Photo of the Day

The perfect way to cap off a beautiful vacation. Full trip report when I return (probably more than you'll ever want to hear). Tomorrow I'll be on the road again, this time through SAVANNAH!!! Cross your parts and hope I get to drive in to the Paula Deen Store.

What Now, Baaaaaaab?

My father has somehow morphed into me in the past few weeks: an obsessive list maker and planner. No wonder people have spent so much time mad at me in the past, it's quite annoying.

Lately his schtick has been pushing me to "coupon more of that stuff we need for the trip". So I spent yesterday shopping for a few things we need. Mostly swimming trunks and shorts for Jon, and a dress for the wedding. But I did manage to make headway on my Dad's "list".

I won't deny. It feels kind of good to have things slowly accumulate, rather than be bought in a rush of hurry the night before we leave.

T-Minus 25 days, and counting.

On the Road Again, Like a Band of Gypsies...

In less than 30 days I will be on the road. Possibly somewhere in North or South Carolina at this point. That is my favorite part of taking a trip: being on the road. There is something to be said about traveling by car in this country. The silly things you find on the side of the roads, the somewhat frightening podunk kind of towns you run across as you fill up gas. And when traveling in the South, the varying degrees of accents you run across at each station.

I simply adore rolling into parking lots in the middle of the night, with the lights illuminating the view. How around 3 am you have to crank up the air conditioning to force yourself awake as you drink shitty cappucinos and prompt the rest of the car into one more rousing session of "sing it if you know it". Or that feeling of hitting the florida state line at 5 am, where the wind immediately shifts and everything begins to feel stickier.

This year the exact nature of the road trip is up in the air. I could not say for certainty that we will even be stopping to spend the night somewhere. However I have been promised a roll into Savannah. For that, I am at least grateful. This much I do know, at some ungodly hour on Friday the 13th (cue the scary music) my family will pile into my mother's new ride with 2 yapping dogs and 1 sleepy kid. We'll bid adeiu to the house. Water the plants one last time and Dad will begin the trip behind the wheel.

It will all seem very "Leave it to Beaver".

25 minutes down the road something calamity will occur. Like that one year the windows began leaking, it downpoured and by Lebanon Junction we were all soaked to the bone. This year I predict something will begin to beep in my mother's ultra sensitive van and we won't know how to make it stop.

Approximately 1 hour into the trip my Dad will begin to bob his head. Mom will ask him if he'd like her to take over now, and he'll agree. He'll say "just for a little while" and he will really mean, "at least until we hit the Florida state line".

At this point I'll assume position in the front seat with my mother as the boys and dogs doze in the backseat. During this time we will get lost, argue over directions, listen to way too much bad music and quiz each other on useless trivia we think of as we pass various cities.

If there is anything for Lucy and Ethel to get into, this is when it will happen.

And I can't wait.

But mostly I can't wait for a very laid back vacation. I've warned everyone I'm traveling with that all I want to do is lay on the beach and take tons of pictures all week. I don't need to run all over Timbuktu, I don't need to see everything in the world, I just need relaxation and a break.

I think I have a tendency to run on full throttle when on vacation. I guess it has to do with how alive I feel when doing something I love, like traveling. I always want to see, touch, feel and do as much as possible. And in the process I can lose focus of what a vacation is really about. It's the simple moments I always remember most, not the ones I freak out over and try to create.

Like the very first time I walked onto the beach with Jonathan. Or eating key lime pie last year with my toes in the sand which was so simple and unexpected. And the night I sat on a pier for four hours with a pigeon staring me down the entire time. The last one I bitched and complained about the entire time it was occuring and yet it has become one of my favorite travel memories. Because it was quirky and unusual.

Remind me to take more pleasure in quirky and unusual, okay?

So that's what I'm doing here, I'm vowing to myself that I will chill out and promise to not run on maximum pressure for 9 days. I'll just sit back and enjoy the ride. Even if Jon sticks his stinky feet in my face the entire time.

Caution: Girl Talk Ahead

It would seem I have two menstrual cycles, one which leaves me lying in the floor crying from the pain...oh dear God the pain and the other which leaves me relatively pain free but an otherwise blubbering, yet full of rage, emotional mess.

This week it's been the emotional mess I've been dealing with. I have, in the last three days, managed to cry over the following:

• Cole Slaw
• my Mother
• otherwise happy music on the radio
• Little People, Big World
• Dancing with the Stars
• "Dan in Real Life"

I'm rounding a corner and should be fine by the weekend. But geez...it's getting a little pathetic.

In other news, I figured my car lot weekends were over now.

Ha. Right. So my mother informs me last night that she needs me to follow her to the Honda dealership tomorrow because they are fixing a cylinder in her driver's side door and reprogramming the keyless entry. After that she needs me to follow her to garage where they will be replacing her brakes.

Happy joy down in my heart.

Other things I've been doing while suffering from blog block this week besides taking pictures:

• Buying milk from a local dairy
• Planting bulbs of gladiolus and raniculus. The latter of which I can't find a proper spelling nor picture of. But when I brough them home Jon looked at the package and said, "Raniculus? More like ridiculous!" Then he laughed like an old man and held his hand up for a high five.
• Catching up on all of the neighborhood gossip. Which, remember as we re-enter the warmer seasons, I live surrounded by housefuls of extremely religious people of several denominations. Including a pastor from a prominent Mt. Washington Church. The gossip never ends. (You know those kinds of church goers. Don't deny you don't. "I'm not into spreading rumors, so listen close the first time." Yeah.)
• Trying to find a suitable pet friendly hotel in Amelia Island, Florida. I've had loads of success with Savannah and have a list of about 12 different options. But Amelia is turning into a crapshoot. Unfortunately this is one area of this trip where I can't just go with the flow. As is the nature of traveling with pets I suppose. I'm currently considering St. Augustine or Daytona as a backup.
• Officially killed all of those seeds I planted. They sprouted. Things looked promising. And now they are dead. Moving onto Plan B on that one. Which would be buying the plants from a nursery or garden center. Oh well. Can't win them all.
• And finally I'm trying to talk myself into purchasing a Blackberry. So far, I've got myself pretty well talked into it. But does anyone have experience with them? The reviews have, for the most part, left me salivating. But I always enjoy hearing personal accounts.

Look at that! A real post. Aren't you all proud?

P.S. Any guesses on what Amalah is having for those who read her? I initially thought girl after comparing ultrasound pictures from a Google search, but I keep second guessing myself.

Like Christmas Morning

I get crazy joy from getting vacation guides in the mail. I ordered these last week, kudos to GA and SC for getting them here so soon! haha

The Taylorsville-Savannah-Sanibel Express

Typically on a trip to Sanibel we take the Shepherdsville-Nashville-Chattanooga-Atlanta-Florida route to get to our destination. This is of course is the preferred route by the famous search engines like Mapquest, Yahoo, or Google.

This year I really want to try something different, even if we are going to the same place. I’ve spent the last few hours researching various routes and stopping points for the first day of the trip. So far the plan I’m liking the most involves driving 10 hours into Savannah, Georgia to stay the night there. Major points of interest include Eastern Kentucky; Knoxville, TN; Asheville, NC; Columbia, SC; and ends in Savannah.

I’m most excited at this prospect because it will allow me to see Asheville, NC which is a dream destination of mine, as well as drive the length of South Carolina. Those are two states I’ve never visited and I’ll at least get to say I’ve been in them before after this trip! I also think this way might be incredibly more scenic, given the driving through the mountains thing.

The second leg of getting there involves going through Candace’s grandparent’s “hood”; Jacksonville, Florida. Before that I’ve found a small town called Hero, FL that offers a 22 minute straight shot off of the interstate to Amelia Island, FL. This excursion would add an hour into our day but would allow for us to see and touch the real Atlantic Ocean (as opposed to the Gulf of Mexico). I’m not entirely sure this part will be feasible in terms of time yet, but I’d love to do it. I’m thinking if not on the way down, we could on the way home.

Once we get to the island I’ve been thinking of all the things I want to do there that I haven’t before. Some of these include:

*Taking a sunset or dolphin cruise.
*Actually purchase a fishing license for myself and throw in a line.
*Visit the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum.
*Go to the beach on Captiva.
*Shell at Lighthouse Beach.
*Visit Blind Pass.
*Visit the Sanibel Marina.
*Take Dad fishing in the bay by the causeway.

I’ve still not booked the place we will be staying at but I’ll probably do this sometime around the first week of March. Once I make the final decision, which is proving to be way more involved and difficult than I once thought. It would seem when you make the decision to take 2 dogs instead of 1 the search grows infinitely more complex. And while some would say we should just leave them here and board them with Jack, it’s easier said than done once you look into their pitiful sad eyes. And besides, the $90 pet fee for the week is actually saving us money versus boarding costs.

My new front runner is a place called Signal Inn. It’s not got the views that some of the others have, but it’s smaller complex with only 18 units, all of which are built on stilts with parking underneath. It has an awesome pool, gazebo, raquetball court and despite the lack of view is actually a much closer walk to the beach on a quieter stretch than the other choices.

But remember with me, what I may be leaning towards today might be completely off the list tomorrow. The important thing I have to remember is that as long as the condo is updated, modern and gorgeous and the walk isn’t a mile to the beach it won’t matter because it’s sure to be amazing.

Now, excuse me while I go continue chanting this to myself over and over.