ROADTRIP: Spring Break Trip to Warmer Weather

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It's hard to believe that it is already March and yet again I have not updated this blog since last summer. I have been doing some traveling, but last week (spring break) was my first jaunt further than Chicago in a long time and it was much needed!! After working in two labs and teaching as well as having some issues with uncooperative protocols in one of the labs, I was getting pretty burnt out and was so excited last Tuesday to just set everything aside and focus on something else for five days.

Spring break officially started for me after I got done tutoring last Tuesday evening around 6:30pm. I raced home to start cleaning and packing up my stuff as well as my puppy, Obie's, who was spending the week with my friend, Tracy and her roommates. My best friend and favorite travel companion, Arica, got over here Tuesday night from Chicago so we could get an early start on Wednesday morning. Even though she didn't get here until almost 1a.m., we were both pretty excited to hit the road and escape work for awhile. Around 7a.m. the next morning, we went to the airport, picked up the rental, dropped Obie off at Tracy's, and rushed back to my place to pack the car and go.

Day 1 (Wednesday) was mostly a driving day, but I got to see a lot of area I've never seen before. We cut through Ohio and passed Cincinnati which looked like a really fun city! Then it was a nice drive through the hills of Kentucky where the fields were filled with horses and there were numerous bluegrass stations on the radio. We stopped at a Welcome Center right when we hit Tennessee and were really excited to almost be done driving for the day. The last part of the drive to Gatlinburg, our first stop on the trip, was very different than we expected.

Arica's family had mentioned Gatlinburg was very tourist-oriented, but we were surprised that Pigeon Forge was SO INTENSE. There were fancy hotels, golf courses, tourist shops, crazy Ripley's museums, and restaurants NON-STOP for miles. It was a giant TOURIST TRAP, but I know I would've loved it when I was a kid since there was just so much to do for children with cute little arcades and attractions. I probably would've loved it even now since I am a total kid and would've been there playing golf and racing go-carts all night long =).

Since it had been such a long day, we were actually a little relieved to see that Gatlinburg was not as intense as Pigeon Forge. Our hotel was right along the river and had a nice little balcony so you could sit out and hear the river!! After putting the stuff in the hotel, we headed out to get some dinner and ended up at the Ole Smoky Distillery for some free samples of moonshine. I had never had moonshine before and it was quite an experience! After a few small samples of peach, apple pie, regular 100 proof moonshine, blueberry, and even cherries soaked in moonshine, it definitely started tasting better and we even ended up with a jar of Blackberry Moonshine for the road. Then it was a walk all over downtown past the Space Needle, sky-lift, a bunch of tourist shops, Ripley's Aquarium, and some random restaurants. We settled on a corner spot named Brian's for dinner and enjoyed a nice local brew before heading back to the hotel to do some T-25 and relax.

The next morning, we both realized what true Yankees we are when neither of us knew how to use southern-style drains. We couldn't get the tub or bathroom sink to drain and were politely informed by the front desk you have to push the drain down to get it to pop up. Hahaha...who would've thought! Well it was a quick breakfast and some coffee to go as we drove over into the Smoky Mountain National Park, saw some turkeys, took some pictures, and then headed off to Spartanburg to see a friend of Arica's.

We had a nice visit with Sue, a family friend of Arica's who had a gorgeous southern-style brick home on a hilly street in Spartanburg. It was nice to chat and relax for a few hours since the weather was a little nasty that morning. We left Sue's around 2pm and realized how hungry we were when we got near Columbia, SC. An easy search on the GPS later and we were at a nice little place called Hudson's Smokehouse and Saloon just outside of Columbia which is well known for its barbeque. Arica and I decided to split this massive dish which included some bbq pork, fried chicken, brisket, green beans, hash and rice, mac and cheese, catfish, and rolls...all true Southern comfort food. It was really good and just what we needed!! We were really surprised when the waitress told us the locals often buy the dish and one person eats the whole thing by themselves! It was good, but there was no way I could've ever eaten it by myself.

After getting a full belly, some drinks to go, and a nice goodbye from the waitress, we headed into Columbia, SC where I got pretty excited to see some of the places I had seen back in 2008 when I spent a summer there working in a genetics lab. I was geeking out quite a bit after we saw the capital building and when we passed the Coker Life Sciences Building where I first learned how to PCR so many years ago. We drove past the dorm I used to live in with the church in the middle where gospel singers used to fill the halls with music on Wednesday nights and even saw Beezers Sandwich Shop where I used to go get bbq pulled pork sandwiches for lunch. I couldn't help but smile since that was such a nice time in my life and such an amazing summer. I'm so glad that I got to see all of those places again!

It was still raining pretty hard while we were in Columbia so we didn't stay long and quickly got back on the interstate and headed off to Isle of Palms where we got a great deal on a fancy resort for the night. This place was once of the nicest places I've ever stayed in with complimentary Valet parking, a gated entrance, nice robes in the closest, and a beautiful private boardwalk with access to the beach. It was raining pretty heavy and pitch black when we got there so we didn't realize just how pretty it was until the next day. That night we drove to a part of the island and had some chicken and another local brew for dinner and were pleasantly surprised to see Bell's Two-Hearted on the draft list and Big Ten basketball on the TV. Back in the hotel, Arica watched the Spartan game as I fell asleep after a long, but exciting day.

The next morning, Arica had an early business breakfast in Mount Pleasant with a woman who works at the BP plant in Cooper River so I stayed at the hotel and did some T-25 and watched the local news hoping for better weather for the day. Once Arica got back, we went out to the beach to see the Atlantic and go shell hunting. We found a full conch and a mostly intact sand dollar buried partially in the sand. It was a nice start to the morning as we snapped some pictures with a giant beach chair before packing up the car and heading to downtown Charleston.

Charleston was just as I had remembered too!! We took a drive around the giant Southern-style mansions near Battery Park before heading to the Visitor's Center and walking around from there. We found the city market located beneath the Daughters of the Confederacy building and got to try some different types of jams and spreads as well as some flavored peanuts. As we kept on walking down Meeting Street, we took pictures of all the gorgeous buildings, a few cobble stone streets, and horse-drawn carriages that were common around Charleston while I read some history off from a Walking Tour book I had picked up from the Visitor's Center. The weather was pretty windy with some light sprinkling, but wasn't bad enough to chase us away. We ended up near Battery Park again and saw a car that looked like something Cruella de Vil would drive. Then we walked down Painted Row before stopping into a coffee shop to read the paper and decide what to do for the night. Around 4pm, we headed across the street to a famous spot called Pearlz Oyster Bar which is well-known for their happy hour specials. After a local draft, some fresh caught shrimp, and oyster shooters, we were getting the evil eye from people wanting out seats and headed back towards the car.

During the trip, we were taking pictures of State signs (Ohio always came out blurry and a bus got in our way for South Carolina) and we were keeping track of state license plates we saw and were really excited to see an Alaska plate in the parking garage!! That night we drove up to Myrtle Beach where we got another deal on a nice resort right next to the beach...Thank you, Priceline! We both had heard Myrtle Beach was THE spring break destination, but we were a bit surprised by what we found when we got there. Myrtle Beach wasn't quite the college spring break place I thought it would be. I was expecting a lot more bars...instead, it seemed to target a bit of a younger crowd with little arcades, an amusement park, a ferris wheel, and a lot of tourist shops. It was still very nice though and our hotel had a nice little balcony.

The next morning, I woke up around 6:30 and jumped out onto the balcony just in time to see the sun coming up over the water. We knew it was going to be sunny and 60 that day so we got our stuff around and tried to get down to the beach to soak up the nice weather. Best quote of the morning, "I should not have wine for breakfast." =) Needless to say, we eventually got the car packed up and headed over to Myrtle Beach State Park around 10. We walked around and just enjoyed the sun, both a little sad to have to be driving home on such a gorgeous day. It was pretty hard to pull myself away from the beach when it was time to go, but we had such a nice trip, that I couldn't be too upset.

The rest of the day was spent doing a LOT of driving. We left Myrtle Beach after a stop at one of the giant beach stores around 11a.m. and drove along a country road and through a lot of back country in South Carolina. Some ice cream and many hours later, we were weaving through North Carolina and realized just how hungry we were. Hoping for a slightly healthier option, we were holding out for a Chipotle, but soon realized they were VERY hard to find! Finally, we tracked one down but once we pulled up, we realized the morning storm had knocked out the power and they had been forced to close!!!!! There was quite a lot of disappointment from the both of us as we frantically looked for another place to eat. We settled for Fudrucker's where I had a black bean quinoa burger which was actually really good!

We started weaving through the mountains that afternoon passing Pilot Mountain, seeing a guy going way too fast get nailed by a well-hidden cop, and were surprised to see how cheap gas was in Virginia. Virginia is actually a gorgeous state! I had never seen it before so I never really knew how pretty it was. West Virginia was also gorgeous, but we didn't stop since we wanted to reach Columbus that night. We finally got into Columbus, Ohio around 10pm and after a night cap downtown, I was ready for bed. We got up the next morning a little late because we lost an hour due to Daylight Savings time and headed downtown to see Columbus during the day.

We had some trouble finding any place that was open for breakfast, but kept driving towards Ohio State University when we spotted a nice cafe. During breakfast, we noticed our waiter was becoming less pleasant as he started bringing us things and realized MSU was playing Ohio State that day and Arica was wearing a Spartan shirt in Buckeye territory! Haha...one stop left to pick up some Yuengling and we were headed back to Michigan.

Although I wasn't quite ready to come home, I was really excited when we picked up Obie from Tracy's house. He seemed really excited to see us too. That night, I made a nice salad for dinner while we watched the State game and premiere of Once Upon A Time and just relaxed before Arica headed home the next day. In 5 days, we had driven 1,926 miles (Arica a lot more since she drove from Chicago and back). We both wished we had done a little less driving, but were really happy that we got to see so much of the country! Overall, I had a blast and definitely feel more relaxed than before break and ready to get back into the lab. Although, I am already counting down the days to my trip to Alaska this summer. But before then, I have a lot of work to do and a 5K coming up this weekend!! For now, I'm just happy to be home =)

Photo Credit: Arica took a lot of these photos 😊

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