Virginia Is for Lovers! Clayton Echard and Susie Evans jetted off to her hometown for a family-filled trip following the Bachelor finale.
“She ain’t Joe Byron, but she still took me out to dinner #wassupbaby,” the 28-year-old reality star wrote via Instagram on Sunday, March 20.
Echard and Evans, 28, got dressed up for a night out in Virginia Beach, Virginia, after confirming their rekindled romance on the season 26 After the Final Rose special, which aired on Tuesday, March 15.
The former pageant queen wore a pink mini dress with a cutout detail, strappy high heels and carried a wicker handbag while posing with her man on Sunday. Echard, for his part, wore a white tee, yellow overshirt, black pants and white sneakers. The lovebirds were all smiles as they enjoyed the beach location.
During the trip, the duo spent quality time with Evans’ family, which they documented via their respective social media pages. “Two of my favorite cuties,” the season 26 contestant wrote via her Instagram Story on Sunday, referring to the Missouri native and her niece Saylor.
Echard also channeled his inner child while hanging out with Evans’ nephew. “Little Tommy had a new bestie,” the photographer wrote via social media alongside a video of the former football player goofing off with the toddler.
The pair’s low-key getaway came less than one week after Bachelor Nation watched their love story play out on the two-part ABC finale.
Evans initially exited the show during the March 8 episode after she expressed concern with Echard being intimate with his other two finalists. Shortly after she left, Echard admitted that he was still in love with her — a realization he made after his remaining suitors, Rachel Recchia and Gabby Windey, met his family.
Recchia, 26, and Windey, 31, then left Iceland due to his lingering feelings for Evans. While Echard wrote a letter to the former Miss Virginia about how much he cared for her, Evans ended things with the Bachelor during the final rose ceremony.
The twosome, however, gave their relationship another shot post-show, which they discussed during the After the Final Rose special on Tuesday. At the time, Echard told host Jesse Palmer that his messy journey was “thousand percent” worth it to find love. He noted that he planned to move to Virginia and live with Evans.
“I spent the last four months with her,” he said. “She just impresses me more and more every day. And she continues to give me reason after reason why following my heart was the best decision I could have ever made, and I could not be more in love with this woman.”
Echard exclusively told Us Weekly on Wednesday, March 16, that his belief that you can love more than one person at one time has shifted since getting back together with Evans.
“[Now] I only think you can be in love with one person. You can fall for many, but you can only be in love with one,” he told Us after previously telling all three of his finalists during their fantasy suite dates that he loved them. “And that’s where I made a mistake. I was confused on the show, and I believed that I was in love with multiple women, but I’ve since realized that I don’t think I was.”
Scroll down to see Evans and Echard’s recent Virginia trip: