Vacation Details...

Saturday night (10/20) at 9:30 p.m. Mom and I started out for Charleston, SC. I drove because Mom can't see at night. =) We drove all night until 7:30 a.m. when I couldn't drive any longer! We got a hotel room and slept for 4 hours. Mom woke up raring to go! We made it to Charleston by 6:00 p.m on Sunday.

We originally booked a room in North Charleston. It looked fine on the internet, but when we got there...it was soooo ghetto! And sooo scary! Mom ran in and canceled our reservations and then we headed to downtown Charleston...not knowing where we were or where we were going to stay! Mom called several hotels and they were all booked. Finally she found us a room in the heart of Charleston for $120 a night! Yikes! But we took it...we were desperate! We checked into our rooms, ordered up food and then hit the sack.

The next morning we hit the streets bright and early! Charleston is awesome! It's so old and full of history. We had booked two walking tours for the afternoon and evening, but that morning we just took off on our own. Our hotel was in a perfect location, so we didn't have to drive anywhere. We went down to the warf and looked around. We went up and down almost every street. I couldn't stop exclaiming, "oh! Look at that house!" Everything was so beautiful.

At 1:00 we headed to the place we were supposed to join the Historic Homes walking tour. Our tour guide was 60 yrs old and full of knowledge. He was also VERY BORING! Sigh. Mom and I hung in there for an hour or so then we cut out! We toured the rest of the city on our own. We finally headed back to our hotel at dinner time. My feet were so sore! I also had ginormous blisters on my heels. My feet were so not used to being in "real shoes"! =) (side note: those stupid blisters are STILL there!)

At 7:30 that night we were scheduled for a Ghost Tour. Sounds exciting, huh? Mom is so into ghosts and stuff like that. She was very excited and because I didn't want her to miss out... I dragged my poor, aching self out on the town again. =) The tour guide encouraged us to take lots of pictures because sometimes ghosts (orbs) show up on the film. No such luck for me. Mom and I soon became bored when we realized that our tour guide was just going to tell us a bunch of stories. We thought we'd get to do fun stuff...like go in cemeteries, etc...instead we just walked right by the cemeteries. Sigh. Another super boring walking tour. So, we headed back to our hotel, ordered up food, watched The Bachelor and then hit the sack.

The next morning we checked out and drove four hours to Greenville, SC. It's a very cute town. Nothing compared to Charleston, but still super cute. Their downtown area was very tourist friendly. Mom and I just drove through though. We had very little time to check into our hotel and get ready for the SYTYCD show.

On the way to our hotel we were praying, "Please Lord don't let this one be ghetto!" At first glance it didn't look bad. I told mom we could rough it for one night. =) So, she checked us in. When we got to our room it looked like it would be fine. So, we sat down and ate our Subway sandwiches. While we were eating, we heard a noise...like someone was trying to get in our room! So, Mom boldly goes to the door and opens it. There was a guy standing there... he said that we were in his room. Mom said, "Um, no. We just checked into this room." So, he scratches his head and says, "That's weird. I stayed here last night." It turns out the motel had switched his room. So, we continue eating our sandwiches. I decided to take a quick shower before getting dressed for the show. When I went in the bathroom I noticed that there was toothpaste in the sink and hair on the floor. Eeeew! The shower looked okay though, so I jumped in real quick. Looking back, I can't believe I did that! But I didn't want to be stinky for the show. Heh. While I was in the shower, I noticed that there was a bar of soap WITH HAIR ON IT! SICK! Thank the LORD I was using my own body wash. I hurried up and got out. We didn't have time to complain to the manager before we had to leave for the show.

After the show, mom and I hurried back to the motel. We were planning to sleep for a few hours and then get up early and hit the road. Mom said, "Check the beds first! I don't want to sleep in a dirty bed!" So, I pulled the covers back on the bed that I was planning to sleep in. It was fine. All clean. No probs. I told her this. So, I got in my pjs and started looking at the road map. Mom got ready for bed and took a sleeping pill. Then she headed over to her bed and pulled back the covers and screamed! There was a PUBIC HAIR in her bed! and when she moved the pillow...there were hairs under that too! OMG! That guy must have slept there! And the motel didn't clean the room! They just made up the beds! G-ross! So, I called the front desk and said, "You better send someone up here to change the sheets NOW!" The woman working the front desk explained that she was the only one there and that she couldn't come up and change the sheets for at least an hour. WHAT?! I said, "Well, then we want a refund. We're checking out!" So, mom drives down to the office to check out while I pack up our stuff.

When she gets back, we decided to be wild and crazy and just DRIVE THRU THE NIGHT! At first I balked at the idea, but then decided we might as well since we were planning to get up at the crack of dawn and drive anyway. Guess who had to drive though....ME! Yep. Mom had taken a sleeping pill and couldn't see at night anyway. So, we headed out at midnight Tuesday night. Mom tried to stay awake, but eventually couldn't fight the sleeping pill. She slept and I drove. I sang out loud to the radio, put the car on cruise control and chair danced...anything I could do to stay awake. It was HARD! I mean, sooooooo hard! I did get to see downtown Atlanta in the middle of the night. It's quite impressive. =) I was praying the whole way. Finally, I was so delirious that I had to pull over. I woke mom up and said, "I'm pulling over at this gas station and we're sleeping!" She said, "mmmmokay" and went back to sleep....for about 10 minutes. I was tossing and turning. I couldn't get comfy. Finally she said, "I'm up! I'll drive!" It was 6:30 a.m. by then. So, we run inside and buy some Krispie Kreme donuts and bad coffee and set off again. I dozed on and off the rest of the way home. We made it to Benton at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning.

So, that's the story of our worldwind vacay to South Carolina. Icky motels aside...we had the best time! I took about 300 pictures of Charleston. My dad is supposed to be burning them on a disk for me. I'll post some as soon as I can.

Gotta get back to work!