The husband and I just got back from an escape.

An escape from the cold.

An escape from the teenager.

 

My 18-year-old stepson recently moved in with us. Fun! And it has been so cold here in PA that we decided to book a hotel in Jacksonville, Florida, and drive down on a whim just for some sunshine.

The cold and the teenager have been huge adjustments in our house.

We decided to take my Volkswagen Bug because of the gas milage (total of $75 in gas for one way) and the fact that it was a convertible. I figured it would make the 12-hour drive a little more interesting.

I should note I’m not a fan of driving. I hate driving long distances. I have never driven more than 5 hours in a car with my husband, and I was not sure if I was going to make it…but off we went.

We started driving on Tuesday night and planned to go at least 6 hours, staying overnight in a hotel somewhere in Georgia. The next morning we got up and finished the drive.

We stayed in a brand new hotel in Jacksonville right off of Route 95 called Marble Waters.  The hotel was in a residential area in walking distance to a strip mall, some restaurants, and a gym (for BOB).  It was about 20 minutes driving distance away from Jacksonville Beach. The husband was not too fond of the location.  There weren’t any bars or anywhere to hang out at night without driving.  I didn’t mind.

The next few days were a whirlwind of driving, fog, and sunshine.

We loved opening the windows when the temperature outside hit 70!

We had a great breakfast at Metro Diner! The husband and I are huge fans of diners and try to frequent them as much as possible. This one was rated #1 on TripAdvisor and it was sooo good. If you are even in Jacksonville Beach, go!

We stopped at a state park about 20 minutes from Jacksonville Beach called Little Talbot Island State Park.  It was a cloudy day but the beach was beautiful. There were only about 5 people there and I could have walked for miles. No cars. No people. No hotels. Just beach.

As I was walking along with my husband I had a moment of bliss. You know when you are at a place that makes you happy inside…this was it. Just beautiful.

The next day we decided to drive to St. Augustine, about 90 minutes away. I was not a fan of getting back into the car, but the fact that we had a convertible helped (it was snowing back in PA). We spent the whole day there walking around and shopping.

Then this happened.

POPCORN!

I have a strange addiction to popcorn. Roni and I have to get some at every airport and then we proceed to eat the entire bag before we land.  This place was crazy!!  They had pickle, upside down pineapple cake, coffee, peppermint, and even strawberry!  I had a hard time deciding but we ended up with a child’s size serving of pineapple cake and caramel.  Both were delicious but too sugary!

The end of our week was a mixture of a big cat sanctuary and one beach day.  It was really too cold to lie on the beach. Even for us northerners.

We ended up having a good time, getting some sunshine and we didn’t kill each other.

Let’s call it a win.