Alarms were set for 8:00 today to make it to the hotel's complimentary breakfast on time. Not enough sleep. Me and Gideon both snoozed for 10 more minutes. We did make it to breakfast though, albeit later than we promised Mom and Dad.
After breakfast, we went back up to the room and got ready for the day! See below, Boy Meets Comb, for more details on that whole saga. But not to worry, we made it on the road where we saw:
1. Two Save me Jesus
signs… we had a good time playing with the connotations of that sentence.
2. Two men hauling a mattress back into the bed of a pickup pulled into the median… BECAUSE IT FELL OFF THE TRUCK MID-HIGHWAY
Our first stop was a CVS where we were able to get Gideon all the hair styling products he could possibly need. Boy Meets Comb is about to get even better.
Then, we made it to our first park of the trip, Congaree National Park!
Upon first entry Mom believed it would be a beautiful place for Gideon to practice driving, if only Gideon's permit were valid in South Carolina. That was, until we saw these.
Yeah, I don't think rule following driver Gideon would approve of such… temperamental speed limits. What was the deduction process on those, anyway? At 27 if you hit a fox squirrel it's fine, but at 28 it's dead? Why is 25 not sufficient for these people?
After a relaxing drive at exactly 27 miles per hour, we got to see some cute little lizards outside the visitor's center! And also the most horrifying breed of spider I have ever seen in my whole life. Everyone, meet golden orb weavers.
Yep. These guys are everywhere. And, as you read, they are venomous with a bite akin to a bee sting. Oh, and they're literally scam artists. They just steal food out of other spiders' webs to survive. Mean. And, if you thought this was bad, they actually need a sign to tell you how bad the mosquitoes are today, too.
At this point, I was scared out of my wits. Luckily, I found a friendly face inside. In the visitor's center, they had an exhibit of a common habitat at Congaree, which included an odd looking raccoon.
I have decided this racoon is meant to represent Seattle's newest celebrity: Jimothy the racoon. If you haven't heard of or seen him, you have to look him up. He is actually the cutest and looks kind of like a cryptid! So cool!
Anyway, we actually went on a quite lovely walk. There was a nice little lake and a ton of skinks for observation. And of course, golden orb weavers. We did get to see some other cool things, though. For instance, wood peckers are really common in these woods. When some trees are predated they can heal from it, and it leaves these really cool little pock mark scars.
The humidity and temperature really wiped us out, though. By the time we got back to our car, the temperature was 99 with a feels like of 101! We decided to grab some lunch and get back on the road. After that walk and lunch, I slept the whole way to Jacksonville, Florida from Congaree.
Luckily, we were able to stop a little early because we were so ahead of schedule! Dad booked us a nice suite, so we all got to stay together in the same room! When we got to the front desk it was the normal procedure. Last name and ID, and then Is the reservation under another name?
Oh no. Not this again. We told her we booked something today, and she asked which hotel it was at. Turns out, we walked into the wrong hotel. Ours was on the other side of the parking lot. Bless, problem solved. She comforted us by telling us that happens to her a lot. Yeah, right.
Once we got to the right hotel, we got to wash up and headed to one of Mom's favorite dinners, Ruby Tuesdays.
But the best was yet to come. With the night entirely in our hands we had to make a decision: what movie are we going to see? After some convincing, I was able to get everyone to agree to a showing of Minions and Monsters!
We had some time to kill, so Gideon got to drive around an empty mall parking lot for a while. He got really good at parking!
Then it was time for the moment of fate. When we walked into the theater, we found out AMC sells these cute little merch bundles with a minions cup, popcorn bucket and stuffed animal. Mom let me and Gideon both get one, and they are undeniably adorable.
I got James, who I loved, so I was very happy. And the movie was pretty great, too!
After that, it was back to the hotel for a long night of sleep, possibly even a sleep in. We all got our own rooms tonight between two bedrooms and a pull out couch, so everyone enjoyed a little recovery time to themselves.
Nice thing for the day: Allowing a confused car to cut us off a few times on the way to the hotel. We were both lost!
Boy Meets Comb: Episode 1 -
Originally, Gideon was refusing to write his own blog. In its place, I decided I would update you all on his journey learning how to style his longer hair. Eventually, he came around to the idea of writing his own blog, but I'm quite attached to this little bit/segment now, so I am writing it as an addition to my blog anyway.
Today, all we had to work with was a mid-rate pommade. It became clear very quickly that this was not enough to tackle his course and thick hair. It wouldn't quite stay in just the right place, no matter how much product he used or brushing he did. He wanted a mohawk, but not all the hair would stick up well, so that one didn't work out. Next, we figured he could try looking like John Travolta. It wouldn't quite swoop backwards correctly, which left him with some kind of hybrid hair style, but not half bad!
Not to worry, after these shenanigans we bought him about 800 hair products, including one that specializes in holding vertical hair styles! So maybe in the near future we will be seeing a mohawk from Gideon!