“You guys should come out to visit me and go to Disney World.”
It started out as a “on a whim” question by my sister. I laughed and then replied, “Okay!” I didn’t think it would become a reality two months later.
My two daughters (Jess and Emily, ages 24 and 9) and I set off to drive 1180 miles from Iowa to my sister’s house in St. Augustine, Florida early October. I’m not sure what made me “just do it” (as Nike says) but, I did and I do not regret any of it. Money. Time away from work. The long drive. Leaving the boys at home.
Nope. None of it.
It was the best time-ever.
I’m sure you well-traveled people are sitting back thinking, what’s the big deal? Well, if you knew me then you would know that I’m usually one of those people who think too much about stuff-and then not do it. I’m not one to take off without my hubby, or some other take charge person to come along. I also might be a bit of a cheapskate when it comes to parting with large amounts of money.
Yep, I’m not sure what made me be okay with doing it, but I’m glad I came out of my sheltered thinking for this life changing trip!
Now, one thing I did know I wanted to do was get our money’s worth on this trip. So, since it was cheaper to drive, we decided to do that. I rented a Toyota Corolla (best gas mileage ever-$188 round trip all the way to Orlando) and instead of hurrying up and getting there like we originally planned, we decided to make our road trip part of our adventure as well.
We left on a Friday afternoon and it was a long drive through Illinois, but our excitement fueled our bodies and kept us going. We played road trip games and made mother and daughter memories of story telling and laughter.
We decided we would make it our mission to get a photo of each state welcome sign as we arrived. We also made sure that we stopped at least one rest stop in each state to pick up some kind of souvenier for our memories.
We arrived at our first destination, Smyrna, Tennessee. I want to start by telling you I LOVE staying in hotels. There is just something about staying somewhere where you get free breakfast and you don’t have to change your own sheets.
We stayed at the Comfort Suite and it exceeded my expectations. The rooms were big and the beds were very comfy. We even had a choice of different pillow types. I’m very particular about my pillows, so that made me not regret not bringing my old faithful feather pillow.
The breakfast was just as awesome with more choices then we could imagine. We took one of each item (because we could) and hurried back to our room, giggling all the way.
I debated whether to hang around a bit longer to enjoy (and get our money’s worth) our stay there, but we we really needed to get going to get to my sister’s house. We also wanted to get to Atlanta at a decent time to avoid any crazy traffic.
One thing I wasn’t prepared for was driving through the steep mountains in Tennessee. I admit, I was a baby and probably freaked out a little (okay, a lot). My daughters apparently found it funny and wished they had video taped my freaking out.
Thanks, guys.
We stopped at a Chick-fil-a near Atlanta for lunch. Mainly, to calm my nerves from the mountain driving and get ready for Atlanta traffic. I heard so many horror stories, I did not know what to expect.
When we finally got there, Atlanta traffic was a bit hectic, but not too bad. I figured that planning to arrive on a Saturday morning was better then driving through five o’clock traffic on a week day. I found out that I would take driving through that over driving through the mountains.
We finally arrived at my sister’s house Saturday evening around 7 p.m. She showed us around St. Augustine and we ate a late dinner at a taco house where we had pink tacos.
They were for breast cancer awareness, silly.
Since this was about our exciting road trip to my sister’s, I’m going to end this now and continue it in my next travel post. I hope you will continue to “ride along” and find out about our adventures on our girl trip!
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