Rusty posted his Race Report here: https://rustinbanks.com/ironman-70-3-north-carolina-f912fd4a0c51. It was so fun to cheer the boys along! We got to see them several times on the bike course and watching them cross the finish line was inspiring.
Sunday morning we didn’t have to wake up too early and then we decided to hit a sacrament meeting in Wilmington at 11. I’m glad we did. I didn’t bring special clothes, but I had some pants and a shirt with a collar. It was nice. Interesting couple who spoke who just moved to NC on a whim basically. Thought that was pretty neat.
We came home and got my rental car. Glad we quickly went because they closed at 1PM. Got upgraded to an SUV so that was nice for the bike. Sam’s bike BARELY fit in the back of their car. We said our goodbyes and then went off. Tara and I drove to see the battleship North Carolina, just walked around it. Then to Carolina beach and walked along the beach and ate at a seaside cafe (I think it was the sea witch cafe). They had delicious shrimp bruschetta. Tara was so fun to talk to, we had a great time. We took the scenic route to myrtle beach. We took the ferry across the channel and then just a slow hour drive to myrtle beach. Yes myrtle beach was quaint. We thought about stopping but were too tired so we just went up straight to our room. It was a pretty great place, a corner unit with amazing panoramic views of the ocean. We got rid of the air fresheners (there were like 8 of them!) and things were smelling better. From there we just ate snacks and turned on the TV and decided we couldn’t get up and go to dinner so tara went and raided the vending machine and brought back snickers and chips and cookies. It was a great dinner. We watched cheesy movies on regular TV because that was all they had! We watched the proposal and the intern. Then off to bed. Yeah the place was kind of interesting, with two full size beds. So I snuggled tara in bed for a little bit before sleep and then hopped over to my bed. It was so nice to sleep with the doors open and just listen to the waves and feel the ocean breeze.
Woke up and tara came and snuggled me. Then we just laid in bed and started journaling and stuff. We decided it was time to channel our inner tourist and go hit the shops. We ate a healthy breakfast at some cafe, tara got a yummy acai bowl and I ate a plate of bbq chicken and eggs, and walked up to “broadway on the beach” which is just a bunch of chintzy shops surrounding a manmade lake. Total tourist traps. I fell for the Simpsons 4d movie. I thought it was great. We walked around and decided Blake would love this place–there was cotton candy, fish feeding, build your own hermit crab cage, alllll the souvenirs you could hope for.
We walked home and just got our stuff and went to the beach and napped. And then went to dinner at the sea captains. Total meh but a beautiful view right on the water. Guess the place has been around for 100 years. Then we went really touristy and did the ferris wheel and then I convinced tara to do the slingshot. It was a great time. We joked that we were on a first date, so that made things exciting. We came back and watched cheesy movies again.
The next morning we didn’t get out in time to walk on the beach or anything like that😞 Meh. Long drive to charleston. Bumpy flight home. Get home and see the kids. Overall it was so great to spend that time with Tara. I always have so much fun with her, she’s my favorite person to travel with.
