Mini southern bender: GA, TN, AL

At the start of our engagement, Jake spent three months in Dalton, Georgia for job training. Unfortunately, that meant doing long distance for a little bit, but looking on the bright side of things… that also meant trips! When I came to visit for the first time, he kicked the weekend off by showing me around the small town where he was staying. We got Zaxby’s, which is this chicken place—similar to Raising Cane’s if you’re familiar—with the most amazing Texas Toast and dipping sauce. I thought I was in heaven, UNTIL we were driving back to his place and saw a Krispy Kreme store with the hot light on. Now I’m not going to lie to you, I was definitely a Dunkin’ girl up until this point. We don’t have a KK location near me so I've never had a fresh one off the line and DAMMMNNN was this life changing. We split an entire dozen, which if you know me this isn’t too surprising, but I was trying to be fit (and not bloated) for this weekend with my boo or else I probably would have taken the box to myself. After some slight GA exploring, we were off on a little road trip to the border to go on a hike through the rocks of Tennessee. I was ready to go, looking like the infamous scene of Meredith Blake in the Parent Trap, I was ready to be adventurous and outdoorsy. Now at this point I thought I had hiked before, Jake and I take our dogs on walks through the Cleveland Metroparks all of the time, but these rocks were unlike anything I've ever seen. 

​After a a few hours of some much needed quality time, it was onto the next adventure. We had been apart for over a month at this point and only had a weekend to spend together so there was no time to waste! We hopped in the car with some of Jake’s new colleagues and were off to the University of Alabama. I had never really understood the difference in atmosphere or the energy a southern school brings until experiencing it for myself. I mean when I say I felt it from the moment I walked on campus, I’m not lying. I was in a sorority at Miami, so I had been to fraternity houses before and all that, nothing new there, but in Alabama… the street was lined with mansions. At least I assumed they were mansions, until it was explained to me that it was the housing for their Greek life. Now I thought Miami had a huge Greek life community, being as over 80% of the campus were active members of some Greek organization, but no. Here, there were swimming pools and stages with live bands out front, fountains and statues, honestly the most lavish thing I’ve ever seen. Especially for what I knew was a bunch of college kids trashing the place as they pre-gamed for their football game. But that’s the thing, game day in Alabama was one of the most unique and amazing experiences, it wasn't your average football team. When I used to watch the show Friday Night Lights it was hard for me to imagine an entire town shutting down for a football game, no matter the size of the school. Guys, Alabama in it’s entirety shut the heck down on Saturday. I walked outside and it was painted Crimson. Students, parents, grandmother’s holding babies, neighbors, the local restaurant owner—everyone was walking down the street together in their matching attire, as they all had the same plans on Saturday.

It was game day and that meant tailgating and watching the game. ​And just when I thought I couldn’t be more amazed, the fleet of buses began to pull down the main street. It was, I shit you not, what I imagine the parting of the red sea looked like. I thought Justin Timberlake was coming down the street on his tour bus to perform the halftime show, I mean people were all going nuts for these buses. Oh wait, did I mention this was just a preseason scrimmage against their own team? I actually started crying a little bit when I walked into the stadium, as it was sold out at a larger capacity than First Energy Stadium, for a college team practice. Let me repeat that, a college football scrimmage had more attendance than I've ever seen at the games of my NATIONAL Football League team, whether that be a huge rivalry game or the 0-16 end of the season $5 games... but hey being a Browns fan isn't fair, I've accepted it. Seeing as there was no way they could lose this game, the fans were energized throughout and that energy held through the rest of the weekend until it was time for my mini southern bender to end. Long story short, after experiencing the red tidal wave myself I left Alabama shouting "ROLL TIDE!"