The Zhao Family

By the time we went to Pinckney Island Wildlife Refuge, it was getting late. Since it was a national park, the hours were sunrise to sunset, so we only stayed for about half and hour. Abbey booked one night of hotel closeby. It was a first real bed in like five days, so we slept really good. The hotel had a complimentary breakfast, which was really nice bonus to get our day started.

We then spent a couple hours at the Pinckney Island Wildlife Refuge. We did get to see tiny little crabs with one clam much bigger than the other one. There were tons of beautiful birds in their own little small island surround by a moat. They were nesting, chatting, chirping, playing, basking in the sun, all kinds of activities there without any human interference. SS took many great photos, which are posted below, of the birds and alligators. FF not only get to see one alligator, but three. The last one was at least 8 to 10 feet long and about 400-600 lbs. The kids wanted to get closer by we were only about 10 to 15 feet away from the alligator without any to get in the way if the alligator attacked us. It was breath taking and exhilarating and scary at the same time. 

After a two hour hike, we started driving home. There was only place that Da always wanted to check out on the way home, South of the Border. There were literally over 100 hundred large and small billboard signs on the road telling drivers about it. However when we arrived, it was a very disappointing place. It was runned down, no one stopped in any of the restaurants. The only thing people did was to get gas and use the bathroom. Even those places were questionable.

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On day 5, the younger two kids still want as much pool time as possible. They kept playing while Brennan helped with taking down the tent and pack things as we start headed towards home. 

On the way home, we must stop by the Orlando Temple, which was beautiful. Then it was a three hour drive Pinckney Island Wildlife Refuge in South Carolina. FF kept asking to see an alligator before she come home. We felt it didn't make sense to pay to get in an alligator farm to see alligators since there's plenty of them there, so Abbey found Pinckney Island Wildlife Refuge. And it was a good choice.