New city + new friends. (image heavy!)

Yesterday morning Chris and I woke up before the sun because we had a big day planned. We got on the road and headed south. We were on our way to meet some new friends who feel like old ones, enjoy a new city, and relax.

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A few weeks ago Kaelah and I decided it was time for the four of us to meet. It was the first time that I've ever met a blog friend, so I was a little nervous! We decided to meet (sort of ) in the middle in Louisville, Kentucky. Chris and I had never been there, and neither had Kaelah and Mike. They went down a day early and were able to explore Louisville and plan the next day's events. I'm so thankful they were able to do that! I know I am definitely not naturally adventurous, I have to force myself to explore, but Kaelah and Mike did an awesome job of getting to know the area and discovering cute and fun things to do. 

Chris and I got on the road at 6:15 am (!!!) and nearly instantly got lost, which is ridiculous because we weren't even out of Illinois yet, these are roads I drive often, but somehow I missed my exit and we had to go way out of our way to get back on track. Luckily we downloaded the MapQuest app while we were driving and the lovely lady robot was able to reroute us. We basically drove across all of Indiana, and by noon (1pm in Kentucky) we arrived. We checked into our hotel room, fixed ourselves up a bit, and got in touch with Kaelah and Mike. The plan was to meet at the Louisville Zoo, so we got directions and set off. 

Chris and I got there first, and we sat on a bench to wait for Mike and Kaelah. It was weird how not-weird it was. I kept thinking to myself "This is a pretty weird thing to do, meet someone on the internet and drive six hours to meet them in a random city you've never been to", but it really didn't feel that way. Kaelah and I had never talked in real life, just emails and texts, but I felt like we were already friends. When they pulled up I waved and got really excited about the day ahead of us. 

We got our tickets and went into the zoo and started exploring. I was feeling a little out of it, it might have been nerves or it might have been because I hadn't eaten anything yet (besides my morning coffee), but even though I think we all felt a little shy and awkward we got along well and were having a really good time. 

After the zoo we went to eat. We ventured down to Bardstown Road, an area Mike and Kaelah had heard good reviews of and visited the day before. The first place we tried to eat was a bust, but just down the road we found an awesome little microbrewery called Cumberland Brews. The boys got to try some good beer, and we all had fantastic dinners. While the boys waited to pay Kaelah and I walked across the street to a cute little boutique. It was nice to have a little bit of girl time. We talked about blogging and future plans and looked at gorgeous dresses. 

We headed back to the restaurant to get the boys and walk around a little bit. After an impromptu photo shoot (the product of which is lotttts of silly face photos!), Kaelah and Mike decided it was time for them to get on the road. We said our goodbyes and all agreed that we need to meet up again.

Chris and I went back to the hotel and crashed. We wanted to go out, but we were so unbelievably tired from all the driving and excitement that we both passed out for about four hours. We ordered pizza to our room, ate in bed, and went back to sleep. We got back on the road around 10 am and headed home. We wanted to stop and do something fun along the way, but nothing sounded too appealing. Now we're home, catching up on snuggling with Mr. Littlejeans, and enjoying some downtime.

All in all, it was a wonderful little trip. We're both so glad to have met Kaelah and Mike, they're hilarious and adorable and I am so thankful that they were into meeting up with us. And on a sidenote: Kaelah is even cuter in person... Just fyi!! :P

I'll leave you with a handful of photos from yesterday. Click here to see a few more...!