Hey everyone!
I’m back! Didya miss me? Of course, I missed you! 😉
Yay and ugh feels at the same time returning to work life here. Bahhhh. Why is it that work weeks take forever to live through but weekends or vacations start and end so quickly? What is the deal with that?
Before I start talking vacation…Just an update on things in my real life… I went in for that MRI this afternoon. Let’s just say that I am not a fan of being placed in a tiny tube. Holy claustrophobic vibes. Thankfully, the nurses were kind and they had good indie music to listen to in the headphones. And luckily, only the top half of me had to be in the machine…for thirty minutes or more. The contrast dye felt like nothing. But. What a joy. 😑 If I had to be fully covered in that contraption I may have died. Seriously. No exaggeration.. So, my doctor should have the images in hand tomorrow or Thursday the latest to read through with whomever reads MRI images. I made the appointment with the other ear specialist for surgery, who will also receive a copy of these images. My consult isn’t until June with her though. This MRI should give a better picture of what is going on with my left ear. I really hope it is a non issue or something easily fixable. I keep praying that it will all work out no matter what is found. So. Please. Wish me luck! 🍀
Anywhoooo… vacation time!! We had a great getaway. We went on an East Coast road trip with friends. Since covid19 has shattered our normal routines of traveling thus far, and I am refusing to fly anywhere till more people are vaccinated, we decided to go on a good old fashioned road trip to see some new to us places. Initially, we had planned this trip as a solo family thing but because we canceled our Wild West road trip with friends last year for covid19, we invited our friends to come. Woohoo! But we are still going to make the western road trip happen. That’s a given!
Our plan for this trip was to take advantage of the Southeastern weather and drive the coast till we hit Folly Beach, SC; making some overnight stops along the way to see some sights. Some old and some new. But trying to keep the majority of our time outdoors, as weather permitted. This trip was a success! Every looming storm that came up on radar somehow missed us. Well, after we left the Northeast on the first day, of course. Other than that one blip in weather, everything was smooth sailing.
Here was our itinerary:
- Day 1- Drive to Washington, DC – stay one night
- Day 2- DC to Raleigh, NC – stay one night (first time visiting)
- Day 3- Raleigh to Folly Beach – stay four nights (first time visiting)
- Day 7- Folly to Kitty Hawk, NC – stay two nights (first time visiting)
- Day 9- Kitty Hawk to Philadelphia, PA – stay one night
- Day 10- drive home
And…. Here’s a run down of our trip in pictures!
🚗💨Home to DC
Great start to our vacation!
🚗💨 DC to Raleigh, NC
We made it to Raleigh around 7:30 ish then headed out to eat after freshening up. We hit up the Morgan Street Food Hall. What a fun place. So much good food and drink. The vibe was so young and vibrant in Raleigh. Loved it. But it was only a night stop…the next day we took off for Folly Beach.
But we made a lot of stops along the way!
Raleigh to Folly Beach, SC
And boy, what a house! It was even more beautiful irl vs the vrbo ad. Every room was mint and the views around were perfect. Our bedroom had a sick view overlooking the ocean that I enjoyed every morning and night. Our first night we got pretty warm, that means I got pretty tipsy, at this fun place, Woody’s Pizza. We grabbed so much food that we had stuff to eat on the beach for two days! So good!The next day was a full on beach day. Everyone had burns to prove it. Mamma mia! 🔥 that night we got pretty and headed to Rita’s for a fantastic dinner. We had so much fun here. There was a guy playing guitar, who was alright but he indulged us with a lil request of 5000 Candles in the Wind. (Aka Bye Bye Lil Sebastian fr Parks n Rec —cuz we are the coolest people ever)
That night we grabbed take out and then went to check out the sunset up at the edge of the beach. My GoSh! I have never seen anywhere more beautiful like this area of beach. It’s known as Driftwood Forest. All these large uprooted trees laying like bones across the beach. In the distance is the lighthouse. Gah so pretty!
Next day was a beach day, which was so relaxing! Plus, everyone lathered up good with SPF! We ended that night with a great dinner at Taco Boy. So much goodness!
Folly Beach to Kitty Hawk, NC
But to brighten the morning we stopped at Krispy Kreme down the road to grab some free donuts. DID SOMEONE SAY FREE?! Yes, me. KK was giving away a free glazed donut for any A’s on kid’s report cards. I didn’t know it was for EACH A! So the kids got six donuts each!! But also they gave a free donut to any fully vaccinated person, too! So adults n kids got donuts. Woah!
The ride to Kitty Hawk was fairly long, but we planned one stop around the three hour mark, and it was to the Skylight Inn. Just possibly the best BBQ place in America. Seriously. It is literally in the sticks and the place seems unassuming. But boy, lemme tellya, the smell from the parking lot was heavenly. Wood fired meaty heaven. We all ate every bite of our dinners and left there stunned at how amazing the pork was. Just stunned (yes I said this like Blanche Devereaux). Just at sunset we made our way to the Outer Banks. And we ended the night looking at the stars from the beach.
Oh! I also saw a BEAR running into Alligator River of the conservation land we drove through! Yes a bear! He was big, black and fluffy. Too cute.
Kitty Hawk to Philadelphia, PA
So. Kitty Hawk is a pretty cool place on the island but the island as a whole is just a natural curiosity. There is so much history with wild nature, we didn’t factor in enough time and plan to definitely go back. Especially losing almost the whole day on the tire. I mean tireS. Bah. Well we made the most of the rest of our first day by driving down the island to Corolla to see if we could see any wild horses. No luck. Then we headed to the light house, which was cool.
All of us were starving at this point and went to grab dinner along the water. This place was stunning at sunset!! We had a blast drinking and eating, looking at the colors the going for ice cream afterwards. Hee hee
On our last morning, we jumped right to driving up to Philadelphia. This was another long drive and we wanted to get up there as soon as we could. We made it up by 6P, had a drink in the room and went straight out to dinner. We ended the night on some art installation swings laughing the night away. The best way to hang with friends.
Philadelphia to Home 😃
On our last vacation day we grabbed snacks and breakfast in the Reading Terminal Market (my favorite spot in Philadelphia) then the kids wanted to go to the Rocky Steps.. We all just happened to watch the movie recently. Sooo, yo Adrian, away we went. We parked along the parkway. I blasted the soundtrack as we started waking over, and in 4 minutes 50 seconds we got amped up and jogged over to the steps. We made our way valiantly to the top of the 72 steps, where we jumped for joy. (I know you can hear that soundtrack!) wooo!! We hopped back into our cars and made our way home. Womp.
But….
There’s a lot jammed in this post so I apologize for that. I just wanted to post one time about this trip. My blog is running outta space, too. Not sure what that will mean in the future but I got these to fit. 😃
Ok. I gotta get my butt to bed! As always, thank you for reading along. I really do appreciate all the support. Till next time, guys. xoxo
Valeria Out Loud 
Wow, so much going on! Did ya really need a full set of new tires? 😂 I’m glad y’all had a good holiday, Valeria. 😎
Thanks, John! The whole tire issue was one of those blessings in disguise moments. That screw punctured in a spot it couldn’t be plugged, and replacing one tire wasn’t a good option since my tires just happened to be at a time they needed to be replaced. Mileage and wear wise. It just bummed me out that it happened on that first day in such a cool place.
Such is life. I live in a sitcom. 🙄
Life has a way of working out, even in a sitcom! I’m you all had a nice time, Valeria. 😎
Thank you John! 💕
Quelle est donc l’inscription sur le tee-shirt de ton homme avec la bretzel ?
En Alsace, elle fait partie de nos spécialités.
Et nous en faisons parfois.
https://blogoth67.wordpress.com/2017/08/22/bretzel-party/
Bonne journée
oh ces bretzels sont incroyables! j’aime l’idée d’une fête bretzel. 😋. le tshirt de mon mari dit “ces bretzels me donnent soif”. c’est une citation de l’émission de télévision Seinfeld. (My favorite tv show)
Merci pour les infos 😉