Day 19, Buxton to Corolla, NC (OBX)

This morning we awoke to a cloudy day but it was all good because we knew the sun would greet us soon. After breakfast we loaded up and drove to the northern most end of the OBX. It was so cool to see how the terrain changed the further north we went. Suddenly the OBXs was no longer this quite little secret of a place with unspoiled beaches and a only local businesses. It had become a tourist resort. We had arrived in Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills, and Kitty Hawk. The three were kind of blended all together. There were shopping centers, tons of restaurants, mini golf, beach stores, hotels, traffic lights, and traffic! This area is where you go if you are looking for some excitement and high energy! As we continued up through Duck and Corolla, again things changed. The crowds turned to families, the homes doubled and tripled in size, the landscape was more colorful, and again there was no shortage of things to do. I regret not riding horses on the beach in Buxton and not going on the kayaking tour to see the wild ponies, but things we found to do instead were a lot of fun for us all. Upon arriving in Corolla, we stopped by our hotel which of course was not ready so we went exploring. Finding ourselves at Timbuktu II we stopped for lunch. This place was the neatest shopping center / family fun center. There were so many choices for lunch that popping in, checking out a menu, and moving on to the next was the best idea for finding the bests food. North Banks proved to have excellent food. They were a bit pricey but then again most of the outer banks is! After a wonderful lunch you can head over to the race track for a friendly race where in our case the brother tasted victory over his little sister. Of course she wasn't really racing though, just driving! Where do these kids get all of this competitiveness!!!!! Oh I don't know maybe their parents! LOL Yes feeling the need to get in on the action, we all decided on a friendly game of Putt Putt. At the back 9 it was non other than I leading the pack, with Dad in a very close second. Would Dad make a come back back to take home the win or would mom hold the lead? Well Dugh! Of course mom lets dad win, but only by 1 stroke! All of this competition required some good old fashioned R&R so its was some homemade ice and the beach that caught our attention. The ocean was beautiful but the surf was really rough. My husband made many attempts to surf the four and five foot swells bu the he was just no match for the ocean today. It carried him down shore at a very rapid pace and knocked him down at every chance it got. It was great fun for the photographer in me watching through the camera lens but a little worrisome for the wife in my to see. We decided the pool just may be a better choice for today. Mema found her heart beating to a little love song as she discovered a little black cat with yellow eyes. It reminded her of her Prissy. The weird thing was the this cat came running when she called her Prissy! I feel a kitty on the horizon for her. We ended our evening with dinner at the Pine Shore Diner and a movie, Escape to Witch Mountain, which by the way was excellent! Headed home tomorrow afternoon!

Day 18: Buxton, NC

Buxton, NC is at the southern end of the outer banks just below Avon and just above Hatteras. We started our day with a wonderful breakfast at little restaurant just beside the Comfort Inn. We had been traveling for so long that all of us, except for my husband, had forgotten what day it was until Jimmy called his dad to wish him a happy Fathers Day. I felt so bad that I had forgotten. Luckily I had gotten him a gift a while back. Since Jimmy loves Baseball and softball I had a Louisville slugger bat personalized for him when we were at the factory in Louisville. We gave it to him when we all returned back to the room. We planned to head to the beach afterward but unfortunately for AJ and I he just wasn't feeling well enough to eat let alone spend the day frolicking in the sand and surf. After we ate Jimmy headed to the room with our son while Mema and I took my daughter over to the Wings store for a bit of shopping. We picked up a few things and then went back over to the hotel. While I sat with AJ everyone else headed down to the beach. About 2:30 AJ started feeling well enough to join the rest of the family. As we approached the sand dunes I could hear the waves crashing on the shore so I knew the surf must be rough. Sure enough there was a strong under current that prevented body surfing but the kids had a great time just playing along the waters edge. The water was beautiful. It was the perfect shades of blue and green. The sand was soft and warm. The beach was unspoiled and uncluttered which was such a refreshing change of pace from the crowed commercialized beaches I am used to. Be careful though, here you wont find big crowds, but you also wont find lifeguards or controls either. Unfortunately our time was cut short due to the dark looming clouds overhead which were happy to dump buckets of water about 10 mins after we got back to our room. After the storm passed we went for a drive to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and then a little further down to Sunny's for dinner. After dinner we drove on down to the end of the Hatteras were the Ferry's come in. There is a great little shopping area there were you can sit out on the decks and see an amazing sunset over the inlet. We picked up and ice cream cone watched the beautiful sunset before heading home for the evening. On our way home we passed a great little slick track and miniature golf course, which we of course had to stop at. In our family we take our putt putt very seriously, like most of the things we do! The competition is fierce but we all bring our poker faces and A games to the greens. Jimmy usually wins but that's because we all find that the game somehow is just more fun when dad is winning!!! LOL Actually he just gets more putting practice than us so he usually squeaks out the win. Tonight was no exception! The course was tough but the mosquitoes were tougher so make sure to bath in deep woods OFF before hitting this course!

Day 17: Savannah Ga, to Outer Banks, NC (Buxton)

Today was the day we all were dreading. The GPS said 9 hours or at least it would have had it been working. This morning after loading the car in a 90 degree garage for a half hour it was time to hit the road, only my car decided it didn't want to go. You guessed it! Dead battery! After getting a jump start we were ready to go. All I had to do was plug in the address and move out. Nope! You see when the battery dies so does my navigation system. It will only restart with the proper entry code which was of course at home in a file where all codes belong! I get on the phone with my Honda dealership who wont give me this "TOP SECRET" info over the phone until I decided that no was just not an option. During this time tempers were starting to spark just a bit because it was hot, getting late, and we all had an answer of how to fix the problem, only trouble was nothing was working. Yes....., of course I had a map and I do in fact know how to read one and even ask for directions, but I wanted my GPS to work. So after Jimmy and I both got know resolution from Waldorf, we headed for Granger Honda of Savannah. All I can say is, WOW! They were so friendly and interested in helping me that I though I must be buying a new car not getting an old one fixed. Jonathon heard my tail of woe and simply said I can fix it, bring it around and I will get you taken care of. That's exactly what he did. They were going to have to pull out my GPS, get the serial number, and then run it through the computer to get the codes. I asked how much, of course expecting to hear a couple hundred dollars, but instead Johnathon said, I will take care of you all.....No Charge. Long story short the codes were written in my service logs all along and in ten minutes (12:30pm) we were headed down 95 again. Finally about 10:30 we started driving over some very long and very dark bridges. Given that I truly hate bridges this was not a pleasant experience for me. Nor were the next 3. At 11:30pm, 11 hours later we arrived, dead tired. There are no photos for today but just imagine three adults, two kids one of which is sick, and a very loaded minivan all locked up together for 12 hours and you wont need a photo any longer! LOL

Day 16: Savannah, Ga

Today its HOT! Somehow when you are on vacation the heat just cant keep you down or at least not completely. After a great breakfast which actually included bacon and fresh eggs and grits and fresh cut up fruit, we headed out for the Green Trolley! (You see hotels with a free breakfasts, translates to bagels, pastries, cereal and maybe some apples and oranges, so eggs is exciting after 15 days of the latter.) We boarded our trolley and Sparky began to tell us all about the history of Savannah as we winded through the tree lined streets. Savannah's history is to extensive to share in a blog so take it from me come and ride the trolleys for yourself! You wont regret it. We hopped on and off at several different spots around the historic district such as the pirates house restaurant which is one of the oldest original buildings and was of course inhabited by great pirates of the past who came to house to trade their wares. St. John the Baptist Cathedral called to all of us. Of all of the churches I have been in across the country I think this had to be one of the most beautiful. There are no words to describe the beauty of what you will find inside. I could have just sat there for hours listening to the volunteers tell the stories of each painting, each stained glass, and each year of history for this spirit filled cathedral. Trick Question for all of the Catholics: What makes a Cathedral a Cathedral? Answer: A Cathedral is where the Bishops throne resides. If the bishops chair is not in the building then no matter how big and beautiful, its still just a church! Once a cathedral, not always a cathedral. If the Bishop moves his chair on down the road, then the building returns to being a church! Cool Trivia! The riverwalk was our next stop. Here we watched the boats, the tugs, the monstrous container ships, and the river queens come and go. There are so man wonderful and unique little shops on this street that had it not been for the heat, we could have spent the day here people watching. Instead we headed in for some refreshing ice cream and then jumped back on the trolley. Jimmy and the kids planned to hit the pool while Mema planned to stay the heck out the heat and the sun, but I had not quite had enough of Savannah yet so I planned to walk around a bit. However, my sons little body had a few different plans for all of us. AJ was looking pretty pale and complaining of a sore throat. It didn't look good but I kept thinking, "oh its just the heat and he will be ok." Wrong! I took him upstairs where he laid down and said he just needed to rest a bit. I gave him some meds and sent Jimmy and Adriana off to the pool. Mema stayed with AJ and I head out for a bit too. We were scheduled to have dinner at Lady and Sons (Paula Deans Place) tonight so I was happy to see AJ out at the pool when I returned. I joined the family poolside to find my baby falling asleep in the chaise. No Paula for mommy tonight! Mema decided at the last min to stay with AJ and send me off to dinner with the family. The restaurant was pretty cool and the food was definitely down home southern style comfort food. The pan fired cornbread and cheddar and garlic biscuits were awesome as was her fried chicken and mashed potatoes. We very much enjoyed our meal. When we got back my son had taken a turn for the worse. He was now burning up with fever and vomiting. I ended my night cleaning up the vomit out of the carpet which unfortunately my mother in law had to clean up first. I had to have a roll away brought in along with the air mattress's we already had. Our room at the Hilton now looks more like a room at Joe and Bobs shack house! There are beds an bodies across every corner of our room. The beach towels and swimming suits have added elegance to our decor! Just call us Jed and Granny!!! LOL Pray for my son to wake up all better because we have a nine hour ride tomorrow to our next stop! (pictures tomorrow)

Day 15: Columbus to Savannah, GA.

Today was mostly spent driving. We headed out around 10:30 and finally arrived in Savannah at 3:30 this afternoon. Along the way we came across a peach orchard owned by the Lane family. What a cool place this was along Rt. 96 just outside of Houston, GA. They have an amazing set-up which includes the orchard of course, a restaurant, bakery, gift store, fresh produce market, and they even offer guided tours of the farm. We picked up a bag of peaches and enjoyed an ice cream before heading on down the road. When we arrived in Savannah I was amazed at the beautiful of the trees lining the streets. They we all so large and covered in Spanish moss. It was so quaint and beautiful. We were all so excited because it Jimmy was there to meet us. he had reserved a very nice room for us all to enjoy. It had has been three weeks since we have all really been together so it was so great to see him finally. Soon after unloading we headed out for Tybee Island. We had been told that Hannah Montana is shooting her next movie her so we were hoping for a siting but settled for seeing on of her people instead. Jimmy and the kids had a great time playing in the ocean and building tunnels for AJ's ball. Mema and I looked for sea shells and enjoyed the quietness of our surroundings. After playing for about and hour we were all starved so we cleaned up and headed off in search of food. We happened upon a small seafood place at the edge of Tybee Island. After dinner a storm blew in so we headed in for the evening. I cant wait to see Savannah tomorrow even though the mercury will be registering at 99 degrees with a heat index of 110. Can you say HOT!!!!
Money Saving Tip: Create a spreed sheet of where you are going, what the mileage is from place to place, what you daily food budget is, what activities you will be doing and how much it will cost. Just as a grocery list saves money in the store a vacation list saves money on the road!

Day 14: Biloxi, MS to Columbus, GA

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Today we experienced a life in the day of Forest Gump of Bubba Gump Shrimp!! Ok....... so thats a bit of a stretch but we did head our on the Sail Fish to learn all about "shrimpin!" Did you know that there are three colors of shrimp? I didn't! There are brown, white and pink. The pink ones are the high high dollar special ones because the boats have to go out up to 35 miles off the coast to catch them from March to May / June. There is actually a bit of science involved in trolling for shrimp. The nets are thrown out with a tickler chain and a lazy line attached. There is a knot tied in the end of the nets to in a very special manner to keep the dolphins from both playing with the nets and eating all of the catch. the lazy line allows the fisherman to only pull up the end of the nets which can be a huge help given that up to 65 or more ft of nets is let out. The tickler chain is to kick up the bottom so the shrimp are forced to swim instead of remaining buried under the sand. The nets stay out for 20 mins exactly and then are puled in and all of the shrimps are sorted in to 1 lb piles. the number of piles determines how good the area is and whether or not to stay. When our nets where pulled in my kids faces lit up with delight at all of the shrimp, crabs, minnows, squid, oyster fish, carr, flounder, and other fish lay inches in front of them flipping and flopping around. The part they enjoyed the most was feeding the seagulls the catch. All of the kids were picking up the shrimp and various other fish and throwing them back in the water except when the did the seagulls would swoop down and steal the little fish. It was a really fun and interesting tour. I am so glad we went as learned all about shrimpin! After all that Shrimpin, we were pretty hungry so we packed up and headed for Mobile, AL. to the Famous Brick Pit for some BBQ. This was the neatest little place to eat. the only serve BBQ, bean, slaw, and potatoe salad but that's because there BBQ is why you come to the Pit, and the portions are healthy. The coolest part of this restaurant was the decor. Every inch of space was signed by the guests, covered in pictures and plaques and newspaper articles. Reading the things that people had written over the years was very entertaining. Of course we found our little spots to add our own design touches. When in Mobile stop by the Brick Pit! After lunch we settled in for the first leg of two long drives headed for Savannah, GA. Tonight we will hang our hats in Columbus before heading out in am to Savannah where we will meet up with my husband to finish out our trip. SSSHHH!!!! I hear Hannah Montana is hanging in Tybee island right now making a movie! Stay tuned, maybe we will have a Hannah siting!!:)