Travel Series: The Southeast

RESTART

I've really been wanting to kick this blog back up but it's been out of commission for so long I don't know where to start. Sure, I could start off right where I am right now, but then I'd miss out on documenting some really fun and crazy things that we did the last two years. So I've decided to start with documenting our family trips first. Thank goodness for phones with good cameras because I can just use my photo album as a reference. We'll call this the Moran Family Travels Series and for this first installment, the focus is Thomas' first birthday! That was a wild adventure, a lot of work, a whole heap load of patience, and resulted in some really awesome memories. For Charles' first birthday we went all the way back home to Seattle. That didn't seem like an undertaking I was willing to endure this time around so I planned a road trip instead. For those that know me, they know that my thirst to explore is never quenched. And since this is my first time living on the East Coast, I figured...why not drive the East Coast! My good friend Amanda has a condo in Destin and she offered it up to us for Thomas' birthday. Now I just had to plan getting there- with 2 year old Charles and 1 year old Thomas. EEEEEK. Exciting and terrifying at the same time. There were so many new cities we could explore on our way down there!

Matt had an inspection at Shaw AFB the week before we left, so the plan was for me to just drive down there and pick him up and we'd basically start our road trip adventure in South Carolina. Shaw left much to be desired....if we ever get stationed there I'm living in Columbia! It was a long haul from Hampton to Shaw so I left early in the morning and remember the boys did pretty great up until about 2 hours before we got there. There was something about lots of screaming while in line for Chick Fil A but we survived didn't we? We stayed the night at Shaw and packed up for Myrtle Beach the next morning. Myrtle Beach reminded me of a busier and more touristy Virginia Beach. We paid a ridiculous amount to ride an enclosed ferris wheel and the kids were so fascinated with the view it made the ridiculous amount worth it. Funny how kids can do that. The Southeast coast in the middle of summer is hot and humid let me tell you! But if you're prepared for it, basically have the mindset that it's going to be hot and humid- you'll survive. We also spent some time at a place called "Broadway at the Beach" which was essentially a huge shopping center/tourist trap. They had kid rides, shops, restaurants (we ate BBQ), and tons of fountains. Lots of toddler eye candy! From there we packed up and continued south to Charleston where we were going to settle for the night.

Charleston stole my heart! What a beautiful city. The architecture there had me mesmerized and despite walking around in the heat, I thoroughly enjoyed our walking adventure. I brought my huge sun hat and it was basically the best decision ever because Charleston and a huge sun hat just seem to go hand in hand. We found this huge fountain splash pad for the boys (and us, yes us!) to cool down in and continued walking around the city. Besides the architecture, the FOOD, drew me in. Give me all that low country food- shrimp and grits for days. DAYS. And Matt had his fill of greens- if that's even possible. The man loves his greens. Bloody Mary and gin and tonic oh my! If we do end up in South Carolina because of the military, I see many a getaway in Charleston.

The next stop on our SE road trip adventure was Hilton Head. We were driving through the vicinity so I made sure he stopped there to see what all the hubbub was about. There wasn't anything super spectacular about the area, although I could see how it would be a nice place to stay for a week or so with the family. I'm glad we were able to check it off our East Coast to do list though. We saw the light house, ate some ice cream, I finally got my S'Well water bottle(!), and I remember there being a pretty big meltdown near the rocking chairs while we ate our ice cream. As we were leaving I saw a sign for pony rides and I can't ever resist letting me kids ride a horse! As someone who didn't get on their first horse until the ripe old age of 25...I've become obsessed. From there we drove to our next stop for the night, Savannah!

Matt loved Savannah more than Charleston, while I was the opposite. Don't get me wrong, I really liked Savannah too, but just Charleston more. This was another walking friendly city and we walked everywhere. We walked the Riverwalk, we walked to the park with the big fountain...we walked and walked which was good because we also ate and ate, like the famous Leopold's ice cream (worth it) and Savannah Bee Company (oh yum). While there, we met up with a friend who's hubby was stationed at Fort Stewart. Emily and I met at Fort Hood and one thing I love about military life is the friends you make are for life ya'll, for life. The military scatters you all over the place and it doesn't matter how much time goes by, if you're near each other, you make time to see each other and it's like nothing changed! (Well, except for the whole she was pregnant and I had babies now). Emily was the first person I ever trusted to watch Charles as a newborn. It meant so much to me to see her pregnant with her own little bundle.

From Savannah we made the very long trek to Destin! I'm going to save that post for Moran Family Travel Series #2 because this one is already quite long!

Lessons learned during our first big road trip- be prepared but flexible. I tend to plan out our vacations in detailed excel sheets with restaurants and addresses and confirmation numbers. At the same time, toddlers like to throw wrenches into plans or perhaps you just see them really enjoying themselves at one place that you end up cancelling the next stop on the trip. There was one point in Charleston where they fell asleep while we were walking and we took that as an opportunity to pop into a restaurant and eat a meal and have a drink while the kiddos slept in the stroller (what a treat let me tell you!). Lesson #2- it will challenge you. Toddlers are not perfect angels, they will have meltdowns and it will be tough at times. Just accept it and you've won half the battle. And then something we notice looking back on it- that's not what we remember about this trip. During we were like- never again taking such a long road trip with the kids. I basically had to sit in the back seat and play entertainer while Matt drove the long stretches and even then they were still screaming. And the back seat of a CRV with two car seats is not comfortable! Anyway, we look back on it now and while we know it was tough at times, we'd do it again. Easy. Because it wasn't tough the whole time, it wasn't even tough half the time- most of the time we were having a great time making awesome family memories and exposing our kids to travel and adventure.