3,298 miles, 10 breweries, and 1 Mega Meet - a July '16 Trip Report *New 6/5/17 - Link to new TR!*

[chillitsanne]

Looks like you guys had a good first leg of the trip.

I am impressed by packing skills, so organized! I only have to pack for myself but i still manage to forget stuff haha

Love the dogs pic!

Ah kindles/ ipad are so nice now a days for long car rides. I used to jam our to my cd player on my family trips to FL.

Saving some connecting with Walts- was a good idea, gets you pumped up for the trip. I love that show too

Museum of Life & Science looks like a really fun place

I love how the kids area was called "Future beer drinkers"

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Sorry about the traffic you hit. Sounds like the brewery was a nice stop! And also sounds like a nice dinner catching up with friends! I'm sure it was a relief to finally check-in to your hotel though.

Monuts looks like a nice breakfast spot!

What a fun time at the Museum of Life & Science! Love the family selfie on the train And the butterly release sounds like a cool experience.

Sounds like a great end to your day. You guys really fit a lot into this day!

Yeah, that was really the only major traffic we hit - just was a little bit stressful since it was the time we were meeting other people

It was a nice breakfast spot - nice to find something a bit local

The family definitely loves trains so the fact there was a ride there was an added bonus

I think we wound up fitting a lot into most days but yeah, was a full day!

Boston terrier's are the best!!!

Agreed!

Hey there! Joining in. After seeing your PTR, I knew that you'd be posting soon. I'm glad that I caught it early enough.

My DH and I are big brewery fans as well. I'm looking forward to hearing more about the stops that you made. Love the guys with the babies strapped on. I've seen a couple like that in the breweries here too.

Speaking of "here," I live in Concord, NC about 2 hours from Durham. I had no idea that the Life and Science Museum even existed. My best friend from high school/college lives in Raleigh so we'll have to plan a trip next time we go up. My two boys would LOVE it there. They are 7 and 4 now so they are at a perfect age to really enjoy it, I think. Can you share the cost of the museum, was it free? I always love free!

Can't wait to read what else you have in store for us!

- thanks for joining! We definitely hit up some great breweries so keep an eye out for some other stops - especially on the ride back home!

The museum was great, and I agree your boys are a good age. Unfortunately it isn't free. General admission is $18 and children are $13 and then another $4 for the train ... so not the cheapest thing

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Eeek so so cute and I really want one for our Pug to have a playmate. Unfortunately, Dan wants a big dog next

Good call, Judi!

Such a fun museum. Those planes are just incredible!

Aw man, missing out on family and a potential DIS meet sucks!

Cool thanks for the rec.!

I've been hearing a lot about this lately. What is the difference between this and like Google maps?

YUM!



Oh my gosh, I want to play there!

No kidding? This is such a great idea for older kids to understand what 'working' is like but still having fun.

Well, my dogs definitely think they are big dogs if that helps

Judi definitely did a great job planning for activities and snacks for the car (we had a bag full of smaller bags of all sorts of snacks we could throw back to them)

It was cool to get to the Air and Space museum for sure - lot's of really neat planes!

definitely check out Connecting with Walt - it's really well done and an easy listen. I learned a lot

We like Waze for how it handles traffic and cops and also you can indicate when you see hazards or cops and stuff and you earn points - so a bit of gamification to it

Good beer - and good baby wearing!

I thought it was great that she was volunteering there - good experience and good for the college resume and just something neat and unique for her to be able to do

Looks like you guys had a good first leg of the trip.

I am impressed by packing skills, so organized! I only have to pack for myself but i still manage to forget stuff haha

Love the dogs pic!

Ah kindles/ ipad are so nice now a days for long car rides. I used to jam our to my cd player on my family trips to FL.

Saving some connecting with Walts- was a good idea, gets you pumped up for the trip. I love that show too

Museum of Life & Science looks like a really fun place

I love how the kids area was called "Future beer drinkers"

All in all the travel went quite well.

At the time we felt like we were scrambling as far as packing but I think we did ok in the end

We try not to over do the electronics but it can really be a help at times - so figured these car rides were a good use!

I listened to a block of Connecting with Walt on a long flight to Hong Kong and then did the latest block here which was cool - definitely helped and I think Judi liked listening to and hearing more about the building of the Magic Kingdom

The Museum was really cool and I am glad the kids enjoyed it

 

[SarahDisney]

Maybe it's because I've never been to a brewery (or traveled with kids), but ... I did not know that breweries were so kid-friendly. That is awesome. It's nice that mom and dad can enjoy some beer without having to leave the kiddos behind.

That museum looks really fun. Exactly the kind of thing I would have enjoyed as a kid. Your kids look like they were having a blast!

4 AM departure ... way too early!

 

[MarbleBob]

Getting caught up... Looks like your time in Durham was fun! It's cool that Fullsteam has stuff to keep the kids entertained too. And I love the dudes drinking beers and wearing babies. Fun!

That tobacco campus looks like a fun place to visit. I don't consume tobacco (we've had enough cancer in our family without it), but I can appreciate its historical signficance in our country, and it's kind of neat that they are preserving some history related to it here.

That monus place looks really good! Mmmm... donuts.

The children's museum looks fun too. Especially loved the photo of the kids at the waterfall. Awesome that the train does two loops!!! The butterfly house is cool too. (I remember you visited a butterfly house closer to your home in a previous TR and I still chuckle about the butterflies getting drunk on the fermenting fruit.)

Ooh! It's starting to get close enough to dinner time that the food photos from Bull City Burger and Brew are having a serious effect on me. I'm not sure what we're having for dinner, but I'm 99.9999% that it won't be fried pickles. Which is beyond disappointing right now.... because those things look incredibly tasty!!!

 

[SorcererHeidi]

Way behind here, but trying to catch up, because I love your trip reports!

Your dogs are SO adorable! And your packing skills are legendary - it also sounds like you and your wife make a great team. Your kids are so lucky to have "fun" parents like you, who are organized, but think of their fun in your organizing! Cool to see the "Connecting with Walt" and "DISUnplugged" on the car's audio directory. I also thought your saying the Museum of Life and Science being a place for parents and children to enjoy together reminded me SO much of Walt's impetus to build DL!!

 

[NJlauren]

Seems like a great start to the trip!

Not going to lie but you and your trips inspire me, we've got one kid and I'm stressing out about our upcoming trip!

All good stops so far and seems to be breaking things up really well!

Love he baby wearing and drinking, and the future beer drinkers!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Maybe it's because I've never been to a brewery (or traveled with kids), but ... I did not know that breweries were so kid-friendly. That is awesome. It's nice that mom and dad can enjoy some beer without having to leave the kiddos behind.

That museum looks really fun. Exactly the kind of thing I would have enjoyed as a kid. Your kids look like they were having a blast!

4 AM departure ... way too early!

It depends on the brewery but most are at least open to kids and I'm always amazed how many babies I see there. Some are better than others for bigger kids though - coming up on the trip back up we hit one that was really great for kids.

Kids definitely had fun at the museum - well, until they threw a fit when we said it was time to leave

It was really early but you'll see there was a reason why and it worked out in the end ... but yeah, early!

Getting caught up... Looks like your time in Durham was fun! It's cool that Fullsteam has stuff to keep the kids entertained too. And I love the dudes drinking beers and wearing babies. Fun!

That tobacco campus looks like a fun place to visit. I don't consume tobacco (we've had enough cancer in our family without it), but I can appreciate its historical signficance in our country, and it's kind of neat that they are preserving some history related to it here.

That monus place looks really good! Mmmm... donuts.

The children's museum looks fun too. Especially loved the photo of the kids at the waterfall. Awesome that the train does two loops!!! The butterfly house is cool too. (I remember you visited a butterfly house closer to your home in a previous TR and I still chuckle about the butterflies getting drunk on the fermenting fruit.)

Ooh! It's starting to get close enough to dinner time that the food photos from Bull City Burger and Brew are having a serious effect on me. I'm not sure what we're having for dinner, but I'm 99.9999% that it won't be fried pickles. Which is beyond disappointing right now.... because those things look incredibly tasty!!!

Fullsteam was really cool and lots of board games and stuff - really set up to hang out and just chill

Tobacco definitely has historical significance in that area - not something I am used to seeing but definitely get it ... nice that they were taking the old warehouses and converting them to restaurants and stuff like that as well

It's funny you mention about the drink butterflies as we sent a good chunk of time looking for the fruit platforms hoping we would see more drunk butterflies (but wasn't the case)

Those pickles were really good - I've never had any that thin ... they were almost like fried pickle chips, super good!

Way behind here, but trying to catch up, because I love your trip reports!

Your dogs are SO adorable! And your packing skills are legendary - it also sounds like you and your wife make a great team. Your kids are so lucky to have "fun" parents like you, who are organized, but think of their fun in your organizing! Cool to see the "Connecting with Walt" and "DISUnplugged" on the car's audio directory. I also thought your saying the Museum of Life and Science being a place for parents and children to enjoy together reminded me SO much of Walt's impetus to build DL!!

Thank you - I think we are fun too! I might print out your comment and hand it to my kids anytime they think I am not fun

I actually thought about Walt when I saw that sign at the museum - and also the idea of making learning seem like playing and having fun

Seems like a great start to the trip!

Not going to lie but you and your trips inspire me, we've got one kid and I'm stressing out about our upcoming trip!

All good stops so far and seems to be breaking things up really well!

Love he baby wearing and drinking, and the future beer drinkers!

Thanks! i think we were doing ok so far!

Oh, we definitely stress! I think we just figure we can roll with it and nothing would be perfect

that is one thing I like about craft beer and breweries - for the most part they are pretty lighthearted and like to have fun and is welcoming to all

 

[SorcererHeidi]

I might print out your comment and hand it to my kids anytime they think I am not fun

@TheMaxRebo - Go right ahead, I got your back with this one!!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Part 9: Traveling to Disney - Day 5
Traveling to Savannah, GA and Moon River Brewing​

In thinking of places to stop at one that was at the top of my list, if we could make it work, was Savannah, Georgia. I've never been and thought it looked neat and be somewhere different. When instigating things to do there I found a horse drawn carriage ride that would do a historical tour of the city. I thought it would be a good mix of history/education and fun for the kids as it involved a horse.

Only issue was the latest time in the day they did the historical tour was 1pm (later in the evening they do ghost tours). With just having the traffic issues getting to Durham (and now it being a Monday, so commuters) I didn't want to chance it so we aimed to leave by 4:30am ... um, yeah. So we got up and just put the kids into the strollers in their PJs (we had a double and a single stroller, and went down to check out and get going.

Honestly, it worked out great as the kids went right back to sleep and we had a nice, peaceful drive down with not much traffic. First, Millage Picture to show where we are at before we start this leg of the trip:

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Not too far down the way we crossed into South Carolina and passed this major tourist trap, er, destination (after seeing about 100 billboards for it) - South of the Border!

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We didn't stop or anything (plus the kids were still asleep and you can tell from the dashboard it is 6:28am ... not sure I want to see what is still happening at South of the Boarder at 6:28am

A bit after 7 we needed to stop for gas and the kids were starting to stir so we stopped at a gas station that had a Bojangles, got the kids dressed and went in for some food

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We don't have Bojangles near us but they seemed pretty popular down South. Most of the kids said they weren't very hungry but of course they wanted my sausage and egg biscuit so had to keep breaking off pieces of it. Overall it was pretty good, and quick and cheap and provided large quantities of sweet tea.

Around 11 or so we got to the South Carolina/Georgia boarder and Waze had us take a slightly different way which brought us down route 17 and we came to this really cool bridge to cross the Savannah River into Georgia (also was behind this truck with tree trunks that didn't seem too secure so we were keeping our distance).

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From the bridge you can see downtown Savannah as well and then we got off right after crossing the bridge and then looked back at the bridge

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We then checked into our hotel, which was the Hampton Inn Savannah-Historic District, and our room was ready, which was great! We then headed out for some lunch before heading to the tour. Very close was Moon River Brewing Company which had a full restaurant and from comments on my Pre-trip report seemed like a good spot to grab something to eat, so we headed there

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Started with beer, of course. They had a fairly basic menu but a couple of interesting options including a barrel-aged sour beer which was rather tasty!

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Some interesting things on the menu - mostly appetizers and sandwiches and stuff for lunch. The kids got burger and chicken fingers. Judi and split an open faced shrimp salad sandwich, deviled eggs, and a smoked trout spread. Everything was pretty solid - especially the trout spread and the onion rings. I liked the container the kids meals came in with a spot for them to put their drinks (sorry for some of the pictures as we hadn't gotten into proper mode yet and took a bites in some before pictures)

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All-in-all this place was pretty good. It was pretty dark inside (it was a historic building) and I think is pretty jumpin on Friday and Saturday nights but for now seemed a quiet/dead which I think took away from the experience a bit.

We then walked over to where we would get the carriage ride - the kids posed for a picture and then Emma took one looking super proper while wearing a cooling towel

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[TheMaxRebo]

Part 10: Traveling to Disney - Day 5
Carriage Ride and Vic's by the River​

The Carriage Ride turned out to be a lot of fun. The kids were good and did ask some questions and was just fun to ride the carriage round through traffic and stuff. Lot's of neat buildings and a ton of history to the city. I don't remember a ton of what I was told, but a few highlight pictures:

Starting with Peter and Olivia posing with our driver behind them ... and then Emma who fell asleep pretty quick into the trip

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We passed where Paula Dean and her sons have a restaurant and then a number of squares - the city is set up in a grid and square set up.

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We passed a number of historic houses that were often cited as strong examples of different architectural styles. This included the Owens Thomas House where the Marguis de Lafayette addressed the citizens of Savannah on his visit in 1825 and is viewed as one of the the nation's finest examples of English Regency architecture.

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We also passed The Olde Pink House which was one restaurant recommended to me in my pre-trip report but we feared it would be a bit fancy for the kids - I'd love to go on a date night there! The driver told us a funny story that the building is build out of brick and then covered with stucco that has lines pressed into it so it looks like it was build out of large stones ... but the hue from the bricks kept seeping through creating a "pink house" - which James Habersham, Jr., who had it built, was not a fan of ... so he kept having to have it white washed. Later, a woman took over the building as a tea house and was more comfortable having a pink house. James Habersham, Jr. apparently died under suspicious circumstances and is said to haunt the building to this day.

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Overall the tour was really fun and I would recommend it. They also do trolley tours which are nice as they are jump-on/jump-off so if we had more of the day to explore we might have done that instead. The kids did like all the trolleys they saw

After the tour we went back to the hotel and went swimming int he rooftop pool for a bit (you can see the bridge again in the distance)

souvenir​

After a dip and some rest we headed out to explore down by the river. The main street is up at a slightly higher elevation and then there is a road down at river level so the building there can be entered at river level or on about the 3rd floor.

We had a good time just wandering and checking it out. Lots of bars and restaurants - we found a place called Wet Willies which had a ton of frozen beverage machines and all but one had alcohol in it. The kids shared a large one of the one with no alcohol and Judi and I each got a different one - plus free cups! I couldn't decide which one to get so I got the one called The Easter Egg (on the right in the picture) which basically had everything mixed in together. It was odd but quite good. Well, each sip tasted a bit different so some were better than others

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Also down by the river was where you could take some dinner cruises and in front of those boats they had a playhouse boat that my kids loved playing in ... while Judi and I finished our drinks.

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I took a picture backwards to give you an idea of how the street looked. Most of the building there could be entered on about the third floor on the other side of them

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We then found where out dinner location was and they had a back entrance at this level and an elevator we could take up (which was great as we had the stroller). We were eating at Vic's on the River which was a recommendation from my pre-trip report as being a great place to go with kids. I am going to spoil it by saying this was one of my favorite meals of the entire trip. And one reason was that our waitress was so good! She was friendly and great with the kids - really patient and just pleasant. I don't do this often but I even mentioned it to the manager how good I thought she was.

We started with wine - and figured when else would we have the chance to have the Vic's on the River brand wine so went for their Pinot Grigio. It was quite good and a pretty good deal price-wise, definitely not complaints and was refreshing on the hot day after being outside for most of the day. Judi again got a few appetizers and then split an entree (we like to do this - one reason I think the Disney Dining plan doesn't work for us). We got the Fried Green Tomatoes - which had goat cheese tomato chutney and a balsamic glaze and were amazing! We also got their crawfish beignets (which look more like empanadas to me) and were also great. Last, we got the she crab soup ... which was quite good but I think we liked the other apps better

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The kids again got chicken and a burger (I tried both and they were quite good) and we got a side of green beans for Emma which she enjoyed

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During dinner we saw a cargo ship go by ... keep in mind at this point we are up on the third floor so you can imagine how high those containers were!

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For our entree, Judi and I split the Crispy Fried Oysters. One thing I loved was that without even asking them to they plated it on two separate plates for us which I think is a nice touch - and as you can see, plenty of food to be split. They normally come with French Fries but we subbed out for the asparagus. This was excellent and very fresh tasting. I could go for some now

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One small note, the bathrooms were one floor down and the kids were in a mood where they wanted to go a lot (or said they did) so I got my exercise in (@Dugette - I kept thinking of you this trip as Emma is at that stage where she wants to go to the bathroom all the time and only goes like once every 5 times and I recall your Trip Reports with Izzy doing that)

We actually opted to not get dessert here as we wanted to checkout the candy store we saw down by the river. This place could get you in trouble as they had tons of regular candy, plus ice cream, plus tons of homemade chocolates and caramels. The kids were, well, they were literally kids in a candy store. Hard to get them to agree on what they wanted - but we got a good mix of chocolate covered pretzels and caramels and - this giant oreo marshmallow on a stick thing that Olivia got

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As you can see, we did wait until back in the hotel room to enjoy our treats. We then did some packing and then called it a night. While not leaving quite as early we were still hoping to get an early start as we were going to make it all the way down to Boca the next day and Judi wanted time to get to the beach and see her family.

TTFN

 

[Leshaface]

not sure I want to see what is still happening at South of the Boarder at 6:28am

at a gas station that had a Bojangles

Never heard of this place! Is it similar to Popeye's?

Yikes, yeah stay far away from that.

So proper! And it's crazy how much she's grown since I saw her in person last October!

Overall the tour was really fun and I would recommend it

Very cool. As long as it isn't too long, Cal would go for it!

We got the Fried Green Tomatoes - which had goat cheese tomato chutney and a balsamic glaze and were amazing! W

Uh YUM!!!! I love the fried green tomato sandwich at Jazz Kitchen.

(@Dugette - I kept thinking of you this trip as Emma is at that stage where she wants to go to the bathroom all the time and only goes like once every 5 times and I recall your Trip Reports with Izzy doing that)

Is this a girl thing? Cause Cal waits until the last second until he goes to the restroom, he doesn't like going.

This place could get you in trouble

I like trouble

 

[annie170]

Savannah is such a beautiful city. We were there for one day in 2007. I insisted on eating at The Lady and Sons Restaurant because it was around the time Paula Deen was very popular. For the lengthy wait, we weren't all that impressed. My sister recommended Vic's on the River and I admitted that we probably should have gone there. Your meals look really good. I swear I could make a meal out of appetizers.

That carriage ride looks fun. The informative driver is always helpful.

 

[SorcererHeidi]

Awesome report, as usual, Phil! I've never been to Savannah, but have heard it's a "must do" place, and judging by your report, I agree! I love HOHO trolleys, and have used them in several cities. I will admit though - the first time I heard of them, I thought they were only for the holidays (no lie, I'll admit how stupid I was!)

 

[rteetz]

Great update Phil! I have been to North Carolina but never South Carolina or Savannah. Bojangles looks like an interesting place and I love sweet tea! Looks like you had an awesome day down there. When I was younger I was big into the food network and loved watching Paula Deen so that would be cool to go to her restaurant.

 

[SarahDisney]

Sounds like you had a great time in Savannah! I like that you got The Easter Egg at Wet Willies ... because mixing all of the flavors together always works out well, right?

 

[ElenaJane]

I feel like you have already done so much, but your trip has just started! Savannah is on my list of cities I would like to visit. I have heard it is quite charming. I may go for the candy store alone!

 

[katt789]

Look at me!! Actually keeping caught up for once! Lol. What a day off will do to me!!
That tour looks super fun! And a trolley tour! Yay!!
Food all looks amazing, I'm so happy we have so many burger & craft brew places in Vancouver, and lots of healthier/vegetarian/vegan options at all of them too! It's even hard to find regular beer here, so much of it's craft! Lol.
Can't wait to read more!!

 

[ariane37]

Your Savannah pictures are bringing back so many fond memories for me I've visited there 3x, the first time in 1992 with my dad when he moved to Ga. after taking a job with the Medical College of Ga. We did a tour of many of the historic houses and visited Wet Willies lol, loved that place! Between that visit and my subsequent visits I've been to all the historic buildings as I love that kind of thing. My dad has since passed so reading this is bittersweet yet making me smile I'm glad you all enjoyed your day there, I'd love to return with my boys someday!

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like an easy drive into Georgia!

I'm glad the carriage tour was a success, sounds like a fun time!

Ohhh Wet Willies!! Nice choice!

What a nice dinner! Wow, your entree was certainly a lot of food. Each plate looks like it could have been its own meal!