Summer Memories - Part 4

My summer memories also consist of summer vacations.  We've been able to go on some great vacations throughout my life.  When I was young, my parents and grandparents would try to take us to Six Flags (over Texas) with my cousins.  We always had a blast doing that.  And I have some pictures to prove it (much to my cousin's dismay).

My favorite vacation of all, though, was the summer between my 5th and 6th grades.  We had been planning our trip to Florida for a long time.  At that point, I had never been and I was so excited to finally be able to go to Disney World.  I remember the night before we left, I couldn't sleep a wink.  Then, when I did finally fall asleep, I woke up with a severe tummy ache and I just knew my parents would cancel the trip.  But, we went anyways (the tummy ache was just nerves), and it was the longest car ride ever.  Those were the days before IPods, electronic games, DVD's in the car, computers, etc.  So, it was a very long car ride to Florida.

We stopped in every state, taking a picture at the welcome sign at the state line.  Our first stop was St. Augustine, where we would meet up with my 3rd grade teacher and her husband, who had just moved to Florida to be with her mother.  That was the first time I ever saw a beach.  After that, we spent a few days at Disney World, which was the best time ever, then we proceeded to Ft. Lauderdale where my parents had some friends that lived there.  What was exciting about that leg of the trip - these friends had a private plane and they took my sister and I up for a ride.  He even let me pilot the plane at one point.  It was wonderful.  That was the first time I ever flew.

I'll also never forget the hotel in Ft. Lauderdale that we had reservations at.  It was the worst hotel on the strip.  My Mom said it was so bad that she wouldn't even sit on the bed, and when we did, the bed broke!  It was awful.  We couldn't get out of the reservation that night, so we had to stay there.  My parents didn't sleep a wink that night.  Our reservation was supposed to have been for several nights, but we cut it short and started home.  Well, until we got to Ft. Walton Beach, where they had the prettiest beaches with the whitest sand.  We pulled into this hotel that looked like a dive from the outside, but the inside was wonderful!  It was like a quaint cabin with a kitchen, so we spent our last few days in Florida there.  Our "cabin" was directly on the beach, so we just swam and swam for days.

That vacation was over 2 weeks long.  We haven't been on a vacation like that since.  Yes, we've been on vacation, but not for that long, especially as an entire family.  I'd like to do that again someday, but I don't think I can handle the drive.  I'm too spoiled by airplanes now!