Texas to Clemson

It's official - we're empty nesters. The younger daughter and I made the 16 hour road trip from Texas to South Carolina to get her settled into her dorm at Clemson. We loaded down her mid-sized SUV and hit the road with it packed to the gills. 

Like every other momma on the planet that's paying attention, we used the IKEA frakta bags to carry most things. We also used the space saver bags and vac to make her wardrobe a more manageable size. Once we got to Clemson and settled at our Airbnb with her SUV safely stored in the garage, we hit all of the local stores to buy up the rest of the things she needed. Shampoo, conditioner, school supplies, a floor lamp, blah blah blah. 

* Clemson Class of 2023 Paw Photo *

We enjoyed some good southern eats on the trip. The teen's favorite was a place called Mutts. We dined there a few times. We also hit a couple well-known bakeries for some sugary goodness.

While in Clemson, we weren't appreciating the high humidity and afternoon pop up rain showers. Might as well have been in Houston. Or New Orleans. At least I didn't suffer any mosquito bites. We enjoyed seeing a cute little double rainbow one afternoon once it started to clear up.

The teen's dorm room is a single because she's a light sleeper. And of course you hear the horror stories of bad roommates. By the time I left to fly back home to Texas, she had all of the essentials in place and has been busy ordering the decorative stuff she wants from Etsy and Minted.

We spent an afternoon checking out all of the cute shops on College Avenue. We both found some new Clemson wear on the racks.

I enjoyed our Airbnb, owned by a Clemson professor and in an older neighborhood a stone's throw from the college and directly on the lake.

The couple's friendly old dog Finn came to pay us a visit and hang out for a bit.

I stayed strong until it was about time to say goodbye. Then I boo-hooed on and off for most of the drive to the Charlotte airport. I did dry it up long enough to get a pic of the famous Gaffney, SC, peach, made famous in the Netflix series "House of Cards". 

At the airport, I did some emotional eating at Bojangles and then gave the Charlotte friendly skies emotional support mastiff, all 190 lbs of him, a pet on the way to my gate.