Final Gulf Coast Road Trip Post: Going Home

We had decided to go a different route home so we could see some more sites and explore different cities. So when we left Miami on Friday morning we drove north through Georgia, and up to Charleston, South Carolina, where we spent the night (by the time our trip was over, we had spent a night in Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina, and Georgia. Daniel and I have already stayed in Louisiana, so now we have the whole southeast prety much covered).

We'd never been to Charleston before, and we really loved it. I'd definitely like to go back someday. Saturday was going to be a relatively short day of driving (we only had to get to Atlanta, GA that night), so we spent Saturday morning in Charleston. We drove around for a little while, and then went on a boat tour out to Fort Sumter (where the first shots of the Civil War were fired). The fort is on a little island about a 30-minute ferry ride away from Charleston. I'm so glad we took the time to go see it - the kids loved both the ferry ride and exploring the fort/island.

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After lunch we got back in the car and headed to Atlanta. Our hotel was right next to a little mall, so we walked around for a little while, ate dinner, and then headed back to do a little day-before-Easter hunt in our hotel room. It was very low-key: the kids had decorated paper lunch bags to use as their baskets, and I didn't have any plastic eggs to put the treats in, so I sort of just scattered starbursts around the room. Also, after they were done finding all the candy, I made them give it all back to me and we combined it in a big bag to use for traveling treats the rest of the drive home. Luckily, they are still young enough to go along with stuff like that, and I didn't hear any complaints - I love when simple things like searching for starbursts in a hotel room are still super exciting.

The next day we drove to Jackson, Mississippi. We considered trying to make it all the way home, but it would have been about a 16 hour day, and there was a horrible storm system that we would have had to drive through (there were tornado warnings in Jackson when we got there). We decided to just stay the night in Jackson (which had been our original plan anyway), and I'm glad we did. It was nice to have some time to just relax in the hotel room and let the kids play/color, etc. After Henry and the girls went to sleep, Daniel and I even got in a game of Ticket to Ride with the boys.

The next morning we got up early, were out of our hotel by 6:00 a.m., and home in Austin before 3:30 that afternoon. It felt good to be home, but we still can't stop talking about what a great time we had. My kids (and Daniel) love looking at the map on our kitchen table and planning out future road trips, trying to fit in as many states as possible.

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Gulf Coast Road Trip: The Beach

The day before we left Laura's house, we went to the Red Reef Park beach in Boca Raton. It was definitely one of my favorite days of the whole trip. I was a little unsure of how things were going to go (our last few beach experiences have been less than ideal), and I thought it would be a little hard with Henry and everything, but the whole afternoon could not have gone better.

It was the most perfect beach I've ever seen for young kids. The water was pretty calm and not too cold, and there was a perfect shallow area for the kids to wade/splash around in. Elizabeth was in heaven, and even Rachel, who has hated the beach since her Corpus Christi/South Padre disasters, was getting in the water and having fun. There were lots of little tide pools right on the shore, and the boys had a blast catching crabs and little fish. Henry also loved everything about the beach - there was a perfect area on the shore for him to crawl around and explore.

One of the coolest things about this beach, though, was that there is a man-made reef really close to shore that attracts tons of tropical fish, so it was perfect for snorkeling. Laura had brought some snorkeling masks, so she and I swam out and looked around at all the fish, and it was so much fun! I couldn't believe how many fish we could see - the water was so clear. Because the reef was so close to shore (you literally could just walk out and then put your face under the water and see the fish), Daniel took Tristan and Oliver out there with their goggles, and they loved it.

And I just realized that I used the word "perfect" maybe a little too much in the above paragraphs, but I am not even going to change it, because that's really what it was: perfect beach, perfect day!

Gulf Coast Road Trip: The Everglades

One of the things we were most excited about doing while in Florida was exploring the Everglades, which are only about an hour from Laura's house.

I couldn't believe how many alligators we saw!

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Gulf Coast Road Trip: Miami

The day after we got to Laura's house (which is in Davie, just north of Miami), we decided to drive down to downtown Miami to walk around and see the shops, beaches, etc.

The weather was great, and the kids had a fun time climbing trees and playing on a playground near the beach.

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Gulf Coast Road Trip: Cousins

One of my favorite things after we got to Laura's house was just seeing how much fun the kids had playing together. Laura has five kids, too (Gwyneth and Liesel are 10, Madeline is 7, Gretchen is 5, and Pace is almost 2), so between the two of us there were ten kids running around (or crawling, in Henry's case). It had been more than two years since our kids had seen each other, so it was really fun to see them all get to know each other again.

The weather was nice and hot when we got there, so the first thing we did was go jump in the pool. After that there was lots of playing on the swingset, building train tracks, dressing up, board games, etc. It made me wish more than ever that I lived next to all my sisters, so our kids could always be such good friends.

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Gulf Coast Road Trip

We just got back from one of the best vacations ever! My sister Laura recently moved to Miami, so we decided to drive there to visit her family. We turned it into a Gulf Coast road trip, and planned our route to include lots of south-eastern states that we had never been to before.


Part One: We left Austin, drove through Lousiana (stopping in both Baton Rouge and New Orleans), drove through Mississippi, and then spent the night in Mobile, Alabama. The next day we made it to Florida. We drove through Tallahassee, and then down to Tampa, where we spent the night.

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