By Mallory Mattingly
WHEEL OF FORTUNE co-host Vanna White just gave fans a peek into a very special place: her hometown of North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
“Hi, everyone! I’m Vanna. Look at you all,” she said to a group of fans gathered in Hoskin’s Restaurant.
“It’s good to have you all here,” White told the crowd. “We’re going to drive around. I’m going to show you my life as I grew up here and places that were important to me, where I was born and where I was raised.”
Before White and her new friends jumped on the bus, she sat down for a meal. She wondered if any of the workers there still remembered her from when she came as a young adult. It turned out there was a waitress there named Helen whom White described as “her girl.”
Next, everyone made their way onto the bus, and the tour began.
“When you come into North Myrtle Beach, it says ‘Welcome to North Myrtle Beach, home of Vanna White.’ It’s such an honor to have my name on that sign. I love my hometown so much. It just reminds me of how great this place is,” White said.
The first place the tour stopped was the Ocean Pavilion, the place where White would go to dance The Shag, the official dance of South Carolina.
The next stop? White’s old grade school, Ocean Drive Elementary.
Fans on the tour also saw the church where White was baptized and the house where she grew up.
“My dad had a little hot dog stand in front of it,” she said of her home.
When White got off the bus at her childhood home, she noticed a young man playing guitar on the front porch.
“That’s Johnny!” White said. “I just found out that Johnny’s last name is White. Isn’t that crazy?”
Without the cameras present, White peeked inside.
“I haven’t been inside this house for a very long time,” she said. “Being in the house, I felt all the memories from my childhood.”
The last stop on the tour was Painter’s Ice Cream, a shop that’s “been around for a very long time.”
“Every Thursday after my piano lesson, we would stop at Painter’s and get ice cream. They named an ice cream after me. The Vanna Banana Split,” White said.
Related: Vanna White Signs Two-Year Extension On WHEEL OF FORTUNE Contract
“No matter where life takes me, this will always be home,” she reflected. “I’m just so happy to be back in my hometown. I feel like I never left in a way.”
The WHEEL OF FORTUNE Instagram account shared a clip of the video and wrote, “One can simply never have too much Vanna White content so enjoy this CaraVanna extended cut!”
The account also shared baby photos and videos of White.
“Swipe to see footage of baby Vanna White!” the account wrote.
Though White now enjoys a life filled with the bright lights of fame, returning to her roots will always bring her joy.
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