The beds last night were comfy and it took some time to get everyone out of bed. Tavis was up just after 7:00am. I was up at 7:30, and I woke the kids up at 8:30, 8:40, 8:45, and 8;50 when they finally started getting ready. Everyone got ready, packed up their suitcases, and filled their water bottles. Ari helped Tavis pack the car while I emptied the trash, threw the towels in the wash, and locked the doors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By 9:30am we were in the car and on our way. Addison found a place to buy Georgia peaches about an hour away so that was our first stop. We pulled into Peach World excited to have peaches for breakfast. We were quite disappointed to discover that the peaches were lined with gold (because a small bucket was 16.99) and also they were freshly picked and would take 3 days to ripen. When we went into the store they had free samples of peach lemonade and peach cider which both tasted amazing. We opted for a gallon of peach lemonade. After taking some photos of the resident turkey and some silly photo cutouts, we were back on the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was shortly after we were back on the highway that we realized we had forgotten our sandwiches \ud83e\udd26\u200d\u2640\ufe0f. We totally made a rookie mistake and left today\u2019s lunch and our garlic butter in the fridge. I messaged the host to let him know and apologized for our error. He was really good about it though, probably because it wasn\u2019t his lunch that was missing \ud83d\ude1e<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few minutes down the road we passed a Buc-ee\u2019s. It was too early to stop again but we altered our route slightly to ensure we would stop at one along the way. At noon, we pulled into the Buc-ee\u2019s just outside of Jacksonville. For anyone who hasn\u2019t been to one you are absolutely missing out. It is a chain of the largest gas stations I\u2019ve ever seen. They probably have 100 pumps. Then a store the size of Walmart that sells everything from toothpaste to hand made sandwiches and toffee to art work. It is impressive no matter how many times you go. We were introduced to it when we lived in Texas. Anyways, everyone bought a sandwich and I got freshly made chips. With out tummies full and the car topped up with cheap fuel (2.59\/gal) we were on our way again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We had beautiful blue skies until about 20 minutes after passing through Orlando. Within a 30 minute span, we saw an ominous dark cloud infront of us. Then we were caught in a huge storm with thunder and lightening. The wipers could barely keep up. The visibility was so bad that cars slowed to a crawl. It delayed our ETA by 30 minutes! Just before arriving in Tampa, the skies cleared and we were back to beautiful sunny weather. It was like nothing happened. The weather is crazy!!!! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We arrived at our Airbnb around 4:30pm. This was an actual house with its own driveway. The house is for sale so it was easy to spot. We walked in to a big open family room and decent size kitchen. On one side was the master suite with a king bed, walk-in closet, and huge ensuite. On the other side was the kids area with 2 bedrooms (queen bed and 2 singles) and a large bathroom with tub. At the back of the house was a family room with a laundry room\/bathroom on one side, and a back door on the other that led to a private pool in the back yard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think I was unpacked with my bathing suit on and lounging in a chair by the pool within 10 minutes. It was so nice after a long drive. Eventually, everyone else came out to join me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At 6:00pm, Tavis, Ayva, and I drove to Walmart for groceries. We spent $50 and we got pork steaks, potatoes, sandwich meat and cheese, buns, butter, a watermelon, and ice cream sandwiches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we got home we cut up and devoured half the watermelon. Then we drove to Sunset Beach on Treasure Island. We paid $2.50 for 25 minutes of parking. It took a few minutes to figure out the web app, but Tavis got it sorted while the kids searched licence plates. They found Idaho! This leaves 4.5 remaining. We walked out the beach not sure what to expect. What we found was amazing! \ud83d\ude33\ud83d\ude0d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It reminded me of long beach. You take a walkway out to a long beach of white sand the consistency of hardened cornstarch! I don\u2019t think there were any grains of sand. It took a few minutes to reach the small waves of the ocean which was over 80 degrees. It literally felt like stepping into a bath but it was ocean water. The wet sand felt like magic puffy under your feet. If you try to dig through it was like sand, but if you let your feet slowly sink into the sand they would sink. It was the craziest feeling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sunset was amazing because there was a funnel of clouds in the sky. You could see rain pouring in the distance but it was blue skies around us. The kids each did their own photo shoot as we took some photos of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When our parking expired after the sun went down, we made our way back to the car. We rinsed the sand from our feet at the showers outside the restrooms. As we got back, there was a group of maybe 100 people on electric scooters, bikes and unicycles that came down the path toward the beach. Some of them had neon lights and 1 person had music and a bubble machine! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We drove back to the house and around 9:00pm started making our gourmet dinner of bbq pork steaks and potatoes with garlic butter. it was very yummy. We also enjoyed our mint Klondike bars. After digesting a bit, we all went outside for a family game of Marco Polo in the pool. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tavis and I came in around 10:00 to shower and get ready for bed. At 11:00 we got the kids out of the pool. That is when we noticed that Ayva\u2019s spot on her face that she got at Outer Banks had grown significantly and was spreading. It was like a bug bite that wasn\u2019t a bug bite. Now it was the size of a dime. Since we are going on a cruise ship in 2 days, we might get that looked at tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was another late night, but we really enjoyed the house here at Kenneth City, Florida. I see why people come here to vacation. It doesn\u2019t seem possible, but the beaches just keep getting better! We had an amazing stay and it is bitter sweet that tomorrow we make our way toward the final destination of our road trip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The beds last night were comfy and it took some time to get everyone out of bed. Tavis was up just after 7:00am. I was up at 7:30, and I woke the kids up at 8:30, 8:40, 8:45, and 8;50 when they finally started getting ready. Everyone got ready, packed up their suitcases, and filled … <\/p>\n