2009 Brum Family Road Trip - Day 7 & 8

Our last two days were spent in the car driving the 20 hours back home. We filled our time listening to New Moon and enjoying the scenery.

The Smokey Mountains were absolutely beautiful. The clouds were low on the top of the mountains and it really looked like smoke was billowing off of them.

We spent Friday night in Franklin, TN (a suburb of Nashville). We were all so tired that we went out for a quick bite of pizza and then back to the room to watch TV.

We hit the road Saturday morning at 7:30am and were home by 6:30 that night. I am happy to report that we all survived our first family road trip. I know we will do another again one day, but if I have my way, it WILL NOT be any time soon.

2009 Brum Family Road Trip - Day 6

Day 6 - Thursday

We woke again to rain on Thursday morning, but the weather man said it would quickly fade off and the sun would come out.

We drove over to North Myrtle Beach and took the kids to the Alligator Adventure. I have never seen so many Alligators and Crocodiles in one place. They were every where and they were huge.

There was one that was over 20 feet long. It was crazy. I was sure happy he was on the other side of the fence. They had one named 'Bob' who was born without a tail. Lucky for 'Bob' he was born in captivity, so they were able to give him his own home so he could survive. They had baby crocodiles and alligators and some that had to be hundreds of years old.

After the Alligator Adventure, we polished off our souvenir shopping at Barefoot Landing. This shopping experience wasn't near as neat as our previous day's shopping, but it got the job done.

I promised Ashton we would go back to the beach at least one more time. We all suited up and headed out onto the windy beach. The water was freakin' cold! I only got in up to my knees. But, Ashton just had to say goodbye to the ocean and the beach and I can't say that I blame her.

We ended the evening early and went back to the room to pack up for the following days drive.

2009 Brum Family Road Trip - Day 5

Day 5 - Wednesday

I wish I could tell you we had beautiful sunny days for our entire trip, but I can't. The storms rolled back in on Wednesday morning...so when you're on vacation and it's raining, what do you do??? Find something that can be enjoyed inside.

We decided to go to the Ripley's Aquarium at Broadway at the Beach. It was really neat. They have an exhibit about babies right now. My favorite was the baby sea horses. They were so tiny and adorable. The shark tank was amazing too. We really enjoyed the time out of the rain.

After the aquarium, we walked over to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville and had lunch. I loved the atmosphere of this place. I have to admit though, this was one of those times that I sure wished we were drinkers. It was hard not to order a Margarita at Margaritaville...even the kids thought it was wrong that we didn't order one...hehehe.

After lunch we walked around the lake again and did some more shopping. There were tons of fish and ducks in the lake just waiting to be fed. I have never seen a fish so big and so many of them in one place. There were so many the ducks could walk on water!! Be sure to watch the video...Tony was wishing he had a rod and reel so he could catch a few to cook up.



It rained on us all afternoon while we shopped...so this is where I have to tell you how un-intelligent I can sometimes be....especially when it comes to shoes. Yes, I wore flip flops on a cold, rainy day. This posed two problems for me...cold feet and lots of slipping and sliding on the wet pavement and boardwalk. I stopped at the miss-match sock shop and bought some striped, knee high toe socks. It was cute too...me in my knee high socks, black shorts and black flip flops. I am happy to report that no pictures were taken to document my fashion disaster.

By the time we made it around the lake and back the car, I had almost fallen at least 5 times and I was exhausted from being so tense. The day was fun though and I'm glad we found something to fill our rainy day.

2009 Brum Family Road Trip - Days 3 & 4

Day 3 - Monday

So, when we hit the road on Saturday morning and headed out for the first 10 hours of our trip, I thought it was too dang early. Little did I know, we would be hitting the road even earlier on Monday morning. Appearantly, Tony couldn't sleep and he woke up at 3:30 AM to start loading the car. We hit the road on Monday morning at 4:30 AM. YAWN!

Our entire 10 hour drive to Myrtle Beach was in the rain. It was miserable. The tone fit perfectly with our audiobook Twilight though. When we got to the beach, it was still raining and the forecast for the week wasn't looking to be in our favor.

We settled into our room and hoped and prayed we would have sun for at least one day of the trip.

Day 4 - Tuesday

We woke up on Tuesday morning to a beautiful, sunny day. The temperature got up to 75 and we soaked up every ounce of it.

The kids loved the beach. Of course, I didn't think of sunscreen until we had already been outside for an hour (and for the Brum family, that could mean some seriuos sunburns!).

That evening we met our photographer at the Myrtle Beach State Park and had family pictures taken. It was perfect weather for the pictures too. I can't wait to see how they turned out.

After pictures, we drove over to a great shopping area called Broadway at the Beach. We had dinner at Landry's and enjoyed the evening by walking around the lake.

Tuesday was absolutely the perfect day at the beach. I am so thankful we were able to enjoy the ocean at least one day of the trip.

We're Back!

Well, sorta! After a crazy week at Myrtle Beach, we are back in Nashville tonight. I had absolutely no internet access at our hotel. It drove me bonkers...especially since I was supposed to work some...I had to call my boss on Tuesday and break the news to him. Darn the luck...wink, wink.

We hit the road tomorrow for our final 10 hours in the car. I'm too tired tonight to do any serious blogging, but I wanted to let you know that we are almost back home.

2009 Brum Family Road Trip - Day Two

We had such a great today! After a sleep in kind of morning, we headed to downtown Nashville to do some exploring. It was busy down there too...the Tennessee Titans were playing the Indianapolis Colts, so downtown was hoppin'!

Downtown Nashville is a mix of beautiful, old buildings and huge new ones. We went to the Wildhorse Saloon, The Hard Rock Cafe and several amazing western stores. We tried to go to Coyote Ugly, but they hadn't yet opened and we were ready to leave downtown.

After downtown we had dinner at an amazing steakhouse called Stoney River. Every time our company takes people to Atlanta, they come back with wonderful stories about the food at Stoney River, so when I found out that there was one 5 miles from our hotel, I just knew we had to go. The steak was fabulous! And the bill was HUGE! But it was so worth it.

After dinner we went to the local mall and just walked around and did some fun window shopping.

We are turning in early tonight, since we hit the road tomorrow for our last 10 hours to Myrtle Beach. It already feels like we've been on vacation for days and days. it's hard to believe this is only day two.

Talk to you guys tomorrow.

2009 Brum Family Road Trip - Day One

We left yesterday morning at 5:45am for our 20 hour road trip to Myrtle Beach, SC. We made it to Nashville (well, Brentwood) at 6:30pm last night. It was a long day in the car, but it wasn't too horrible. We stopped in Memphis so I could do some shopping at my favorite scrapbook store...ARCHIVER'S!!! I spent a whopping $30 bucks...hehee, but the best part is looking at all of the products and ideas! I sure wish we had an Archiver's in OK.

We were pretty tired by the time we made it to our hotel. This morning we are hanging out in our hotel room so I can work...yes, yes, I know...How can I be working if I am blogging?...well, I am waiting for a spreadsheet to open, so I decided to blog while I waited.

When I finish my work, we're gonna go explore Music City. We have no agenda today and that is how I like it.

***I want to say a quick thanks to my friend, Nicole, for keeping an eye on the house and loving on Sookie and Shadow while we are gone. I miss Sookie so much already!

I'll try to post some pictures of our adventures in Nashville tonight!! Talk to you later.