Forsyth Park

Markels Making Magical Memories–Day Six

Myrtle Beach, SC to Orlando, FL; 511 miles. SC, GA, FL

One of the reasons I wanted to stay in Myrtle Beach was so that I could see the sun rise over the ocean. The hotel room with the balcony was a surprise to me, and it made it so easy to watch as the sun came up:

I probably watched for close to an hour as the sky changed…it was just what I hoped it would be!

And then the delay. Remember I mentioned our brake troubles? Ryan took the car to a Midas, where they discovered that we did indeed need new rotors (too bad our dealer failed to notice it the several times we asked them to check before we left for our trip!), so he stayed with the car for a few hours (we are now two-for-two in getting our rotors replaced in South Carolina!), while the rest of took a walk on the beach, collected seashells, and took a look at the boardwalk in the daylight. Every cloud has its silver lining, and even though our beach morning cost us about $600, we really enjoyed the chance to slow down and spend some time by the ocean, which we wouldn’t have done if we had been able to leave right after the sunrise like we originally planned.

We even saw some pigeon tracks on the beach (and Bunny fed a flock, too!).

We did finally hit the road a few hours later than we originally planned, but not so late it felt impossible. We drove through Charleston, because Ladybug wanted to see The Battery again (but there were too many people out and about for us to park and take a walk), and then Savannah, GA, because I really wanted to see Forsyth Park for myself…the oak trees and Spanish moss were just what I had imagined!

As was the fountain, and there were other people there just to see it like we were!

Our original plan for dinner didn’t work out due to our late start, so we took advantage of Hoagiefest again:

And we finally made it to Cabana Bay (after driving over way too many scary bridges, including one in Jacksonville that I was pretty sure was going to be the end of me)!

Our room (Thunderbird 2127), was pretty much the same as the last time we stayed there, except there was a little snafu, and we ended up in one of the motel buildings with an exterior entrance instead of the hotel buildings with an interior entrance like we had requested. In the end it worked out well…it had more of an Astronaut Wives Club vibe which I liked, and they comped our parking and a dinner for us for our inconvenience, saving us a bunch of money, so it ended up being a win-win situation (well, except for the night a lizard followed us into our room, but that’s another story!).

Up next: Our first day at Disney World!!!

Quote of the Day

“Scarlett had never seen Forsyth Park…It caught her unaware, and it took her breath away. A pair of stone sphinxes flanked the entrance…The fountain was two blocks from the entrance, but it was so enormous that it looked very close. Arcs and jets of water lifted and fell like showering diamonds from every direction. Scarlett was spell-bound; she’d never seen anything so spectacular…There was a bright sun that made rainbows in the dancing waters; they flashed, vanished, reappeared with every step Scarlett took. The whitewashed trunks of the trees that lined the path glimmered in the dappled shade from their leaves, leading to the sparkling dazzle of the fountain. When she reached the iron fence that circled the fountain’s basin, she had to tilt her head back to near dizziness to look at the nymph atop its third tier, a statue bigger than she was, the arm held high, grasping a staff that threw a plume of water high, high toward the brilliant blue sky.” Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley