Great weekend in Clemson

I left work a smidge early on Friday and met Beth.  We headed to Spartanburg to pick Courtney up and then made our way to Clemson.  Well, actually, it wasn't quite as easy as that.  Traffic from Charleston to Spartanburg was miserable.  After cruising along at 20 MPH for a while, we finally came to a complete stop.  Praise the Lord, we were stopped at an exit.  We made the bold decision to take the exit and try the back roads; a Garmin, phone GPS, and call to Clark later, we knew how to successfully pass the traffic and re-enter I26.  Charleston to Spartanburg is a standard 3 hours to me, but this trip was 3 hours 45 minutes.  I'm SO thankful I had Beth in the car with me.  I'm sure she's glad she was able to experience my highway driving skills.

The drive from Spartanburg to Clemson was a bit heavily trafficked as well, but manageable.  We dropped Beth off, and met Jacqueline at Copper River Grill for supper.  It was 8:45 when we got there and we were all starving.  Jacqueline got a BBQ pizza.  Courtney and I split meals: she ordered the hamburger with bacon and cheese and onion rings.  I ordered the meat pizza.  It had a layer of pepperoni all over the pizza, then other meats and mushrooms on top.  Courtney's burger came with a whole plate of fries.  Jacqueline's pizza had a pile of onion straws on top.  Basically, it looked like a Biggest Loser meal before Trainer Bob gets a hold of you.

After gorging on not-so-healthy-but-oh-so-delicious food, we headed to the lake house that Jacqueline's mom has been staying in for the past month.  This house.  The view.  Seventy five percent of the house has a view of Lake Keowee.  Gorgeous.

We headed out around 8:30 to meet Mr. Bishop and then mosey on to their family tailgate spot.  As if we didn't treat ourselves enough the night before, we certainly treated ourselves tailgating.  Bojangles biscuits and mimosas for breakfast.  Jalepeno pimento cheese, beer cheese dip, fruit, crackers, brie, puppy chow, etc. for snacks.  Bojangles fried chicken and biscuits for lunch.  Pumpkin beer.  Tailgating before and after the game, as well as half time, involved much food and enjoyment.

I hadn't been to a Clemson game since I was in graduate school there.  It was SO fun.  I love the stadium, all of the people in orange and purple, and the overall excitement.  I love it when the entire stadium yells C. L. E. M. S. O. N. one section at at time.  Almost gives you chills.  And we won!  Still undefeated!  Other things to note: Courtney taught me what downs are.  I felt like I'd learned a new language; football makes so much more sense now!  Also, we were able to see Margaret and Amanda at the tail end of the 4th quarter!

When we headed home, we enjoyed sunset club with a great view.  For those of you who don't know, we started sunset club senior year.  We pulled our furniture into the backyard and hung out and maybe had a drink with all of our friends from about March until graduation.  Anytime you have a good sunset, good friends, and a place to sit, do it.  You won't regret it.

Sadly, we started eating again and I ate so much puppy chow I could have gotten sick.  Thankfully, I didn't!  Ginny (Jacqueline's mom) told us about Storage Wars.  It was fascinating. We only watched about 8 episodes and then something called Hog Catchers came on...wow.  Who knew hog trapping/killing was so intense?!

Sunday morning consisted of a quiet time and finishing off the puppy chow.  We took a short walk around the neighborhood, and then Courtney and I had to pack up and head out.  We grabbed Beth and decided to carry on with our "Treat. Yo. Self." themed weekend by lunching at Cook Out.  A NC style BBQ sandwich, onion rings, and mint oreo milkshake for me.  So good.  When Beth and I left Spartanburg, we had one more detour to make.  My old stomping ground of Clinton, SC.  She'd never been to Presbyterian College or Clinton so it was time to rectify that.

The Presbyterian College sign.

Our beloved townhouse, B5.

Isn't PC gorgeous this time of year?

Donors are crazy about statues on campus and to my knowledge, this is the newest one.  Also, one of the largest.

Beth and I headed Back to Charleston, grabbed a quick bite at Moe's, and then I dropped her off and headed home.  Sure, I'm tired.  Sure, I slept through my alarm this morning.  But, the weekend was totally worth it!  So thankful the Bishops extended their hospitality to me!