The Atlantic Ocean

I was so excited to see the Atlantic Ocean. My Bubbie had been telling me it was cold and had huge waves. I wasn't sure how to feel about that. I was really excited to see the waves but I don't like cold water at all.

 

It seemed like it took FOREVER to drive from one side of Florida to the other side.  We just drove straight across & when we got there it was raining so hard we couldn't see anything!  Mommy drove farther up the road & we were out of the storm but it was following us FAST.  When we got to Daytona Beach we were finally able to run down to the water.  It WAS cold!  The sand was different too - it was lots of broken shells & up close I think it looked like red pepper flakes.

When we woke up the next day at our hotel on St. Augustine Beach it was a perfect beach day.  Our plans were to beach it that morning. The beach wasn't very crowded, there were big sand dunes, and the beach was very wide. 

One of the cool things  is that people were walking their dogs in the water and you could tell the dogs were loving it.

I wanted to go in the water right away but Mom & Savannah said it was too cold and they had to get hot first. I didn't want to go in by myself because I didn't want my first experience to be alone in the water.  I waited and waited and ... waited.

They finally needed to cool down so we got in. It was chilly but we got used to it. We tried to bodysurf but we were too late every time the wave came.  We were terrible surfers but it was still a blast! We could see the pier so Mommy & I thought it would be nice to walk there. It didn't look that far but it kinda was.  We were glad we did it though - we walked out to the end & the pier was HOT on our bare feet. The walk back was only a mile but it seemed like five!

  

Crisp, cool,  & blue is what the Atlantic Ocean felt and looked like! The air is saltier, the waves are bigger, and I know I am in the Atlantic and not the Gulf Of Mexico. The Atlantic Ocean was everything I was hoping for! 

- Sage

Vacation Eve!

Yowza!  It's been a long time coming but it's finally here - we are heading out tomorrow.  The van is packed and vacuumed, gas tank is full, and my 2 darling daughters are sound asleep resting up for The Adventure.

There were days I wondered if this trip would ever get off the ground.  It was so easy (and fun!) to sit with my ipad and look at the map and just pick every place I thought would be fun to go to.  I made reservations, got the girls excited, and we even started a blog.  "Man!  This vacation thing is awesome", I thought.  And it was.... until the day we got a fun little letter from The IRS.  You know that's never good.

IDENTITY THEFT!! Can't lie - that definitely put a cog in our vacation wheel.  Our tax refund (vacation fund) is now lost in space and being sorted out, our credit has been affected, and we've even had problems with our bank account.  A lot of the fun and excitement about the trip has been lost with having to deal with these financial hassles.  Our itinerary has been tweaked.  Fewer places and fewer days.  **sigh**  No shrimping in Brunswick.  No Surf School in Daytona.  No visiting family and old friends in Charlotte.  But you know what? Now that our Adventure is finally upon us, we're not worrying about what we can't do - I'm just super excited about all the things we ARE!

I'm so lucky to have this time to go exploring with my girls.  As I tucked them in tonight they both told me how excited they were and that's what this trip is about.  8am can't get here fast enough!!  St. Augustine, ready or not....here we come!

Blackberries & Fireflies!!

It goes without saying that I can't wait for our Summer Escape, but now I'm SUPER excited!  We rerouted the mountain leg of our trip and instead of Bryson City we are going to be a smidge closer to Asheville.  I just reserved a cabin for 3 nights at Randall Glen (click to see).

We have a log cabin with a big front porch that includes the requisite porch swing & rocking chairs.  The property is a working farm with free range animals, an orchard & vegetable garden, horseback riding & gem mining.  There are bonfires at night under what the property owner described as "stars like you have never seen before", and my 2 Florida girls will get to pick fat, ripe, wild blackberries & catch fireflies in a mason jar.  

Sounds divine - can we go right now?!

Our cabin....

Ouch!

So, can you say "out of shape"?  In keeping with our goal of running the 5k in May, the girls and I went out and started our Couch to 5K training program tonight.  It was a gorgeous night, and what we lacked in skill we definitely made up for in enthusiasm.  Until we actually started to run.

** (And to be clear, this "we" I speak of is Savannah & me.  Sage, our resident soccer star, was literally running laps around us)!

Oh my! It was embarrassing how hard it was, but I just kept on running.  Ugh!  I must say that when it was over we felt good (maybe because it was over?!), and we gave each other a high five, drank some water, and gave each other another high five. 

81 days until race day.  62 days left in our training program.  We've SO got this!

Please?

Obviously we are new to this whole blogging thing, and it's a learning experience.  In the week or so it's been up we've even experienced some criticism - can you believe that?!  Luckily most of our feedback has been supportive and we have been having a lot of fun!

One of the things we've learned, is that for people to get updates on our blog, they need to "join".   Maybe you're not interested in getting updates and that's fine.  
Sage just said "No, not really, that's not fine.  If they are our friend or family member why wouldn't they want updates, huh?? "

Valid point..........  :)

SO, if you DO want to keep in the loop of our blog, please join.  Little blue button on the right. 

And thanks.  xoxo.

- Regan (& Sage)

Determined

So, this May we're doing our first 5k, Foam Fest . This got us inspired to try and do a 5k in each of the cities we're stopping in.  Obviously some of us need to train for this, like the 2 of us that aren't on a soccer team, but we can do it.


~ Savannah

This will make things a LOT easier

We live a long way from LA & New York.  The 2 places that (if you watch any of the food networks) seem to have the best food, restaurants, and food trucks.  I can't tell you how many times we've watched "Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives", or "Best Thing I Ever Ate" and we realize that the thing we are now starving for is 1,000 miles away.

 

Luckily I'm exaggerating, they aren't ALL in LA & NY.  Several of the yummy places that have been spotlighted are on our travel route - yay!  I know this because we found this

Food App.  Sage has already locked some places down - and if we go by her schedule, all we will be doing in Atlanta is eating.  Not that there's anything wrong with that :)

 

~ Regan

8 points on a map

Hotels, Motels, Cabins - oh my!!

Whew!  Lodging is booked for 5 of the 7 destinations.  A cabin on a river in Bryson City, a "green" boutique hotel in St. Augustine, a chain hotel in Savannah, but Atlanta & Charlotte are proving much more tricky.  Prices are high - even with my sweeeet teacher discount.  Parking & tax add over $50 a day to the rate.  Ain't nobody got time for that!

This conundrum led me to vrbo.com.  Oh VRBO, where have you been all my life?!  I found an awesome place in midtown Atlanta.  1 bedroom in a high rise condo, kitchen, free parking, doorman, wi-fi, $99 a night (maybe we'll just live there!).   So I started to to look for a place in Charlotte, the town I consider my "Hometown".

Hmmmm... a pied a terre in Myers park, a town home in Dilworth, a cottage in the Cotswold area, and then I saw something that made my heart stop.  And then it started again, but it was beating fast!  A large 1 bedroom in the Elizabeth area.  How fun, how cool!  I had lived in that area long ago, and already loved it's eclectic feel, but when I clicked on the listing I couldn't believe my eyes!  Could it actually be?  My first apartment!

I would know that building anywhere!  This was it (Click to see!), I just know it! Of course it goes without saying that the gorgeous place has a decidedly different look than it did when I lived there.  Somehow our yard sale finds & childhood home hand-me-downs didn't achieve the designer look the space now has, but the front of that building was alllllll too familiar.

1989,  I was a mere 19 years old.   It was time to escape my parent's house and Anne, my best best friend & I had found 2100 E. 7th street.  A looooong way from where I grew up off Albemarle rd. but I didn't care, the price was right, Anne was by my side as my perfect roommate, & we were ready.   It was the coolest building - LOTS of unique people living in each unit, and even now my memories of that place are some of the most favorite that I have.  It was an amazing year.  And to think I may  actually be able to stay there with my daughters?  Oh, how I hope the walls can't really talk :).

This is the sad part where I have to write I was wrong - guess I wouldn't know the building anywhere.  This isn't 2100 E. 7th st.  It's 1 block over.  Shucks!  Not gonna lie - the idea of it being the same place sure was fun for a couple days.  Oh well- we're keeping it on our short list of possibilities.

~ Regan

Hitting the Road

123 days, & yes, we are counting

**SIGH** It's so hard!  It's February and all I can think about is our trip in JUNE!  So long away.  Too long away!

Savannah, Sage, & I are hitting the road this summer, we have a slight case of wanderlust.   Unfortunately Tom has to work & doesn't get summers off like we do, so sadly he can't join us.  With a daughter who will be in her 15th summer I'm feeling that the time is slipping away & before I know it, we'll be packing for college instead of our Summer Adventures.  I've got to savor the time we have.  It will be a mother - daughter(s), sister-sister (as the girls call themselves) getaway.

Mushy gushy I know, but I've got to say I'm the luckiest Mom ever & I just treasure our special Mother - Daughter bond.  We thought it would be fun to keep a blog of our adventure & the girls came up with the title - all 3 of us will author the posts.

Only 123 days....

Leaving June 11th!  Here's where we are headed...

 *  #1   Cocoa Beach, Fl.  

 *  # 2.  St. Augustine.  

 *  # 3.  Brunswick, GA.

 *   #4.   Savannah, GA.  

 *  # 5.   Charlotte, NC.

 *  # 6.   Bryson City., NC.  

*   # 7.   Atlanta, GA.  

 *  # 8.    Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park

 * Home. June 27th


~ Regan

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