Road Trip and a Wedding

For the past week, I've been in Rome, NY with one of my best friends, Challice. I was there for her wedding and to help her in the week leading up to it. The trip was an adventure for several different reasons (the first of which being that I drove to New York by myself!).

Before this trip, I had never been any further North than Virginia. My friends, Sara and Bri, had initially planned to drive with me, but because of a few different circumstances, they couldn't make the trip until later in the week. When I found out I was going to be driving by myself, I tried to get a flight, but it was just so expensive that I decided to drive anyway.

The drive was actually pretty easy. The roads were clear, the route was simple, and I was able to drive through West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York. To me, that was pretty exciting, since I have spent my life with a travel deficiency ;)

My travel companion was Mr. Pumpkin Spice Creamer, and he was a great travel buddy....I drank a lot of coffee.

I stopped for the night in Chambersburg, PA. I really liked the area. It seemed like they had just built a lot of the businesses that were there and it felt very safe, The next morning, I got up and finished the last 4 hours of my trip.

I was so happy to see Challice. I had not seen her since May, when she graduated from Montreat College. That is far too long to not see your best friend!

She showed me her house and I met all her pets. They have quite a few cats and her brother has a large dog named Grimm. I fell in love with that dog! I threatened to steal him actually ;)

That evening, Challice took me to one of her favorite restaurants and she got me to try my first cannoli :) It was so good! Besides that, we spent most of the evening and the next day living off of coffee as we decorated and organized for the wedding.




Wednesday was, ummmm......interesting.
Billy (the groom) was supposed to fly in at 3:00 pm. However, there was a bad snowstorm the evening before and the roads were horrible. At 2:45, Billy called and told us that his flight had been rerouted and he would have to ride a bus to Syracuse and would not be there until 8:30!

Challice and I decided to go to the mall to kill time. We went to Destiny USA, which Challice informed me is the second largest mall in America. It was awesome! It was four stories high and had a ropes course, an amusement park, and a go-kart track inside the mall! Craziness!

My favorite store was the Lindor chocolate shop. I never buy truffles, but we both splurged and bought a few. Holy Moley! They were fantastic! I've been craving truffles ever since!

The most challenging part of the evening was driving back from the mall to the airport. The roads had gotten even worse and we had to drive 20 mph. However, even with our caution, we ended up spinning out and turning sideways on the highway. Thankfully, we were fine, and there were no other cars involved. We were shaken up, but we got to the airport safely (and made Billy drive)!

Thursday, Sara and Bri flew in and we spent most of the day hanging out in the hotel and then we went out to eat. After dinner we had a miniature snowball fight.

Lee Town Hall, Reception Venue

Friday, we all went over to the reception location to decorate. The storm was over and had left everything looking like a winter fairy tale. It was absolutely gorgeous!










Challice did such a great job with her decorations. Her and her mother-in-law had been working on it all summer and fall. It really was pretty.

That evening was the rehearsal dinner, which was at Turning Stone Casino in Verona, NY. The dinner was extremely nice. There was a huge buffet with everything from Seafood to Mexican Cuisine. There were also really cool gingerbread houses on display. They were all about 4 feet in height, which was impressive!

Dessert at the Rehearsal Dinner

Bri photo-bombed us :p

On the way to the Rehearsal

The next morning was a whirl-wind, as wedding days typically are.
Challice left to go get her hair and makeup done, and us bridesmaids did the same. Challice's friend, Janay, did our hair. She did a good job and was very sweet, which is of course, a bonus.

After our hair was finished, we drove to the Rome Art Community Center (the ceremony location) and did our makeup and helped Challice with any last-minute things. The wedding was lovely and I was so thankful she was finally getting her big day. She and Billy had been dating for six years, so it was time!

The day flew by and was over in an instant. The next morning I left New York and drove straight through to Waynesville. As fun as the trip had been, I was ready to see my husband and my puppies, and sleep in my own bed.

Congratulations, Challice and Billy! May God bless you and use you for his glory! I love you both.