Wanderlust East Coast Road Trip Day 3
Virginia Beach - Colonial Williamsburg - DC - Baltimore
Day 3 had a couple different starts. We had planned on meeting up with our photographer friend Nicole again for a sunrise shoot on the Atlantic, so, with alarms set, we crashed into our beds. A few very short hours later, we {sort of} awakened and checked in on our model - who was a no show. Since the sun was almost up anyway, we staggered outside to the second story walk way of the hotel and watched the sun "rise" - turns out you can't actually see the sun rise when it's completely clouded over from the storm the night before! We took the opportunity to get some more sleep and it was marvelous!
A couple hours later, with more sleep under our belts and coffee in hand, we started researching our road trip options for the day. Being private and home schooled, we just HAD to swing through Colonial Williamsburg.
It was Anna's first time to visit and I hadn't been since I was 12, so we thoroughly enjoyed strolling down the street. We pulled in right as a little rain was falling and ended up being the only ones there for a couple hours! {It's always fun to see a place as adult and realize how much your perspective changes as you learn and grow.} I remember the town being so much bigger and overwhelming, but the historic street is actually just a single mile. We ducked into the little store and grabbed Ginger Beers, tried on 3 corner hats, met some of the cast members & found some ginger cookies {and chocolate cupcakes...see below} the size of our faces!
Our end destination for the night was Baltimore, Maryland to stay with the some amazing family friends for the night, so we left our Colonial stroll and headed toward the city! We may have gotten stuck in a crazy rainstorm and had to drive at 30 mph, but Anna kept me relaxed and laughing {& sometimes singing} and we made it to the Brose's in one piece!
Let me tell ya a little about the Brose Family. They have three sons {Andrew, Aaron & Austin} and they grew up just around the corner from us. My brother Adam and Andrew were in the same class all the way back to first grade. We home schooled with them for a while and when I was just starting High School, their whole family moved to Rwanda, Africa for a long term mission. Our family actually went and visited them and took them on safari when they had been living over there about 18 months. Needless to say, we go way back! Tambry {"Mombry"} and Dan had a fabulous home made meal ready for us and greeted us with a cheese platter and large glasses of wine! Andrew & his wife Rachel were in Africa at the time, but Austin lives in Baltimore and joined us for dinner, as well as another family friend and her husband. Aaron and his wife Christina live in the townhome next door and were able to come over after dinner to catch up. It was such a good night of conversation, food, drinks and laughter and we went to bed very happy and very full.
Baltimore, Maryland - Day 4
Sadly - I'm serious when I say this was the saddest part of my whole excursion - Anna had to leave at 6am and catch a plane back to Atlanta. I enjoyed another amazing meal with the Brose's and then headed out to meet up with a dear friend {and former student} and photographer for our city shoot. Emily and I have known each other since 2003 when I was her counselor at a summer dance camp in Jackson, MS. She is a a professional ballerina in Baltimore now and teacher and it was so fun to catch up with her and see her city through her eyes. Her friend, Rebekah, joined us with her camera and a vision. We grabbed some looks from my car and headed to a museum bathroom to get changed! We found this little spot on the same block and, even though it was freezing, were able to pull off this breezy look!
After facing the wind with that stoic posing, we bundled Emily up and walked down the streets looking for backdrops. These doors made us so excited!
We had another outfit I made especially for Emily and her pointe shoes, so we jumped into her car and drove a couple neighborhoods over to the next location. Thankfully {okay maybe strategically...} we found a coffee shop to use for our outfit change & warmed up with some amazing local coffee and treats. With renewed energy and warmth and a new outfit, we walked around until we found the perfect graffiti alley ways.
