The Trip Details

Well, I'm sure many of you have seen the previous post's slide show. It was an amazing trip to go on. Sometimes, I'm slightly surprised that we actually took it, it is so out of our ordinary excursions. But I'm glad we did and hope to do more in the years coming!

Alright, so we left on the 11th at 2:30 PM. My dental hygienist had laid it all out for me (what could I do but listen?). She said to leave in the afternoon, get 3 or so hours under our belt and then stop for dinner. Get out, have a sit down meal, then get back into the car, put in a new movie that the kids had never seen and just drive. That's exactly what we did! Although we were passing so close to Mike's parents house that we couldn't help but swing over for a quick visit. That was nice and we got to catch them before they left on their cruise!

So after stopping at Glenn & Vicki's, I drove. It was about 10:30 I think and I popped open a Starbuck's mocha and began drive. Libby woke up crying and crying and CRYING! Finally she tells us that she needs to us the bathroom. I see lights off to the right of the next over pass so I pull off the interstate and head towards them. I go to turn into the "gas station" when I see the HUGE sign that has the word ADULT strewn across it. Whoa! I do a u-turn in the drive way. Mike just laughs and said he wondered what I was doing. We go to the other side of the overpass and there is a gas station but it is closed. At this point, I take Libby out and have her squat behind some barrels. Situation taken care of....

After this, the kids quickly feel asleep. I put in a book on cd. Was enjoying that but so was Mike so I had to turn it off so he could fall asleep. (lol). I'm sure Kentucky is a beautiful state. I could tell I was driving over rivers and around hills covered with trees but I really only know what the rest stops look like. I'd pull up leave the car running and then run myself into and out of them. The cool air invigorated me and I was able to care of my needs! Starbucks! By-the-way, Kentucky really does like it's late night Blue Grass.....

I drove until about 4 am. Their was fog in Nashville, TN (which I think they only have country music radio station) and I saw lightening up ahead. It was Mike's turn. He took over and drove through most of the rain and then the hail that hit us in Alabama.

Ahhhhh, Alabama! We had to stop for breakfast and choose the venerable Waffle House. Wade was our waiter and was just a gem. After breakfast, I asked Mike if he felt like he was in a movie and they were putting on a show for us Yanks with the way the talked. Just classic.

Alabama isn't really a State though. It is a treadmill. The Alabama Treadmill. We kept driving and driving and driving. And I'm not sure how we over came The Alabama Treadmill but we did and we made it to Florida!

We stayed in Seagrove Beach. It is in between Destin and Panama City Beach. It is a quieter beach community. The beaches are just beautiful! White, sandy, sugary beaches. The water has a greenish tint to it which lends to the name "The Emerald Coast."

The day we got there we pretty much just vegged out. We did run and get groceries though for the stay (our accommodations was a condo with a full kitchen, 3 bedroom, 2 bath). I ran around the grocery store gasping at the prices and Mike went next door and got a pizza at a place called Pizza By The Sea. Yummy! The pizza had pepperoni, crumbled bacon and feta cheese on it - very salty but oh so good! The pizza place also had hula hoops and other games to keep kids of all ages entertained while their pizza was being made.

The next morning the wind was blowing a gusty gale but we couldn't stay away from the beach any longer. So we moseyed on down to the beach where we were berated by the wind and sand. That was okay. We still enjoyed walking the almost vacant beach, picking up seashells and trying to side step the washed up jelly fishes. Libby was a tad bit freaked out by the surf. She'd never experienced the ebb and flow of the surf on the beach and felt that, in her words, "the water try to get me!!!" Over the next few days, though, Mike worked with her and she began to enjoy the water. She'd "wave" at the waves. :)

Then we ate lunch at a little hamburger joint called Flip Flops. Very beachy themed, good food. I went for the Gorgonzola burger - just like homemade! The kids enjoyed a treat of tropical flavored Mike & Ike's. They acted as if they had never had candy before!

The next day we went on our 12 mile bike ride. We did a geocache, rode over to a State Park beach that had great sand dunes (that you can only admire from a distance) and a great beach. We had lunch out and then had a snack later on of over priced ice cream. It was good though :) We walked around the town of Seaside. Super cute, beachy area that was built under a master plan so everything kinda matches and "goes together." It is also where the movie "The Truman Show" was filmed.

Following that day, we went to the city of Destin. There we went on a dolphin cruise. We did see three dolphins two separate times. It was fun to cruise the harbor and out into the Gulf a little bit. We had a seafood snack when we got back to shore and then headed to a Go-kart place. I highly recommend the go-kart place (can't remember the name now) - very reasonably priced family fun - someone in the parking lot even gave us a coupon!

Then, after a good night's rest, it was time to pack up and head out. We drove back a different way and went to Pensacola, FL to visit the Naval Aviation Museum. It was pretty cool and I'm not even an airplane geek. Luke loved it and tried to figure out where the weaponry was located on each plane and what kind of weapons it was - torpedoes, missiles, machine gun, etc. It added another couple of hours to our trip back but I think it was worth it.

No good stories to share from the drive home. We didn't drive straight through but spent the night in Memphis, TN. No, we didn't go to Graceland. We also didn't encounter any bad weather on the way back - a huge blessing! In fact, the day we were back and unpacking, the weather was in the 60's here. It definitely helped ease us off of vacation.

It was a fantastic trip. And we stayed under budget. This is a type of trip that one can totally do with in a reasonable budget. Staying in the condo with the kitchen totally helped! I'd say that would be the best way to do it!