"To Disney & Beyond" ~ Road Trip 2010 ~ Final Drive & Final Thoughts

[Spartangirl]

Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Coconut on pizza?

After our amazing animal encounter, we headed back to our hotel, got our swimsuits on, and we went to the beach. Chris and I spent about an hour body surfing and getting pounded by the waves...what a blast!

Soon we showered, got dressed, and decided to head back to the beach for a few pictures.

Here's a pic of our hotel from the beach...

After enjoying a few quiet moments on the beach, it was time to head to Barefoot Landings, in North Myrtle Beach, for dinner and shopping on the boardwalk.

I snapped our picture in this crazy mirror...

While walking along the boardwalk, we heard a splashing noise down below us...we looked down to see this gator! Not sure what he was chewing on?

Chris and I continued our walk and decided to eat at Ultimate California Pizza because we had heard that the pizza here was the best on the beach.

We started with a basic salad to share...our waitress was nice enough to bring us each a dressing. I had balsamic vinaigrette and Chris chose ranch dressing.

Next came the famous Jack bread...the dipping sauce was awesome! It went so well with the cheese, tomatoes, and garlic on the bread.

As far as pizza was concerned, there were SO MANY unique and great choices. We looked over the menu for quite some time and settled on a personal size "Golden" to split. It was a variation of our favorite pizza, the Hawaiian. The pizza had cheese, ham, pineapple, green onions, and COCONUT. Yes, you read that right! We weren't sure how it would taste, but we decided to go for it...Oh my gosh, so yummy!

After dinner, we walked along the boardwalk and came upon a store called The Christmas Mouse.

Here we found a Christmas ornament to add to our "travel tree" for this portion of our trip. We couldn't resist the sparkly sand dollars!

Chris and I walked hand-in-hand along the boardwalk for a little while longer , recapping the memories from our fantastic day, and then decided to call it a night.

We were a bit tired from our long, but fun day and we had a travel day ahead of us.

Up Next: Going nowhere in a hurry!

 

[Aburns8]

Hey Lynn!

You were brave to eat the pizza with the coconut on it! I like coconut so maybe it wouldn't have been that bad. We have Christmas Mouse here in Virginia Beach and Williamsburg. I made my DH, Brian, go into the one in Williamsburg when we came down last year to look for a place to live. He hated it! He thought it was kinda dirty. It is no Bronners!

 

[Shannon84]

Great pictures That pizza looks amazing...I love pineapple on pizza...but with coconut sounds even better!! Lee was reading some of your TR with me and he was so excited because we are going to a wedding in SC in a few weeks and he thought it was in Myrtle Beach (its no where near there ) poor thing, but he was really enjoying your report

 

[Charleston Princess]

Love the dress you were wearing!

Coconut on pizza does sound a bit different -- glad it was tasty!

The sparkly sand dollar would have been hard for me to resist, too!

 

[mickeystoontown]

What a great way to spend your day. I love all of the beach pictures as it looks like it a beautiful place.

The food looks extremely good...even the pizza with the coconut on it.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Hi Lynn! Looks like such a great day, with so much variety! The beach looked so beautiful! I can't believe you actually saw that alligator up close! We always see the "don't feed the alligator" signs, but never really see one. Was it a little frightening?
I would never think coconut would be good on pizza. If I ever see it on a menu, I'll remember you recommended it! I love your sand dollar. We always choose an ornament each year from a trip too. You had such a perfect evening. I can't wait to see where you are off to next!

 

[Jennifer48]

What a great day!

My DH loves Hawaiian pizza but he's not a fan of coconut. What a great idea though!

 

[Spartangirl]

Hey Lynn!

You were brave to eat the pizza with the coconut on it! I like coconut so maybe it wouldn't have been that bad.

Hey Andrea! It was actually pretty good...we decided to be a little adventurous and I'm glad we took the risk...I would eat it again!

We have Christmas Mouse here in Virginia Beach and Williamsburg. I made my DH, Brian, go into the one in Williamsburg when we came down last year to look for a place to live. He hated it! He thought it was kinda dirty. It is no Bronners!

It is DEFINITELY no Bronners!!! I agree completely. The one in Myrtle Beach wasn't dirty...just a tiny little shop compared to what we're used to with Bronners. We did find our Christmas ornament though!

Great pictures That pizza looks amazing...I love pineapple on pizza...but with coconut sounds even better!!

I'm the same way, I LOVE pineapple on pizza so we decided to try it with the coconut. It's actually REALLY GOOD!

Lee was reading some of your TR with me and he was so excited because we are going to a wedding in SC in a few weeks and he thought it was in Myrtle Beach (its no where near there ) poor thing, but he was really enjoying your report

Glad to have Lee onboard too! Awww...too bad it's not in Myrtle Beach. I bet it will be beautiful no matter what part of SC it's in!

Love the dress you were wearing!

Thank you so much!

Coconut on pizza does sound a bit different -- glad it was tasty!

It was very good...I wasn't so sure after seeing it on the menu and looking at it...but I was pleasantly surprised!

The sparkly sand dollar would have been hard for me to resist, too!

Something about those sparkles!

What a great way to spend your day. I love all of the beach pictures as it looks like it a beautiful place.

It was a wonderful way to spend our day...we loved our location on the beach. I had heard that some of the beaches in MB are not so great, but we thought our section was very pretty!

The food looks extremely good...even the pizza with the coconut on it.

It was very tasty...I would get the coconut pizza again!

 

[Spartangirl]

Hi Lynn! Looks like such a great day, with so much variety! The beach looked so beautiful!

It really was a fantastic day and the beach was so pretty!

I can't believe you actually saw that alligator up close! We always see the "don't feed the alligator" signs, but never really see one. Was it a little frightening?

I was a bit startled when we heard the noise, but I wasn't frightened when we saw the alligator because we were up on the boardwalk and it was down below us. If we wouldn't have had a barrier inbetween us, I'm sure I would have been quite scared!

I would never think coconut would be good on pizza. If I ever see it on a menu, I'll remember you recommended it!

I didn't really know what to expect either, but I'm so glad we were adventurous enough to try it. I think we would both get it again!

I love your sand dollar. We always choose an ornament each year from a trip too. You had such a perfect evening.

Thank you...ornaments are the perfect souvenir, aren't they? I love looking at our Christmas tree each year and remembering all of the fun trips we've taken together! It really was a perfect evening...

I can't wait to see where you are off to next!

Coming up next!

What a great day!

It really was terrific!

My DH loves Hawaiian pizza but he's not a fan of coconut. What a great idea though!

Yeah...he probably wouldn't like the pizza if he doesn't enjoy coconut. Being huge fans of Hawaiian pizza and coconut, it was a great combo for Chris and I!

 

[Spartangirl]

Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Going nowhere in a hurry!

We definitely took our time in getting up this morning. Shortly after 6:30 a.m., I noticed a pinkish haze in the sky. I got out of bed and snapped a couple of pictures of the beauty before me...

I then proceeded to climb back into bed and slept for awhile longer.

We took our time in getting up, getting ready, and heading down to breakfast. It was time to snap one more picture on our balcony before packing up the rest of our belongings.

Chris and I were checked out and on the road by 9:45 a.m. and crossing our first state border, North Carolina, by 11:15.

Just before the Virginia border, we decided to fill up our gas tank and grab some lunch. Now I know this may not be a big deal to those of you who live in the south, but we had to stop at Chick-fil-A. We don't have any back home and we always try to stop when we find one! Can you see my excitement in this pic?

The chicken sandwich, waffle fries, and of course, sweet tea...YUM!

We soon crossed into Virginia at around 2:15 p.m. Things were looking great, but wait...

So we're on vacation and we're not in a hurry, so it's no big deal, but we forgot to factor in one critical detail of our travels today. Because we slept in and our departure time was a little later than it could have been, we hit the outskirts of Washington D.C. in the peak of RUSH HOUR! We crossed the Maryland border at around 5:20 and continued to SLOWLY move with the rest of the cars for quite some time.

We finally pulled into the Wyndham in Gettysburg at around 7:00 p.m.

Check-in was painless, as it had been this whole trip and we were up in our room on the 4th floor in no time at all.

We loved the room!

The hotel itself was very patriotic and featured a presidential theme.

We didn't end up staying in our room long because we were on a mission to find some dinner. I had heard about an excellent restaurant called El Costeno that we wanted to try. However, upon pulling into the parking lot, we thought the restaurant had fallen victim to the recession and had closed. Later in our trip, we learned it was in the process of relocating.

By this time, some storm clouds had rolled in and the rain had started to come down in buckets. We had noticed another Mexican restaurant on our drive that was only about a 1/2 mile away, so we headed back there. This one was called Montezuma's.

Our server brought out some fresh chips and salsa as soon as we sat down.

Chris and I decided to order something called Para Dos. The menu stated that it was a meal for two and had quite a big variety of foods to taste. Sounded good to us, so we ordered it. However, we were not expecting the plethora of food that was set before us. The food looked fantastic and came out extremely fast...Chris still had raindrops on his shirt! What service!

Everything was very tasty and this was a relatively inexpensive meal!

By the time we were done with dinner, the storm and lightning had moved away from us, but closer to the direction of our hotel. Chris wanted to try to catch a good view of the lightning storm from the battlefield, which was just a couple of blocks away from the restaurant and in the opposite direction from the storm.

We headed up the road and stopped by a couple of cannons and monuments. I found it very eerie to be standing on the battlefield at twilight with a storm on the horizon. I actually had chills on my arms! The faint glimpse of the battlefield made me so excited for what was yet to come!

Up Next: History Abound & Dining by Candlelight

 

[redsox721]

Great pictures of the beach. I LOVE the ornament that you picked. Your tree must be amazing. Such wonderful memories.

The pizza looks delicious. I love coconut so I think I would love the pizza.

Need to read the next chapter.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Yikes! Too bad you got stuck in rush hour. Sounds like you made it okay, though. You're hotel room looked really nice and patriotic! Your experience with the thunderstorm on the battlefield sounds so eerie. I'm looking forward to your daytime adventure!

 

[floridascgirl]

What...no Chick-fil-A? I would just die. I'm a sucker for peanut oil.

 

[Aburns8]

Loved the pics of the sunrise! I like how the palm trees are in the foreground. It is funny that you went to Chick-fil-a. My parents are down here for the weekend and they met up with me for lunch today and we went there. In fact that was their first time every eating it! The DC traffic stinks. We have learned that if we are ever coming back from Detroit that we have to go through WV to skip the traffic. Thanks for the update!

 

[MeMom]

Will you please come back and show us a picture of your travel tree when it is ready for the season?

The sunrise pictures are beautiful. Maybe you can choose one that is frameworthy, and you can look at that scene any time you walk by.

I have a Chick-Fil-A less than a mile from my house, and I pass another one on the way to school. I rarely, rarely, rarely eat out, so I don't even think about them. It was funny to see you get so excited over it. I guess I should not take mine for granted, huh?

That pizza sounds interesting. Trent and I are both ham and pineapple pizza fans, but I have never thought to add coconut. I'm kind of afraid to try it, though. If I like it, I'll be spoiled, and then I'll have to always have coconut on hand!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Beautiful sunrise!

Charles happened to be walking by while I was reading this update and asked about the Chick-Fil-A picture. I had to explain to him that Northerners get really excited about Chick-Fil-A when they come down South. It is very yummy! I won't tell you how they have Peppermint Chocolate Milkshakes during the holiday season.

Oh, I got goosebumps just reading about you standing there on the battlefield at twilight. Can't wait to read the next update!

 

[tinawv]

Your trip report is amazing. I am enjoying it so much and hate to see it come to an end. You will have to squeeze WDW on all your trips so we can continue to read about your travels; or start a web page.

 

[Shannon84]

Beautiful pictures!! I know how horrible that DC traffic can be...you guys probably passed right by where we live I do not understand how people live up there, I dont have the patience

That Chick-Fil-A is dangerous...when I first moved to the south I was pronouncing it incorrectly as "Chicken Filla"

Can't wait to read more about your adventures, it sounds like nighttime would be a very eerie feeling there!!

 

[Tracy161]

I know EXACTLY what you mean about Chick-Fil-A! I have similar excitement whenever we get a chance to go to one on vacation!

I am SO excited to hear about your experience at Gettysburg! I love that place so much... so much rich history, and so many stories.

Yet another great update! Oh, and your dinner looked fabulous!

 

[Jennifer48]

about the traffic!

I can't wait to hear about Gettysburg. DH & I really want to visit there one day!