Road trip to Florida Part 2

For the start of spring break we decided to fly to Gainesville, yes I said fly.  However, God had other plans for us and due to the thick cloud coverage around Houston we could not get out in our little plane.  Can you say 14 hours on the road? This is not the first time this has happen to us.  One year we booked a beach house in Hilton Head, NC and again due to weather (it was very cold and the plane would not turn over!) we had to drive 17 hours to meet our friends.  The price of not booking refundable airfares. Which is the way I think I will go from now on.

So here we are in March, hotel is booked, college tour is scheduled, we were even looking at property in Gainesville for possible summer home (not happening by the way) with this wonderful realtor, who I would highly recommend if anyone is interested.

John did ALL of the driving to Florida.  Sweet man.

Shelby making a peanut butter and banana sandwich.  One thing I learned when being confined in a car with a teenager, is to have food and some type of entertainment.  It's so easy to go from a happy mood to a Hangry mood!! (Hangry: The feeling of being so hungry that you get mad, upset and or angry).  

John was disappointed that we had to drive instead of fly.  He loves to fly and finds comfort in it, probably because we do very little talking and he is left to his own thoughts, staring off into the sky. (His alone time but also able to share it with his family.)

The great thing about driving is that you get to stop and enjoy the local fare and by the time we reached Lake Charles it was lunch time and the perfect stop was Steamboat Bill's. Voted #1 restaurant in Louisiana.  Found it on Yelp.  We used Yelp quite a bit on our road trips.  Great app.

at Steamboat Bill's

 After 5 lbs of crawfish, boudain and a bowl of red beans and rice we were ready to hit the road, again.

Throughout Gainesville there were these beautiful mature Oaks just riddled with spanish moss.  I fell in love with the area and the beautiful surroundings.

**************************Toured University of Florida******************************

Return trip to Houston, guess who is happy to head home.....

 Shelby excited to be back on the road.....home, just me and her, dad flew back for work.

We drove through Destin and Santa Rosa Beach but completely over shot Seaside which made us a little sad but once we had lunch at Stinky's we headed to Henderson Beach State Park and played for a bit.

There were tons of jellyfish on shore. Shelby kept throwing them back into the ocean trying to save them.  She loves marine life and I hope one day she can make a living at what she loves.

We stopped in New Orleans.  Shelby had booked a ghost tour on her phone when we were driving through Alabama so it made perfect sense to stop and enjoy the local haunts and one hurricane drink (not her, just me).

I found this great website for the next visit to New Orleans on their famous libations, just click here to view it.

Shelby drove the rest of the way after that, not so much due to the drink, but the fact that at night the glaring headlights blind me (getting old!!).

Fun times in New Orleans with my soon to be High School Graduate!!