Athens felt like a perfect town to us. Southern and friendly with a walkable core, a fabulous comics shop, and too many eateries for us to get through in two days. I’m lousy at tactful announcements but… we’ve decided to move there! In a nutshell: our savings’ll go a little further and we’ll be closer to my family (a shade closer to Dean’s family too!). It was a tough decision since Seattle has been so good to us. More on Seattle later though. Here are our pictures from the trip! Thank you so much to Jennifer who was kind enough to hook us up with a list of recommendations. Check out her blog for more on Athens life.

Mugging it up at Jackson Street Books. I loved the welcoming overflow of books and that just right book scent.

I didn’t plan on shopping but I couldn’t resist a glittery sweater dress at Community (the staff is lovely). We also bought some cute cards and pins at Mini Gallery– the littlest and most adorable gallery! Thanks for telling us about this, Janice!

Beautiful flowers and (not pictured) a delicious breakfast we scarfed down way too fast at Ike and Jane.

Next door is Double Dutch Press where we picked up postcards to send our folks. Double Dutch offers a variety of workshops that sound super fun.

Cali N Tito’s for dinner. Meals in Athens are extremely filling. It felt like I was moving in slow motion after this veggie burrito and sweet tea- haha. The BYOB factor is neat too.

These sweet dogs were waiting outside Daily Groceries Co-op. Omigod, what heartbreakers!

I ended up blowing the rest of my vacation budget at Bizarro-Wuxtry. No regrets. Thanks for the damaged book discount and the awesome pins, Devlin!

Refreshments at Trappeze. Dean tried the Terrapin Golden Ale. I got overwhelmed by all the beer options (there are so many!) and ordered whiskey. Our waiter was the most stylish man I’ve ever seen.

And we had to visit The Grit, a gold standard for vegetarian restaurants. I had to stop a few bites shy of finishing this jumbo breakfast burrito but it was off-the-chain!

A mural on the side of the Last Resort. We didn’t get to check this place out but I sure love a wall of colorful food!

Prior to actually hitting the road, I was terrified about all the driving. I just got my license over the summer and I’m one of those obnoxious, overly-cautious drivers. Turns out, driving was one of the best parts of visiting these cities! It’s less than three hours to Athens from Asheville and the roads are wide and open. We drove past the mountains and forests, peanut and fruit stalls, flea markets, gun shops, and churches. It was a truly novel landscape to me ‘n’ Dean.