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Was it worth the wait? Elena's gone, the town is filled with heretics, season one vibes are off the chart, and there is a double timeline going on... So yes, it was totally worth the wait.


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The show opens with a bang, it's three years later and someone is after Stefan and Damon (no surprise). Stefan runs to a casket containing Damon's desiccated body and wakes him up. We don't get anymore insight on what the heck is going on until the very end of the episode.


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Remember back in season 1 when the characters actually wrote in their diaries? Well, season seven has resurrected the trend. It seems like everyone is writing in a diary, except for Elena, probably because she is off playing sleeping beauty.
I never really shipped Steroline as long as Delena was around. Now that all of my dreams are crushed, Steroline seems to be the next best thing. I like them as friends and I like them as more than friends, either way they have chemistry that can't be denied, even by a Klaroline shipper (guilty!). Stefan suggests a rule that they only be friends, which is broken before the end of the episode.


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So the heretics... where do I begin? First of all, getting hit by a car isn't a very good first impression. Secondly, I wasn't expecting them to be under so much control. Last of all, that selfie. #Nofilter!


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After the incident at the school where the heretics got revenge on the kids that mowed one of them down with a car, Stefan and Caroline begin brainstorming dumb ideas. The best they could come up with was bombing the heretics. Caroline goes over with flowers and her usual peppy disposition and distracts them while Matt plants a bomb in the house. I am not sure how Matt got away with getting into the house, undoing the gas line, and planting the bomb, without getting noticed.


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The Heretics mistake Caroline as a human and compel her to give them her jacket as the time on the bomb is ticking away. At the very last second, Caroline whisks she and Matt away as the bomb blows up. So vampires die if they are blown up, and witches die if they are blown up, so why didn't the heretics die?


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Over in Europe, Bonnie is playing babysitter to Alaric and Damon, who are drinking away their sorrows in Amsterdam (BTW I think I saw the Hazel-Augustus bench in all that b-roll). Anyway, I'm not too sure what Alaric is up to, but I don't like it. If it means that Jo comes back then great, but something is up with him and I prefer him as normal, nice, vampire-hunter, drinking-buddy Alaric.

As well as being a Steroline shipper, I have also jumped on the Bamon train. NOT romantically, just as platonic friends. Damon did save her life, even after hesitating which shows that he really does care, and he called her his BEST FRIEND!! I think that Damon does need a new romantic interest now that Nina has left, however, I also want him to stay true to Elena even while she is in a coma.


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Back in Mystic Falls the heretics decide to get revenge for being blown up while Lily is out of town flirting with Enzo (I don't ship it) about some stone that Alaric has. When she gets back she is disappointed and somehow the residents of Mystic Falls get conned into handing the town over to the heretics. They begin living in the Salvatore house and all the human residents are forced to leave.

Damon arrives back in town just in time to come up the logical idea to take the town back. Stefan says no, "for Damon's sake", and of course Damon isn't going to listen to that and neither is Bonnie. Later she finds one of the heretics and decides to try and kill him. Of course, he is also a witch and can overpower her easily. He begins to take her power when Damon, the hero, rips out his heart, and kills him (1 point for team Bamon!). So, having their hearts ripped out can kill them, but being blown to a million pieces can't?

Remember that rule about just being friends? Well it didn't last long. By the end of the episode Caroline realized that she was ready to take on Steroline and the make out session begins.

The episode closes continuing the flash-forward 3 years. Some lady with guns and crossbows is after the Salvatore Brothers and I have no idea of what is going on.

If you have any idea what is going on let me know in the comment and tell me what you thought of the episode or what you think will happen next!

On our departure day, we decided to head back to Olde Town Conyers on the way home because we knew they were setting up for filming. Sure enough they had already started setting up, and the door to the Jardin Gris was OPEN. I wasn't able to get a picture but I looked inside and it looked just like this:

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So, I am guessing that they actually do film inside.

They were hanging signs everywhere and setting up tables with fake ketchup and mustard bottles.

Remember this picture from Olde Town Conyers (Day 1)?

Well, here it is on day two-

Is it just me or were those lamp poles not there before?

They had all of their spread out and ready to go for season 3 episode 3, so be on the lookout!

Sadly, this is the last post on the adventure to Mystic Falls, but if you want to read more about this trip click here

After our Sippin' and Nibblin' at the Twelve Oaks it was time for dinner. My mom and I cleaned ourselves up after a day in the Georgia heat and headed over to the one and only Mystic Grill.

Although the outside looks identical to the Vampire Diaries’ Mystic Grill, the inside is not so similar. The owners did a good job trying to make it look as close as possible. First of all, they kept the logo.

They also had plaque’s dedicated to the characters, I like Alaric’s chair in the bar the best. (The lighting in there was not that good for picture taking)

At the restaurant I had a ceasar salad and my mom got the shrimp and grits. My ceasar salad was delicious. I added some chicken, which made it taste even better. The dressing had sort of a lemony taste, and there were sun dried tomatoes in the salad. The croutons were also made of cornbread. My mom loved her shrimp and grits. We were planning on ordering the salted caramel cheesecake, which we saw on the online menu and were really looking forward to having, but they didn’t have it so we ended up skipping dessert. After dinner we decided to head up to the roof to see the town while the sun was setting.

We decided to walk to the Covington graveyard and see the places they filmed there but their was a water main break so we could get in. We just walked back into the square to take more nighttime shots.

Back at the hotel we were exhausted after a long day of fun, but sad that the trip was coming to a close.

If you want to read more about this trip click here

Afternoons in Georgia get hot, and my mom and I were ready to get out of the sun and check in to our bed and breakfast, but the light was just right so we snapped a couple more pictures of Mystic Falls.

We got the pictures we wanted and headed to the B&B. We picked out a place called the Twelve Oaks Bed & Breakfast, knowing that Vampire Diaries had been filmed there. This Twelve Oaks inspired the Twelve Oaks in Gone With the Wind, and was built in 1836. It was a gorgeous home that was three stories, each room decorated perfectly. We stayed in the Salvatore Brother’s Study on the first floor to follow the theme of the trip.

It still had the original shower, which took a while to figure out but was definitely a great feature to the room.

They had a beautiful formal dining room, which they filmed the very first founder’s party of 1864 in.

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My mother and I decided to go on a little photoshoot so we would never forget how beautiful this house was.

There was even an old-fashion pool!

This is the view from the back of the house

This is the view from the side of the house

Gorgeous view from the front… #Nofilter

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They even had a Southern Sippin’ and Nibblin’ hour where they had delicious strawberry lemonade.

Overall it was an amazing experience and the owners/staff were so nice and we were treated great. In the morning they made us french toast stuffed with cream cheese and berries. I would definitely go here again!

After a delicious lunch, my mom and I decided that there were a couple spots that we didn’t get to see on the tour that we could go find ourselves. We knew we definitely wanted to see Elena and Caroline's house, and it turns out the houses are right next to each other.

Caroline's

Elena's

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We also decided that we wanted to see the Monroe Area High School because it had the “Home of the Timberwolves” sign on the football field. After a 30 minute drive, we arrived at the high school, no Timberwolves sign in sight. We drove around the high school multiple times trying to find the sign with no luck. Eventually we figured out the “old” football field was actually in a different location. We drove some more and finally found it, and the pictures ended up being totally worth the effort.

We then drove back and made up for all the effort with some delicious cappuccino ice cream from Scoops, which was super refreshing in the 100 degree Georgia heat.