20th Anniversary Adventure 2016 - Day 6

Good morning, sunshine!

The beauty of this morning's sunrise was worth the annoying beep of the alarm clock that woke us up at 6:00. I didn’t want to miss a sunrise over the Atlantic, so I set my alarm for the first and only time on this vacation. And I’m happy we got up early because it was stunning. We headed out for an early breakfast and chose The Breakfast Club based on internet reviews. Just a block from the beach, The Breakfast Club is one of Tybee’s most popular restaurants, and a line was out the door when we arrived at 7:30. But the sun was out, the weather was perfect, and we didn’t mind the 20-minute wait. The restaurant was casual and the food was great. A bonus to the whole morning was the clearly posted rules about children’s behavior which made me squeal with delight. We enjoyed our coffee and breakfast and spent most of the time talking about the 1980s sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. Chad also told me a story about his life that I’d never heard before. This is worth writing about because I was certain I knew everything about Chad. Not so. When he lived in Maine as a middle-schooler, he tried to make napalm by mixing egg whites and gasoline and microwaving them in his kitchen. (Rick and Geri, I’m sure he’s sorry that he almost blew up your house and everyone in it.)

We spent the remainder of the morning at the condo, enjoy the peace and quiet before we had to check out at 11:00. The sun was hot and the beach was swarming with people claiming their spots in the sand for the day. We watched them from our patio and listend to Bob Marley and Jimmy Buffett. We checked out at exactly 10:59, tempted to stay but we knew it was time to move on.

We drove to Tybee Island Pier and Pavillion to enjoy the beach one last time and collect some white sand to bring home to Washington, home of brownish gray mud-sand. We let the sun cook our skin a little while longer and then headed to the Tybee Island Lighthouse.

The lighthouse is 145-feet tall and was built in 1773; it has a rich history as it played a military role in The War of 1812 and the Civil War, before the dirty confedarates burned it down. It’s since been rebuilt, and today Chad and I climbed the 178 steps to the top. Once we were standing on the observation deck overlooking all of Tybee Island, I found it impossible to look over the railing. I’m becoming a big chicken as I get older. I kept my back pressed against the lighthouse as if I were balancing on the ledge of a skyscraper, and enjoyed the views from there. Chad enjoyed making fun of me.

There is minimal acting on my part

We said goodbye to Tybee and eventually came upon a roadside stand where a young man was selling Georgia peaches for $10 a bag. We pulled over and walked up to the stand. The peach-seller’s name was Jonathan and he had 11 teeth. He was kind and promised to help us pick the best peaches. When we told him we were from Washington State, he said,”Y’all must’ve rode on an aero-plane to come here.” I wanted to invite ourselves over to his house for the day to see what his life is like, but I just smiled and told him that we did, in fact, ride on a  plane. Jonathan handed us our bag of fruit and we said goodbye.

We took one more drive through Savannah, and I studied every live oak I saw. These trees, that are wider than they are tall and decorated with Spanish Moss, are absolutely gorgeous. Minutes after leaving Savannah, we were entering South Carolina. We had settled on Charleston as our next stop, so we turned on our road trip music, ate some peaches, and enjoyed the two-hour drive.

The road to Charleston is mainly a wide, two-lane road seemingly in the middle of nowhere. I kept my eyes peeled for wildlife and we saw countless squished armadillos, and quite a few turkey vultures; some were dead on the road, some were eating dead things on the road. As we crossed a bridge near Harbor River, we began seeing alligators on the side of the road, all of them had been run over by cars. We saw one that was so huge, so grotesque, that I made Chad turn around and take me back so I could capture the moment for all of you back home. How often do you get to see alligaor roadkill? This guy was at least 7-feet long. And while he may have died a horrible death, at least he never lived at Sea World (it makes me feel better to say that.)

I hope it was quick and painless, little buddy

We arrived in Charleston with no idea where to go. We drove to the Historic District and parked the car while we searched for a hotel. We settled on a charming old hotel called Kings Courtyard Inn. Built in 1853, it originally served plantation owners and merchants. I cannot think of a more perfect way to be introduced to Charleston than to stay in a room that’s so old, you still need a real key to get in.

Upon arrival, we were served complimentary wine and cheese in the hotel’s courtyard. We sat at a table next to a fountain under a bright blue sky trying to remember what day it was and how many days we have before this is all over.

I don't know what's happening here

We walked outside the courtyard onto King Street, which is in a high-end shopping area downtown, and did some window shopping and people watching. For dinner, we ate sushi and pad thai at a restaurant called Fire Street Food, and then finished the evening with a walk through Marion Square.  

Tonight, I’m going to bed thankful that I didn’t plunge to my death from the top of a lighthouse, and that an alligator didn’t jump out of the swamp and eat me while I took a picture of his dead friend. Those are two things I never thought I’d be thankful for. But at the end of day, I'm mostly thankful Chad failed at his attempt to create napalm. 

"You smell that? It's napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning."

     - Col.Bill Kilgore

- Rachel