Heading Back to FLORIDA!

Settle in, friends. It's virtual vacation time with the Shaffers! :) 

We are safely home, but we were just gone for ELEVEN beautiful days to celebrate our tenth anniversary. Typically our anniversary trips are just long weekends, but this was a big year, so we made the trip big to match! I have so much to tell you, so this will take a few days. Hope that's okay! 

Months ago, we began talking about where we wanted to go to celebrate this milestone anniversary. We talked about going back to Siesta Key, where we were married. We went back there for our fifth anniversary, and we weren't sure if we might make a tradition of always going back on the five year increments, but there are just so many places we want to see, so we decided to do something different this time. 

This was the only trip of any length we took this year, and we definitely knew we wanted to go WARM. So after tossing around a few itinerary ideas, we landed on checking out the panhandle of Florida!

We left just after lunch the day before Thanksgiving, and we had a GORGEOUS day for travel. 

Remember a week ago when I told you we had a handful of days that were filled with "ARE YOU KIDDING ME" moments? Started right....HERE. Perhaps I shall signal these moments with a triple exclamation point in parentheses after each story.

We stopped to get fuel and that's when we learned that some card companies put huge charges on your card when you swipe it at the pump. This had never happened to us, but we were on an interstate, so maybe that was the difference? It was almost a $200 charge ON TOP OF the fuel charge. It did fall off after a couple of days, but it was startling and delayed us about a half hour while we made phone calls to try to figure out what was going on. (!!!) Note: apparently this is a new thing since fuel prices have gone up so much. 

Just before the Indiana/Kentucky line, we stopped at this little coffee shop for a break and some coffee (and possibly a snack). It was such a cute little shop and the baristas were extra friendly. 

WOW. The sunset as we crossed into Kentucky was stunning!

(Side note: we observed that our trip took us through Indianapolis, which was the location of our first anniversary trip...Louisville, which was the location of our sixth anniversary trip...and Nashville, which was the location of our ninth anniversary trip!) 

I see that the non-toll bridge into Louisville still doesn't have a "Welcome to Kentucky" sign. Sigh. (!!!)

We had a great time talking ALL the way through Kentucky, and suddenly Ryan pointed and said, "TENNESSEE!" Too late for a picture of the sign. (!!!) I guess it doesn't matter, because it would have looked like this. 

It worked out, though, because that reminded me of a couple of state sign pictures I took on our all-nighter trip to our wedding. I'm pretty sure Georgia looked JUST like that picture above. 

Hi, Nashville! You're as pretty as you were last year!

We traveled as far as Franklin, Tennessee (south side of Nashville) that first night. You guys, our hotel was not a win. (!!!)

We visited Franklin last year (side trip one day) and learned it is very upscale and NOT an inexpensive place to live (or visit). So looking for a hotel room in a more affluent community ON a major holiday was a lot of fun. We found a hotel that was within our price range, had great reviews, and we carefully combed through all the pictures. It all looked really nice.

If only reviews had smell-a-vision.

I think Ryan legitimately felt bad for me because when we pulled in, we realized it was a hotel with exterior doors to the rooms, and those terrify me. We checked in and learned our room was on the first floor on the back side. Strikes two and three! 

The room 100% reeked of cleaners, and we put ice in the refrigerator with our food, because we didn't think it felt very cold. We tried not to touch anything unless we had to.

We stood up to eat our dinner (which I had packed in our cooler) and ran the diffuser PRONTO.

We actually ended up hopping back in the car and going to a Publix and Home Depot just to walk around and breathe clean air - until everything closed for the night and we were forced back to the hotel.

Breakfast the next morning (at the hotel) was an experience to match the rest of it, so it should not shock you that we got on the road a whole hour early. We were also in central time, but our bodies were on eastern time, so that helped motivate us. 

If we ever stay in Franklin again, we'll choose other accommodations. ;) 

It was Thanksgiving Day, so we looked the part! Pretend we ironed the shirts. The hotel room had an iron, but of course, it was broken. (!!!)

We hadn't been on the road long before we entered Alabama, which was a brand-new state for me. And I managed to JUST catch the sign before we missed it!

Ahhh, Sweet Home, Alabama! I do love that movie. Anyone else have a bit of Melanie Smooter living inside?

We stopped at the rest stop right inside the state line to get some pictures.

We talked and told stories most of the way through Alabama, and right about the time we stopped for our Thanksgiving lunch, which is pictured below, we decided to take an impromptu side trip! You'll have to wait until tomorrow for that, but please enjoy my idea of a dream Thanksgiving lunch!