church, southern eating & table rock .

Sunday was a fun-filled day for the two of us. We started off with an early mass at St. Andrew Catholic Church in downtown Clemson on Sloan Street. It's where I usually go on my own at 8am on Sundays. I was thrilled that Courtney not only decided to come with me, but wanted to; she is Jewish and I am Catholic, so it meant a lot.


Afterwards we headed to Waffle House for breakfast, and let me tell you, don't let the tacky exterior of Waffle House fool you -- the food is cheap and absolutely delicious. It was one of those things that I wanted Courtney to experience, since it is a southern staple. It's especially good at 4 in the morning, whether you're drunk or not, though many a downtown party-goer finds themselves at this place in the wee hours of the morning.

The highlight of the day was going to climb up to Table Rock, in Pickens, SC. I had heard of others going to visit this place, but had never actually gone myself. I went with Tyler and Courtney (I eat lunch with Tyler almost every day) and it was the first time any of us had been. Despite the overcast weather and fog, it was a great workout and there was still a great sense of achievement when we reached the top. Tyler led us up and down, being the Eagle scout wilderness expert that he is, not to mention all the while keeping us on a serious pace. To tell you just how fast we went: the sign at the bottom said it would take 2-3 hours to go one way on the trail. We made it up in an hour and a half, and passed 4 groups of hikers on the way up. The trail was rocky and steep and a little sketchy at times -- but it was well worth the amount of sweat we poured out.

Enough of my blabbing, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves (courtesy of Courtney):

at the beginning, ready to go

we made it!

past the summit, at the lookout point (note the crazy fog... oops, poor planning to go that day)

some pretty sights along the way

And so we had a great time getting up there; I feel like it's something all Clemson students should do before they graduate.

The final highlight of the day was the trip to CookOut, another place that is limited to the south, and another place where Courtney had never been. The food is pretty much all fried and undoubtedly terrible for you, but oh so delicious. I highly recommend it - despite its negative health effects. They also have about a million different milkshake flavors, so that's yet another reason to go.

Needless to say, this Sunday was justttt about the most perfect one a guy could have.