Day Two of Road Trip Extravaganza

At 7 am, Mom and I left the Doubletree in Charleston for Washington, D.C.. We drove for about 170 miles before our first pit stop at the famous South of the Border. My dad has talked about the times when his family would drive from New Jersey to Florida for vacation, and how they would stop at South of the Border. At first South of the Border was where you could buy fireworks because South Carolina was the only state where you could legally buy fireworks. Now it is very touristy with a motel, five restaurants, and mini-golf.

About an hour away from South of the Border, we started seeing signs alerting us that we were how many miles away from South of the Border. When we arrived I was amazed. Here’s why:

Let me just say, this place is crazy. It’s like Disney on crack. Everything is “Pedro’s Convenience Store” or “Pedro’s Motel.” The gift store had all kinds of touristy stuff from South of the Border shot glasses and hats to fake tongue piercings. We may or may not have gotten stuff from the gift shop. We then went to the Sombrero Restaurant for breakfast. I got a breakfast burrito and Mom got a ham and cheese omelet. While it wasn’t amazing, it was edible and filled us up.

We took some more funny photos before we headed on our way.

After South of the Border and before Virginia (so North Carolina), there was nothing outside the car except trees. It is very hard to play the Alphabet Game when there are no billboards or signs. Entering Virginia was a nice change with more towns and cities. We even saw a sign for Jellystone Park! I wish we could have stopped to see the “smarter than the average bear!” Mom and I also might have stopped at Popeye’s for some fried chicken.

When we finally entered D.C., we passed by a park with hundreds of motorcycles. It was really cool to see all the different motorcycles.

Mom and I stayed at the Dupont Circle Hotel, right on, you guessed it, Dupont Circle. I found it and booked in using Jetsetter, but I later read not so great reviews of Jetsetter. So I will not be booking hotels using Jetsetter, just for fear of it not going through or rooms being double booked. The hotel itself is very nice and trendy.

When we arrived our room was not ready, but the concierge gave Mom and I a drink on the house. Don’t worry I only got an apple juice. The view of Dupont Circle was really nice; we could watch D.C. go by.

The room itself was small but the space was used well. There were two double beds, a window seat, a desk, and bathroom. The best part were the heated floors in the bathroom! The worst parts were the fact that the windows had plantation shutters, so the room did not get fully dark. The room was also not soundproof, so it got a bit loud with traffic and music.

Before meeting up with a friend (Ashley), Mom and I wandered from our hotel, down Connecticut Ave, and to the White House. There was a demonstration outside of the White House, not surprisingly, that was wrapping up when we arrived. We took a quick selfie with the White House and went to the gift shop.

After meeting up with Ashley, we went in front of the White House and I took more pictures of the White House and the Washington Monument.

Feeling hungry, the three of us headed back to New Hampshire Ave to go to a restaurant that we had driven by earlier called Grillfish.

The interior was neat, it looked like it had been there forever with candles dripping wax that looked like mops and chalkboards with their wine selections and specials.

For a starter, we split the mussels with a garlic and white wine sauce. It was amazing, and I could not stop dipping pieces of bread into the sauce.

For my meal, I got the grilled lobster over pasta special. The pasta had a lemon picatta sauce on top. While the lobster was very good, I thought that the sauce was too lemony for my taste.

  

Mom had the soft shell crab special (again) and Ashley had the buffalo shrimp pasta. After dinner we walked back to the hotel, parted ways and headed back to the room. Mom and I surfed the web, watched some YouTube videos and then went to bed. The next day, we would begin the last leg of the journey of the road trip extravaganza from Washington, D.C. to Boston!

Thanks for reading!