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Published: March 25th 2010
Day Twenty Four 8 March 2010
Location: Orlando, Georgia & South Carolina
Hotel: Pop Century Resort, Walt Disney World & Marriott Hotel, Charleston
As the new day dawned, I awoke early to get ready. We were departing Disney World today and making our way up the east coast of the US to Washington DC. To keep the trip interesting, we had decided that driving up through the various states and cities that litter the eastern seaboard of America would be much more interesting that catching another plane.
I had awoken before Erin as I needed to go and pick up the car from Hertz. We had discussed the schedule the day before and I didn’t see any reason why both us of needed to go and collect the car. This would allow Erin to sleep in a little longer and get ready while I was away.
The Hertz office opened at 7:30 and I was eager to avoid the delays we experienced with Alamo a few days previous. I was up and in a taxi at 7am and managed to get to the location before it opened. As no one was around, I wandered down the street and
grabbed a coffee at the local Seven-Eleven.
At 7:30 the office opened and I was served immediately, as the only person there. The staff member was much more helpful than the staff at Alamo and I was soon given the keys to the car, with free sat-nav thrown in. I had never purchased the extra navigation, but it turned out to be a huge benefit and allowed us to relax a lot more when driving within city centres.
I jumped in the car and was soon back at the resort. I parked near our room and made my way up to see how Erin was faring. I was happy to find that she was ready to go and all the bags were packed and waiting. I didn’t want to rush, but we had a long day ahead of us as we were heading to Kennedy Space Center on the coast before commencing the drive up to Charleston.
I started bringing the bags down to the car while Erin went the food court one last time to fill up our mugs and grab some breakfast snacks for the road. We said a final goodbye to the resort that
we had thoroughly enjoyed and made our way out on to highway.
Kennedy Space Center is about an hour’s drive from Disney World and we managed to get there with little fuss. Even the traffic was light, which surprised us given it was a Monday morning. When we arrived on the final highway across the inlet and towards the space center, I grew more excited. I could now see the launch pads and tower in the distance and couldn’t wait to explore the area.
The only downside to the experience is that we could only spare about two hours at the site as we had a long drive ahead to Charleston. When we arrived at bought our tickets, we learnt that there are a range of tours and other attractions which require bus rides and we simply wouldn’t have the time to see or do them. Space enthusiasts definitely need to spare a full day at least to see everything at KSC offers.
We purchased our admission tickets and were soon wandering around the main complex. The first thing I wanted to do was the Shuttle Launch Experience. This simulator ride has been developed by compiling the
experiences of dozens of astronauts to provide the most realistic simulation of a shuttle launch as possible. There weren’t many people around and Erin and I were first in line for the next ride. While we waited we watched an interested video with the interviews with the astronauts about their launch experiences.
When we were told to enter, we arrived in a pre-boarding room where we watched a video explaining what to expect. The experience is as real as possible and as a result, we all needed to be properly informed of what to expect. I was getting more excited by the minute and couldn’t wait to strap in. Erin simply looked at me nervously. She’d take a rollercoaster over a simulator any day.
We finally boarded the simulator and found it to be roomy enough for about 20 people. We were securely strapped in for the ride and then moved into a 90 degree angle, so that we were sitting at exactly the same angle as the astronauts are when preparing for takeoff.
As the countdown starts, you can feel the rumbling as the engines ignite and you are blasted into the air and the entire
cabin vibrates. As we hit Max Q the vibration really picks up and all I can see when I look over at Erin is her head vibrating wildly. It was unreal.
After about 90 seconds the simulator starts to lower itself as we leave the atmosphere and move into orbit. The simulation continues until all pre-orbital tasks have been completed and then we are treated to a great view as the roof of the simulator opens and a replica earth sits above us in all its glory.
The ride comes to an end and I can’t wipe the smile off my face. Erin and I then spent the next 10 minutes roaming the gift shop and looking at all manner of space-related merchandise. I wanted it all!
After that, we wandered into the replica space shuttle to have a look inside, but it had been converted too much to offer the level of detail that would have been in a real shuttle. We then wandered over to the astronaut memorial and spent some time reading about the people who had been lost in space. The memorial is a great site to remember those lost and Erin and
I really appreciated being able to read each of their stories and their contributions to the space program.
After the memorial we thought we better keep moving as time was ticking away. We moved over to the rocket site and view a range of real rockets. The Saturn IV was the most impressive in size and stature and also the one I wanted to see the most as it had been the rocket that powered the Apollo missions into space so they could begin their famous trips to the moon.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to take a trip out to the launch pads and therefore we spent the last few minutes perusing the main shop before leaving. The centre is terrific and I definitely intend to put more aside for tours when I return next.
We walked back to the car and even though it was noon by this time, I wanted to get a few miles under our belt before we stopped for lunch. We had more than 400 miles to cover before the day was through.
We started driving and got on the I-95 heading north towards Jacksonville, Savannah and finally Charleston. We
had burnt a few CD’s the day before and were happy singing along to the tunes as the miles rolled by underneath us. Every now and again the sat-nav, which we had affectionally renamed “Celeste”, would tell us to merge or keep left and I happily followed her commands.
We also continued our game of “Punch-Denny’s” which we had started during our trip to the Florida Mall. As I’m sure most of you know, Denny’s is a famous restaurant chain with hundreds of stores across America. Normally found sitting off the interstate exits, Denny’s can always be relied on to provide a cheap, simple meal for the undemanding. While the food isn’t great, there is something about Denny’s that we love. It’s an American institution and you can’t road trip in America without eating at a Denny’s.
Anyways, in honour of our favourite “on the road” restaurant; we decided to invent the game “Punch-Denny’s”. Like the game punch-buggy, every time one of us spots a Denny’s, we have to yell “Denny’s” and punch the other person on the shoulder. The great thing about using Denny’s is that they are not frequent enough to force you to continually be
on the lookout, but appear often enough to keep the game going. The bright yellow sign is also easy to spot.
The only rule we really had is that you have to spot the restaurant or sign. Billboards and exit signs don’t count.
You would think that as the driver, I would be at a disadvantage, but somehow Erin quickly became the world’s worst Denny’s spotter and I took a commanding lead with a score of 7-0 at the end of the first day of driving.
About 100 miles into the journey, we decided to pull over and grab some lunch. Unsurprisingly, we decided to celebrate the start of our road trip by stopping at a Denny’s. We both decided to have a breakfast feast and enjoyed our bacon, eggs and hash.
We hit the road again soon after and settled in for the next 300 miles. As the sun started to go down, we neared Charleston and I was starting to grow pretty weary from driving. I think the only reason I had managed to go so far in one sitting is that I was well rested and fresh for the drive. I knew that the
driving would need to be broken up more over the next two days.
We arrived in Charleston and found the Marriott that I had booked for us without a problem. Celeste led us straight to the door and we left the car parked at the front entrance while we checked-in. We decided to go straight out for dinner as it was already about 8pm and so we dropped our bags in the room and were straight back into the car and heading for the main restaurant district.
Charleston is one of the oldest towns in America and was a major site during the American Revolution and the Civil War. As a result, the city holds a lot of historical significance and you can see it everywhere you look. We were keen to drive down to the historic district, located just a few miles from our hotel, and wander the streets while we look for a restaurant.
As we looked for parking, would could help but admire the buildings the litter the area, as well as the fountains and historical sites. We finally found parking, near a haunted graveyard no less, and wandered onto the main street.
The main street offers a wide variety of wonderful, quiet restaurants to eat at. Charleston is known as the best mannered city in America, and it shows. The streets are quiet and residents seem to enjoy the subtle ambience that exudes from every street you walk down.
We found a great little steakhouse and brewery and entered. We enjoy a great meal and I sampled the best ribs I have ever eaten. The meal simply slid of the bone and didn’t require any chewing. Erin gave the meatloaf a go and enjoyed it.
We left the restaurant and went for a quick walk along the river, but it was quite dark. We decided to wake up a bit earlier and come back down in the morning as it looked beautiful and we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to see Charleston.
We arrived back at the hotel and I was well and truly ready to get into bed and call it a day. I had really enjoyed being back behind the wheel and I think we both have a great time during our road trips. I couldn’t wait to see what the next leg of our journey entailed.
Paul & Erin
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Karen E
non-member comment
catching up on your posts...
I've spent the better part of 2 hours catching up on your trip. This is the best blog on travel I think I've read. I was disappointed not to see "next entry" at the bottom - anxiously awaiting more.