wedding road trip

Best Of Wedding Road Trip – Chris’s View

It’s been a few months since the Wedding Road Trip finished, and now that I’m recovering from the trauma, I can share some favorite experiences from the trip.

For the overly serious of you (and yes, I know who you are), I jest. The trip rocked and I loved almost everything. So when I tell you about my favorite food, it’s not because I didn’t have forty other homemade meals that were delicious. Everyone was a fantastic “guest” and treated us really well. Even those with dogs that tried to mount us (true story!). So here are some random favorites…

Best Mix CD

Many had asked about which was the best CD we were given at our Red Devil Lounge Kickoff party, and the winner was Colleen Crouch, who amazed us with a large collection of This American Life, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, Savage Love, and mashups.

But we had dozens of other great ones, and Erin Camarena, Christina Kerby, and Matt Caywood all deserve shout-outs.

And so does Evan Hayden for having the balls to start a CD with Xanadu by Olivia Newton-John…which totally rocked.

Prettiest Drive

We live in a very good looking country! I know you grew up with her, and see her a lot, but clear your mind and look at her again. Yup, she’s not just the kid you went to elementary school with – she’s HOT!

Take that, Europe, you cold bitch.

We saw lots of great scenery, some surprising (West Texas, Kentucky, northeastern Oregon) and others expected (Mount Shasta, the St. Petersburg-Clearwater Bridge). My favorite though was the drive from Denver to Santa Fe – first the green eastern slope of the Rockies, with towering mountains in the distance and pancake flat plains below, then through a pass to New Mexico, stark and striking, with its bleak yellow mesas shadowed by the occasional solitary cloud.

Funnest Drive

Since New Mexico appears to have a population of 17 people, it’s light on the highway patrol. Roxy got to visit 110 MPH for a little while…though Jaime hit 112 in Utah. The hairpin turns on Independence Pass above Aspen were also a ball, although Jaime was sure we were going to die. So for high speed entertainment, I recommend driving from Utah into Arizona on I-10 through the video game-inspired Virgin River valley – sheer walls of rock, constant turns, and steep downward grade.

Funniest Drive

The Tampa to Ft. Lauderdale drive, featuring the stunning St. Petersburg-Clearwater Bridge and the arcade game danger of Alligator Alley – where I honestly expected a two lane road threatened by snapping gators. It’s actually quite dull but the entertainment value for Jaime when I shared my vision made it a lot more fun. And driving through Florida is accompanied by its insane collection of billboards that advertise—in succession—porn, an end to abortions, and vasectomies. These themes may be related.

Best BBQ

Mark’s Feed Store of Louisville does have some good BBQ, but Chad Pilbeam of greater outer Houston left work two hours early to mesquite smoke two whole chickens. And it was outstanding.

Craziest Drivers

Hands down, the people of Cleveland, who were apparently texting constantly or were blowing a 0.8. Genuinely scary driving with people swerving between lanes or slowing down to 40 on the interstate then speeding up to 70.

Best Restaurant (that we went to on our own)

I’m not going to evaluate the places people took us, because there is no way I could pick a favorite. But we had some lunches and dinners on our own, with the far and away standout being Magnolia’s Restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina. Fried chicken, pork shoulder, a crab cake…it was rich, unhealthy, and delicious.

Night in Charleston

I wasn’t expecting much from Charleston. But then I saw this:

And this:

Our hotel, Charleston Place, was, as my editor from Service Magic would say, “a little slice of heaven.” Ben, the world’s greatest bellhop/concierge/cool Southern gentleman, gave us the heads up on the best places to go for a walk before dinner and also confided that he’s testing out his super awesome girlfriend by taking her on a road trip in September. He also managed to swing us a sweet upgrade to a room that looked something like this:

And this:

The room had a television that actually rose BY ITSELF from a wooden box at the foot of the bed. I could have entertained myself with that for hours, had Chris not forced me to go to dinner.

Dinner was at Magnolia’s, which easily added ten pounds to my thighs yet a million ounces of warmth to my heart. Chris and I tried grits, fried chicken, pork shoulder, and biscuits before we called it a day and drug our fat, lifeless bodies back to the hotel. But not before we had ice cream from Kirwin’s.

Forgive me Jillian Michaels, for I have sinned. And it FELT.SO.GOOD.