We're back with Part 2 of our December travels! Sunday we left our neat little Tennessee Airbnb and drove 2 hours south to visit Rony's best friend in Huntsville, Alabama!
I've actually never met Jesse or his fiance Kara so it was cool to finally meet someone you've only been online friends with. Sunday we got there, had lunch, and got to see a bit of the base that Jesse works at in town. He showed up the cool "Doomsday" bunkers that people have in the woods and then we drove around and did some Pokemon Go hunting.
Afterwards we got to the house and had a fondue dinner and played some video games. I was exhausted and passed out early, leaving the boys to play for the rest of the night.
The next day Jesse took us around Downtown and we got to explore the shops and area.
At the park they had a Christmas tree display kinda how we do a Pumpkin trail in Lubbock. Each company or group puts together their own tree in different styles and decorations and there were soooo many! The weather was nice so I didn't mind walking around, looking at each one, and the park was gorgeous.
Most of the time was spent Pokemon hunting honestly, since Rony was just happy to have someone still actively playing. We went to the local comic book shop and when Kara got out of work, the boys played the new Magic the Gathering set. Both us girls ended up passing out (I swear they were taking forever).
When they were finally done and we woke up, we went out to dinner. Rony said he was going to cheat on his vegetarian diet just once so Jesse could show us a barbeque place they love. I got the BBQ wings and Rony got pulled pork poutine at a local brewery. It's built in an old middle school so the restaraunt is in the area that use to be a gym and you can go futher back to areas you can reserve for parties, a pinball arcade, and a pool hall. We spent a couple hours playing pool and pinball, alternating who gets to pick the music. Rony and I lost pool every time (I'm awful at it), but it was fun to try!
Afterwards we went home and watched a few different episodes of different shows to share with each other and chatted. We were going to have to go to bed early since we wanted to do a bit more exploring before heading back to Nashville to catch our flight.
The next morning we went to a cool coffee shop called The Underground, which is located in an old mill. It's shared with a few other businesses and a giant artist market that we got to look around.
The coffee and hot chocolate was amazing and I loved the decor of the shop. The workers were very nice as well.
I fell in love with the Artist market. It's 2 floors of small offices/areas that artists and businesses rent out and on the weekends the place is filled with people roaming all over the place. They'll place items outside the shop for people to peruse and each area has a window to display or so people can look inside. A lot of the artists you could see them working or have works in progresses up.
This set up is what I want to make happen in Washington when we move. I've talked to Rony about wanting to buy a building or office or apartment building and renting it out to other artists for studio space and then having a gallery or shop for people to come in. This is an example of it and it works so beautifully. The halls and walls are covered in art. The main areas outside the shops are galleries and there are probably over 50 artists in the building. I saw comic book artists, photographers, sculpters, painters, screen print shops, art supply stores. Everything.
The area was absolutely amazing and I wish I got to see it in full swing. I was so in love and inspired and I hope to one day make something like it. We went through the print shop and found a few things we loved. There were a ton of neat local artist designs but we couldn't take them all. Rony found a cool pumpkin man design so we got it on a tote bag and visited the rest of the shops in the mill.
Piper & Leaf is a tea shop on the 1st floor and it has the most incredible tea. Kara showed us a blue tea they have and it was delicious. I loved their design and interior and they were super nice. We even got a drink to go and bought some tea for at home.
Next was the chocolate shop. Guys, their truffles are works of art. They look like gemstones and are beautiful. I could have taken pictures of them all day. Also they had a bunk of geeky things in their display case like Doctor Who and a Xenomorph Funko pop so that won me over.
We got 6 truffles and picked 2 each. It was very hard to choose and I tried not to just go with the prettiest ones. They were delicious as well which is a bonus. They also had cake but I don't think I could have brought myself to eat a whole one before we got on the plane.
I'll keep repeating myself but Lowe Mill was the best and I could have spent hours there, seeing all the shops and watching the artists work. They do classes and have music there as well so if you're ever in Huntsville, Alabama then definitely go check it out. You can spend all day there.
We had a wonderful time hanging out with Jesse and Kara and Alabama was such a cool place to check out. A lot of breweries, food, and art. And a lot of Pokemon haha.
We'll hopefully get to visit another time before we move and see everyone again. I came back refreshed and motivated and it was a fun way to start our December. I had never been to Tennessee or Alabama and it was great to cross them off our lists. Maybe one day we'll be able to say we've visited every state!
Thanks to everyone for hosting us and spending time with us! It was such a great time! We're back home, prepping for the Holidays, and snuggling with the pups. The year is wrapping up and though there were a lot of bads in 2017, there were far more good.
-Sam <3