We return to the Surfside after nine years
Friday, July 21 – We told Mom we would pick her up at 6:15, figuring we didn’t need an early start because we had a hotel reservation in Hardeeville already. At 5:45, as we were loading the Windstar, a cloudburst hit. Less than a mile from our house it became a light drizzle. We stopped at Starbucks to pick up coffee and still got to Mom’s a little early. By 6:20 we were on our way. Rain dogged us through northern Kentucky. We ate Servati’s pastries and donuts for breakfast at a rest stop just outside Lexington. The rain ended well before we exited at Corbin to take 25E through the Cumberland Gap. Other than traffic lights we encountered no delays. Kentucky was solidly overcast but we had hazy sunshine when we came out of the tunnel in Tennessee. 25E is still two lanes south of Tazewell but construction is well underway on the new divided highway which parallels the old road.
We ate lunch at the rest area on I-81 just before the junction with I-40. Clouds rolled in as we made our way to the Pigeon River Gap. North Carolina was uneventful and we drove through without stopping. South Carolina didn’t have much traffic on I-26 except around Columbia because we managed to arrive during rush hour with the “low gas” indicator lit. While passing through town we saw a ticket booth heading west on the other side of the highway. Rain fell as we headed towards I-95 but we had sunshine by the time we made the turn south. Mom had a CD of German covers of pop songs we listened to as we drove. We ate dinner at a Denny’s in Pocotaligo and stopped for the night at the Quality Inn in Hardeeville, South Carolina.
Saturday, July 22 – Continental breakfast at the Quality Inn. We hit the road about 8:30. Georgia was still doing a lot of construction on I-95. We figure cars will be obsolete by the time they make the road three lanes wide all the way down the coast. At 10:00 we pulled in to the Florida Welcome Center. A lot of the brochure racks were empty. Jacksonville had more construction and appears to be redoing the expressway through town again. Lynne only had to dodge one bonehead who tried to move into our lane even though we were already there. We made excellent time until we hit rain just north of the Route 44 exit, in the area where the effects of the wildfires the previous spring could be seen on both sides of the interstate. At the 44 exit a red minivan was lying on its roof. It gave us a start but we quickly discovered it wasn’t the Lawrences.
We were going to eat lunch at Teddy’s and suffered a major blow when we saw the building was gone and a new strip mall was going up in its place. We ate lunch at the Platter, a little eatery next to the Food Lion on A1A, and did a little shopping for beach supplies at the outlet store there. We checked in at the Surfside and were trying to figure out how to divvy up the units. Since Mom had taken the keys for 224 and we had taken the ones for 226, we decided to stick with them. It turned out 224 had an excellent view of the ocean but 226 had very little. 226 did have a better kitchen though. (Later, Jessie told us her Mom said they were glad they didn’t get “stuck” with our unit.) Once Carolyn’s crew arrived and settled in we headed for the grocery store. Jim and Bill picked up Manny’s pizza for dinner. We took an evening walk on the beach. The hurricanes two years earlier had radically altered its character. Dredged sand pumped up along the seawall was much coarser than the hardpacked white sand we were used to, and a lot seaweed mixed with the loose sand and shells made walking unpleasant.
Sunday, July 23 – A text book New Smyrna morning. We wandered down to the beach in the morning. The umbrella anchors we and Mom bought the day before worked perfectly. Everyone at the Surfside had taken to leaving their beach chairs leaning against the seawall so we followed suit. It was a lot nicer than rinsing and carrying them back to the condo every day. The pool was wonderfully refreshing – not too cool, not like bathwater. After lunch we went to Bethune Park to look for manatees. Three kayakers were floating around pouring water on them so all we saw were a few noses from a distance. Gulf storms blew across the state in the afternoon bringing a deluge and lots of lightning. The lightning kept up all evening wiping out the pool and beach. Carolyn made chili for everyone and we ate dinner in 224.
Monday, July 24 – A beautiful sunny morning. Low tide in the morning gave us a good swath of firm white sand. The paper described the ocean as “glassy” and we had very little in the way of waves. After lunch we took a drive to see what had changed in the three years since our last visit. Pappas’ Drive-In still makes superb milk shakes. We suffered another blow when Lynne noticed that Fisherman’s Landing minigolf was closed, apparently for good. However we did see a sign at the former site of Teddy’s saying they had moved to a new location in Edgewater. Storms blew in during the late afternoon. Scott and Erinn drove straight through and arrived a little before 6:00 PM. We hadn’t told Zach and Jessie they had showed up. When Jessie saw Scott she all but tackled him. We all ate dinner at J. B.’s with a detour along the way to see the manatee mailbox stand. J. B.’s wasn’t seating anyone outside because of the weather so we had a little bit of a wait before dinner.
Tuesday, July 25 – We set up camp on the beach a little too close to the water and had to hoist our bags above the incoming waves a few times. The ocean was a little more active than the previous day with some good breakers. We saw dolphins during our morning walk. The pool was wonderfully refreshing after the heat of the beach. We saw lots of manatees at Bethune, including a baby. In Edgewater we found Teddy’s new location. We ate in the condo, dirty rice and garlic bread for dinner. Our evening swim afterwards was cut short by lightning to the north. Bill got too much sun. Jim had a nice handprint on his left shoulder from uneven application of sunblock.
Wednesday, July 26 – Lynne, Zach and Mom went golfing at Hidden Lakes in the morning followed by brunch at Teddy’s. Scott and Erinn spent the day at Universal’s Islands of Adventure in Orlando. Jessie managed to catch a small lizard in the morning and spent much of the afternoon trying to repeat the feat. An afternoon thunderstorm caused a brief power outage. Scott and Erinn opted to spend the evening at Islands of Adventure. The rest of us ate dinner at P. J.’s Sea Shack on 44. Coronado’s Fruit and Gifts has disappeared.
Thursday, July 27 – Lynne and Mom spent the morning at the beach and pool, and the afternoon souvenir shopping. Jim, Scott, Erinn and Zach went to Busch Gardens Tampa. A rest area on I-4 on the way had signs warning “venomous snake area”. Erinn and Zach had never been to Busch before; Zach, not quite a teenager, was apprehensive about a few of the rides. We took him on Montu, and inverted coaster with 7 inversions, and SheikRa, a dive machine which climbs 200 feet before making a 90 degree plunge towards the ground. After those two he was the one setting the pace and pushing us to go on all the other rides. Lunch was at the Desert Grill in the Timbuktu section. On our previous visits it had been the Festhaus but it appears Busch is removing references to Europe’s colonization of Africa. It rained most of the afternoon and evening in Tampa (a welcome relief from the heat there) but nary a drop fell in New Smyrna.
Friday, July 28 – Beach, pool. We saw the dolphins swim past twice, once from shore and once while we were in the ocean. Scott and Erinn took a picnic lunch to Bethune and saw two baby manatees. Jim went later, took a picture of one of the babies, and saw an eagle. We ate dinner at Norwood’s where Lynne was nice enough not to tell the staff it was Jim’s birthday so we avoided a public spectacle. We had a birthday party back at the Surfside with cupcakes and capped the evening with a game of Scene It. The wrong team won.
Saturday, July 29 – The pool was all but empty most of the day with the turnover of guests in the condos. Scott spotted a kid who worked for him at Kings Island staying at the Surfside. Bill found an entry in the room journal in their unit from a couple he knew. They had stayed in the same unit back in June. Waves were higher than any of the previous days. Jim, Bill and Zach went to Merk’s Bar to play darts and trivia. We beat Cliff’s bar back in Cincinnati in the national rankings. Scott took a pitcher to Bethune and was able to get the manatees to stick their heads out of the water when he poured it on them. Scott celebrated being 21 by making his first Manny’s run with Jim and Bill. After dinner we played Uno but only got in a couple of hands before Scott and Erinn decided to run up to Daytona. Bill said our Uno game could clear a room faster than a fire alarm.
Sunday, July 30 – The ocean had a very briny smell to it and was very cold with large breakers and a fierce undertow. Scott was upended by a wave, scraping his face on the bottom and twisting his back. The afternoon was scorching. All the lounge chairs and tables by the pool had towels on them but few were occupied. We all drove up to Ponce Inlet for dinner at Down the Hatch. They no longer have the parrots outside the restaurant. A terrific storm moved in while we were eating, wiping out plans for miniature golf in Daytona. The lights flickered a few times while we ate. Lynne opted for salad and Key Lime Pie over the seafood. We drove back to Daytona on Peninsula to see the fancy houses on the north side of the inlet. It was still raining in Ponce Inlet when we left the restaurant but was dry back in New Smyrna.
Monday, July 31 – Scott and Erinn went to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World with Carolyn, Zach and Jessie. Jim and Lynne took Mom out to breakfast at Teddy’s followed by a drive up Riverside Drive to gawk at the houses. The sun was a no-show all day and the ocean still had its briny, fishy smell. We ate pork chops for dinner with Mom and Bill at their condo. A sudden storm scuttled our plans for a walk on the beach. The Disney expedition got back very late since they stayed to watch the fireworks.
Tuesday, August 1 – Carolyn decided to fight fire with fire and staked out a table by the pool very early in the morning. Lynne and Jim went for a walk on the beach and snapped a few reference pictures of the other condos along Saxon for possible future bookings. Scott and Erinn were late risers after their full day at Disney. The ocean was very cold again; we skipped the beach and spent our time at the pool. Lynne and Jessie had a makeover session at the condo while everyone else went for lunch at J. B.’s. At Bethune there were no manatees close to shore but we saw a huge blue crab. Since everyone else had seen the manatees there before, we decided they didn’t like Carolyn. Scott gave Jim a magnet of a manatee wearing sunglasses, holding a fishing magazine in one flipper and a cold beverage in the other. Jessie looked at it and said it looked like her dad. Scott and Erinn were set to leave the next morning so we had their farewell dinner at Clancy’s Cantina. Note: do not order the chili con queso burrito in the future unless planning to use it for rocket fuel. There was a mixup with Erinn’s order but otherwise dinner was okay. Scott and Erinn started packing after dinner.
Wednesday, August 2 – We helped Scott and Erinn finish loading up the Taurus and said our goodbyes just after 6:00 AM. There were still no manatees at Bethune. The ocean did not have its briny smell but was numbingly cold while the pool was lukewarm. Scott called around 2:30 with a question and we found out they were already in North Carolina about 20 miles from Asheville. Mom went with the Lawrences on the Manatee sightseeing boat in the afternoon. They saw lots of dolphins and found out who owned some of the big homes in the area, like the Eckards of drug store fame. Lynne made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner for everyone at our condo. Jessie’s favorite insult is “monkey butt” and she used it liberally. Scott and Erinn made it back to Cincinnati a little before 9:00 PM and he was feeling blue.
Thursday, August 3 – The ocean was still very cold but we felt warmer currents when we went out to the second sand bar. The pool felt warm compared to the ocean. We all went to Chase’s for a late lunch. Their hamburgers are very good. Afternoon naps, a New Smyrna staple, soon ensued. In the evening we drove up to Daytona Beach Shores for a round of minigolf at Pirate’s Island. Bill carded a 35 on the course where par was 40. It was blissfully insect free compared to Fisherman’s Landing. Everyone enjoyed the course very much. Afterwards we headed north on A1A to Cow Lick’s, an ice cream parlor Scott and Erinn told us about.
Friday, August 4 – The power went off a few times during the morning while we were getting ready for breakfast. Lynne and Jim went to the Beacon with Mom, Jessie and Carolyn. First we had to run down to Bethune to return a piece of fishing tackle Bill and Zach had dropped on their way to the car. After breakfast we drove around the northern part of the peninsula looking at the fancy houses. Lots of beach and pool for our last day. Some kids fishing in the surf next to Bill hooked a small sand shark. Bill had to get it off the line for them. He said he ended up in lots of strangers’ vacation pictures because everyone wanted a photo of the shark. When he announced he was returning it to the water, the ocean around the condo emptied out. Bethune was still berift of manatees – apparently Carolyn had scared them all away. Everyone went up to Blackbeard’s Inn for dinner. Despite a large crowd in the lobby we were seated right away. Blackbeard’s has cinnamon (sticky) buns like Leon’s used to. Lynne and Bill got rum drinks and everyone else was nearly overcome just by the fumes. Dinners were well-received all around and we voted to make the restaurant a regular stop. After a stop for breakfast items at the Publix it was back to the Surfside for a last stroll by the seawall and packing.
Saturday, August 5 – Our minivans were parked next to each other so we had something of a packing contest. We left at 6:08 AM, just a minute or two before the Lawrences. Our breakfast was at the second rest area north on I-95 where signs warned of poisonous snakes rather than venomous. Lunch was at the first rest area on I-26 in South Carolina. A car changing lanes in Columbia almost nailed us. At the last rest area on I-26 we ran into the Lawrences. After 17 years we’ve finally run into everyone in the family either coming or going. They followed us into North Carolina until they had to exit for gas, but we agreed to find a hotel together in Newport, Tennessee. Rain started falling just outside Newport. We ended up with rooms next door to each other at the Comfort Inn in Newport at exit 432B, across the street from the Relax Inn which had been Ramsey’s Motel when we stayed there in 1993. When Bill pulled up he discovered we had left the side door open on our van and the seat and carpet were getting soaked. The storm caused the power to flicker a couple of times at the hotel. At dinner at Lois’ Country Kitchen across from the Comfort Inn Carolyn had an attack like the one she had suffered after eating at Down the Hatch in Ponce Inlet and had to have Bill take her back to the hotel. Once she was feeling better we all nagged her about seeing a gastroenterologist. She promised to make an appointment with her doctor as soon as we got back. Zach and Jessie went swimming once the skies cleared after dinner.
Sunday, August 6 – The power flickered twice during the night, both times causing the clock radio to blare its alarm. After the second occurrance we strangled it. Jessie knocked on our door about 7:30 to tell us it was time for breakfast. Bill asked us if we had seen the goats by the side of the road coming through the mountains the day before. He said Carolyn didn’t believe him and told him he had been driving too long. After Lynne told her Jim had seen the goats too, we found out she thought Bill said he saw ghosts. Jessie hugged us and thanked us for going on vacation with them. We left a little after 8:00, taking 25E for the mountain views and tunnel. Traffic on I-75 was fairly light. Just north of Lexington we caught up with the Lawrences, waved, and exited for lunch at a Wendy’s. We were keeping in touch via text messages and found out we got to Ohio about 48 minutes after they did. We pulled up to Mom’s about 2:00 to unload her things, about 2:30 to our place, and had Salem back from the kennel, finished unpacking, and put our feet up about 4:00.
Milestones on this trip: Back to the Surfside after a nine year absence.
States and provinces we visited: Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida.
Capital cities we saw: Columbia.
