Our voyage to Florence, South Carolina and all the crap that went with it!
Friday, 11 July 2008 • 5:00 am
The alarm goes off and I’m up and in the shower. After Mike,
Our train is scheduled to leave 
Our train out of BWI arrived at Washington D.C. Union Station at 8:15 am where we had a train change with an hour and a half lay over. This gave us time to find our way around Union Station and get second breakfast. Some people asked why we didn’t just drive to 
Now the decision to take a train and not drive to
Now mishap #4
While waiting for our train at Union Station in
The train arrived in Washington D.C. on time, we boarded and found empty seats across the isle from each other, stowed our luggage over head, and the train left Washington D.C. a bit early.
Now the fun begins with bad event #5. The lady sitting directly behind Mike and me had two very small children sharing one seat, and they were watching some religious, praise the lord or we’re all going to hell revival shows on one of those portable DVD players…and they did not have headphones, so we had to listen to it too! Now don’t get me wrong or judge me, I believe teaching young children religion at an early age is a good thing. It teaches respect and many other great traits people should have. I went to church and Sunday school when I was young, but I’m older now and I have my own beliefs and opinions on religion. It’s a big world out there, and there are a lot of different religions and beliefs, more than any of us will ever know or be able to understand. You can worship whom ever, or what ever you like, it’s your choice, that’s ok with me, but I’m not a religious person so I shouldn’t have to listen to it if I don’t want to. But this gets better, because after 20 minutes or so, a comedy show gets put into their DVD player and it is not very kid friendly with the language. After that, a kids cartoon is put in, but what ever was playing, I and the rest of the passengers should not have to listen to it! I do not understand how people can be so rude or uncaring about the people around them. Even her two older kids sitting behind
Other than the stupid people behind us, the trip went well. I had a few beers; we ate train food…uck, and snacked on the goodies we brought along. Of course, the train stops at all these little towns along the way, and sometimes just stops in the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason, so we didn’t get to Florence, South Carolina until 7:00 pm, an hour and a half late…that was bad event #6.
Of course, I should have asked how much it was going to cost us before we got in, but I didn’t, so lesson learned. A 10 minute trip to hell and back, and 30 dollars later, we were at the airport.
The lady behind the car rental counter was extremely nice and apologetic that we had to take a taxi since they would have picked us up for free, but it was our choice and I didn’t expect her to compensate us for it. Thinking about it now, I could have called information or something and found the number, but it was a long trip, and I just wasn’t thinking at the time. The car we rented was a very nice four-door Hyundai Genesis with leather seats, XM satellite radio and all the bells and whistles a car could have.
After some directions from the nice lady at the rental desk and a 10 minute drive, we found our hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn. This is a very nice place, and after the journey we’ve had so far, it was a much needed relief to see we made the right choice staying here. As an added bonus, when we first drove up to the hotel, there was a rainbow over the place as if to say, nothing will go wrong here!
After getting settled, we went across the street and had dinner at OutBack Steak House. We have one in
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|
Our room was suite, so we had a sitting room with a TV, a nice comfy chair, and a couch which pulled out into a single size bed. There was also a desk/table and chair. The bed room was very large with two queen size beds. The bath room was also nice with a full tub and shower combo. The only complaint we had were the beds were too soft. We like a firm mattress, so soft ones will not get an excellent rating.
The hotel has free internet and Wifi, along with a small, but nice weight/workout room, indoor pool and spa, and a nice little seating area outside set up like a backyard patio. The pool was very small and more than five or six people in it at a time might seem crowded. But I wasn’t there to swim, so it didn’t matter to me.
The main lobby was very large, but the reception desk was small, but it was not crowded so check in and out was easy. Off to the left as you walked in was a large sitting area with a large couch, many chairs and small tables, and over the fire place, a large plasma T.V.
To the right as you walked in, and to the right of the check in desk was the “restaurant” It seemed to be set up as a buffet, but it was not. Breakfast was inexpensive and very good. You ordered from the menu, but it included the cold cereal bar which had many types of bread which could be toasted, muffins and many other pastries, a few types of cold cereal, milk, juice, various fruits, coffee, hot water for tea, and a few other things which I can not remember. I had two eggs, hash browns or home fries (potatoes) bacon, grits and two pieces of french toast, along with what ever I wanted from the cold bar all for $7.95. Not a bad deal at all and it was all very good!
The service was excellent and this will definitely be a place I stay at again if I’m ever in the area!
|
|
The waitress came took our drink order, and we also ordered some cheese fries. These things are so good, you can't stop eating them, and then your full before dinner even starts. This is why we hope for a wait for a table. We get drinks and cheese fries, eat that, and a hour later when the table is ready, we are not full and we can eat all of our dinner. Desert is another story. We usualy can't finish that unless we share it.
Just as scheduled, we finished our fries and drinks, and our table was ready. I always get the steak with a baked potatoe and broccoli.
The service was great and very friendly. The food was perfect as always and even though the menue is about the same every where, some Outback's may have a slightly different menue from location to location, but it is always very good!!
If you've never been, you have to try them out!
