This year for vacation my mom and I decided to break our tradition of going to Vermont like we have been for the past three years.  It took us a while to decide where we’d be going for vacation this year, but we decided that it was time to finally scope out two states we’ve been looking into possibly moving to in the future – Virginia and North Carolina.

The deciding factor of choosing to go to these states was to visit family; I have cousins that live in both states, so it was perfect.  I was also looking forward to seeing Liberty University in person since my mom and I both got online degrees from there.

Virginia, being our first and last stops, was okay for the most part.  Seeing my cousin and her family on the way down was great and I’m so glad we saw them, but let me just say that Woodbridge is not the best place to stay in.  Though the mall that was just up the road from our hotel – Potomac Mills – was amazing!  It was so big and had so many different stores.  My favorite one was Books-A-Million (of course) and we got a pretty good haul from there.

North Carolina… what can I say?  I loved it!  The area we stayed in was beautiful and there was so much to do.  We were only about 35-40 minutes from Charlotte, so we did spend most of one of our days there (and we stopped at the Concord Mall on the way down).  Our main attractions in Charlotte were the two-story Barnes & Noble (because I have to) and the Billy Graham Library.  I’m going to say right now, if you’re ever in Charlotte, be sure to hit that Library – it’s beautiful!  You get to see the Graham family home, take a tour of Billy Graham’s journey to ministry, walk outside in the prayer garden, and shop at Ruth’s Attic (the bookstore named after Billy Graham’s late wife).

We also saw the Rowan Public Library, which is again… beautiful!  We tried Chick-fil-a for the first time and loved it, as well as Krispy Kreme (when the ‘hot light’ was on!).  The morning we were leaving we tried a restaurant called Breakfastime, which I also highly recommend to anyone passing through or staying in Salisbury, NC!

Then the last day, after we got breakfast at the place mentioned above, we went to a giant flea market (that runs every weekend, all year long) and found some cool stuff there as well. And staying with my cousins there was a good time, just sitting and talking in the mornings and having them show us around the area and going to all these places with us.  Basically, we just loved North Carolina so much and my mom and I are really going to start looking into moving there someday.

Then Liberty University… wow!  That campus is just huge!  I mean, it could be its own little town (and it pretty much is!).  My mom and I didn’t tour the entire campus because it was just so overwhelming – we just settled for the bookstore to get some Liberty swag gear and take a look at the football stadium and some nearby buildings.  But seeing that campus in person makes us even more proud to have gone to that school through their online program.

Virginia, while I’m sure it’s a great state, is just not for my mom and I.  We just fell in love with North Carolina and that’s our new goal – to move there.  The people were great, there’s family there to help show us around until we’re used to it, and there is just so much to do there!  While I will probably hate the bugs, I don’t spend all that much time outside anyway and you can be sure that I’d keep the central AC on to keep the house too cold for bugs to survive!

Vacation 2017 was a great trip and seeing my cousins in both states was fun and I’m so glad we did!  Now I am really looking forward to our next visit (or move) to North Carolina.