Our Florida Vacation - Part 1

I'm finally going to post about our Florida vacation, the vacation we went on in ..... July. This is going to be a long one, so sit back, get a snack, and pretend you are in Borders where you can read and read. Part 1 is our trip to Florida and here it goes.

Prince Charming and I had a plan from the start and it was that we were going to take our time getting to Florida and back. We wanted to stop at any garage sale, flea market, antique store, dirt bike store, any place that we wanted to without being rushed. One of our first stops was at an antique store in Kentucky. They had some nice things, but were a little pricey so we decided to mosey our way on out to the truck. As I was walking down the last aisle, I spotted it! The ugly green candy dish. Let me tell you a different story first. My grandmother had this ugly green candy dish, but we loved the dish because of what was in it. The candy dish was always in the same place in Grandma's living room no matter what candy was in it, what holiday it was, etc. When Grandma decided to sell her house and move, she gave the candy dish to the thrift store that she worked at. Good bye candy dish. End of story.

Until I decided that I wanted an ugly green candy dish because I'm so sentimental and missed my Grandmother terribly. I just wanted something that would remind me of her, my Grandpa, their house. Something to keep the memories alive.

Prince Charming has always helped me in my search for an ugly green candy dish and we did find a small one. I was somewhat satisfied with that purchase, but it didn't quite complete the dream. Little did I know that at the somewhat pricey antique store in Kentucky would be an ugly green candy dish just like the one my Grandmother had. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that we purchased it and took it on vacation. Fast forward to the end of trip - we stopped in an antique store in North Carolina and loved everything in there even though it was extremely expensive (the store in Kentucky was cheap compared to this one). I did find one thing though and it was cheap....the last addition to the ugly green candy dish collection. I'm happy to report that the search is over and all three candy dishes are displayed in my dining room. Someday, I may even put candy in one of them. The candy dish like my Grandmother's is the one on the right.

Along the way we stopped at the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Boscoe is getting to the age where he's talking about getting his drivers license, what kind of car he wants, etc. so we decided this would make a great stop on our vacation. It was cool, neat, far out, funky - just plain awesome if you're a guy. If you like cars, it would be worth the stop. Here are some pictures from the museum.

The trip went on through Kentucky, with stops at several Waffle House restaurants. What can we say about Waffle House restaurants? The food was decent, the prices were decent, so we felt decent. After a while it became the family joke - "Where are we going to eat? Waffle House?" One of our other stops was an antique shop in northern Alabama. The antiques were so-so, but the main attraction was the store dog, Pippy. I think Pippy ate a few too many Snausages.

We also drove through this really neat old town in Southern Alabama. It was Sunday, so nothing was open. The buildings were beautiful - great old architecture. I wish I could remember the name of it.

The next part of the trip was one that Prince Charming had been waiting for. He couldn't wait to see the red dirt roads in northern Florida. Prince Charming couldn't believe that the road was actually dirt and not gravel like what we are used to. How muddy do the roads get when it rains? If he ever wants to find out, he can experiment with the samples that we took home. Here are a few pictures from that stop.

The final stop before our destination was Cedar Keys, FL. My mom suggested that we stop here and I think her and dad always wanted to visit, but haven't done so yet. It was nice, Prince Charming wanted to stay there, but I just wanted to get to my parent's house. We let the boys go swimming and Prince Charming had his feet in the sand. Have you heard that new song "Toes" by the Zach Brown Band? The song lyrics make me think of Prince Charming sitting on the beach - got my toes in the water, butt in the sand, not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand, life is good today. That is his dream.... Here are pictures from Cedar Keys.

We finally made it to Palm Harbor, Florida. To find out what happened next, stay tuned for Part 2 of our vacation.

See ya at the next post.