Myrtle Beach 2015

We just returned from a fun trip to Myrtle Beach!

One of our traditions is to eat at Ultimate California Pizza when we first arrive.

Parker still loves to go by and look at the Nightmare Haunted House.

Parker caught several things in his net while we were there. This is a sea urchin.

Putt-putt at the resort on evening

Lots of fun in the water (diligently watching for sharks and jellyfish)

A dead crab (RIP Mr. Crab)

We celebrated our 15th anniversary while we were there.

Fun in the resort pool

Rides at Broadway at the Beach

Pool games and pina coladas

4th of July fireworks on the beach

Our Myrtle Beach pictures through the years

We Won A Trip!

A few months ago, our church did a marriage enrichment series. At the end, all of the couples who participated were entered into a drawing for a fun marriage getaway trip. A marriage getaway giveaway, if you will. Well, smack me a somerset, guess who won?!?! Little ol' us.

It took us a few months to find a date that would work, but last weekend we made it happen. The getaway giveaway included a night at The Park Vista and a very generous gift certificate to The Peddler restaurant.

The entrance to Park Vista

Brian made a new friend

We were encouraged to order this dessert. Even though we were stuffed, we ordered it. This is what showed up at our table. Please keep in mind that the plate in the picture is a LARGE dinner plate. The cake took up the whole thing. It was very good, but we were only able to eat a few bites. Sometime we plan to go back when we are really hungry and just order this dessert! Parker and Claire have already volunteered themselves to go with us.

This was the view from our table at dinner. So pretty!

This was the view from our room. When we looked one direction from our balcony, we could see downtown Gatlinburg. It was especially pretty at night. When we looked the other way, we had a gorgeous mountain view.

We love our church and are thankful for this opportunity. It was a huge blessing to us! Thanks Believer's Church!

Philadelphia aka Tour de Cheesesteak

After we left New York City and Coney Island, we spent a couple of nights in Philadelphia. I'm not sure why this picture of us with the Liberty Bell has black lines on it. We saw the bell, crack and all.

 While we went to Philadelphia under the cover of "education" and "historic landmarks", but visiting the birthplace of cheesesteaks was a real plus. HOWEVER...we didn't like any of them. Seriously. We tried four (FOUR!) different places. We went to the three most famous, and one that wasn't as well known. Talk about a let down!

The first place we went was Pat's. Eh...

 

 Then we went (literally) right across the street to Geno's. Both of these are very well-known.

 And again, eh... (this on was a tiny, tiny bit better than Pat's)

 In between all of our cheesesteak eating, we managed to tour the city and see more historic places. The Betsy Ross house was really interesting. It was a paid tour, but the kids really wanted to do it. I'm glad we did.

 We also took a tour of the Mint to learn about and see money being made.

 Now back to the food...

Brian wanted to try the Roast Pork sandwich from another famous place called Dinic's. It was in Reading Terminal Market. Wow! That market was a crazy place full of vendor after vendor. I wish we had more time in there! Brian thought this sandwich was pretty good.

 In the meantime, Parker and I shared a cheesesteak from a place in Reading Terminal Market called Spataro's. It was the least well known place, but it was the best. Not great...but better than the rest.

 We took a tour of Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed.

 Of course, we had to go by and visit the Rocky steps and take our picture with the Rocky statue.

 

 Then one last cheesesteak hurrah at Tony Luke's. Better than the other two famous ones, but still just ok.

So as you can tell, the cheesesteak situation was a real disappointment. The meat is just very bland, and there was never enough cheese. The bread wasn't that great either. I'm sorry to be so negative, but I want to save you all the heartache that we have endured. I'm a little bit dramatic.

The moral of the story is this: Go to Philadelphia for the history, but not the food. The end.

(Disclaimer: I feel like I need to tell you that none of us ate whole sandwiches at all of these places. We shared them all except for the roast pork. It was all in the name of research. So don't judge!)

Coney Island

After our adventure in New York City, it just made sense to run by Coney Island. That's how my brain works anyway...do everything humanly possible because who knows when we'll be back!!! A lot of stuff wasn't open for the season yet, but it was neat to see everything. Check out this roller coaster that goes straight up and pretty much straight back down on the other side. No. Thank. You.

 We got to see the ocean, but it was way too cold to get in the water.

 We all shared a hotdog from the Original Nathan's.

Coney Island was a fun little side trip on the way from NYC to Philadelphia. We were glad we made the effort!

New York City

After three days in Washington, D.C., we paid approximately three zillion dollars in tolls (seriously, what's with all the tolls) and drove into NYC.Yep, you heard me right...we DROVE into NEW YORK CITY! I tried to figure out lots of ways to keep that from happening. I researched trains from Washington, flights, driving most of the way and parking just outside the city, hiring us each a private unicorn to take us there, teleporting, etc, etc, etc. In the end, driving our own car in just made the most sense for lots of reasons. We were very pleasantly surprised to find our hotel quickly and avoid a whole lot of city driving. We used the valet parking at the hotel, and it was worth every expensive penny. We stayed at Four Points By Sheraton Midtown - Times Square in case you are interested. It was very nice and an excellent location.

We did a lot of sightseeing in Times Square the first day.

We had fun at the giant Toys R Us (with a ferris wheel inside), the Hershey's store, the M&M store, and lots of other places in Times Square.

We were really hungry and didn't really have a food plan in place. So unlike me I might add...I always have a food plan! We happened upon Guy Fieri's restaurant, so we decided to check it out.

The kids loved their hamburgers (which is good because we had to spend their college savings to pay for them).

My pasta dish was really good too! That being said, I probably wouldn't go back. There's so many options in NYC!

We went to the Empire State Building.

Parker and Claire were excited to see the place where they filmed that scene from "Elf".

Of course, we had to go to Macy's. The windows were decorated so beautifully. I bet they are so gorgeous at Christmastime. The store itself was huge!

One the first evening, we had our first experience with New York Pizza. And I fell in love. True love forever.

On our second day, we wanted to see some sites that were far away from Times Square. We managed to figure out how to purchase subway tickets and which train to board. Keep in mind, we just came from Washington where we rode the Metro lots and lots for several days. With no problems at all.

So we rode the Subway down to the financial district where we visited the 911 Memorial, One World Trade Center, New York Stock Exchange, and the Raging Bull. 

Then we made our way over to the ferry for The Statue of Liberty.

After seeing the statue, we jumped back on the subway to head back towards the hotel. That's where this story gets interesting. Our children will probably only remember one event from this whole entire trip for the rest of their lives. Witnessing lots of different cultures and interesting people is to be expected when visiting a big city and certainly when riding a subway, and we had prepared them for that. We encountered a very angry man who shouted very, VERY ugly and inappropriate words and phrases for most of our trip back. The kids were scared, and we were all very ready to get off when we finally made it to our stop.

We loved the pizza so much the first day (when we all just shared one piece to see what it was like). Pizza for dinner was clearly an excellent choice! It was just as good as the first day, maybe even better. So my affection deepened. I have no doubt that there will be NYC pizza in heaven. (And Krispy Kreme doughnuts. And Aussie cheese fries. But that's beside the point.)

After our nutritious meal, we walked to Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center, The Today Show Plaza, and visited the studios where several shows are filmed (like The Tonight Show).

The highlight of our whole trip was that night when we went to see Les Miserables on Broadway. Our kids (and we) have seen it several times, but not in NYC. (Actually, I did see it when I was a senior in high school in NYC, but I slept through it. I know. It's a sad story.)

It was truly amazing!

One our last day, we just walked around the city some more. We may or may not have had one more piece of pizza. (I'm not kidding people. The struggle is real.)

Then, because I wanted to drive across the Brooklyn Bridge and because my husband loves me a whole lot, we drove all the way across the city. It wasn't awful (says the person who wasn't driving), but I probably wouldn't recommend it. Nobody seems to follow any driving rules and there are cars AND PEOPLE everywhere to watch for and hopefully not hit.

It was fun to drive over the bridge on our way to Coney Island.

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Coney Island pictures up next...