The Roadtrip – Part 1

So I wasn’t going to do it but I decided too. I am talking about two things—taking the kids to Miami for Spring Break and writing about the seven day saga this week.

The kids, Robyn and Jacob, pictured on the front page with their rendition of The News on Vacation, have been after me for years for a trip to Miami, South Beach specifically. Me, knowing Miami, knew my kids under age 10 were not ready for Miami—or at least I wasn’t ready for them and all that.

Last week was Spring Break and I usually don’t do big trips on Spring Break because everybody else is and places are usually busier during those happy weeks which makes lines longer and accommodations more expensive. Anyway with her in her first year of high school and he in his first of middle school, I thought we would bite the bullet this year. They’ve both worked very hard this year acclimating to their new levels and have matured nicely so why not a little South Beach in their life…plus I could use the change of scenery.

So in February I conjured up this Florida College Tour to make it more meaningful — to have a point just beyond having fun. Plus a couple of her “maybe” colleges are in the Sunshine State. I was also using the trip as a pre-celebration for his 12th birthday that is Saturday. Robyn won’t be with us on his day as she will be camping out in the Southeastern Georgia woods.

The first part of our journey was quite nostalgic for me. We headed for Tallahassee on our first leg of the trip with us traveling the same route I used to take some 30 years ago. The route hadn’t changed but much of the scenery had. It seems all of the wide open fields that I would pass by after exiting the interstate in Tifton had changed.

The once vast fields of cotton had been replaced by produce and/or solar panels. I was pleasantly surprised, Robyn could have cared less as she was on her phone in the passenger seat, and Jacob was sleep in the back for most of the journey into Florida. He awoke about 20 miles into Florida and asked had we passed the state’s welcome sign. We rolled our eyes, said yes and he went back to sleep.

We headed straight to our first college stop as rain was expected to start in the early evening hours. I headed straight to the place I knew best…the Landis lawns, just beyond the Robert Strozier Library where life used to breathe at The Florida State University.

To be continued…