Statesboro Archives - Isaac Church // isaactchurch.com https://nas.isaactchurch.com/tag/statesboro/ Travel Blog, Photography, Reviews, Résumé, Music, Food Guides, and More Wed, 30 Aug 2023 17:31:51 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://isaactchurch.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/cropped-Site-Icon-2-32x32.jpg Statesboro Archives - Isaac Church // isaactchurch.com https://nas.isaactchurch.com/tag/statesboro/ 32 32 Georgia 2022 – Augusta, Statesboro https://isaactchurch.com/georgia-2022-augusta-statesboro/ https://isaactchurch.com/georgia-2022-augusta-statesboro/#comments Sun, 27 Nov 2022 21:00:19 +0000 https://isaactchurch.com/?p=15945 Augusta, Statesboro

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Greetings! As promised, here’s the second post I never got around to writing back in the fall of 2022. Sorry I’m so delinquent! We’ve got a lot of content coming soon, so I figured it was time to finally get caught up.

For the final game of App’s 2022 football season, Dad and I drove south to Statesboro, GA to watch the Mountaineers play Georgia Southern University. There were some spectacular sunsets on Thanksgiving weekend, so I thought I’d start by sharing a couple pictures.

Granite Falls sunset
Granite Falls sunset

Travel // Breakfast

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Dad and I left Granite Falls early, driving to Pineville for our first stop of the day. We stopped at MJ Donuts, a Korean-run shop close to Carolina Place Mall. By the time we arrived, they were sold out of their old-fashioned sour cream donuts, so we had to settle for some iced yeast donuts and some donut holes. They were very good and reasonably priced.

MJ Donuts
MJ Donuts

After breakfast, we stopped by REI Co-Op at the mall to return an item and do some Christmas shopping, and then hit the road again. After making a pit stop at Chick-fil-A in Lexington, SC to grab a drink, we continued southwest on I-20 towards Augusta.

Augusta, GA
Augusta, GA

Hawai'ian Barbecue

We arrived in Augusta just after 14:00, stopped at our hotel to drop off our luggage (turns out, we’d stayed there before when we visited the Masters almost a decade ago), and then headed to find a late lunch/early dinner. After weighing a number of options, we decided to be adventurous and try a Hawai’ian barbecue joint, which, judging by its roof, was housed in an former Pizza Hut.

Hawaiian Style BBQ
Hawaiian Style BBQ

We ordered a variety of meats to split: chicken katsu, garlic shrimp, teriyaki steak, and beef short ribs. As sides, we got steamed cabbage, rice, Hawai’ian sweet rolls, and Hawai’ian-style kimchi. Everything was outstanding, and we were genuinely surprised at how delicious the meal was. I’d like to visit again sometime.

Hawaiian Style BBQ
Hawaiian Style BBQ
Hawai'ian Style BBQ
Augusta, GA

Truly a “hole-in-the-wall” gem of a restaurant. Not in the best part of town, but the food was amazing. Everything was superbly flavorful, tender, and generally well-prepared. While prices were a bit high, portion sizes were extremely generous. I never expected a taste of the Pacific islands like this in the South!

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Swamp

Running a little behind, we rolled into Statesboro about 1.5hrs before kickoff, secured a parking spot, and walked through a dirty swamp (not exaggerating) to get to the football stadium. The stadium layout made basically no sense, and the pickup line for visitor tickets was horrendously slow and long, but we finally managed to get our tickets and make our way to our seats. The game was a major disappointment; the Mountaineers lost, eliminating them from bowl competition.

Paulson Stadium
Paulson Stadium
Paulson Stadium
Paulson Stadium
Paulson Stadium
Paulson Stadium
Paulson Stadium
Paulson Stadium
Paulson Stadium

Krystal

After the game, we drove back to Augusta, stopping at a Krystal Burger for some post-game sustenance. I hadn’t had Krystal in years, and it was a pretty good late night snack. We arrived back at the hotel, ate our undersized burgers and tots, and headed to bed.

Krystal Burger
Krystal Burger

A Spanish Breakfast

In the morning, we set out to find some breakfast, but first, we decided we’d do some quick sightseeing. We drove past the entrance to Augusta National Golf Club, getting a nice view of Magnolia Lane from the road. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a picture. Next, we drove through the surrounding neighborhoods to the backside of Augusta Country Club, and eventually wound up at our breakfast spot.

Our chosen breakfast spot was Bodega Ultima, a Spanish-inspired cafe in a posh shopping center. Dad and I got a table and settled in to watch some of the World Cup while we ate. We split a cinnamon roll as an appetizer, and then split a hot honey smoked and fried chicken biscuit, and a Jamon croissant with butter, an omelette-style egg, smoked ham, aged provolone, and house aioli. We each got a coffee too.

Bodega Ultima
Bodega Ultima
Bodega Ultima

Breakfast was excellent, and I would definitely go back if I’m in the area. The croissant sandwich was particularly good.

Bodega Ultima
Augusta, GA

An excellent place for a Spanish-inspired breakfast. I considered giving it 2 stars, but seating and the menu were somewhat limited. The food, however, was outstanding, and you don’t see much Spanish cuisine.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Cookie Shortage

We headed back to Charlotte, stopping at Trader Joe’s in Midtown to purchase some more Christmas gifts. Dad loves to give their butter cookies out as Christmas gifts, so he managed to purchase an entire buggy full; I too secured a good haul. We loaded up the truck and got back on the road for the final stretch back home.

Trader Joe's

Conclusion

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Sadly, we had to cancel our final trip of 2022 – we’d planned to visit family in the Chesapeake Bay area over Thanksgiving. Since Faith was expecting and was quite sick, we had to postpone. We’ve rescheduled for 2023 though!

I bumped up my ankle surgery to two days after our return from Statesboro, and Dad had a impending knee replacement in January. Thus, the delays in posting all this. Between surgeries, a new baby, and many other happenings, I’m just now getting caught up.

Ankle surgery
Rollin'

Here we are in August (almost September 2023)…I may be belated with my posts, but that comes with some good news! We have three exciting trips coming up very soon, so the blog will finally be active again. I won’t spoil the surprises too much, but there will be one trip out west, one involving a lot of colonial history, and our rescheduled Chesapeake trip. Stay tuned in the next couple of weeks for the intro to our western adventures.

Thanks for reading!

– Isaac & Co.

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* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

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