Tourist Trap town seen from above…

Myrtle Beach is a lovely beach. It was a boardwalk and tons of shops. It is also a tourist trap. One of those places that can suck you in and you could spend all your time, and money there. Luckily for us we had time constraints and a budget that we were getting very good at sticking too. We settled for a stroll along the boardwalk, eating Italian Ice. Later we ventured onto the pier (which we had to pay $1 for…seriously?!)

We also saw the world’s smallest, and second smallest visitor’s center. This was one shop divided into two parts, feels like a cheat, but I’ll let them have it.

Lastly we went on a helicopter ride, which took us over the beach. It was my first time (that I know of) flying in a helicopter. It was totally awesome! Beginning that high up was really great way to see the city.

The view

The beach

and some more

We went in this!!!

Leaving Myrtle beach on route to Winston Salem, North Carolina I convinced Tyler to take a detour past Matthews, NC where there is a shop aptly named “The South African Shop”.

Matthews, NC

He agreed and I was ready! Biltong here I come!!! He was glad after he noticed a row of custard powder. Two bottles in hand, he was set. Biltong, droe wors, snap sticks, crème soda, appletiser, grapetiser, nougat, rusks and lemon crèmes in hand, I was set.

Next stop Winston Salem, NC!

I was really unimpressed by Myrtle Beach, given we have our own tourist trap here in Wisconsin with a lot of the same things and more I just wasn’t taken away with all the bright flashy stuff.  That being said the airplane ride was a lot of fun.

From the pier

View from the pier

Ferris wheel by the beach

It wasn’t too hard to convince me to go to the South African shop, I am always up for an adventure and once I found out that the shop closed at 5 and that with the amount of time we needed to get there we would be arriving just at 5 I was ready to take on the adventure. I love racing time and seeing if we can make it… luckily we did J

It’s really is wild…

Welcome :)

Driving to Myrtle Beach, SC from Georgia we saw a wildlife refuge. Tyler and I decided the 4 mile loop might be fun to see. As soon as we noticed the hiking trail sign, immediately followed by a “caution: there are wild alligators” sign, we were intrigued. Who wants to go hiking where there are alligators?

Wildlife

Birdie 

After driving for at least 2 miles we stopped to talk to a guy bird watching, he informed us that he has been to the refuge many times and never seen any alligators. Tyler was slightly disappointed as the thought of “Croc hunting” (complete with a terrible Australian accent) alligators had got him excited.

Dragonflies

Ever persistent, we trained our eyes on the water and were determined! We were also rewarded by seeing 5 alligators (though out our drive.) One was just swimming in the water all by himself. So we pulled up, got a little brave and got out the car. After devising our escape plan if he started swimming our way, I started snapping photos. He looked like a pretty small alligator so Tyler’s theory was that “he’s probably a teenager that just moved out.”

An Alligator!!!

He started swimming a little our way and immediately Tyler and I look at each other and started debating how fast they can run. Knowing that animals are unpredictable we decided we had had enough of a close encounter and headed to the safety of the car.

The "Croc Hunter"

Once in our hotel, we checked out the swimming facilities. The pool was super cool, it was both inside and outside and with it beginning Summer time it felt great to be able to swim outside in the open air!

Our 5 things we are thankful for today…

1)      Seeing Wild alligators up close (and getting some pics)

2)      South African food in Georgia

3)      Swimming pools and hot tubs after a long hot day

4)      Chick-fil-a...nuff said (Tyler’s favourite fast food restaurant, which Milwaukee has none of)

5)      Old school tunes for driving (Think backstreet Boys, ‘N Sync)

The ‘Alligator Hunting’ piece was a lot of fun and one of those things that if we had just flown to these destinations would have completely missed. This is the reason I love doing road trips, because we always leave time to do little detours that can take you to new and exciting adventures. It was a really neat experience to get that close to wild alligators.

In flight

Hello Mr Alligator

And goodbye...

Pretty big!

Home of …South African padkos?!

Welcome :)

Driving into Savannah, GA late in the afternoon we drove past a sign which prompted my wonderful, intelligent boyfriend to say… “Hey they have a WCTC too” (Waukesha County Technical College) “Oh, they do?” “Yeah, West Georgia…oh wait…”

I am not going to lie; I said some pretty silly things too. I just wrote down his gems so I could remember them, another one to follow…

We arrived at our hotel, went to our room and began to settle down. Almost immediately the phone in the room rang. (It is sad that flashes from horror movies come streaming into my mind when stuff like that happens?) Anyway I answered it, and the front desk had just called to tell us they could see a black bag in the hallway by our room. Tyler had left his bag outside the room, and completely forgotten about it, silly boy!

The day in Savannah, GA was spent driving around, walking around Forsyth Park and later eating. We found a South African restaurant online, and decided to give it a try. They had wors rolls, curry, rooibos tea and I was in heaven! I went a a piece of wors and a curry, Durban would be proud, cos it was a good curry! I met the owner an ex-pat from Jo’berg. Tyler tried a basic burger with an egg. I thought this was pretty standard but Tyler informed me not so much, maybe that’s why it’s called the Jo’burger.

Awesome Flag!

Yummy Durban Chow!

After filling up on yummy food we ventured out to Tybee Island, GA. We climbed a lighthouse with 178 steps. I’ll repeat that 178. Yip, I felt every single one of them! The view made it all worth it, as we had lovely scenery surrounding us, and I was able to get some good shots.

Now off to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina…

Fountains at Forsyth Park

Fragrant Garden

I think it is mighty convenient that she was able to write down everything stupid I said while being exhausted from driving, but then neglected to write down some of her best quotes. Unfortunately given I was driving I was unable to record quotes…  As for the bag miscue it was past midnight, I had been driving for 8+ hours, and I was carrying my bag, plus other bags, so the fact that I left one bag outside does not surprise me in the least. Plus on top of this I call my girlfriend the bag lady, because no matter where we go or what we are doing she somehow manages to find a way to accumulate or pack tons of bags full of stuff. I don’t know how she does it. For example I was able to bring in one bag every single night; she brought in three at the minimum. 

Tybee Island, in Georgia

The Lighthouse, GA

Lotsa steps!

The view from the Lighthouse

Sweet home Alabama…

Welcome :)

I will try to keep most of these entries pretty short and sweet considering this is already going to seem like a novel for some…

We visited the Temple of Sibyl. The Temple is basically an open-aired gazebo, with a beautiful view. It was made as a replica of the Temple of Sibyl in Tivoli, Italy (near Rome.)

Next we drove through the 5 points south neighbourhood on our way to the McWane science center. Most people that go there actually have kids, who are running around trying all the fun experiments (and trust me the parents try a few too.) Tyler and I are lucky that we don’t even have to pretend to go there “for the children” we can honestly say … we are the children! So we ran around trying all the different experiments like making Robyn-sized bubbles (aka fun-sized) and testing our peddling ability on a game where you escape a dinosaur on a bicycle (not my vehicle of choice if I’m trying chased by a T-Rex.)

I;m in a bubble!

Tyler with the motion sensor screen

Love it!

HAHA face prints

We also competed in a balance game (I won) a reflex game (Tyler won), and we worked together on a dinosaur knowledge quiz (we failed…1/7 to be exact, if I was better at Math I would know what percentage that was.)

Then we challenged each other to a mind control game where you where sit across from each other, wearing weird piece of head gear and stare at a tiny ball which you are trying to “push” (with your mind) to the other side of the table. The trick is to think of nothing, but you soon realize thinking of nothing is in fact thinking of something. Then you try to concentrate on as little as possible, but your mind will always wonder and inevitably begin to think of something. I ended up winning the challenge, which technically means I have better mind control…but I think they are trying to tell me my mind is blank, hmmm. Although I did semi-cheat, just before we started I asked Tyler how long we had to drive on our next stretch…I knew he would be calculating and recalculating and thinking about the drive…and I would win J

For lunch we made our way to Kelly Ingrim Park, which has a wonderful view of the 16^th street Baptist church. It also has a few sculptures to represent various elements of the civil rights movement, and has a freedom trail that you can walk to get around the park. We had a lovely picnic, and then began our walk along the freedom trail, where we encountered a family. The grandfather was recounting stories of the civil rights movement to his grandkids in great detail, and every time he mentioned ‘they’ (assuming he meant the white people) everyone would glance our way slightly…I began to feel slightly uncomfortable. You know that feeling you get when someone mentions apartheid and they look at you like you did it? Yeah, that feeling…

A sculpture from the park

Where we had lunch

So we decided it was time to head for our next destination…Savannah, Georgia!

Our 5 things we are thankful for today…

1)      McWane science museum ... Especially the bubble display

2)      Beating my boyfriend at the balance and brain power challenge (he beat me at the reflex challenges)

3)      An awesome co-pilot who keeps me hydrated and fed

4)      Breakfast at la Quinta inn (hmm waffles)

5)      Free Alabama post cards ... Yah la Quinta! (Apparently AL likes their state more than MS)

Vulcan Park (we went there too)

McWane Science Museum was easily one of the highlights of the trip; it’s actually something we found at the last minute too. I was pleasantly surprised by Birmingham, AL, I really expected this to be one of the less fun stops, however they came around and surprised me a bit. Again though it seemed like there was a lack of downtown life on the streets, however given it was a Sunday during the day there were likely a lot of people attending church. 

Uh, ghost town?

Welcome :)

Driving into Jackson I was excited to see all this town (or city?) has to offer. Unfortunately, not much. The streets were deserted both by pedestrians and cars. I started to get the feeling like I was missing something, or maybe other people knew something I didn't. Saturday night in Milwaukee would never be that dead.

After venturing into a small underground restaurant (119 Underground) it was confirmed that there is no body in Jackson, we were the only table. We asked the waitress why the streets were dead, and she assured us that is gets ‘hip and happening’ at 8pm (it was 7pm…how hip and happening can a town get in one hour?)

Downtown Jackson, MS

Oh and Jackson, Mississippi? Yah, apparently they are not so proud of their town since we stopped at 3 petrol stations and 4 pharmacies and were unable to find any postcards. Challenged accepted Jackson…I will find some (even if it’s online.)

Pretty painting

On to Birmingham, Alabama…

Our 5 things we are thankful for today…

1)      Not being born in Jackson, Mississippi (Yip)

2)      Ahi tuna (my favourite!)

3)      Graceland tour (expensive but still interesting)

4)      Pretty Mississippi scenery (there may not be postcards…but it is beautiful)

5)      That my boyfriend went the extra mile so I could get a pic of TN and MS welcome signs (sweet guy)

As Robyn mentioned above I really don’t have much to say about Jackson because there really was nothing going on, I am still astounded by how dead their downtown area was at that time on a Saturday night. It was a bit of a buzz kill, I think the best explanation I could come up with was that it was a Saturday night and given we were in the deep southern part of the US and right in what they call the bible belt that people were getting rest before church on Sunday… However who knows…

A *something* Monument

Bye Jackson, MS

Walking in Memphis…

Our morning in Memphis started with a drive to see Mud Island, which is a man made, walk-able garden which shows the Mississippi river and the river beds that make up the landscape. Kids are able to play in the smaller scale river and many were wading around with parents. The water was cool and the cooling effect was welcome since Memphis was a hot 35C (or 95C.)

At Mud Island

Fountain!

Showing the water table

On our drive down town to find the Memphis trolley, we saw ‘The pyramid” which is a no longer popular sports arena, but still looks pretty cool.

The pyramid

On the trolley we meet a lot of very interesting people. One who was from Milwaukee, who then proceeded to beg for money, one air-hostess-in-training who tried to convince us that Charleston, South Carolina was the best place ever, since “they have cobble stone streets, you know.”

On the street car

After the downtown trip we adventured out to Graceland to see a legends house. As interesting as it was I would say the people that care the most about Elvis’ legend are the people cashing in on that place – it’s crazy! You pay $36, just for the basic tour, which is a walk around the property where he lived. The VIP package costs as much as 70 bucks, and that’s not even including the souvenir stores that are begging to take your money and the classic “You're at Graceland” picture.

At Graceland (we got someone else to take this...and didn't buy their's)

This is also where my camera decided to take a mental break. This made me sad. So, many great Graceland snaps were missed, but there was the back of Tyler’s iPhone (not as good, but apparently more reliable than my lovely, fancy camera.) I will post a few pics below, because Elvis had some CRAZY tastes!

Now, on to Jackson, Mississippi…

Mud Island was very cool, I enjoyed that a lot, even through the heat. The trolley was fairly unimpressive for me as it took us through some not so great neighborhoods with some shady people on the trolley with us. As for Graceland this was the second time that I have been through it in my life as my dad took me when I was very little, however not much has changed, it is a very outdated home, and they charge you A LOT of money to go through… I would recommend just looking up photos online, you will get the gist and save A LOT of money. 

Elvis' House

Tv/gaming room

Look at the ceiling and walls...that is FABRIC!!!

Sitting area