In May, our family took a vacation to Florida. (yes, and I'm just blogging about it now). We drove from Springfield, Mo to St.Petersburg, Florida -- camped on an Island in the Gulf of Mexico at Fort Desoto Park. We stayed there for three days, and then drove to Orlando -- to go to Sea World. We then drove two days back to Missouri. It was an amazing trip and I wish we could travel all of the time! I absolutely love to travel and see new places (especially my favorite places like the beach/ocean).
Well, here is the story (mostly in pictures) of our first couple of days of our Florida vacation, I will do part two shortly after this. (:
DAY ONE:
We packed up the car and left for Georgia! We planned to drive all day the first day, stop in Georgia for the night, then drive half the day to get to Florida (we tried for 12 in the afternoon), then spend the rest of that second day setting up camp, swimming and then grill some food.
We drove all this way with no A/C -- it was so hot but we just let ourselves think positive about the situation and enjoy being drenched in sweat. I would do it all over again if we had to choose to. Seriously. I love the heat -- Even though you feel uncomfortable -- it's an uncomfortable that I like. Kind of like exercising or something. (:
Our GPS -- hahaha!
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| Arkansas |
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| Tennessee flooding |
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| Alabama |
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| Tornado Damage |
Arkansas was SO beautiful! I slept most of the way and didn't take any pictures -- but every time I woke up I was amazed by the beauty around me. We planned to drive through it in the day on our way back but that didn't happen unfortunately. I hope one day we can go again and I can take more pictures!
We went through Tennessee for a short bit, then Mississippi for a few hours, then Alabama. This was just shortly after the devasting tornadoes that killed and wrecked in so many towns. We saw a lot of damage, but the worst we got to see was in a super small town that we went to so I could go potty. We drove about 5 minutes down a dirt road and came to the town...there were cops everywhere and we didn't understand why. Then we drove over a hill and saw complete devastation. It was horrible but amazing at the same time -- not a good amazing, but amazing as in you cannot grasp the reality of the situation or strength of those storms once you actually see it for yourself. It's crazy. Well the cop said that all the town bathrooms were gone (!), so I found a porta potty. haha.
Alabama was beautiful with big rolling hills and tons of forest. We barely saw any towns or homes for the two-three hours we drove -- it was crazy! We got to Birmingham and stopped for a bit and by then it was dark out. We arrived in Georgia to our hotel around 1am.
DAY TWO
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| Our hotel |
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| Teeth! | | |
We got to Florida in the afternoon and were SO excited to find a camping spot open.
The girls were so excited! I was so excited!
The ocean is my favorite place in the world and the last time I went, I was 10.
So this was so, so amazing!
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| Excited to set up their chairs at our campsite -- silly girls! :) |
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| Hungry after a looonngg drive |
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| campsite |
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| Discovering this new place |
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| Testing the new sand and shells. |
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| Cj decided it was better to lick the tree in discovery, I guess. |
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| Little lizards were EVERYWHERE!!! |
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After our tent was set up, we drove about three minutes to the East Beach on the Island to go swimming in the Ocean!!
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| First Dunk. (He LOVED the water!!) |
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| Elizabeth walked in so very confident and excited and then ...... |
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| Somehow, she falls. Straight into the water! |
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I have no idea how it even happened -- but after that she was very scared and untrusting of the water.
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| Icky face after tasting the salt water. |
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| Raven that kept trying to steal our stuff!!! |
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| The ocean just after sunset ---- peace. |
After having a TON of fun swimming in the Ocean -- we went back to camp with the intention of making food at our campsite. BUT we were so exhausted that we decided to go out to eat instead.
The babies were SO tired! Lily slept the entire time! We ate at an amazing restraunt (one of my favoirites), that was right on a bay. The bridge crossed over the bay entrance and immediately on the other side was the restraunt that was like a balcony over the ocean. It was breathtaking!!
After we ate, we walked down to the beach and I played around in the ocean during the night.
It was so beautiful, so peaceful. I wanted to jump in right off of the bridge supports and go swimming, but I didn't have my swimsuit with.
I could seriously live there for my entire life.
More coming soon. (:
