Saturday, January 15
We have arrived in Florida! Again with 9 hours driving, again with arriving at night. No haz mat spills, though. <.g>
We managed to get on the road by 9am, which was helpful. The McDonald's down the block from the hotel was awesome! It was done in Old Time Radio themes - murals and radios on the wall. Plus there were two booths with figures in it - one lady with a mic by a OTR and one man in a sound booth. I named them Jeff and Hilary (from Remember WENN) and took pictures.
Tennessee is by far the most beautiful state we drove through. I just fell in love with it. Northern Alabama was really boring, especially in comparison. It was funny how you could tell the state line because Alabama's roads suddenly were rusty brown and bumpy. <.g> We drove through the entire state, straight on down. Southern Alabama was prettier with pine trees and more scenic views. A little too scenic, even - our route ended up being like a rural highway. With stoplights. And many many little towns. Many many many. LOL
But, finally, we hit Florida. The welcome center is utterly gorgeous and they gave us free orange juice! And then we drove through the entire panhandle. (So in the last two days we drove straight down lengthwise through Indiana, Kentucky, Tennesee, Alabama and the Florida panhandle, from Lake Michigan until the gulf. Wow.
So we pulled in after dark, can't see a thing. LOL But we can hear the ocean from our balcony. It's chilly out, and this is an outdoor hotel (ie the walkway from the elevator to the room is a balcony itself) and that was a bit annoying in the dark and chilliness. But really, it's still about 50ish, and that's 50 degrees more than it was when we left yesterday morning. LOL
So. Long travel, but now? It's time to vacation. Yeah, baby!!
Sunday, January 16
Dad woke up early this morning, and we got to see the sun rising over the Gulf of Mexico. It was amazing. I'm looking out the window now, and I see the Gulf stretching out as far as I can see.
We played on the beach this morning. The hotel has a special beach wheelchair, so they stored Josh's while we used theirs. It's so cute, with these huge inflatable wheels! It was perfect. Sure, okay, it was 50 degrees and really windy which made it quite chilly, but it was so much fun. We picked up sea shells and laid out on beach chairs and walked up and down the beach and got our feet a little wet. We're going to do it again in about an hour when it'll be at its warmest - 60 degrees.
We also went driving far, far out of our way in search of Starbucks. <.g> We're such addicts.
For weeks, if not months, we've had our hearts set on going to Pineapple Willy's for lunch, right on the beach. We drove around, searching and searching. Finally, we found it. "See you in February!"
What we've discovered is that Panama City Beach is like the Wisconsin Dells, but on the beach. Lots of odd little tourist trap shops, kinda run down, very tourist driven. But hey, we like the Dells; we go every March. And like then, we are in PCB's off season. Meaning many places are closed until February. <.g>
Well, I'm going to go clean the sand out from between my toes and relax before our next jaunt out. : )
Monday, January 17
I am going to miss Panama City so much! Waking up to the sight of the beach is just amazing.
We went to a Waffle House for breakfast -we saw them all through the south, and there was one right across the street. The pecan waffles were AMAZING, and they had three *NSYNC songs on the jukebox. All three were, naturally, joyfully played.
Next stop was the pier. Lovely, right? Great view, beautiful water. Factor in the 24 degree windchill and high winds, and it was less nice. <.g> Josh was under a blanket in his wheelchair and we were all shivering. You'll be able to see this from the pictures we took. LOL
This afternoon, Dad took off adventuring while mom napped and Josh watched DVDs. I played some Sims -created the Darcy family, Elizabeth and William. I made a whole estate, complete with park for them to stroll in. Kinda fun!
We watched the sunset on the beach again. I took pictures again. AND! I told Karey, Biz, and Jennie about the webcam the hotel has pointed towards the beach. So at 5, we went to the camera and waved to my friends. And Karey and her boys waved back. <.g> That was so much fun!
Went to the same place for dinner - Montego Bay - and more importantly, to the same place for ice cream. Oh. My. God. They make the ice cream on the premises daily. Last night I had Party Animal (vanilla ice cream with sprinkles, M&Ms and chocolate chips) in a homemade waffle cone, tonight I got Party Animal and Gator Stew (vanilla ice cream with peanut butter cups, fudge and peanuts) in a dish. Best. Ice cream. Ever.
Tomorrow morning, we leave for Orlando. We aim to get there around 3, and it's a 6 hour drive. I'm hoping it has internet - it mentions high speed available for one bedroom suites, but nothing about the two bedroom villas. Cross your fingers!!
Back to my ice cream, on the balcony, listening to the waves. Yay vacation!
