Cruise time

As most of you know, Mike and I didn’t have a BIG trip last year… we had lots of small(er) ones. I’ve been itching to do a BIG trip again so sometime in the middle of last year I started looking up cruise options. I just so happened to stumble upon an itinerary I really liked: Central America. 

Central America was never high on my bucket list (if even on there at all) , but I had never been to Central America (or Caribbean until last year)… I loved the idea of a cruise for a couple reasons:

1. I love that your hotel comes with you wherever you go. You don’t have to worry about transportation from place to place or figuring out where you’re going to stay.

2. A cruise allows you to hit multiple countries easily.

3. It’s more relaxing. I would say most of my travels are never really “vacations” in the fact that there is no relaxing involved… it’s usually always go, go, go. 

The particular itinerary I saw was from Viking. I had always heard amazing things about Viking, going back to when I interned at a travel agency.  I loved that it was a smaller ship (around 900 people) and I loved that there were no kids on board. They seemed honest in their sales pitch and although it was more pricey than some of the other cruise lines, I felt it would be worth the money. 

I will wait to do my final review of Viking towards the end of our trip, but here are some photos of our ship, the Viking Star:

 

The Viking Star

The pool

The infinity pool

place to eat

Our bedroom

The atrium

Our bathroom

Texas

After a day in OKC we headed for Texas... First stop was Dallas! 

We started out at the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. The museum itself is located within the former Texas School Book Depository building and chronicles the assassination and legacy of President John F. Kennedy. I was not impressed with the layout of this museum.  There were a lot of people crowding around each sign and I always felt like I was in someone's way. There was a lot to read and learn, but as far as museums go I think they could do a lot better. 

The building JFK was believed to be shot from

Entrance to the museum

Next stop on our list was the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. GWB is my all time favorite president so I was excited to explore the museum. This place gives visitors a look at American history, the presidency, and important issues of public policy. They did a FANTASTIC job! Whether you like GWB or not, they had a lot of interesting exhibits, facts, and even a special showcasing of 9/11. 

Replica oval office 

Part of the World Trade Center

Bush swag

The entrance to the presidential library 

Our last stop in Dallas was the Museum of Illusions. It was so much fun! They had lots of interactive optical illusions and sets for photos!

Trippy Mirror

Tiny husband

What's for lunch?

Look mom!

San Antonio

After a day in Dallas we headed on to San Antonio.  While in San Antonio we, of course, had to visit The Alamo. You can learn about the history, The Texas Revolution, and of course the Battle of the Alamo itself. 

Iconic!

It's even more beautiful at night

We also took some time to explore the San Antonio River Walk. San Antonio is such a unique and beautiful city! There are plenty of restaurants, shops, and attractions all within walking distance of each other! 

River Walk

River Walk

Our first night in San Antonio we decided to go to a show at the Magicians Agency Theatre. OH MY GOODNESS! We saw Scott Pepper perform and he was fantastic!! Great magic/illusions, comedy, and fun! 

Got to talk to Scott Pepper before the show

Fun photo op

Outside the theatre

Our last stop in San Antonio was Hopscotch Immersive Art which is a creative art space featuring immersive light installations and optical illusions. We had a BLAST!

Ames Room

One of many mirror illusions

My favorite... the ball pit!




Thank you, Texas, for being so good to us! We enjoyed our time immensely!

OKC

We just got back from a quick (ish) trip to Oklahoma and Texas! I didn't have any intention on going to these two states in 2022, but somehow it happened! LOL 

Since I'm a hard person to buy presents for I've made a deal with Mike that each year on my birthday he can give me the gift of traveling with me somewhere. (Even though he does this anyway!😏) In 2021 we went to Atlanta as my birthday trip and this year was Oklahoma and Texas! 

Oklahoma and Texas have never been high priority states for me, but in order to get all 50 states, I have to start somewhere! The more research I did the more excited I got for our trip... and it actually was a pretty great trip! 

We started in Oklahoma City and our first stop was the Oklahoma City Memorial and Museum. I knew very little about the bombing and in the weeks leading up to our visit I tried to keep it that way. I wanted to learn as much as I could at the museum. 

It is a beautiful museum full of moving tributes, stories, facts, and so much more! It is now one of my favorite museums and I thoroughly enjoyed learning firsthand from the place where it all happened! I've said it over and over again, but travel really is the BEST form of education!! It's one thing to read about something in history books or watch something on the news, but to be there in person.... indescribable.
 

Outside of the museum

View of the memorial from inside the museum

Tribute to the victims

Federal Building sign

After the memorial and museum we decided to go to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. This place is HUGE.  It has more than 28,000 Western and American Indian art works and artifacts. They also have the most extensive collection of American rodeo photographs, barbed wire, saddlery, and early rodeo trophies. 

I will be honest... much of the stuff in the museum didn't interest me, BUT it doesn't change the fact that it was still a really well done museum. We probably spent two hours there just walking around. Fun fact: Did you know there are over 1,300 types of barbed wire?!  They had pull out shelves showcasing each type. I couldn't believe it. 

That's it for Oklahoma... next blog post will be on our time in TEXAS!

 

Carolina whirlwind (pt 2)

Day 3: I haven’t been on a JetSki in probably 20 years so when I saw the option to jet ski in Hilton Head I knew I had to book it! It was Mike’s first time on a JetSki and it was my first time ever driving one. We went through Lowcountry Watersports and had so much fun! (this is the same company we were supposed to do the creek cat tour through)

On the JetSki

We had a blast racing around on the JetSkis

We originally booked one JetSki for the two of us since it was cheaper...But the other people on our tour didn’t show up and the staff was nice enough to let us each have our own -no extra charge!

I kept trying to see how fast I could get it to go and I think I eventually made it to 72 KM per hour… Mike was only at 30 something so I teased him about it. We then realized that his was set to miles and mine was set to kilometers. He about fell off his ride trying to outdo me. Whoops!

The rest of day was spent driving five hours to Asheville. We got to Asheville around 5 PM and due to logistics (and also needing to eat dinner) we didn’t get any sightseeing in. We did play some games though. (Thanks, Mike!)

Day 4: We had tickets for Biltmore at 11 AM and we were told to be there an hour early.That gave us plenty of time to get to where we need to go and also walk around some of the shops beforehand. None of us had been to Biltmore so this was new to all of us. 

Biltmore

Biltmore is a national historic landmark and is known as America's largest home. It is one of North Carolina's most popular tourist destinations, but before it was a tourist site it was the home of the Vanderbilt family. It contains 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms. and 65 fireplaces and was meant to be a place of rest and relaxation for friends and family. 

Inside of Biltmore

Biltmore Gardens

Biltmore Gardens

After our guided audio tour of Biltmore we ate lunch at the stables and then walked around the gardens for a bit. It was a very nice, beautiful space! 

After leaving Biltmore you go through Biltmore village where they had a small animal farm, garden railway, and shops.  I spent all my time at the little farm while my dad went and found the garden railway. ;)

Another thing on my list in Asheville was the Blue Ridge Parkway scenic drive. We had some time after Biltmore so we decided to hop on the parkway for some views. I imagined it would be similar to the Going-to-the-sun drive in Montana where there were places to stop and take pictures, hike, etc.  (I was right!)

The drive is 252 miles along the length of western North Carolina and is supposedly one of the most scenic drives in the states! We, of course, weren't going to drive the whole thing, but we drove a little bit... it was a little rainy and getting foggy so it wasn't really an ideal situation. I bet the views are spectacular on a clear day -especially at sunset and especially in the fall with the leaves changing colors!

One entrance to the parkway

Pretty views

I know there are more things to do in North and South Carolina, but Asheville and Hilton Head were the cities I chose as they were the most interesting to me. Neither state was ever really on my radar as a "MUST DO," but as I'm trying to visit all 50 states, everything now is a MUST DO!

26 states down. 24 to go!

Carolina Whirlwind (pt 1)

In November 2013 I wrote a blog post. The post contained a challenge of visiting all 7 continents by age 30. I successfully completed that in 2020 and have needed a new challenge... The new challenge is visiting all 50 states by age 40.  :)

A few months ago. as I was sitting here in Ohio, I tried to think of some states that I could (more easily) knock out without having to spend a lot of time getting there. The Carolinas came to mind. I think I was one of the only people in Ohio that had never been to the Carolinas. (embarrassing, I know) It seems like friends, family, neighbors are always talking about the Carolinas and many of them make annual trips down there. (I learned later that it is indeed a very Ohio thing to do) 

All that to say...Mike took a couple days off of work and we made the Carolina whirlwind trip come true! My parents came with us as well which was super awesome and then Mike's parents were able to meet up with all of us in Hilton Head! So fun to have all 6 of us together! 

Day 1: 10 HOUR DRIVE TO HILTON HEAD (zzzzzzzzzzz)

Day 2:  We had a whole day to spend in Hilton Head and I had it all planned out...  We were going to start with a Creek Cat boat tour. (Basically a small, motorized, two person boat that can access some "smaller marshes and wildlife-rich areas.")  And of course it rained... actually, it down poured. It was pretty bad so of course they canceled the tour. 







As we waited for the weather to chill out we went to Sea Pines and had lunch at QuarterDeck. (SO GOOD!) After lunch the sun started coming out and we walked around the harbour and toured the Harbour Town Lighthouse. This is an iconic landmark of Hilton Head and is just over 5 decades old! 

Harbour Town Pier

Harbour Town Lighthouse

View from the top of the lighthouse :)

One of the trails

We ended up with decent weather the rest of the day (YAY!) so the dads and kids rented e-bikes and rode around Hilton Head while the moms talked and shopped. :)  

There are so many trails all around Hilton Head and it was nice how bike friendly the island is!  If I was there for an extended period of time I could definitely see myself riding around a lot and exploring different areas. 

Once we got back and met up with the moms it was time for dinner. Any guesses as to where we ate?!

QuarterDeck again! It was so yummy... and that's coming from a picky eater! 

You might remember from earlier that our creek cat boat tour was canceled.... while we were at the location waiting for the rain to die down, my father in law found a sailboat excursion he wanted to do. I really didn't know anything about it, but he loves all things nautical so we decided to all do the sunset sailboat tour. 

Let me preface this by saying that I love fast action thrill rides. I like jumping waves, wild rides, etc... sailboats are pretty much the opposite. 😛  Going into the evening I was a little iffy... once we got to the boat I was even MORE iffy as there are no seats! I guess people who are used to sailing already know this, but to learn that you have to sit on a 3 inch square pad for 2 hours with no back support... eeek. My back was really hurting during this excursion, but thankfully we were allowed to stand up after a certain amount of time. 

Our sailboat was the Stars and Stripes and we did the sunset cruise through Vagabond cruises. The crew that evening was fantastic - super personable, chatty... it was just like you were hanging out with friends. I think that was kind of the whole point - you're out sailing with what seems like old friends, relaxing on the quiet waters, and enjoying the sunset.  I enjoyed the crew immensely (Captain Peter, Melissa, Luke, and Shelby) and I enjoyed seeing the sunset. We got some great pictures!

For not really caring about sailing in the first place, I actually enjoyed this more than I thought I would! I'm really glad we went for the sunset cruise as I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much baking in the hot sun with no back support. :)

All in all, if you like sailing I would definitely recommend it. Otherwise, just know what to expect before going in. 

That's (for the most part) our whirlwind tour of Hilton Head.  I know people will tell me "you can't do Hilton Head in a day." Well guess what? I just did. (lol) I saw and did most of what I wanted to see and do. 

I was at a shop in HHI and was talking to a woman from Ukraine. (Lots of stories about that and the turmoil going on there) .... I noticed a car sticker that said OHIO on it with the Harbour Town lighthouse and asked about it. It seemed a bit out of place, but then she told me most of their visitors come from Ohio. Ever since the 80's and 90's (apparently there was a lot of advertising being done during those decades) the same families come back year after year. 

My family and I aren't real beachy people. I like doing water activities like jet ski, stand up paddle boarding, kayaking, etc. I like riding e-bikes and walking around towns... but there are so many other places worth visiting too. 

I get it - HHI is a familiar, comforting vacation spot that's not too far of a drive, but I don't really see the need to go back. If I was sent there on a business trip for a week I'm sure I could find ways to pass the time and enjoy it for sure. 

Basically... If you want to pay my way and send me down there again, I wouldn't protest. I also don't plan on ever going down there again. (I have a 10 year waiting list anyway of upcoming travel destinations.)

Next Carolina Whirlwind blog post coming soon... featuring Asheville, NC.