somm road trip: driving towards a Deep South Christmas.

I can’t remember the last time I took a road trip… it may have been when I moved cross-country over 10 years ago. In fact, I’m pretty positive the sommelier and I have never been in the car together for more than a few hours in a long time; even so, we’ve never driven very far as a family together… ever. Suitably, this holiday we decided to make the 11 hour trek to visit my in-laws in Thomasville, Georgia.

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Truth: we are traveling with a three year old. While sommkid may be well behaved, politely mannered, and gracious, she’s still three. And it’s a mammoth drive. So we opted to leave Houston later into the night, and said goodbye to our beloved city as the lights whizzed by.

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I’ll be honest, it’s dark out there y’all.

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The sommelier and I took turns at the wheel while sommkid slumbered in her seat. There’s a lot to think about when faced with the open road, and luckily, there’s also podcasts.

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(haven’t heard of it? download it now. seriously, like right now.)

When I was 25 I used to drive through Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana on a pretty regular basis. Since it was pitch black, memories were hard to come by. However, there were gems everywhere, including the rest areas in Mississippi, with complimentary coffee and views of NASA spaceships.

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As morning emerged, pellets of rain fell softly into our windshield. Tall, thin trees lined our path to a Deep South Christmas.

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We sighed in relief that sommkid slept almost the entire way; when she awoke, the utter joy expressed with the realization of cousins, jingle bells, and forthcoming hot chocolate was a moment to cherish. Success! We had arrived.

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Cheers, y’all. Safe travels out there this week.

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Linking up with PackMeTo and #SundayTraveler this week. Check out some great travel blogs here.