One of my favorite things to do on the weekend is explore new areas and towns. Luckily, Greenville has plenty of places within a two hour radius just for this. Unfortunately for my boyfriend he gets dragged to all the adventures I think up (thankfully he's a good sport). This weekend's pick was Augusta, GA.
The real reason for the Augusta choice was that the boyfriend and I have gotten really into going to minor league baseball games. We have a good amount of teams in the NC and SC area, but GA isn't too far of a drive. Neither of us had ever been to Augusta and the Greenjackets seemed like a fun team to see.
We started our trip on Saturday morning with a 2 hour back roads drive down. There's just something about driving on country roads that feels so freeing and relaxing. We crossed the river into Augusta just in time for lunch. We hit up the Cotton Patch for burgers (sorry I forgot a picture) as recommended via the Augusta tourist guide. The restaurant was right next to the Riverwalk, which is one of the highlights of the city. They were having a farmers market at the entrance to the Riverwalk where we wandered around and got to see the small businesses of the area.
We started our trip on Saturday morning with a 2 hour back roads drive down. There's just something about driving on country roads that feels so freeing and relaxing. We crossed the river into Augusta just in time for lunch. We hit up the Cotton Patch for burgers (sorry I forgot a picture) as recommended via the Augusta tourist guide. The restaurant was right next to the Riverwalk, which is one of the highlights of the city. They were having a farmers market at the entrance to the Riverwalk where we wandered around and got to see the small businesses of the area.
The Riverwalk itself spans about 4 blocks right on the Savannah riverfront. The view was beautiful and they have small points of interest along the way.
One point of interest is a 1600 seat ampitheather. Another is the Japanese garden and waterfall that was given to Augusta by the Japanese in honor of their sister city in Takarazuka, Japan. Who would've known!
The Riverwalk was very pretty, but not too long thankfully because it was HOT! Now I live in Greenville, SC so we get pretty good heat and humidity, but Augusta is way way worse! We hopped back in the car and took a driving tour of some of the other sites.
We stopped by Woodrow Wilson's boyhood home and took a picture with the James Brown statue. James Brown grew up in Augusta and he is definitely their pride and joy.
We headed to our hotel to check in and take a quick rest. We passed the Augusta National Golf Club where the Masters is played. They have the course very well hidden by trees and gates, but it was still neat to say we have seen it. After a rest and a few episodes of Extreme Couponing on TLC (a new guilty pleasure), we grabbed a quick dinner of grilled chicken salads at California Dreaming. I usually hate chain restaurants when i'm in a new city, but I wanted something light because I knew I was going to really enjoy our next stop. Boll Weevil Cafe & Sweetery is known as the best bakery in Augusta, so I knew we'd need to go. I can never pass up dessert! As per the waiters recommendation, we split a slice of the red velvet cake. I was incredibly moist and the amazing cream cheese frosting sold it for me. I had to stop us to take a picture before we completely devoured it.
We headed to Lake Olmstead Stadium and enjoyed the game while cheering on the Greenjackets. The weather had cooled off a bit, which made for a pleasant evening for watching baseball. I can't say that the baseball was good as the Greenjackets lost 2-4, but it was fun regardless. Fireworks at the finish of the game capped off the night.
We woke up the next morning and enjoyed a quick breakfast at New Moon Cafe on one of the main streets in the city.
It was a very hippie shake place that reminded me of a cafe that might be in Asheville, NC. We both had bagel sandwiches, mine with scrambled eggs, cheese and veggies on an everything bagel. The bagel was incredibly soft, which I really enjoyed.
The cafe boasted local ingredients, which is always a key to my heart. We said our last goodbyes to the city and headed back for Greenville. Overall, it was a fantastic weekend with great food, fun events and always great company. Can't wait to plan our next city exploration!