Day 12 - Huntsville, AL - Conway, AR

We had a great stay at our Huntsville hotel, just across the interstate from the U.S. Space Center and Space Camp.  After getting up and going in record time for us (we were on vacation time remember) we drove around the Space Center.  Franklin will be at camp here in November, so he feels like he has a leg up on his classmates now!  Following that, we made a stop at the local REI as I needed/wanted a few items, grabbed some donuts (again...vacation), and headed back east to Scottsboro.

Everyone found at least a little something back at the Unclaimed Baggage Center and we considered it a success returning.  After a quick bite to eat, we were headed back west and beginning our final leg home.  We did make a very brief stop at Toyota Field in Madison, AL (really just a suburb of Huntsville) to see the home of the Trash Pandas baseball team.  Jason and Franklin had hoped to be able to get some photos of the stadium itself up close, but an afternoon game was just beginning so we weren't able to get up to the field.

The remainder of the day was spent cruising home.  I drove from Scottsboro to Memphis where we picked up some Commissary BBQ and Huey's for dinner (very yummy!).  Jason took the reins the rest of the way home and we arrived at about 10:30 pm.  My own bed and shower were quite lovely for sure.  And we even brought some cooler weather and storms to our friends in Arkansas today.

It was a fantastic trip, even with the COVID modifications we had to make.  And we were so grateful to have done it in Vansen!  Here's to more road trips to come!

Day 11 - Augusta, GA - Huntsville, AL

Our longest driving day of the whole trip was today.  We headed out of Augusta mid-morning bound for an auto museum we accidentally missed last week on our journey east.  Along the way, we saw a "brown sign" at our exit for the Laurel and Hardy Museum.  We decided to made a quick, unplanned detour south and were treated to a great local museum in Harlem, GA.  Oliver Hardy was born there and the town has a festival for its famous comedian yearly.  The museum is housed in a really nicely preserved old downtown theatre building.  We took a few moments to look at the artifacts and watch a movie clip or two before loading back up and heading north.

We grabbed some of the best fast-food chicken ever at a local chain called Guthrie's.  They only serve chicken strips, but the flavor is what you normally get with homemade fried chicken.  Delicious!  We soon arrived in Clarkesville, GA at the Miles Through Time Automotive Museum only to find a CLOSED sign on the door.  A check of Facebook showed they had staffing problems and weren't going to be able to open (they posted it 1 hr before our arrival).  Sigh.  So...we took a 90 minute jaunt off the main road for nothing, except a lovely drive through a surprisingly pretty north Georgia.

Our next stop was the Unclaimed Baggage Store in Scottsboro, AL and we dodged a few pop-up summer storms along the way.  We arrived about 45 minutes before closing and were surprised at the inventory.  So much so we are returning tomorrow just to have a bit more time to look around.  The store is quite a big "department" store with items that were lost mostly due to airlines misplacing luggage or passengers leaving items on the plane.  Additionally, the store has some of its more unusual finds hung up on the walls:  a McDonalds sign, a large unicycle, antique typewriters, etc.

We soon turned west and headed for Huntsville, our final stop for the night.  A severe storm blew up right over us so we pulled off and hung out under a bank awning.  Vansen doesn't handle high winds very well!  Once the storm moved on, we entered the highway again and were soon at a outdoor shopping complex near our hotel.  We wanted to visit the Rocket City Trash Pandas store!  The Trash Pandas are a new minor league baseball team in Huntsville.  Their first season was to have been in 2020, but COVID sunk that, so this is their inaugural season.  The team began selling merchandise in 2018 and by the next year, they'd already sold over $2 million, all without a pitch even being thrown.

Our Drury Hotel was our final stop (after snagging some Mexican food for dinner in the room).  We can see the U.S. Space and Rocket Center from our room, which Franklin will visit later this year for Space Camp.  We even got to witness a pretty good lightning storm as another round of unsettled weather moved through.  One more day on the road tomorrow as we wind this whirlwind trip down.

**Thanks to my travel buddy, Jason Hansen, for most of the photos today!

Day 10 - Pawleys Island, SC - Augusta, GA

We sadly embarked on our return trip today.  To kick things off, we set our alarms for 5:30 am so we could be at the beach to watch the sun rise over the Atlantic.  We've done this numerous times on other trips, but today was the first where we also did a morning swim.  It was so pretty and amazing to see the new day begin with a few other early risers here and there on the beach.  We were at low tide this morning so shells were plentiful.  The waves were smaller today, however.  If I lived on the coast, I could sure get used to this.

We headed back to the hotel around 8:00 to shower, pack, and load up for our drive.  On the way out of the park, we took one last look at the marsh and spotted our familiar alligators and birds one more time.

We hit the road about 11:00 and headed to our next stop (with a quick bite of lunch on the way):  Charleston Zip Line Adventures.  I've never done a zip line before so didn't quite know what to expect.  This particular one is set just east of Charleston in the Francis Marion National Forest.  Our two guides were amazing:  funny, engaging, but also not over-the-top.  Our Canopy Tour included 7 zip line cables, 3 towers, 3 swinging bridges, and a grande finale zip of 750 feet.  Even though it was very warm and humid, flying through the trees was definitely fun, breezy, and a great way to start our journey home!

After our zipping, we headed northwest of Charleston to Walterboro and the South Carolina Artisans Center.  We really enjoy looking (and often buying) local arts or crafts and this was a great stop.  I even picked up a cool pineapple clay tray for my back porch.  We also took a moment to try an Italian restaurant in the historic downtown area:  Carmine's Trattoria.  By all measure, Giuseppe and Carmine create truly Italian dishes in this small restaurant and our dinner was no exception.  The portions were huge and each meal was so tasty we kept wanting to eat it.  We finished it off with homemade cannoli and then pushed on to the northwest, and our final stop for the night:  Augusta, GA.

Day 9 - Pawleys Island

We got a late start on day 9 as I think we all finally hit a wall after extending bedtimes (including the adults).  The morning saw some rain move through the area so we decided to do some shopping, specifically at The Hammock Shops Village in Pawleys Island.  It was a neat collection of a variety of stores in an open-air kind of space.  Particular favorite were the Christmas, dog/pet, and general stores.  Nearly everyone walked away with a little something.  The Spanish moss was particularly nice as well.

The rain subsided and after a quick lunch, we headed back to Huntington Beach State Park (we've decided it's our private beach now) for some afternoon swimming, boogie boarding, and fun.

We decided to do something a bit different during the evening and we attended the Summer Light: Art By Night event at the Brookgreen Gardens.  Brookgreen was built on the property of four former rice plantations, when the Huntingtons bought it in 1930.  It soon became a not-for-profit corporation and now includes several themed gardens featuring American figurative sculptures, the Lowcountry Zoo, and trails through several ecosystems in nature reserves on the property.  Their summer event allows visitors in after hours to see nine lighted installations throughout the Gardens featuring a variety of lighting techniques letting you explore the landscapes, sculpture, and galleries in a new light.  There was also a food truck (excellent grilled cheese), an amazing band (In Layman Terms), and a Kona Ice (a kid favorite).  The Gardens were simply amazing.  The sculptures on permanent exhibit were lit beautifully along with the 250 year old Live Oak trees, which gave them a spooky/ethereal feel.  Locally made glass sculptures (similar to Chihuly glass) were placed and lit in unique ways.  The only real complaints were the humidity and the mosquitos.  Both are just part of being along the coast in summertime South Carolina.

If we are ever back in this area, I would definitely love to visit the Gardens during daytime to take in the grounds even more.  This was our last night on the coast so we decided to set our alarms for an early wake-up in order to catch sunrise over the Atlantic.  We make the turn west tomorrow.