College Road Trip to Florida
A couple days ago I just got back from a trip to Florida with my friend Jayme. My parents have a time share down in Englewood and instead of wasting it like we have the past 10+ years, I decided it was time to use it. My parents feeling that I was old enough to take a trip of this calibur all by myself concurred. Jayme and I left the day after christmas and zoomed across to Mississippi where we saw deer, explored a lake side community, and went to bed early. The next morning we woke up early and i had the privalege (sp?) to watch the sunrise, it was gorgeous. On the road early we set off for Florida. We had hoped it wouldn't be so long of a drive, but we knew better. For the most part the drive was easy, she read a book outloud, or we played puzzle word games, listened to music, or made fun of the people driving next to us. Anything to ammuse ourselves. As we got closer to Tampa however we hit two traffic jams which sucked. The first one wasn't too bad b/c there was plenty of daylight and we were goofing off and making up stories about the other people driving around us. There was the Coke lady, Drunkie, Mafia guy, and of course the Penis squad. The second one wasn't as kewl b/c it was our second traffic jam and we wanted to get to out condo. The third one was wretched b/c by this time we were pissed and there was no light to read or see the people next to us with. Anyways.. we drove from 8 in the morning and didn't get to the Condo till 11 at night. We found the place, unloaded our stuff and hit the hay. The hay that I speak of by the way was a King size bed. I'd never seen such an enormous bed. You could have fit four people on it the thing was so huge. The next morning I filled out our dinky little registration form and checked in. We headed out to observe the town and get some breakfast. Jayme bought a new bathing suit and we loaded up on groceries. I even bought a pineapple for 2 bucks. And boy was it yummy.
We did alot of playing videogames, watching t.v., hanging at the beach, swimming, played shuffle board, took walks on the beach, went to a Museum, and just had fun hanging out. We even swam in the Gulf. Now most people will ask? Florida in December.. wasn't it cold? But it really wasn't. It was a pleasant 70+ degrees the entire time. The Gulf however was a little colder but once you were acclimated to the temperature all was well. We saw a sea turtle (Righteous Righteous!) the first day we were there and after that we saw dolphins everyday. Absolutely beautimous if I must say so. Once while we were swimming a dolphin swam past us and must have been only a few feet away. It was so spiffen. Schway!.. Dude.... ;) A little Finding Nemo humor in there. Anyways... most of the people looked at us as if we were freaks, like we didn't belong there. Mainly because all the people there were Oldies. And there was a new Drunkie. She came up to us and asked if we belonged there and such. Over all we had a lot of fun and I hope I get to go back again.
We celebrated the new years by listening to this aweful karaoke singer, watching the Iron Chef Finale, and then sipping Sparkling Cider as the Ball dropped in New York City. We tried two different Seafood places. The first one was called Mad Sam's and it looked like a great place. Pretty building and right on the shore with a fantastic view. However, this could not make up for the terrible food. Angry at the terrible place we were nervous of trying new places. We asked the locals where the best place was and someone told us the Lock and Key was good. Well.. someone had told us that the Mad Sam's place was great but it wasn't. Warily we ventured to Lock and Key. We asked a large group of people leaving and they enthusiastically told us that the Lock and Key was the best and that Mad Sam's was horrible. The man said he'd lived there for 20 years and he loved the Lock and Key. Sure of what were going to experience we boldy walked into the restaurant. Inside was packed with people and waiters buzzed about the crowded room. It wasn't as fancy as Mad Sam's but it had a cozy welcome kind of feeling. We sat down and our waitress was incrediably freindly and talkative. For the first time I tried Oysters and they were kind of strange but good none the less. Our food was excellent and quickly we were stuffed fool of oceany goodness. Definately worth the money we spent and surprisingly much less expensive than Mad Sam's.
But the trip had to come to an end. We left at 4:30 am on the 3rd of Jan and departed from the peaceful little town. The drive was much quicker than we expected. By 3:00 we had already reached Slidell Louisiana where we had planned to stay the night. Exhausted we found our hotel and rested. We grabbed some dinner at a nice little restaurant which had fantabulous food as well. Then settled into bed at about 9:00 preparing to leave early in the morning. We woke up and left Sliddell at around 7;30 and drove down to New Orleans. Not sure of the situation we would find it in since that day was some big Game against OU and LSU. Obviously there had been a huge party b/c the French Corner was trashed. We still walked around and enjoyed the morning. For breakfast we had Binelletes (sp?). It's fried dough, like a funnel cake but whole. :) We continues to wander around and checked out shops that were open. Once the Central Grocer opened we bought a Mufellata (sp?) which is this huge ass sandwich with salami, pastrami, swiss cheese, and olive salad on it. We ate a little bit of it and saved the rest for our drive back to Dallas. Once we had enough of the French Quarter we drove to the River Walk mall and bee lined for the store I wasted to visit b/c they had this mask i just had to have! But it wasn't open. Downheartedly we walked the rest of the mall, looking at the stores that happened to be open. As we made out way back I peeked once more into the glorious mask shop and a lady stood inside behind the counter. Excitedly I asked her when they would open and she said 5 minutes. Jayme laughed b/c I jumped around like a maniac. In only a couple minutes the nice woman opened the shop and i bought the mask I'd been thinking about since my last visit to New Orleans. It was indeed a successful visit to New Orleans. At around 10:30 we left the party town which was quickly filling with OU and LSU fans. The drive home was quiet and relaxing. We picniced for lunch and tore into our delicious Mufellata. Getting into Dallas was quite a shock b/c we had been used to warm balmy weather and returned to cold windy conditions. Though it was a wonderful trip we were both happy to be home.
