Part 2: The Car Diaries, Summer Tour 2015

I recently went on a tour of the Southern United States along with my wife and child. Here follows the second part of that fateful roadtrip.

Things all started around when we hit the road for Greenville, SC. My wife moonlights there and it was our first big foray into traveling any distance of note with our child. We had previously taken smaller trips, never more than 45 minutes, out to our house on Seabrook to try and acclimate our daughter to being in the car. In order to (hopefully) make this longer trip easier, my wife would sit in the back seat with her while I drove.

And so with dread I loaded my kid into the car and off we went. And nothing happened. Other than stopping for a feeding or a diaper change, the trip was entirely uneventful. The South Carolina drivers incapable of driving on the interstate were more frustrating than my child. (Seriously, stop hanging out in the left hand lane, only use it to pass).  

So we got to Greenville and checked into our average, unimpressive hotel room. Nothing fancy, but my wife's office pays for it. Starving, we head to the grocery store to get dinner. As Greenville seems to be full of crappy chain restaurants, the grocery store seems to be our best bet.

You know, let's talk Greenville for a second. My wife and I have been averaging about one trip a month there for the last 18 months or so. I haven't been able to find many good restaurants there (some exceptions worth mentioning: Saskatoon, which features a great selection of fish and wild game and always has a nice selection of fresh vegetables, and The Trappe Door, which has a nice selection of beers and food). The culinary scene seems to be stuck in the late '90s with the most progressive restaurants being tapas restaurants. In some cases, like that of Greenville's High Cotton or Tupelo Honey, I'd rather just go to the original location without giving them a shot. Of course I realize that I'm not a local and don't know of some probably wonderful places in Greenville. If you do, let me know.

At Greenville's River Walk

Also, another aside. Greenville citizens, what's up with all the "rebel" flags? Y'all look like some hateful idiots. I can just imagine all the German engineers that stay in the same hotel as myself who see them and feel like all South Carolina citizens are a bunch of ignorant racists. I know not everybody in Greenville feels this way, but if you know someone you go to church with or are in school with or are neighbors with, and they are flying this flag, could you give them a history lesson? Thanks.

So to recap: baby traveling well so far, the car is full of stuff, and I'm less than impressed with Greenville.