Stop #2: The Carolina Basketball Museum

Our second stretch of driving was from Louisville, Kentucky, to Durham, North Carolina.  It was a LONG day of driving, but filled with beautiful scenery!  We opted to travel through Tennessee, a state I had never been too nor the kids, and enjoyed our views of the smokey mountains.  We hit a few bad rain showers, but overall the views were pretty amazing.

While driving through Gatlinburg, Tennessee, we noticed a sign for white water rafting that piqued our curiosity.  My husband made a mental note to check into it more once we arrived at the beach.  A quick Google search found information on a family float option in the Smokey Mountains.  Guess what's on the agenda for the trip down next year?  That ought to be an interesting adventure!

We stopped off for dinner in Asheville near the Biltmore Estate.  Both my husband and I had heard of it before, but didn't really know what it was.  After looking into that a bit more, I think next year I'd like to drive by just to see what it looks like!

We arrived at our hotel much later than we had expected, but were relieved to find the Homewood Suites in Durham near I-40 to be very clean and the extras we had requested for our room already there.  We quickly got unpacked and the kids transferred to their beds with relative ease.

Some of the troops were pretty worn out and slept in quite late the next morning, which put us a bit behind schedule.  After most of us had breakfast, we debated whether to go to Duke or UNC's campus.  After some discussion, we decided to venture over to the University of North Carolina campus and the Carolina Basketball Museum.

After a quick drive around campus, we located the Dean Smith Dome and the Museum.  The Museum, which is free to the public, did not disappoint.  It is very nice and filled with everything from the center court at a championship game, to trophies, clothing, and displays of some of the most notable UNC players.  We were very impressed and so glad we made the stop.  Growing up as Bulls fans, my husband and I both thought the Michael Jordan display was pretty awesome.

Practicing his form

Our oldest son really wanted to see the inside of the Dean Dome and as luck may have it, it was open for a basketball camp that day.  He got to go inside and check it out.  It was one of the highlights of his trip.  I remember feeling the same way when I was in middle school and saw it for the first time!

Once we wrapped up at UNC, we loaded up the troops and began our last leg of our journey to the beach.  It wouldn't be long now!

Stop #1: Louisville, Kentucky

We opted to take a new route to Topsail Island this year and make a pitstop in Louisville, Kentucky. After stopping off to visit my brother-in-law and have some pizza in Columbus, Indiana, we arrived at our hotel later in the evening.  Downtown Louisville was all lit up and our hotel was conveniently located right off of the Interstate.  We unpacked our luggage and sleepy kiddos and enjoyed a good night's rest at the Hampton Inn.

The next morning we had some breakfast at the hotel and took off on foot to the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory.  We had hoped to arrive when it opened at 9:00, but after taking off in the wrong direction, we arrived around 9:30 just in time for the 9:40 tour.  Tours of the factory begin every twenty minutes and take about thirty minutes to complete and are very reasonably priced.

The World's Largest Bat

Overall, we thought the tour and the museum were pretty spectacular.  This baseball loving family enjoyed learning about the history of making the bats and seeing the process in action.  On that particular morning, they were making bats for Dustin Pedroia of the Boston Red Sox.  When the tour was complete, we all received a Louisville Slugger mini bat (just what we needed:  six mini bats!).

Mini Bats and Babe Ruth's Bat (in the case)

After the tour, we checked out the museum.  The kids were able to hold bats used by real major league players including Mickey Mantle, Derek Jeter, Joey Voto, David Ortiz, Johnny Bench, and Cal Ripken Jr.  Our kids thought it was pretty awesome to hold some of those heavy bats!

Naturally, we checked out the gift shop before we left.  My oldest son got a youth ash bat and my husband picked up a few things as well.  There is an opportunity on the website for a 10% off coupon if you sign up.  Just don't forget it like I did!

If you have some baseball fans in your family and the opportunity arises, check out the Louisville Slugger Factory and Museum.  We give this tour and museum two thumbs up!

A Photo Op in the Dugout

      

Overnights Before Arrival

We just returned from our 10-day vacation to Topsail Island, North Carolina, a few days ago.  My plan was to update the blog as we traveled, but I spent very little time in front of electronics and a whole lot of time on the beach with my family and a good book.  I'll just go to Plan B and write after the fact!

Today I'd like to touch on traveling to your destination.  Our drive was about 17 hours and there were a few stops we wanted to make on the way out.  We stayed at the Hampton Inn in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, and the Homewood Suites in Durham, North Carolina.  Both were excellent hotels and we will stay there again if our travel plans require a stay in either city.

I do my best to efficiently pack for our trips by designating one bag for our nights in a hotel.  I use a wheeled carry-on bag for all six of us.  Each child gets a gallon Ziploc bag which contains two complete outfits and a pair of pajamas and their toothbrush bags.  This only takes up half of the suitcase.  The other half is for the adult clothes, a sound machine, and an extra crib sheet to be used for the infant cribs at the hotel since they never seem to have a sheet that is the right size.  Throw in a mesh laundry bag, too, to keep all of your dirty clothes in one place.

Bags for kids' clothes

We bring a backpack for our bathroom bags and electronics we did not want to leave in the van overnight, as well as a few sleeping bags, pillows, and a cooler to keep our picnic items cold.  All-in-all, it takes one trip to get everything we need inside and makes it relatively easy to unpack and pack the back of the van at each stop.

It's the little things that make a trip go just a bit more smoothly!

The packed suitcase