Fall Break Adventure Smorgasbord

In keeping with my logging of travel on here, I thought I would do a post about Fall Break '19, which was a smorgasbord of adventure.

Our original plan was to head to Florida and go to Sea World and Busch Gardens. Then Kraig found out about a conference he needed to attend the following day (after our trip) and, in consulting a map, I realized that it made a lot more sense for us all to just go straight to the city of his conference from Florida, then come home. THEN I decided to make some stops along the way! It was a great trip, and a great way for our kids to see more cities and historical sites, PLUS we stayed in some great Airbnb's.

Day 1, Saturday
Drove straight to Florida. If you have never stopped at the Clothing Carnival on the way, I highly recommend it. It's around Valdosta, and it's a great stop. Chacos were $30!!!
We had planned to buy tickets online, but at the last minute we decided to be cheap and see what they had to offer for people who went to time share presentations. We found a ticket outlet, didn't like the offerings, went in a second one, and got a great deal. We ended up not only getting tickets to both parks but we also got a meal plan at both places for all six of us and almost for cheaper than the online ticket only price!
Our Airbnb for this part of our trip was in Lakeland, which ended up being an excellent choice. The place was perfect for our family and the location was fabulous.

Day 2, Sunday
We went to Sea World on this day after our time share presentation. We all loved it SO MUCH. The weather was supposed to be rainy but ended up just being cloudy. It was excellent weather, tiny crowd, easy drive in and out. The meal plan paid off SO MUCH just at Sea World because there were lots of food and snack options and we ate far more than our money's worth. We had intended to get dinner once we left the park, but we ended up deciding to eat supper there too and save money!

Day 3, Monday
We went to Busch Gardens on the second day. It was awesome, for sure, but a lot of what we remembered and loved about it had changed (no safari ride, for example). The weather was ick, so we got wet often and many of the rides were closed. However, it was still a great day and there was almost NOBODY there. We didn't feel like the meal options here were as good as Sea World, but we, again, ate dinner before we left the park.

Day 4, Tuesday
This was our driving and stopping day. We left at a decent time and drove north along the coast. Our first stop was in St. Augustine. We went straight to the fort and walked around, then drove through the old city. We grabbed lunch and headed further north to Savannah, GA. On that stop, we parked at the visitor center (free) and got a map. Using the map, we hopped the city trolley (also free), the dot shuttle, and rode to the famous ice cream shop, Leopold's. After getting our cones, we decided to do some walking. We saw one of the famous cemeteries, the beautiful church, Flannery O'Conner's house, and several squares (including the one where Forrest Gump was filmed). We were close enough by then that we just walked back to our car. The next leg of our drive took us north to Asheville, NC, which is where Kraig's conference was and where we spent the night in our next Airbnb. I hated that we weren't here longer because her place was just adorable!

Day 5, Wednesday
Kraig had his conference, so we all left the Airbnb early and dropped him off. I had considered a lot of different plans for this day and had actively researched hikes and waterfalls and such. It was VERY foggy and cloudy, which really limited our options. We stopped at a Goodwill while we waiting for the fog to burn off some, then headed to a town along the Blue Ridge Parkway (I can't remember the name). At that point, we stopped at the visitor center and I went in to ask the ranger for advice. He recommended heading north to Mt. Mitchell, then stopping several places on the way back down. That's exactly what we did! Mt. Mitchell was pretty (though foggy). We walked to the top (more of a climb than I expected), then hiked down and around. I found that a short hike and a short walk aren't at all the same thing and my physical condition horrified me. The kids loved it. We then drove down, stopped at several overlooks and spots, including Craggy Gardens. The fog really hindered our views, unfortunately. We got back into Asheville and intended to do some shopping downtown (parked at the visitor center) but Kraig finished a bit early, so we picked him up, ate a late lunch downtown (do not recommend where we went), and headed back to Cleveland.

Day 6, Thursday
At home, which I 10/10 recommend. I give my bed and my house a 5 star rating. ;)

Day 7, Friday
With Francisco too this time, we left and headed to Damascus to bike the VA Creeper Trail. We thought we were going to have to drive two cars and ended up deciding taking the van with the bike rack and four bikes and renting three more was cheaper than driving two cars. We used a different company this time, Shuttle Shack, and we liked them (coupon online too). We also started the trail later in the day this time (around 1), which I HIGHLY recommend. We enjoyed our drive down very much, just like last time. We turned in our bikes and headed to downtown Damascus to see one of the Love installations (at a waterfall), then went to downtown Abingdon. I LOVED that city! We saw the Barter Theater, an old college, another Love installation (or two), the oldest restaurant in America, and ate pizza at Luna's, which was SO good. We then drove to Bristol, which is where our final Airbnb of fall break awaited. I got this one on the last minute and GOODNESS, it was nice! So perfect for us!

Day 8, Saturday
We had a family reunion in Bristol at 1, so we had some time after checkout of our Airbnb and we used it to explore downtown Bristol. We parked along the street and walked till we saw a most beautiful bakery, The Blackbird Bakery. It was DELICIOUS and adorable! We then walked the streets (saw another Love installation) and shopped a bit. We loved the flags on both sides of the street, we took the typical picture of one foot in each state, and we looked at the famous sign. We ended that day with a wonderful family reunion, then headed home to Cleveland!

Day 9, Sunday
Rest and relaxation and church in our sweet little hometown!