Road Trip! Day 8 - Apalachicola to Haines, Florida

look at the banana tree

lots of spanish moss

It was sort of a long hard day on the road. We did see a lot of 'old Florida'. Jacob says that's a nice word for run-down and moldy...although I think it looks a little more quaint than that.

Audrey passed some of the time taking Photo Booth pictures of Lorelei

This is really the last day. We made it close enough that it is just a short drive into Melbourne tomorrow. Our place in Ft. Pierce isn't ready until after the July 4th holiday.  Jacob has to work on Monday and we will stay in Melbourne for a week then move down to Ft. Pierce, where the boat is.

Road Trip! Day 7 - Apalachicola and St. George Island, Florida

We had a nice leisurely day with nowhere to get to. Taking the day off will mean lots of driving tomorrow, because we would like to have dinner with GranMiri and Papa on Sunday night.

We went over to St. George Island, the local barrier island, to swim in the Gulf of Mexico. When we arrived there were dolphins jumping just off shore (unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough with my camera). The beach was beautiful with white sand and turquoise water, and not very cluttered with people. We all loved it!

Audrey is such a social kid. She played with us for a while, then went to find a playmate. She made friends with a fellow six-year-old from Tallahassee. She wasn't sure if the girl's name was Finley or Fiddley...I'm guessing Finley. Audrey's friendship made poor Lorelei feel very jealous! I caught her swimming after the poor girl with her floaty, making a low growl, and saying 'hey, that's my friend'.

After a day at the beach, we found a really cute restaurant on the Gulf with some yummy seafood. I had sea scallops and salad. Yum!

The karaoke at the bar next to our room was so rockin' that Jacob and I had trouble sleeping until well past midnight. Thankfully, the girls slept right through it.

The Apalachicola River Inn

Road Trip! Day 6 - Gulf Breeze to Apalachicola, FL

We only drove about 160 miles today, which was very nice. We got a late start and still didn't feel like we were in a rush.

We drove along the coast taking in the sights.  There were alternating small towns, and high-rise beach resort blow-outs. We stopped for lunch in the center of Destin, Florida, which falls more into the high rise resort category. It was still a fun stop, even though it was almost impossible finding a place to park, and there were tons of people swarming around. It was great people and boat watching (we even saw a pirate ship) and we got to hear non-stop Jimmy Buffet music!

I find it so frustrating that Lorelei can't keep track of markers to save her life! I say use them one at a time and put them back in the zipper pouch when you're done, yet they are all scattered about the car within 5 minutes, caps off, drying out! You might think that crayons are the answer, but in this heat, a stray crayon left in the car turns into a waxy puddly mess quickly. I guess if that is the worst of my problems, I should consider myself lucky.

We had decided we would start looking for a place to sleep around 5p, and it took until almost 9p to find something that matched our expectations (quiet and close to the water with vacancies and takes dogs). It was worth the wait though. It is so cute that we decided to stay 2 nights, so we can take the day off tomorrow.

the view from our room, a view across the Apalachicola River

Road Trip! Day 5 - Louisiana to Florida

First thing this morning we took a dip in the roof-top pool at our hotel where the girls pretended to be mermaids and dolphins for 30 minutes before we had to check-out.

We made a trip down to the Mississippi River and ate beignets and drank chicory coffee and hot chocolate at Cafe Du Monde. We took a little hike around the river trail and let Sweet Pea take a dip. I haven't seen her that happy in a week! It is hot around here, and I think that little swim  helped our poor black dog's mood a lot. This weather really reminds me of summer in Chicago, only with an ocean breeze and palm trees.

covered in sugar

making friends at Cafe Du Monde

The drive to Pensacola was beautiful. We went through lots of bayous and passed through Biloxi and Mobile. There were so many big gorgeous old houses along the shore of Pass Christian, Mississippi including the Jefferson Davis house.

We stopped for the night in Gulf Breeze, Florida.  It is hard to believe we are already here. We don't check into our rental in Melbourne until Sunday, so we plan to slowly meander down the coast for the next few days.

We found a Quality Inn that took dogs, and had vacancies right on the beach. We had dinner at the restaurant next door on the patio and while we waited for our food the girls played at the edge of the water.

Roadtrip! Day 4 - Mississippi to Louisianna

We pulled out of Horn Lake around 11a after two insect scares, a dog police dodging (I guess we forgot to mention we had a dog when we checked in), and breakfast at Cracker Barrel. We also stopped at the grocery for snack lunch (pears, cheese, crackers and water bottles).

I found a tick on my chest this morning, attached. Eeww! I think I must have picked it up yesterday wading through the tall grass trying to capture just how pretty the road from Mansfield was. After a quick CDC search on tick removal Jacob used some tweezers to take it off, and then we all had a really thorough tick check. Then while loading up the car Audrey was stung by a bee. It has never happen to her before, so I was a little nervous, but other then being soar she was fine. We put some ice on it at breakfast and that seemed to totally fix her. 

We had so much fun getting off the beaten path yesterday after Mansfield that we considered taking the off-interstate route to New Orleans, but it would add an extra 2 hours and we are hoping to see the city before dark.

road side bubbles

and yoga

It rained a lot today, and the way our car is loaded all of our suitcases are on the roof. It is so rare for it to rain in Colorado that it didn't occur to us that it would be a problem. Jacob even had to load it up in the morning during a rain storm and just hope for the best. Thankfully our clothes were only a little damp and only around where the zipper was. Hard sided cases paid off.

We stopped at a rest stop just over the boarder of Louisiana during a lightening storm. The power was out in the bathroom so Audrey wanted me to go into the stall with her. She said 'It's like a haunted bathroom', so I said 'Oooohhh' in a ghost like way. Looking very scared she grabbed my face and said, 'you stop that Momma'. On the way out she said 'I knew that was going to happen...I had a cold shiver up my spine and knew you would be weird!'

On the way into New Orleans we took the 23 mile bridge over Lake Pontchartrain. It was neat, you couldn't see the other side when you start across.

the bridge over the lake...that's New Orleans in the distance

trying to get our haul into the underground parking garage

We splurged on a pretty fancy hotel in New Orleans with an amazing wrap-around balcony overlooking Bourbon Street. It gave us the perfect people watching perch, and the girls loved it! Even though it was 3 times as much as our place in Bolivar I think it was still more affordable then it normally is. We found a last minute deal on www.hipmunk.com.

waving to passers-by 

We went for dinner on Bourbon Street complete with hurricanes and crawfish étouffée then walked around for a while. It was a big party, and probably not completely appropriate for little kids.

making friends with the police horses

The girls were so exhausted that they passed out before we could even turn off the lights. It took double rain machines to drown out the party outside for Jacob and I to sleep.

Road Trip! Day 3 - Missouri to Mississippi

We left Bolivar Missouri at 10:30 this morning. A little better then the last 2 days, but still not the early start we have hoped for. The girls have not been napping in the car at all and getting to bed late every night, so it is really hard to wake them when they look so cozy.

We saw two horse drawn carriages on the highway today near Mansfield. It looked like they were being driven by amish men. They crossed right in front of a truck going at least 50 mph. It was all very exciting!

The girls were starting to go nuts in the backseat right before we pulled into Rocky Ridge Farm. Perfect timing for them to run around Laura and Almanzo's farm a bit. The stop was all we had hoped for. It was really cool to see all of the details from the Rose books in real life. Laura's wood burning stove was way bigger then I had imagined it. We learned that Laura was only 4'11", her clothes looked like they were little girl sized.

In front of Laura and Almanzo's house

part of Rocky Ridge Farm

The little section was the original house before they built onto it.. 

We stopped for Jonesboro's best BBQ for dinner. It was yummy, but Jacob and I both preferred the Smokehouse in Nederland. The meat was really good, but all of the sides seem to be out of a bag.

The road from Mansfield was very pretty, and framed with green walls and lots of flowers. 

After a very brief trip through Tennessee (we just grazed the corner), we pulled into Horn Lake Mississippi at 9:30p to sleep. We are going to try to get up a little earlier tomorrow morning.

Road Trip! Day 2 - Kansas to Missouri

We got a late start. We all slept until 10a, and by the time we got out of the hotel room it was 11:30a. We stopped at one of Jacobs favorite restaurants for brunch, Cracker Barrel.

We found out that my grandmother died last night in her sleep, so honestly this whole day has felt like a blur. I spent most of the day thinking of her, writing down my memories and sifting through old pictures. I think I have only taken one photo of Kansas.

We have been listening to the audiobook of Little House on the Prairie in anticipation of our trip to Rocky Ridge Farm tomorrow! Audrey has heard Jacob read the series three times, including the Rose series. Lorelei has heard it twice, so we are all really excited. Surprisingly I had never read any of the books until I married Jacob and Audrey was born.

Audrey will climb trees wherever she finds them. Even gas station parking lots.

goofing around with Daddy on the road. 

We stopped for the night in Bolivar, Missouri around 9:30p central time. Only one hotel in this town allows dogs, and we tried the other two first...not even the Super 8 is pet friendly here. The place we stayed was a standard roadside motel, but it had two queen beds, and it appeared clean. The girls played their standard game of bed hopping and making human bridges between the beds while we settled in. We have a purple yoga mat with us, that Lorelei has decided she prefers to the bed, and honestly, Jacob and I prefer it too. It means we don't have to build a pillow barrier between them, and spend an hour shushing them once it is lights out.

Road Trip! Day 1 - Colorado to Kansas

We finally got on the road today at noon. We had to move out of our apartment on Wednesday, but Jacob wanted to finish the work week so we checked into the Best Western down the road for three nights.

Our first stop was the oldest carousel in the country, in Burlington, Colorado. The girls loved it, and it started the trip off with the feel that we wanted it to have. Not a mad rush to Florida, but a fun exploration/adventure. After the carousel we stopped at a super cool all wooden playground. I would definitely recommend a stop in Burlington if ever heading east on I70 towards Kansas.

We decided to push on last night until midnight central time, hoping that the kids would fall asleep in the car. Unfortunately they never did. The last ten minutes while we looked for a hotel the car was filled with sounds of Lorelei having a complete melt-down, poor baby. We finally found a place to sleep in Salina, Kansas.