Alexandria, VA to Myrtle Beach, SC; 435 miles. VA, NC, SC

Mount Vernon and a walk on the boardwalk; 12,332 steps

The fifth day of our trip began with a visit to George Washington’s Mount Vernon!

I’ll share the full details of the tour later, but we got to go through the house (except sadly, the Lafayette room, which was, you guessed it, under renovation), visit the gardens and outbuildings, tour the museum, and pay our respects at Washington’s tomb and the Slave Memorial.

After a few hours at George’s house, we hit the road, stopping at the Wawa for lunch. We were lucky to be there for Hoagiefest. Wawa is the one consistent exception to my “no gas station food” rule…consistent when we travel, anyway, since the Wawa hasn’t made its way to our area.

Later in the day, we stopped for burgers at Cook Out, but the real star there was the Cheerwine float!

We also visited what may be the kitschiest roadside attraction in the country…South of the Border.

We finally made it to Myrtle Beach, where we had a beachfront room with a balcony in a very nice hotel:

The view was amazing!

Even though we were tired, we took a walk on the boardwalk, where we were immediately greeted by the sight of a shooting star over the ocean.

This ended up being a fantastic idea, because we came across a DJ playing some of our favorite Disney tunes. And just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, he turned up not only the Chicken Dance, but also the Cha Cha Slide, so we got to do that right there on the boardwalk…the second Cha Cha Slide of the trip!

Up next: A slight delay before making our way to Orlando (at last!).