyssa and I stayed three nights in South Carolina. It was amazing how many more items we needed for the three night trip. Part of the reason for bringing lots of items was that the weather looked iffy. I had to bring a lot of rain compatible items- from umbrellas, to a chair with a top to it, to rain boots.
We headed out Thursday around 9:00 am... and made our first stop less than five minutes into the trip. It was a planned stop for Alyssa's favorite breakfast :). We got it to go and were on I-75 headed south a short time later. We stopped for lunch in Knoxville, TN at a Chik-fil-A there. One kids meal (me) and one 8 count chicken nugget meal (Alyssa except that I had her soft drink and she had the chocolate milk from my kids meal) later, we hopped back in the car headed down (south) yet up (mountains!).
Alyssa's teammates who arrived at the hotel by 6:00 pm did a team jog around the hotel. Alyssa was super hungry when the jog ended so we headed out of the hotel to explore our options. There were some cool stores nearby I hoped to check out while we were there (since she only played one game per day I thought we'd have a lot more down time than we ended up having- we didn't get to go and do much on our own but that was ok). Alyssa asked if we could eat dinner at Chipotle. Sure? We both got kids meals (I was not super hungry from all the snacking I'd done in the car) and I was very impressed with the amount of food in the kids meals. I wouldn't have wanted to eat another bite. And it ended up being our cheapest meal of the trip :). We relaxed when we got back to our hotel room and made preparations for the next day's soccer game.
The soccer games ended up being a bit disappointing. Alyssa's team hadn't played a game in almost a month due to weather related cancellations so the girls were a bit rusty. It wasn't a tournament so there was no final to try to make. They lost the Friday game 0-1. Saturday, they lost 0-2 and Sunday they tied 1-1. The soccer was definitely a bit disappointing but the good news is that they got the three games in. The forecast looked sooooooo bad! With not just rain (par for the course in the spring) but thunderstorms predicted on Saturday and Sunday. Friday, the sun popped out right as our game was starting and many of the girls and parents ended up with a sunburn because of it. Saturday and Sunday's games were both overcast with a tiny bit of sprinkling rain during both games. Saturday, right after their game ended, we heard thunder and delays started happening because of it. But, it didn't affect us since our game was complete.
Friday evening, Alyssa and her teammates ate together at a Mellow Mushroom in downtown Greenville. We parents were instructed to not eat with our daughters... So, we went to downtown Greenville, too but we ended up at a bar instead. Before we parted ways with our daughters, we all went to the waterfalls in the downtown and played on the rocks. It was so pretty! Actually, the whole downtown was pretty but the waterfalls gave the city a unique quality since most cities don't have them.
Saturday evening, instead of driving anywhere for dinner, all of Alyssa's teammates and parents who were there walked to a restaurant. It was an entertainment/ dining destination sort of like Dave and Busters. It was so nice to be able to walk there instead of drive. It was just across the street from our hotel. The restaurant was extremely loud (all of us parents commented on it) and Alyssa and I left before most people did because Alyssa wanted to get back to the hotel to work on a school assignment. Fine with me!!
As soon as Alyssa's game ended on Sunday- about 1:00 pm, we headed out of town. I had already gassed up and of course we'd already checked out of the hotel. We stopped a couple of times- once to eat lunch (Bojangles- I'd never eaten there) and once to get gas. We arrived home by 8:30 pm.
I've been on quite a few soccer trips with Alyssa. No two are alike, of course. This one seemed odd because she only had one game a day and I thought we'd have more time to do some exploring in the area. None of her games were early, which was great for sleeping in purposes. However, that meant that by the time the game ended, we drove back to the hotel, showered, etc. it was almost dinnertime and the day was nearly over. It was also one of our furthest drives for soccer. We've driven to St. Louis and Chicago. We flew to Colorado last summer. Alyssa has driven with Donnie to Tennessee and the DC area (probably a longer drive than the one we just did) but I didn't go to TN or DC so this was my longest drive with Alyssa. I enjoyed spending time with her, of course. She is absolutely the sweetest (as long as she's not hungry :)). It was a shame that on Mother's Day, I only got to see Jacob and Abby for a few hours before bedtime.
Thursday- getting ready to leave Springboro
Heading into Kentucky... and then Tennessee
The pretty views began in Tennessee...
Heading into North Carolina... We didn't get a picture of South Carolina's sign. It snuck up on us too quickly.
Our first meal in South Carolina- ubiquitous Chipotle but we had no desire to try something new to us. Since Alyssa had a game the next day I didn't want to chance her trying something new and her not liking it or eating something that didn't agree with her. Playing it safe (and yummy) was the name of the dinner game.
Downtown Greenville, South Carolina, Friday evening
I was thisclose to bringing my Nikon when we left the hotel room for downtown. I wish so much that I had. I can picture in my mind how much better the pictures would be with my good camera rather than with my iphone.
Alyssa and some of the girls from her team
The only picture of Alyssa and me from the trip.
Alyssa and Maddie
We had never been to a Whole Foods before. We went there one day to pick up lunch. Odd things about it: We couldn't buy a cheese dip for this delicious pretzel. Who doesn't sell cheese to go with a pretzel? Also, Whole Foods is owned by Amazon and signs around the store advertised sale prices for people with Prime. I told the cashier that I had Amazon Prime (to get discounted pizza prices) but she didn't ask for proof and apparently didn't believe me because I paid full price.
We had Chick fil- A for lunch on two occasions- one day right after another. What can we say? We like CFA.
Our hotel: We had to stay at a Crown Plaza hotel. It was nice but I'd rather have stayed somewhere cheaper :). I did like this welcome sign auf deutsch.
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