About a year ago, our small town airport announced that it was adding direct flights to Orlando. With the initial announcement came great deals, so we bought 2 tickets for the middle of January. A Florida trip!
The Florida trip date finally arrived and we were excited to leave the deep freeze. In fact, there were record breaking temps and wind chills in ND a few days prior to us leaving. We didn’t pay for carry-ons, just had one personal item, a backpack. I happily packed for time in the sun – swim suits and cover ups! As our trip got closer, temps in Florida started to dive. So much so, that I never did wear a swim suit. I wore a pair of shorts to the beach, the rest of the time, I wore the clothes I flew in. Jeans and a hoodie. Sad!!
Even though our beach time was minimal, we still managed to make the most of our weekend away. We flew into Florida late Friday afternoon, took a Lyft to our rental – a motor home! I’ve wanted an RV of some kind, since I was a little girl. My grandparents had a Winnebego and I LOVED it! We decided to start trying out different types of RVs to find out what we liked/didn’t like. The trip itinerary was totally non-existent and done on the fly, with the exception of making a planned stop to see Tyler’s grandpa. It was quite an adventure!
After the RV walk through, we drove to the town where Tyler’s grandpa lives. We had delicious Mexican food, went to Walmart to get our groceries, and found out we could not park in the Walmart parking lot – which was our original plan. Tyler did some quick research, then we drove to Cracker Barrel, which DOES allow RVs to park overnight! It was actually perfect, since early the next morning, I discovered the motor home’s coffee maker was broken!! See my sad face, ha! Luckily, Cracker Barrell was just a few steps away and soon enough, I was able to human again. I’m so thankful that my husband thinks outside the box – he temporarily fixed the coffee maker and I had coffee for the rest of the mornings!
Saturday, we spent the morning with Tyler’s grandpa. In 5 minutes, I was smitten. I loved hearing about his career at Disney World (even before it became Disney World) and all of his travel and life adventures. We’d love to come back for another visit. Our time with him was much too short. From there, we drove through Tampa. In a motor-home. In traffic. There were times that I had my eyes closed, but Tyler is such a pro! I chose a random place to eat lunch – Bisito (it means, “little kiss,” the kissing booths made more sense!). Turns out, Bisito is rated one of the best restaurants in Tampa. Everything was amazing – food and the service! After our bellies were full, we drove to Fort DeSota and enjoyed hanging out at its white sand beach and took in a magnificent sunset. We splurged that night and stayed at a KOA between Fort DeSota and Tampa. It was COLD that night! We ran the heater, snuggled up in our recliners, had popcorn, and watched a football game.
Our last full day, Sunday, we made breakfast burrito bowls in the motor home, and strolled through a beautiful botanical garden, where we spotted our first wild armadillo. We took another drive to see manatees. Every winter when the ocean cools down, they migrate into warmer, bay areas. I wrote a report on manatees when I was in the 5th grade and ever since then, I’ve wanted to see them. Tyler said my life has now come full circle. Ha! They really do look like potatoes of the sea. Gentle giants, indeed. We left the manatees and headed to Orlando for food and a live comedy show. After the show, we drove the RV to another Cracker Barrel parking lot to catch a couple of hours of shut eye. Before we could call it a night, we cleaned up the RV, as we had a very early Lyft scheduled so we could make our 6:30 flight.
My take-aways from this adventure: I still need to take a real beach vacation! I would love to come back to play in the white sand when the weather is warm! Tyler’s grandpa is a keeper. It’s both adventurous and a little nerve-wracking when we don’t have a travel plan or itinerary. We can always find good Mexican food. If/when we get an RV, we will swap out existing furnishings for a really great mattress and super comfy recliners. Always have a back-up plan for obtaining coffee.
Have you ever taken a spontaneous trip across the country? I’ve love to hear your stories!
