FIFTY STATES AWAYIncredible, exhilarating and terrifying all bundled into one! You will not believe the day we’ve had. Totally unplanned and crazy, read on for more!
First things first back to this morning! Last night’s hotel stop turned out to be better than we’d hoped. The fantastic deal that Ben got us meant that we had an ocean view room in a four star hotel for no more than £40.00! The bed was so comfortable it was like sleeping on a giant marshmallow.
After waking to a glorious ocean scene with the sun shining over the waves, we went for breakfast at a local cafe. We ordered ‘grits’ for the first time which did not turn out to be anything like I imagined. I’m not sure what I imagined but basically a bowl of sweetcorn blended into a porridge consistency, and rather strangely white in colour, was not it! Ben didn’t seem to mind it, but that sludge was not for me (ewww sweetcorn).
After a breakfast big enough to feed a person for a week, the Americans basically have a full on fry up and a full plate of pancakes (like you would need those in addition). We headed off on the road (again). We have massively enjoyed the roadside adverts here, some of them are hilarious! Waiting at traffic lights we saw an activity suggestion, Ben instantly had a mischievous smile on his face whilst I had raised brows. “Let’s do it”, he said, I was rather reluctant but not having had time to think about it and not quite believing that it was happening we parked up, went in and booked ourselves in.
At this point I was suggesting bailing on the mission, but Ben was having none if it! With his encouragement, support and enthusiasm we ended up taking a helecoptor tour over the Myrtle Beach area. What can I say? So far I feel like I have done a number of things that I didn’t think I’d ever do let alone have the chance to do, and now I’ve added this to the list!
After our quick snap outside the helicopter with our pilot, we got strapped in, headsets on and we were ready to start our ascent. It felt much like I thought it would ‘choppy’, it was quite juddery you could feel the thing fighting the air, although it seemed to swing and lean rather effortlessly.
Despite the terror I was feeling, I have to say the views were spectacular and our pilot was both informative and funny.
Back on the ground we were both still feeling a high, our next activity was something I had decided we should do. We drove on in search of none other than an authentic moonshine tasting!
The shop looked awesome, a young looking girl was behind the bar, very enthusiastic and really knew her stuff! I got to sample numerous flavoured mixes moonshine, including strawberry and peach (quite a big thing in South Carolina and Georgia), alongside the original unflavoured (extremely strong) version. I also got to sample their whiskey, which recently won awards and was voted very highly.
South Carolina has now legalised moonshine, which whilst being taxed highly does mean we can purchase it 😉 after hitting the gift shop, we headed off down the road, quite a good journey for a slightly tipsy me 😛 and I bet you thought South Carolina would be a fairly quite state!