Day 1

7:00 AM  Pack you flip-flops!  We are heading for the beach

Rest and lunch stops will be made on route.

2:30 PM  Approximate arrival at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens

Norfolk Botanical Garden is nationally recognized for its deep-rooted history and celebrated for its blooms in every season. In 1938 a WPA grant paid 220 African-American workers to clear 30 acres of dense vegetation, sowing the seeds for what is now one of the largest collections of azaleas, camellias, roses and rhododendrons on the East Coast. The 175 acre garden is home to 52 distinctive themed gardens, 95 species of birds and 30 kinds of butterflies. Our latest garden is World of Wonders – A Children’s Adventure Garden – a 3-acre garden where kids explore the connections between plants, international culture and the environment – all while having fun!

5:00 PM  Board coach and travel to your hotel

5:30 PM  Arrival at the your Virginia Beach hotel.  Get your toes in the sand and relax!

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Day 2

Included breakfast at your hotel

Depart hotel for the Virginia Aquarium

Dolphin Discoveries Sea Adventures Boat Trip

You will enjoy an unforgettable 90-minute excursion aboard the Atlantic Explorer in an exploration for Virginia’s most common and charismatic marine mammal, bottlenose dolphins!  Each trip offers close-up observations of our marine environment and its inhabitants. When resources allow, we use a hydrophone (an underwater microphone) to listen for dolphins and whales. Trained Aquarium educators provide discussions about incredible natural dolphin behaviors, and share what is being done to conserve and protect the species and its habitat. Brown pelicans, bald eagles, and other seabirds are frequently sighted, along with sea turtles.

12:30 PM  Enjoy lunch on own after boat trip

Afternoon free to relax and enjoy the beach.

On own dinner this evening.

6:15 PM  Board coach and travel to the Scope Arena to see the International Tattoo.- Only available in late April.

The Virginia International Tattoo began in 1997 and is the signature event of the Virginia Arts Festival. Presented annually in Norfolk, Virginia, the Virginia International Tattoo is an exhibition of military bands, massed pipes and drums, military drill teams, gymnasts, Scottish dancers, and choirs. It is presented in cooperation with NATO and the Norfolk NATO Festival.  It is the largest show of its kind in the United States, involving a cast of over 800 artists from many different countries, and has over 28,000 people attending every year. The Virginia International Tattoo has been elected as one of seven “founding members” of the International Association of Tattoo Organizers (IATO).

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Day 3

Included breakfast at your hotel and depart for Myrtle Beach.

8:30 AM  Board coach

3:30 PM  Arrival at your hotel ON the beach

 

Unpack and unwind.  The view is terrific.

 

6:00 PM Depart hotel for dinner

At the Original Benjamin’s Calabash Seafood Restaurant

Welcome aboard! The Grand Strand is a culinary mecca. Surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, which produces some of the freshest seafood in the world, and the Intracoastal Waterway to the west, where some of the tastiest fruits and vegetables are grown on countless farms, with saltwater inlets mixed in between the ocean and waterway with the freshest oysters and crabs that can be found, the Grand Strand boasts a plethora of low-country goodness! Please join us for a true culinary delight as our 170-item buffet features such tasty low-country treats as well as a made-to-order pasta station, carving station, crab station, and an in-house bakery that creates fresh breads and desserts from scratch. Come have a taste of the tidelands and the low-country, and try our “Calabash style” of cooking. You will see why the world-famous Original Benjamin’s has been featured in USA Today and Southern Living and Gourmet magazines, and why locals award it as the “Best of the Beach” winner year after year in The Sun News and Myrtle Beach Herald.                                                                           

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Day 4

Included breakfast at your hotel

9:00 AM  Meet your local step on guide for an overview tour of the Myrtle Beach area. You will travel back in time with stories of it’s colorful history..  Learn how this area was developed while visiting several area landmarks – some hidden, some famous!

After our tour, you will visit Ripley’s Aquarium Myrtle Beach.

Explore the 87,000 square feet (26,518 sq m) of Ripley’s Aquarium. Check out the piranhas, giant Explore the 87,000 square feet (26,518 sq m) of Ripley’s Aquarium. Check out the piranhas, giant Pacific octopuses, sharks, rays, and tropical fish in amazing viewing galleries, plus enjoy a hands-on encounter with horseshoe crabs and stingrays.

Home to a host of interesting and exciting marine creatures, Ripley’s Aquarium is a state-of-the-art facility that lets you come face-to-face with underwater creatures from around the globe. Watch for the ferocious leopard and bonnethead sharks, giant stingrays, and gentle green sea turtles in the Dangerous Reef as you wind through a 340-foot (103.6-m) long underwater tunnel.

Enjoy lunch and shopping on your own.

Return to your hotel mid-afternoon.  Included dinner.

This evening attend a show at the CAROLINA OPRY

The impressive variety of live music shows in Myrtle Beach can be traced back to one man, Calvin Gilmore, and his singular vision that first-rate entertainment could thrive along the Grand Strand. Calvin Gilmore was the first to produce live theater in Myrtle Beach and the only show in the area for 7 years. When Calvin Gilmore opened the theater in 1986, the idea of a variety show was unheard of. Several years and many successes later, a number of corporations have followed Gilmore¹s model and opened theaters of their own. Now in its 28th season, the critically acclaimed Carolina Opry boasts nearly 8,000 performances and has been running longer than any show in Broadway history. Calvin Gilmore¹s successes in the area of theater have put Myrtle Beach on the map as an entertainment destination and brought a national spotlight to the Grand Strand.

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Day 5

Included breakfast at your hotel and pack bags for departure.

8:30 AM  Board coach

Travel to Richmond VA making a stop for lunch on your own.

2:30 PM Approximate arrival in Richmond where you will visit the  American Civil War Museum.

The American Civil War Museum is home to one of the world’s most comprehensive and important collections of artifacts, documents and historic sites related to the Civil War and its legacies. It includes The Museum of the Confederacy Collection, which comprises in excess of 100,000 items including Confederate military artifacts, domestic items, photographs, documents, and more. The collection also features more than 3,000 items relating to African American history, in the John H. Motley Collection.

Among the largest items in the collection are the Tredegar Iron Works site, and the White House of the Confederacy. Both are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and played significant roles in the Confederacy’s military, industrial, political and social history.

5:15 PM  Check into your hotel:  Downtown Richmond, VA

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Day 6

Included breakfast at your hotel

8:30 AM  Board coach and travel home making rest/meal stops on the way

4:30 PM  Approximate arrival home.

This tour is a sample of a trip with departure point from New Jersey.  We can custom this tour from a departure point of your choosing.