Even with as busy as it’s been at work, and it being a production cut over weekend for the project I’m on, I took off the whole weekend and drove down to Florida. I know, it sounds crazy me saying I took off a weekend, but that’s the reality of it, that I’m on call pretty much every weekend, so it makes actually being able to do something a pain.
Now, driving down to Florida (from Chicago), may not sound like a “vacation”, but I had fun. My grandpa hasn’t been feeling that well, so instead of my grandparents driving from the home in Northern MI to FL, they flew. However, both of their cars were in MI, so someone needed to drive one down to them. Here in steps my cousin and I.
The two of us embarked on our journey in the Lincoln Continental on Friday morning. We drove all day, with only 2 or 3 phone calls from work, and stopped for the night about twenty miles north of Macon, GA. We actually stopped quite a few times, and had a good dinner at Flammini’s in Dalton, GA. The next morning, Saturday, we headed out and made it to their house in Melbourne, FL around 3:30PM EST. And it was a beautiful sunny day.
Apparently they had had nothing but rainy weather for the past for weeks, but the two days we were there were gorgeous. On Sunday we went to the beach. Nothing like 83 degree water with 4 foot chop for some serious fun. There were a ton of surfers enjoying it also. The ocean was actually warmer than my grandparent’s pool! That night we had a good dinner at the club, and then I watched the White Sox win the ALCS pennant.
Unfortunately, our flight back Monday morning was at 6:30AM EST, which means we were up at 3AM CST in order to get there on time. This way our flight would get in around 8:15AM CST, so we’d get to work around 9-9:30. Needless to say, we had a crying baby sit right in front of us, so sleeping was made difficult. Well, that and the overweight man who was sitting next to me and kept encroaching on my space (I’m not a fan of the middle seat).
The flight got in a little bit late, but I was at work by 9:30. Talk about a whirlwind weekend. It’s just unfortunate that when we drove through Knoxville, TN, my friend wasn’t in town to have a beer or two with. Maybe next time.