James Dean and Anderson

I'm so excited to FINALLY share pictures from my little road trip a few weekends ago. I can't believe it's taken my this long to get around to it.

I left on Saturday morning, grabbed some McDonald's Ice Tea (unsweetened of course), and was on my way. I listened to a giant playlist I had made full of songs I used to love in high school. It was so fun to sing along to some of those forgotten songs and to laugh about the memories they brought back. I have no problem driving by myself (even long distances) so I really had a nice drive from the city to Anderson.

When I got there I was starving so Sean, Kristina, and I went out to a local burger place for dinner. It's seriously the cutest thing.

(source)
Apparently this restaurant has been in Anderson for over 50 years and has had the same chef since the 1970's. Their specialty is their onion burger--two beef patties sandwiching diced onions and grilled as one burger. If you know me and my love for onions, you know that is what I ordered.



The burger was realllllllly really good. Not only are onions grilled right into the burger, they top it with some extra onions just in case :). Top notch!

After dinner, we all headed back to Kristina and Sean's campus and watched a movie while doing some homework. I know it sounds a little sad, but that's what college is all about haha. If it makes it sound any less sad, we baked some cookies while we were doing our homework :). They ended up coming in handy because one of Kristina and Sean's friends stopped by for the movie and it just happened to be his birthday!



(note: I thought this was hilarious, hence me dying of laughter in the background of the second picture)

After the birthday and homework shenanigans, we all got a good night's sleep. The next morning we woke up and went to a thrift store in the next town over (I can't remember the name of it). They have a deal where you pay three dollars for a big brown bag and basically anything you can fit in it you get for three dollars. I'll share the loot I got in another post. Yes--I got SO MUCH STUFF that it deserves its own post. The best part? It cost me $3.15.

After the thrift store I dragged Sean and Kristina to the James Dean Museum. They've already seen it but I love James Dean and really wanted to go. This tiny town is James Dean's hometown AND the place where he is buried (SO COOL!). So we looked around the museum for a bit...



Then we went to the graveyard where he is buried. There is a bunch of stuff piled around his headstone that's sort of dead/dirty but it is really cool that people still leave him things. There are also some white rocks near his headstone that people who have visited the grave have signed. I really wanted to sign it but I didn't have a pen...stupid...



Next, we scooted along to the Anderson basketball game. I spent most of the game eating greasy popcorn and trying to get a picture of their bird mascot as my phone background. I failed... My phone takes pictures way too slowly!

We ended the night by grabbing a delicious dinner at a Steakhouse with my grandpa and his girlfriend. They just happened to be in town (so coincidental as neither of us knew the other were going until we were there) so they treated some poor college students to a good meal :).

I left pretty early in the morning the following day so I suppose that's where this trip ends. I love visiting my wonderful friends at their school. They've done so well for themselves and it's so heartwarming to have been friends with them for such a long time (Sean only three years, but Kristina has been around for nine years!). I can't wait to see them again!!

xoxo
Mal