Day 9

The last day has come.. I wake up early, 7:45 or so, can't get back to sleep, so I wake everyone else up. Everyone gets up and gets dressed.

We feed the babe a quick breakfast



While I pack up the car.


Even at 8:30 I am dripping with sweat by the time I am done.

We finally get done, and snap a few final pics of the villa. We left it in pretty much the same condition it started in.. Took about 1 and 1/2 hr to pack up. It is like a kick in the pants when you are leaving after a vacation. Not only do you have to leave, but you have to do all the stuff that you don't want to do.. And finding the room in the car for all the extra crap you brought is never fun too..



We leave the island for the last time and head for the checkout office. No line so in an out. get a coffee and danish at Java Java, gas up and hit the road!

Few thoughts on the car. #1 gas mileage. I don't think this car can really get the 50-60 mpg the EPA says it does, but after 500 miles of 1/2 highway and 1/2 city we averaged 46mpg. Not too bad.

Other then that, the ride is smooth, decent pick up, smooth leather seats, and the technology is that of a luxury car(built in wireless head set, built in gps, built in sat. radio, rear camera power everything). I also really like how quite it was, when it is running off battery you can hardly tell it is even running.


Anyway we make pretty good time as Elijah falls asleep, and we make it to our 1/2 point for the day by 2:15. The Discovery Place in Charlotte NC.

They have a dinosaur exhibit going on right now. So E was excited.

We eat a quick lunch there and go look at the huge lizards.











We got a 4pm showing for the I-Max for Dinosaurs Alive! So we head off to that. It was a pretty cool show, and his first time at a Dome I-Max, he was funny looking up and down and left and right the whole show. But he really liked it.

That finished about 5pm, so we have 1 hr left till they close, we check out a few more things.

They have a cool mirror exhibit.

Finally we hit the road again. We drive till 7:15 ish and then stop a Cracker Barrel, for dinner, the orange cream soda is good stuff.

During dinner it start raining hard, and lets up only a little when we get going. Luckily it doesn't last more then 20 mins during the drive. And before we know it we made it to our hotel for the night. Red Carpet Inn. Cheap and no frills but hey after this week I will be having to eat Ramon Noodles for lunch for a month, so I like cheap!

We check in and don't waste much time before we hit the hay.

Not sure if/where we will stop tomorrow, hopefully something cool finds us.