Day 1 - Joe's Crab Shack

Joe's Crab Shack had a 45 minute wait. We chilled outside on the railing (luckily, we sent others ahead, so we didn't actually have to wait the full 45 minutes).


Rachel and Meredith


All of the girls on the railing

We were seated at a giant picnic table with two long benches. They tried to squeeze all twelve of us onto the benches, but we requested two additional chairs to seat at the ends of the table, which made it much more comfortable.

Our waiter's name was Shane. He was super fun.

It turns out that they dance every quarter hour after 7:00. Shane and the other waiters were very into the dancing. They jumped up and down and were very big with their moves. It was super cute and fun to watch.

While we were waiting on our meal, a photographer came by and took a group photo. He told me our photo would be on the website up to 48 hours later. I checked that website everyday, and it looks like they aren't going to post our picture. I am very disappointed, considering this is the only big group photo we got taken (I considered asking him to take the picture with my camera, too, but at that time, our waiter came with our food.

About an hour after we ordered, we got our food. It took an awful long time. However, we were a big order.

I got the seafood enchiladas, and oh my gosh, they were AMAZING. Now, I say over and over again that I'm no food connoisseur, but I LOVED the seafood enchiladas. They were so good. I ate it all. Cleaned my plate. That's how good it was.

Joe's Crab Shack took a while (lots of waiting), but it was a lot of fun. I'll definitely go back (mainly for the seafood enchiladas).

Day 1 - Road Trip

Rachel and I both got to bring friends along on this trip. Rachel brought her best friend, Meredith, who lives in Madison, GA. I brought my friend Helen, who lives here in Anderson.

Mom told Helen to arrive at 8:00. And she did. We were almost ready to go (better than usual). We ended up leaving the house around 8:30, I believe.

We were meeting Meredith at the Chick-fil-a in Commerce. We got there around 9:15, but of course, we had to get out and talk for another 15 minutes or so. I suppose we got back on the road at 9:00.

Passing the time wasn't a big problem. We had a lot of catching up to do. About an hour or so later, we put in High School Musical 3. We stopped twice at rest areas before lunch. We didn't eat until 1:00 (2:00 Eastern time). We found a McDonald's, and sure enough, after five of us had already put our orders in, the employee messed it up on the last one. Then she wouldn't let us redo it - had to go and fix things. Only Meredith (the last to order) got what she asked for.

After lunch, we popped in Slumdog Millionaire and we arrived in Destin as soon as it was over.

We were in somewhat of a hurry to get there, I suppose, because it turns out we were passing our friends, the Wrights (we actually went to Destin with them in 2005 and 2006), and wanted to party the one day we were both in Destin, together.

We arrived at Shoreline Towers around 3:20, I think. Check-in was a breeze. We unloaded all of the luggage and unpacked, then Helen, Rachel, Meredith, and I decided to go walking down the beach to Inlet Reef where the Wrights were staying while Mom and Dad went to buy groceries.

That was a tough walk - mostly because there was hardly any beach to walk on. But finally, we made it. We chilled by the pool with the Wright teenagers (Emily, her best friend, Brittany, her boyfriend, Steven, and Steven's twin brother, Stewart) then headed up to their unit for drinks and catching up (there's always catching up to do!).

Gay-Gay (Mrs. Wright) called our mother and were trying to decide where to eat. Perry (Mr. Wright) wanted someplace "the locals eat" like Calahans (ew). I suggested Joe's Crab Shack (mainly because that's where we ate the first night in 2007), and we went with that.

They were going to drive us and meet up with our parents there, but we had left our shoes back at our unit, so we sent the teens to put our names in while Gay-Gay and Perry drove us back to our unit.

Destin, FL - Shoreline Towers

Destin, Fl is our favorite beach destination. We've been in 2003 (Inlet Reef), 2005 (Inlet Reef), 2006 (Jetty East), 2007 (Shoreline Towers), and just returned from 2009 (Shoreline Towers).

After our one year hiatus, we returned to Shoreline Towers not because we fell in love with the condominium, but because we could book our exact same room as our previous trip (1021). It's the only room I'd ever book at Shoreline Towers. It has the best angle of the beach (almost as if you are on the beach), has three bedrooms (two bedrooms with two queen beds each, and the master with a king), is on the first floor right next to the stairs (no need for the elevator), and has a 40' open balcony.


The view from our balcony


What you see if you look to the right

The problem, when you go up from our unit, is that the owners of the other units have chosen to enclose their balconies and extended their living rooms or turned them into sunrooms. The only other unit with an open balcony with our angle is on the eighth floor (I'm guessing the unit number is 1091).

The last time we were at Shoreline, we booked through Shoreline (though we found the unit on VRBO). This year, we booked through the owner directly. It turns out that by doing so, we didn't get the STAR ammenities (but we did save $200). However, they allowed us to purchase the STAR ammenities for $100. We opted to do this because we realized that in the end, it would save us money.

The STAR ammenities gave us:
- two mini golf tickets at The Track/night
- four attraction tickets at The Track/night (could not be used on bungee jumping)
- one free admission to Big Kahunas/night
- one free breakfast at Fudpucker's ($10 value - we did not redeem this)
- one free round of golf at a STARs preferred course/night

Last time, we also got a movie rental/night, but this perk was no longer included (likely replaced bythe Fudpucker's breakfast).

The key is to stop by The Track every day to redeem tickets, because they do not have to be used that day. In fact, there is no expiration date on the tickets, so you could probably bring them back on another trip to redeem.

Now, I did not go around and take detailed photos of Shoreline Towers. I suppose I should have, but I wasn't really thinking about writing a review, at the time.

There's a plain-looking pool, gym and sauna(that I didn't go in), two tennis courts, shuffleboard, and a basketball goal located around the main office. From our room in Tower 1, it is quite a trek. Since it's not very convenient, we didn't bother to venture over there very often. We visited the pool one night for about half an hour.

The beach is much closer to us. We were sad to observe that the beach is washing away. It was over twice as big back in 2003. Hurricanes.... we walked down to the Jetty East, and you couldn't go any further because the water was all the way under the pavillion (I remember just three years before playing baseball in front of the pavillion while our parents made dinner). I'm not sure how much longer the beaches are going to be here.

Parking at Shoreline Towers is decent. The Penthouse owners get numbered parking spots in the parking garage underneath each tower (very small), but the other owners and guests have to fend for themselves. It's a huge lot. A lot of the spaces closer to the main office are taken up by boats and RVs. Still, there's no problem finding a space - it's just finding one closest to the unit.

Now... on to the trip report!

Tourist Destination Favorites

I've been to a lot of different tourist-y locations, and though I believe in submersing oneself in the local culture, I do have a list of familiar favorites.

Dining

Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville

My favorite fan/memorabilia restaurant. I have been raised a Parrothead (err... "Parakeet" until recently). That being said, we rarely pass up an opportunity to munch on Cheeseburgers in Paradise while sipping Boat Drinks in Margaritaville. Being accustom to ritual, I rarely order anything besides the Cheeseburger in Paradise. I treat myself to the occasional Jolly Mon off the Parakeet menu. I'm also sure to grab a tee-shirt at every new location I visit. This includes Orlando, Myrtle Beach, Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Ocho Rios, and Las Vegas.

Rainforest Cafe

I visited my first Rainforest Cafe in Las Vegas when I was about 9, I believe. Back then, I enjoyed the mini burgers off the kids' menu. Since then, I've ventured to the big menu. I have no regular menu item. I like to try their seafood items, and I also enjoy their wraps. I've been to the Rainforest Cafe in Las Vegas, Orlando (Animal Kingdom), and San Francisco. However, it seems that no matter which location, I'm always stuck sitting beside the naked, gold 'Save the Rainforest' man. One day, I hope to eat next to an animatronic elephant.

Johnny Rocket's

It's just a great, nostalgic American restaurant. From the tabletop juke boxes to the dancing wait staff and smiling ketchup, this restaurant just makes you feel good. I first dined at the Johnny Rocket's aboard Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas on a cruise to Alaska. Since then, Johnny Rocket's at Myrtle Beach and Destin is tradition. I came across a Johnny Rocket's in the food court at the Venetian in Las Vegas. And, we're always sure to dine at Johnny Rocket's aboard an RCI ship. Out of all of the locations, the cruise ships are definitely the most fun - the wait staff is always incredibly outgoing. My sister and I often make a point to go to Johnny Rocket's to get drinks - partly because they have Dr. Pepper for Rachel, and also because whenever you walk in the door, everyone shouts, "HELLO!" My menu favorite is, of course, the Original Hamburger (no mayo or relish, please). The Ice Cream floats are also amazing.

Charleston Water Park

When I first heard the option of going to the Water Park instead of walking around the Battery, I flipped out, imagining waterslides and wave pools. This, I was not prepared for.

However, it turns out that the Water Park was actually a park with water alongside the water. It was cute and fun to explore.











Guests are welcome to wade in the first two tiers of the fountain (however, climbing on the fountain is forbidden).



Helen is all about "trick pics."







This squirrel must be used to people. He let me get very close to take his picture.











It then started to rain, and we boarded the bus to head back home.

I enjoyed Charleston. It was a nice "literary" adventure. I probably wouldn't do those things if I went by myself, but I had a great time and would like to visit, again - definitely for a longer period of time.

Charleston Ghost Tour

I suppose it would be more helpful if I knew the name of the business we booked through, but I cannot recall.

We rode on our bus to the location of the ghost tour. It was difficult to back the bus back out, as it was a narrow driveway. So, they went ahead and backed the bus while it was still light out. We ended up parking it in a tow zone, but we left one of our adults on the bus (she was scared of ghosts), so we hoped we wouldn't get towed.

The ghost tour was very cheesy. Our tour guide was weird.



The story of the building is that it used to be a prison and people were executed there. The College of Charleston purchased the building two years ago and is renovating it to create new classrooms.







However, I personally think that there was little progress to be made considering the amount of time they've had the building. And if I was renovating a building, the first thing to go would be the noose and cage and other things used to "execute" prisoners.







It wasn't scary. Our guide said on the tour before us, someone took a picture of her and in the picture a ghostly skull was floating above her head. So, I had a lot of fun taking pictures of our guide and yelling, "zohhh my gosh I see a GHOST!"


Look... a ghost!

Downtown Charleston

After dinner, we walked over to the marketplace. While there, I was uncertain whether or not you could barter. A lot of trinkets had set prices written on them with stickers. I wasn't sure whether or not I could suggest a lower price. Therefore, I did not buy anything (nothing was too appealing, anyway).


I don't know what this building is, but it was pretty, so I took a picture.


These horses smelled disgusting. I don't know how you could go on a carriage ride due to the terrible, overwhelming smell.