Florida Trip

Daughter and I just got back from a road trip to Florida - summer camp time again. It was just the two of us because someone needed to stay home to take care of the animals. Guv'nor agreed to hold down the fort.

It was up to me to do all the driving - all 1100 miles of it each way. About 100 miles into the trip, I wished we had just paid that airfare and flown instead. We took two days and the maximum I could drive was about 10-12 hours each day. Mobile is about halfway, so if we could get past that point the second day was easier.

A strange thing happened on this trip. I'm not sure when it happened but by the time we arrived in Florida it had already happened. Our internal compasses had been reset and "home" was no longer Florida. Home was Texas. It felt strange being back in our old neighborhood. We felt like visitors in what used to be our home. Even though things looked familiar and we didn't need a map to find places, things had changed and life had moved on without us.

And we missed being at home. We missed Guv'nor. We missed Dog. We missed silly things like the chickens and the guineas, the goats and the puppies. We missed the sunsets. We missed seeing the whole family when they all came home in sympathy of Guv'nor all alone at the house. And I think they all missed us, too.

We are thankful to be home.

The day we left, we were driving just in front a storm the whole day.

The Mississippi River always amazes me.

We drove through downtown Mobile at sunset on the first day.

Our second day we drove through a storm in north Florida.

Our first day was spent at the beach. Of course.

Our favorite beach spot is Redington Shores.

White sandy beaches and not many people.

Our favorite local Mexican restaurant has t-shirts now.

I think I could start another blog and call it We Love Publix.

We had forgotten about the summertime afternoon thunderstorms.

We used our Disney park hopper passes one day - Magic Kingdom first, then Epcot, and back to Magic Kingdom.

My favorite place in Epcot.

I was very tempted to buy this mug for Guv'nor, but it was $32!

We made it back to Main Street for the light show and fireworks.

Downtown Tampa - palm trees and lots of glass.

We had lunch one day at Oxford Exchange.

Geometric floor tiles at Oxford Exhange

Colorful books at Oxford Exchange

I had tea with friends at a local tea place.

Another afternoon storm about to break loose.

It's pretty hard to see in one of the downpours.

The worst drive was from Mobile to Hattiesburg on the way back.

Most of the drive looked like this.

We felt like we were home when we crossed the Texas state line.

The bicycle my sister gave us got a little wet, but made it home just fine.