Well, we are finally to the final vacation post. It's funny how life gets away from you. So much has happened since vacation that it feels funny to even be posting this at this point! Regardless, here we go!!
We left our Super 8 Motel in Virginia for our last long day of driving. Destination: Folly Beach, SC. Every three years, some of Cliff's friends from high school (and their families) get together for a little reunion. For each reunion, we pick a different spot in the country. Three years ago, we went to Denver. This time, the spot was Folly Beach. Even though we'd been to the Charleston area last summer for vacation, we were definitely looking forward to capping off our 21-day trip with a relaxing weekend by the ocean.
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| On the road to South Carolina.....it's starting to get looney in this van!! |
On our way down I-95, we had to get a picture of the cheesiest sight of our whole trip, South of the Border, a sort of tourist trap haven just south of the NC/SC border. We had laughed about this place on the trip up for its overbearing billboard advertising campaign (literally a hundred miles out, you start seeing billboards every mile or two). The billboards were generally peppered with cheesy, Mexican stereotypes (i.e. South of the Border: Caliente!!!) or bad puns.
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| South of the Border: entire buildings shaped like sombreros. SO cheesy! |
When we arrived Friday evening, we went out to dinner at the Mellow Mushroom with some of the gang and then settled in to our Folly Beach rental house we shared with our friends Chet & Lori and their daughter, Nora. Our house was only 2 blocks from the ocean. The next morning, after Cliff got our nearly busted tire fixed (What is it with us having tire issues in SC?? See our 2012 vacation posts if you forgot about our previous tire issues.), the whole gang met at our rental and walked to the beach. We had fun swimming in the ocean and playing in the sand despite the overcast, slightly ominous weather. The only downfall was Cliff getting stung by a jellyfish while playing in the waves. Ouch!!
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| Happy boy playing in the sand. |
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| Laura had fun playing with Pat & Tom's daughter Katie. |
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| After the beach, Laura and Nora enjoyed hanging out and eating graham crackers together. |
Later in the afternoon, we headed into Charleston to walk around the Battery and the City Market.
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| The group takes a walk along the Battery. |
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| Nathan makes a goofy face at the park in the Battery. |
In the evening, we headed back to our rental house to have dinner (we had take-out from the Folly Beach Crab Shack--yum!) and just hang out and catch up.
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| Nathan was so exhausted Saturday night, that he crashed on my lap. |
On Sunday morning, we ended our trip in a perfect way, with a stroll along the beach out to see the Morris Island Lighthouse. The kids had a great time collecting shells and spotting starfish and crabs along the shore line.
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| There's nothing quite like the ocean. |
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| Part of our group, strolling down the beach. |
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| We found a few live starfish. |
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| Climbing rocks and looking for shells with the Morris Island Lighthouse in the background. |
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| The kids each came home with a bag of shells. Cliff even drilled holes in their favorites so they could make shell necklaces. |
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| Self portrait with the ocean breeze in my hair. |
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| What a relaxing way to end our trip. |
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| Happy and WET! |
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| Time to head home! |
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Wow! What a trip!! It is incredible to think about all the things we saw and experienced in those three weeks. I am grateful not only to have experienced them myself, but to have shared so many new adventures with our kids. We may live without fancy smart phones, dinners out and cable TV, but it all pays out for us when we are able to take a trip like this. We are already looking forward to the adventures we have waiting for us in Summer '14. You'll have to stay tuned to find out about it later......
Gina
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