"Sightseeing" in SC

Friday was a typical beach getaway day. We usually leave on Fridays, so must of it was normal. We’d thought about staying until Saturday morning, but we’d have to be out by 10 am. MC needed to get back. After going to the midnight Batman premiere, she didn’t wake up until 10 am Friday morning (earlier than most of the other kids). She had hoped to return to Cartersville by suppertime, but Will said they planned to go out on the beach. Ceil wanted to as well.

I arrived out on the beach just before noon, arriving shortly after Phil & Teresa. Ceil, Will, and MC didn’t arrive until almost an hour later. We stayed for a little while, then went in to pack. Will thought we could get six people plus all the luggage and leftover food inside the van. He tried for a while, then I convinced him to strap the four largest suitcases on top. I finished packing everything else inside. Meanwhile, a small crowd of family members gathered to watch Will tighten the straps. They looked unconvinced, but we didn’t have a problem with the bags. Had we been more efficient, we could’ve left an hour earlier.

Left NMB at 4:55. Drove to Florence, where Ceil used my iPhone to guide us to Chickfila (our GPS was back in Atlanta). We followed Ceil’s directions for 30 minutes, though I kept telling her they weren’t right. By the time she figured out what to do, we were 30 miles south of Florence, in the middle on nowhere. I found a main road that went straight to Columbia, through Sumter. In all, we lost an hour, traveling an extra 60 miles. Arranging her parents pickup time, I predicted a 1 am arrival.  

Stopped in Augusta for gas and a short break, and got back on the road at 10:20 pm. I checked the bags on top of the van…they were still dry even though we went through a brief thunderstorm in Columbia. Went through another short thunderstorm in Lithonia, but again our bags remained mostly dry. Drove in our East Cobb driveway at 12:50 am…not far off my prediction.

Completely unpacked the van and sorted through the mail. Checked my phone to discover the extraordinary Braves comeback I had missed. Went to bed around 1:45. Less than five hours later my phone rang, and I had to sort out a problem at work.

Saturday Ceil and Anna drove to Greenville to pick up Barney, a huge dog, from Tracey Boyd’s mother-in-law’s sister. We’re in the process of handing off Ellie, our current dog…she’s not really working out well. Saturday and Sunday I watched the Open and the Braves, and did lots of stuff around the house. Both nights we had pizza…Sunday’s was from PaPa Johns.

I knew last week was crazy, so I’ll be in catch-up mode for a while.