A few weeks ago Jake and I treated ourselves to a long weekend up in the foothills of Greenville, South Carolina. We had two missions: explore a new city and meet a Boucher cousin. We were able to do both.
We stayed the night with Jake's first cousin & her husband who live just outside of Greenville. All of their kids are grown and out of the house but we still partied like teenagers! Julie & Gary were amazing hosts. Julie started playing the electric guitar about 5 years ago and has put out an album all her own! She and Jake enjoyed jammin' in the music room late into the night. Gary made some delicious venison chili and broke out the fancy cheese for an enjoyable super bowl celebration. Each year I find out the super bowl is happening about a week beforehand, and then I find out what teams are competing the day of the actual game. I'm not a football fanatic and I couldn't care less who wins. However, this years game was pretty exciting. They kept us guessing up until the very end.
Downtown Greenville is very cool. There is a lot of local art and music to be found in historic buildings and beautiful parks. While driving around we saw a sign with an arrow that pointed towards the oldest house in town. It's called the Seay House because of the family that lived there. Now this is the cool thing about it-- My Grandfather was born in Michigan but he used to live in Asheville, North Carolina which is very close to this area. His name was
Inman S. Burnham, and there is some controversy that his middle name wasn't just an initial, but that it stood for Seay, a Portuguese name because his mother was from Spain. ANYWAY, after we visited the Seay House, we saw another sign while we were driving around that pointed towards the city of Inman. Isn't that a really weird coincidence? Inman and Seay are two very original names. As I traveled near Asheville, the city that reminds me most of my Grandfather, I saw both of these names which I have never seen anywhere else in my life. It was like my Grandfather was saying Hi to me.
We also traveled over to Spartanburg which wasn't too exciting but it was still a nice drive. There were a lot of cool things to see along the way. A painting of a train on the side of a building. Old railroad stops. And parts of a building that were left behind.
Greenville seemed different from other cities we have visited in South Carolina. It felt young and busy, but somehow laid back. I think I'd like to live there if it were near an ocean. I guess a city like that could be compared to Charleston... but Charleston is too crowded for me. I never thought I was a picky person but I want:
Perfect Weather
Perfect Population
Perfect Shopping
No matter how cool some of these cities may seem, they are still in the South. This
caaaan be good. It's great if you love Jesus. And if you think you don't love Jesus, they'll convince you. There's a baptist church on every corner and they like to use their marquees to warn the public. This was just one sign we passed while we were on the road. "Give Satan An Inch and He Will Be Your Ruler." Gotta love the South!
