A Quick Trip to Florida

Who drives all the way to Florida to spend only a couple days there? We do.

Our youngest son lives in Miami, and we haven't seen him in a year and a half. Thank goodness for cell phones and social media that allow us to stay in touch so easily! When his brothers were in the military our phone bills were often in the hundreds of dollars, but today it's a different world. Still there is nothing like face to face, hugging and talking and just being together.

Since Tommy recently changed jobs he has no leave time yet. He had hoped to come home this spring but a new opportunity was too good to pass up. So we decided to make a quick weekend trip down to see him. It wasn't as bad as it might seem--about 700 miles one way, so it was a 12-hour drive, but we left early and hit little traffic until we got to Jacksonville. Then we took the A1A along the coast to St. Augustine, where we were to meet up with our son.

 It was fantastic--we watched the sunrise over the beach,

toured the city on one of those hop-on-hop-off tours,

took the ghost tour (my camera AND phone were both dead by then, sadly), ate out at all kinds of places,

My baby boy :)

 

sampled some muscadine wine,

heard live music, rode a historic carousel,

and just had a blast. And we talked and talked and talked. It was hard to have to say goodbye.

Homeward bound finally by noon on Sunday we learned what traffic could be! We opted to leave the interstate after miles of stop and go, bumper to bumper driving and took a two-lane that was straight and virtually free of traffic. I know this cut miles and time from the drive, but even better, it was interesting and an area of South Carolina we hadn't seen before.

We stayed the night in Charlotte, NC. The next morning we were on the road again but stopping at thrift shops all along that way. The van was full of finds by the time we got home!

I expect we may make more of these short visits to Florida since it's easier for us to get away than it is for our son, and we like to travel anyway. Next time, though, I hope we can allow more time. Florida is one of our country's jewels and there is much to see there and much history to explore.


Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.