The road has been full of magic today—a rainbow that began on the road right next to us (as we drove through the rain and the sun at the same time), a truck carrying all the parts of a bright yellow fiberglass airplane, a herd of buffalo on Paynes Prairie as we sailed past Gainesville, and then a strange column of white smoke in the sky that we realized was the trail from the space shuttle that had launched about 40 minutes earlier! That was really cool.
But wait! We're still in Nashville. Back up one day. I won’t go into the domestic drama of the evening before regarding my ex-brother-in-law, who took the kids for a slumber party. Don’t worry, it all ended without incident. With the kids away, we were able to enjoy a mostly grown-up sushi dinner, other than Maya tap-dancing on the table and trying to eat the sugar packets. I tried a sake margarita, which was surprisingly tasty, tangy lime mellowed by the sweet rice wine, and enjoyed avocado sushi rolls, a Buddha roll (vegetable tempura rolled up with sweet sauce), and seaweed salad. Then Joel had to go back to work, so Bonnie, Ben, and I watched the horror movie that Skye starred in, called Claudette. Very impressive! (And gory!) We enjoyed more of the multi-media benefits of Tivo and sipped a nice Shiraz until about 1:30 a.m. The kids came home around 11:00 a.m. We packed up, which always takes triple the time with kids, and hit the road by 2:00 p.m.
The drive to Marietta wasn’t long—five hours including multiple stops, one of which was a long and leisurely dinner at the Cracker Barrel (they have a really good vegetable plate). We arrived in Marietta around 9:00 p.m., to the house of Bonnie’s aunt and uncle, Diane and Doug. Welcomed with good old fashioned southern hospitality and two black Cocker Spaniels, we were shown to comfortable guest rooms and then Doug opened a bottle of his twin brother’s homemade Pinot Grigio, which had an intense apricot aroma but a light tart taste. About an hour later, Doug Jr. showed up (his birthday had been the day before) and we remembered them all from Bonnie and Joel’s wedding. We sat and chatted, intermittently trying to get the kids to bed. I turned in around 11 to read because my brain turns off at 11. Everyone else stayed up until after midnight.
Up after 10 (really 9 on Iowa and Nashville time, but we’re adjusting to this time change), we found that Diane had set out breakfast included pigs in a blanket, toast, cereal, fruit, and coffee. We chatted more and enjoyed the excellent company--and the beautiful day.
On the road again by 12:30, we have a long day of driving today. We stopped past Macon for fast food lunch (not worth describing) and before we got to Valdosta, Angus saw the first palm tree—which means he wins a dollar. But he owes Emmett a dollar (I don’t even want to know why) so Emmett will get the dollar anyway. So, he wasn’t too crushed. (I called him to break the news because he and Zoe are still riding in the van with Bonnie, Joel, and Maya. Angus and Skye are still riding with us.)
At about 4:00 p.m., we still felt like we had a lot of Georgia and even more of Florida to get through. We stopped just over the Florida border for gas and Dairy Queen (a mistake in that a small sundae launched Angus into a hyperactive frenzy for the next 40 minutes, largely fueled by Skye’s laughter). But even before we actually crossed the border, the road, the brush, the sky already looked like Florida –the asphalt roads that would be torn up by snow and ice but which work just fine in the heat, the scrubby vegetation and the trees with the small, thick, shiny leaves, the tall grey-green pine trees, the bright sky adorned with billowing thunderheads glowing beneath the hot, hot sun. And of course, that magnificent space shuttle cloud...
We won’t make it to Tampa tonight, we’ll be too late, so we’ll go straight on through and go back up to see Uncle John, Uncle Joe, Aunt Linda, and Busch Gardens in a few days.
For dinner, the adults couldn't face (or stomach) any more fast food, so we stopped into Johnny Carino's, which turned out to be just perfect--formal enough for us (read: they had wine) and informal enough for the kids.
And then, quite suddenly, as if it were nothing (ha!), we arrived in Longboat Key, in the dark, with the heavy Florida air and the sound of water all around us. To get to our condo, we had to go across a bridge to the key and drive down the long narrow spit of land, resort-ish cottages and businesses all around us. It was late and dark but we knew we were there. With relief, we checked in, arranged where everyone would sleep (Bonnie, Joel, and Maya in the efficiency, Ben and I in the main bedroom, four kids in the living room on inflatable mattresses and the pull-out bed), and we crashed. Because of course we need our sleep. Tomorrow, we hit the beach!
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