Saturday: Left home in the pouring rain (isn't that a country song???) about 9AM in Daddy's truck, loaded down with a bedroom suite for Brittany. Tracy spent hours covering it with tarps and tying everything down so it wouldn't get wet! We got about 5 miles from the house and realized that we had forgotten the gun we were taking Brandon! So we had to turn around and meet Tracy to get it. Then we set off again. It rained constantly until about Cordele. We stopped in Tifton (which is about 1/2 way) to get lunch and found that the tarp had ripped right in half! It wasn't raining anymore, but it sure looked like it could start any minute! We wanted to sit down in the Steak 'n Shake and eat, but they were so shorthanded that after 15 minutes of no one even taking our order, we got up and walked out. We went through the drive through and headed on down the interstate. I couldn't risk the mattress getting wet. Shortly after Tifton, the clouds cleared and it was pretty and blue skys the rest of the way. We reached Missi's house about 4 pm. Brandon was soooo excited about his gun. He kept saying thank you. Brittany, being a teenager, was more pragmatic... "Thank you and I'm glad to get my bedroom suite." I was thrilled that all the pieces fit in her room and looked really good! Missi's boyfriend, Jon, worked so hard unloading everything and putting it all in her room to her specifications. He was very patient as she made up her mind where she wanted everything. Then we went to dinner at the Golden Corral in Orange Park. Missi's mom and step-dad, Diane and Andrew, met us there. The place was a madhouse! But we ate well. Brandon sat next to me and was so sweet. He sneaked over to the dessert bar and made me a special dessert of ice cream, with candy sprinkled on top. Of course, Brittany hardly ate or said anything. I was also excited because there were girl scouts outside the restaurant selling cookies, and I got 4 boxes of Tag-a-Longs!!! LOVE those things! Then we took some pictures, hugged everyone good-bye, and drove to Mandarian to our motel.
Sunday: Woke to rain. It had caught up with us. There were ducks in the motel parking lot, enjoying it. Called Ronnie and arranged to meet him for lunch. (Gary wasn't interested in coming.) Got ready and went to McDonald's to get some breakfast. Then we went back over to Orange Park and visited Harry Jr.'s grave... it had stopped raining by then. Had the hardest time getting the vase up out of the ground for the flowers I had brought... dirt had fallen in around it. Left the cemetery and went to Beall's Outlet and Big Lots for some shopping! Too much, cause we ended up a little late for lunch! Clark's Fish Camp is right on the river... 2 miles down a residential road... you would never know that you'd find a restaurant at the end! It had cool decorations and the food was great! I had clam chowder and popcorn shrimp. YUM! After lunch, we headed to Evergreen Cemetery to visit Aunt Elizabeth's grave. Had to follow Ronnie to that one cause you could easily get lost in that cemetery. It's beautiful... and HUGE. Then we went to Riverview Cemetery to see the headstone that was put on Michaels' grave... Mom was very happy about that. It took 45 years, but it's taken care of now. Too bad Daddy didn't live to see it. We rode by our old house and Aunt Elizabeth's old house. Most things are radically different, but you can pick out familiar parts. After that, we all headed out to Buddy's in Macclenny. It's about a 30-40 minute drive. Found it with no problems. Ronnie hated having to following me!! LOL! We got there about 3... stayed until about 8 or 8:30! We had a great time. I was so glad to see Buddy... we used to be so close; he and my dad were super close at one time. I had taken my Tapley heritage scrapbook and Buddy loved looking at it and he told me several stories I had never heard. It was great! They took us to dinner... guess what?! More seafood... I had a steak for a change of pace. Went back to their house (without Ronnie - he had to go check on his dog) and visited some more. Mom had brought one of Daddy's guns to Buddy... he teared up... you could tell it meant so much to him and his wife. And Pat, his wife, is one of the sweetest people I've ever met. It was a wonderful visit. Then it was back to the motel and collapsed again!
Monday: This was our free day in Jacksonville. We got ready and went to Bob Evans for breakfast (YUM!!) and then to the closest Goodwill store. Then we headed downtown to the river front. We walked along the river walk... the wind was cool, but it was sunny. The only bad thing is Mom fell. She just skinned herself up, thank goodness. We walked through Jacksonville Landing... it's mostly restaurants, just a few stores. I had printed off some downtown walking tours, so we set off on one of those. Mom wanted to find where she used to work... AT&T has moved since then. But evidently her building has been torn down. A downtown ambassador stopped and offered to help, but he had no idea of the building we were talking about. He directed us to the City Hall to look at the historical pictures they have there. We did, but I asked Mom how old did that guy think she was?... those pictures were mostly from the early 1900's!! LOL! Anyway, we spent about 3 hours walking downtown, looking at the sites, taking a bunch of pictures. We made our way back to the truck... we were worn out! I took Mom to eat at Five Guys - she loved it! Then we hit some Goodwills and I did go to one scrapbook store (had good luck on their clearance wall!). We also went to Burlington Coat Factory, where I found a leather coat just like I wanted. We finally ate dinner at Firehouse Subs about 7:30 or 8 and headed back to the motel. Another full and exhausting day!
Tuesday: Got up fairly early (because we keep falling asleep so early!) and loaded up and headed out. I complained to the front desk at the motel about our door lock. We had complained on Sunday, but they thought they had fixed it... they had not. It wouldn't always lock. We got back on Monday night, grabbed the handle, and walked right in without ever touching our room key. So they gave me a certificate for a free night. Hopefully, I can use that in Raleigh on our way to DC in May. Anyway, left Mandarian and stopped in Orange Park at Chick-fil-A for Breakfast. Then we hit the open road! Stopped in Lake Park, GA at the outlet malls. Had way too much fun at the Kitchen Collection. The truck back seat was piled up... I almost couldn't see out the back window. Mom was squashed from all the stuff she had piled (her stuff) in the floor under her feet! We drove on and stopped at two Goodwills in Macon... more stuff piled in the truck! We finally got back here at 6 pm. Grabbed some supper at McDonald's and watched an old James Cagney/Humphrey Bogart movie. End of trip.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment