Trip Day 1 - April 24
Roswell -> Columbia
Changed my plans to leave Thursday evening instead of Friday. Picked up the rental car, a huge beast, and drove to Columbia. The car was so large, I nicknamed it the beast.
The original plan was to drive to Columbia on Friday morning, but I'm glad I went Thursday. I got an Airbnb for 2 days so I can make the most of a full day in Columbia. Arrived at 10:30 PM. It wasn't too bad leaving at 6:30 PM though there was some heavy traffic on 285 south to I20. After lugging my luggage in, I headed to Bang Back Pinball, about 10 minutes walk from the Airbnb. They had my favorite pinball machine of all time - Genesis. Played some other games, then headed back to the Airbnb.
Trip Day 2 - April 25
Columbia + Columbia -> Charlotte
For breakfast, I went to the Toasty Hot Spot for a Slammin' Burrito. It was pretty good, but the coffee wasn't. I guess I'm just spoiled. Stopped at Walmart and got half-n-half, because of that spoilage (wait, that didn't come out right!)
The South Carolina State Museum was the big tourist attraction for the day. I saw 2 shows in the planetarium, Superpower Dogs and Mars 1001, because I got there early. The exhibits were awesome - not only state history, but also sharks and dinosaurs.
Superpower Dogs was about dogs that are trained to rescue people who are trapped due to avalanches, earthquakes, 9/11, and other disasters. The main dog is Halo who is shown from runt to passing her certification test - find 6 people in 20 minutes. It was an iMax movie, so didn't use the whole dome.
Mars 1001 showed what a trip to Mars would look like and it used the entire planetarium as a screen. Gives an idea what a successful mission would be like. No "The Martian" movie here which is one of my favorites.
In the evening, I headed to to the Bang Back Pinball Lounge and participated in the Free Ballin' Friday Tournament. Kyndal was the tournament director. The top 8 were to go to the finals and when Kyndal and I tied for the 8th place, we had a playoff. She didn't do too well and I was lucky enough to win the playoff. We were split into 2 groups of 4 to play 2 games each and I was lucky enough to win one of the top 2 spots. The winning 4 went to another final 4 and I won the most points, with the other 3 all tieing for second. They played off for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th and Erin, Fallyn, and Kyle finished in that order.
The original plan was to leave Columbia first thing in the morning, but then I decided to leave that night, since my AirBnb had already started on Friday night and then I could sleep in.
