March Madness

Jacksonville

No, my title does not refer to college basketball, though it was fun while the ISU Cyclones lasted in the tournaments. Instead, I am talking about our decision to drive to Florida for vacation during Spring Break Madness. Some friends of ours purchased a condo on the west side of Florida, and invited us to come and visit them. 

We thought if we were going to make the trip, why not drive and see some sights along the way? While our stops were not necessarily ones that spring breakers would frequent, we did not take into account the traffic getting there. Or coming home, for that matter, as the snow birds were heading back to their northern homes. Wow! There were many stretches that were stop and go, making a long drive even that much longer. Live and learn - we won't do that again.

On the way down we stayed in Jacksonville for a few days, which enabled us to visit local forts, preserves and plantations. One of the highlights was a store called Jax Pickleball, which sold everything you need for this sport. I picked up some new pickleball shoes (which are hard to find and harder yet to be able to try on), and Jim got a new paddle. We also drove down to St. Augustine, which was packed! I think we got the last parking spot in a 3 mile radius, so we left the car for the day and walked everywhere instead. I certainly did not think that town would be a spring break destination, but boy was I wrong.

Vero Beach

From Jacksonville we traveled to Vero Beach where some friends of ours have a boat that they winter on. It was fun to be able to see it, and them. While it was too choppy to take it out, we enjoyed sitting outside on the boat enjoying drinks and snacks with them. The next morning we drove to Jupiter, where our beloved St. Louis Cardinals have their spring training games. How great it was to take in a Cardinals game for the first time since we moved away from St. Louis!

St. Louis Cardinals game

After that we crossed the state to go to the Punta Gorda area of Florida. We spent four nights with our friends at their condo, and we can certainly see why they jumped on the opportunity to purchase a condo there. The birding in their community is great, and all the flowering trees, shrubs and flowers really made me miss our gardens back in St. Louis. The Charlotte area is sadly lacking in blooms, especially our community as it is only a couple years old.

Punta Gorda area

The last part of our journey was spent in St. Simon, Georgia. I picked this location because it was about halfway home, and also we had never been to this part of Georgia. It did not disappoint. There was a lot to explore in the area, and we enjoyed our time there. 

St. Simon area

Overall, we had a wonderful trip. We just won't make the mistake of taking another one down south in March. Otherwise I might have to switch vehicles with this woman.

Mrs. Clean

Tomorrow Katie and her roommate Fay, who is from China, are coming here for spring break. We are excited as we barely had time to meet Fay when we moved Katie into the apartment in September. I am picking the girls up at the MegaBus stop at Union Station at 2:30, and then it sounds as if they will hit the ground running. It tires me out just listening to the itinerary. So many things to see and do before Fay heads back to Chicago Monday afternoon.

I have been on a cleaning rampage for the past two days. I guess since it was 82 outside today it can count as my spring cleaning. I think I'll be ready in time. I need to do the guest bathroom yet, but since that is the one that Jim uses I'll have to wait until he goes to work tomorrow morning. I also need to go to the store. I am going to make my lasagna with a salad and garlic bread for supper tomorrow night. Katie and I thought it would be nice for Fay to have a home cooked meal for a change. After tomorrow night they will be on the go so much I don't know if I'll even be cooking supper for them again.

To add to the confusion around here, we are doing some remodeling on the garage. I had suggested to Jim that we put a larger garage door on (it only had a single door with a man door next to it) so that he wouldn't have to move his car out of the way to get a motorcycle out. Of course they would pick this week to begin construction. Everything had to be moved out of the garage, so it is a little messy out back. I hate for Fay to see it that way, but I can't do anything about it. I think we'll be able to move some stuff and a car back in by this this weekend, so we can get it cleaned up a little anyway.