florida fun

Tallahassee, Florida

the first stop in this state was Tallahassee, as previously mentioned. staying in the hotel was really helpful for us and our precious home on wheels. everyone (including our van) needed a break in the drive because we had another 6 hour drive ahead of us to Adam’s aunt. whew!

the hotel was quite nice but there was some chaos that erupted the next morning. there apparently was a storm brewing right in the area we were heading that day. on top of it, there was a bunch of rain that night (which we surprisingly hadn’t experienced once in our 18 days on the road).

this proved to be a challenge for us because we had strapped the two bucket seats to the roof with a tarp over it back in Colorado. and when I say we, I mean Adam. he macgyvered it to the roof but with driving a few thousand miles at 80 mph, the tarp was practically useless. so naturally, all the rain drenched the seats right as we decided to bring them back inside for this tornado that was supposed to come. on top of that, we learned that the front windshield has a leak so the inside had a nice puddle for us too. luckily nothing important was wet and after driving another 500 miles with the windows down, the seats were practically dry. what an adventure!!

Cape Coral, Florida

ANYWAY. once that was taken care of, we headed off for Cape Coral to see some of Adam’s family. the weather wasn’t nearly as treacherous as it could have been with a tornado. but we did drive through some rain here and there. plus, the sky was ominous the entire day so 10 am and 5 pm looked the exact same.

Florida was fun and crazy from the start. the billboards we passed on the road are hilarious. and it definitely felt familiar being back on the east coast again. just driving on the highway reminded me of home. when we finally made it to Adam’s aunt, it was later than expected and we were pooped! it was really nice knowing that we would be somewhat stationary again for a little while. as much as road tripping is really fun, it is also really nice to have your belongings set up for longer than one night. everything has its time.

we really enjoyed our time with his family and Adam was able to see a cousin he hasn’t spent time with in roughly 15 years! playing cards, eating cookies, and hanging with some energetic children was how we spent our time. there was some R&R and laundry in there too. our plan was to get up north by Orlando before Halloween so we could go see Harry Potter at Universal, so Adam drove us late in the evening on the night before.

Orlando, Florida

the time we spent near Orlando was with family. it was a brief stint before we headed off to Georgia, but we got to rest and eat some delicious food. I didn’t take many pictures aside from Universal and Harry Potter just because we spent most of it relaxing. after going to Universal, we naturally watched Harry Potter afterwards. safe to say we had a good time in Florida!