day 2

 today started with a little rain as we headed east out of georgia.  luckily the rain did not slow us down too much.  we stopped at the border of south carolina at the welcome center to commemorate the occasion.

our next stop was the state house of south carolina in columbia. it was a good place to stretch our legs and i always love to look at formal architecture and see the dome.

a fellow traveler kindly took our photo.

the gardens has beautiful hydrangeas and there was an old mission across the street.

we settled back into the van for our final leg to today's drive, and stumbled upon a familiar sight.  i thought these were only in texas!?

we arrived in north myrtle beach around dinnertime.  after dropping things off a the hotel, we explored a bit and found the beach before heading off to dinner.

miles driven: 372

without further delay...

finally!! today we started the trip we had planned for spring break 2020 - which got delayed and then eventually postponed altogether due to a worldwide pandemic!

seven states in eight days - or bust!!aren't we all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for a 6:40am flight to ATL??!once we landed and picked up our rental van for the week, we were off.  we headed towards downtown atlanta to centennial olympic park.  we found garage parking and set off to explore the area.  of course, the iconic olympic rings drew us in right away.next we walked over to the world of coca-cola museum.  admission was a bit on the pricey side, but what isn't these days?  

upon arrival, we were all corralled in one large room full of memorabilia - we were welcomed and told a brief history of the brand and then seated in a theater to enjoy a long commercial that was designed to tug on our heartstrings as to how engrained in our lives the coca-cola brand is.  (i.e., it was there when this boy proposed to his girlfriend, it was there when you celebrated the new year, it refreshes you after a long day of hiking or helps you break the ice and talk to that boy you've had your eye on, etc.)

then we were free to explore on our own more exhibits with tons of memorabilia.

next we were attracted to the large vault display - where they store the super secret flavor recipe that has never been duplicated.

we were allowed to enter the vault and learn about its history, theft attempts, who has known the secret formula and where it stays locked up to this day.

next we waited in line to meet the coca-cola bear.

finally we made our way thru the main atrium into the tasting room.

they had every flavor combination imaginable, and they had varieties that are available in different countries that taste different because of they type of sweeteners available around the world. we all really enjoyed this part.

we had the option to purchase digital pics of all the photo ops we passed thru.

ready to find lunch, we said goodbye to the museum, found our van, and headed east in the direction of our hotel.  we found a chick-fil-a (of course!) and later stopped at a grocery store to load up on water and snacks for the rest of the week.  our hotel was near a huge mall, so we explored there a bit to end our evening.

miles flown: 731 

miles driven: 35

high school grad cookies

another mom i met on social media reached out to add to my grad season/cookie making craziness!  she wanted 3 dozen in their high school's colors.  it was fun to do a slightly different set - still the same navy blue base but with silver and white accents.

...and she also ordered 2 dozen for the school he is going to.  her only request was to include a hog-shaped cookie.  i ordered the cutter from etsy and it worked really well.

slt camp

little sister is enjoying her experience being part of the student leadership team in band.  they attended a 3-day camp and, from the look of it, had tons of fun.