Anyway, I'm realizing that it's taken me almost a month to post the rest of our vacation....so I'm going to try to make the rest of it short and sweet.
Wednesday, found us in Bowling Green, KY and heading to Mammoth Cave. I had been there as a teenager, but Trent and the kids had never experienced it. The overall impression was that it was really cool! Unfortunately, our tour guide had a very nasally, southern drawl which was incredibly hard to understand. So we left the cave having admired the beauty, but not knowing the history. After Mammoth Cave, we spent the day driving and ended up in Knoxville, TN.
Thursday morning we headed to Pigeon Forge, TN to visit the Titanic Museum. Trent and I would have like to have spent a lot more time in the museum, reading the history and viewing the artifacts, but having 3 children with us did not allow for that! The kids enjoyed the iceberg and different hands-on activities that they had. All in all, it was a good museum, but I wouldn't recommend bringing kids. After the museum, it was back to the van for a LONG drive. We were heading to Charleston, SC. We took a nice leisurely drive through the Smoky Mountains, stopped in Cherokee, NC for lunch and the kids watched movies and played games in the car. I do have to say....our kids traveled VERY well. In fact, I really can't remember any complaints from any of them!! We finally arrived in Charleston well after dinner time (which we had not eaten!). This was the first night that we didn't already have a hotel booked. Not knowing the city well, not having a map, and not wanting to spend an arm and a leg, did not make the job of finding a hotel very easy. So I used Trent's GPS on his phone to locate hotels and was able to call them to get prices. I wasn't very successful. They were either too far from the sites we wanted to see or way too expensive. We just kept driving around, finally finding a nice area with a few hotels. One of them being a Sleep Inn. It was small, quaint, looked decent and was half the price of every other hotel we had checked. (That should have given me a clue). The room was not terrible...tiny, yes....but not terrible. Until the next morning. Anyway, after checking in to the hotel, we needed some dinner. We ended up going to Sticky Fingers - a rib joint. I had never had ribs before, so I decided to try them.....delicious!! The classic line though, came from Carter when I was done with my meal. He asked (and very seriously, I might add), "mom, are those human ribs or ribs from a cow?" WHAT??? :) Back to the hotel....OK nights sleep (since the room was tiny, the bed was also tiny) and ready to hit the sites in the morning. Unfortunately our morning was a bit rushed and chaotic after Trent found a COCKROACH in the bathroom, nestled in the towels that we were all using to shower! ICKKKKK!!!!!!!
After quickly leaving the hotel and grabbing breakfast at McDonald's, we headed off to see some of the sights of Charleston. We drove around the historic part of Charleston and I went to the Old City Market - this used to be the site where slaves were bought and sold. Now it is like a big craft fair. I really wanted a sweet grass basket that was hand woven. I found one right away, but put it back just as quickly....$465! A vegetable basket?? After the market, we headed to Patriots Point to see the USS Yorktown - a retired air craft carrier. It was incredibly warm on this particular day, so I was hoping that the ship would be air-conditioned. Nope. In fact, after talking to one of the workers, I found out that it was going to be one of the hottest days in Charleston.....heat index of 120 degrees! And we were spending the entire day outside. There was also a submarine and Vietnam memorial on site, so we were able to visit those, also. After Patriots Point, we drove to some of the outer islands around Charleston, before heading to the Boone Hall Plantation. For those of you that have seen North and South....this is where it was filmed. It was very cool and I think the kids enjoyed it. I was a bit disappointed that we weren't able to see the whole house. We only were able to see the main floor and no pictures were allowed. Don't these people know that I like to take pictures of everything?? Oh well. After the plantation, we started our drive up the coast to Myrtle Beach. We were meeting my sister and her husband and my parents there. My brother and his kids were flying in late that night. The whole family was spending a week in MB, right on the ocean. The kids were very excited to be going to the beach.....this was definitely their "highlight" of the vacation!
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