Nomad Southeast Trip, Day 8: Ormond Beach

December 28, 2018

BEACH DAY!!

I was looking forward to doing yoga on the beach right by the waves so I could feel it wash over my feet occasionally. Sun salutations to the sun. Ormond Beach is a hard packed beach because it used to be a racing beach. In fact, it is known as "The Birthplace of Speed." But then if you move up by the wall, the sand gets fluffier. 

Yoga pose picture...

with a reality check picture.

So here we were on the beach, close to the water for the kids to collect it easily, but far enough that it wasn't washing over the creations. And then suddenly a wave came in 40-50 feet further and washed over all our stuff and we were scrambling to collect everything from floating away in the water.

Cars still drive on the beach, including huge RVs that are too heavy and get stuck and require help to get unstuck. Not speaking as a witness...

Watching this girl play in the water was one of my favorite parts about the beach experience! Most of the other kids played with the sand, but Thora played with the beach. She needs more beach in her life. No, Lori, I'm not sending her to live with you. Maybe...

{Dancy & Samson}

{Thora}

Those toes!

Lots of light, but still a cloudy day. Shad's friend Terri met up with us and she said we caught the best day they'd had in weeks. Good thing, too, because the next morning all that rainy weather we had driven through caught up to us.0

Thora says that looks like a volcano.

{Kates}

Watching the water wash over my feet...

and pull the sand back with it as it returns to the sea.

Sand level watching the waves roll in.

Inspired by my yoga, Thora wanted to do her own yoga poses.

Beach waves!

I loved these little birds! This one did not appreciate me following it.

Tommy, Shad and Katie jumping waves. Okay, just Tommy and Katie were jumping. Shad stood still as their support. When Katie pulled me out later for wave jumping, I jumped with them. Katie said I was more fun than Shad, which was fun for me to hear because usually I'm not so appreciated.

Shad also held Sam's and Thora's hands for the waves.

Tommy in the background!

Tommy rebuilt his destroyed sand construction.

Ha! I just saw this picture and thought, "Oh! It got overcast enough that I didn't need to wear my sunglasses." But then I remembered that this was pre-Lasik and that those are prescription sunglasses that I definitely wore the whole time at the beach because I used to be blind as a bat. I moved the glasses up only for this picture.

Something about the sand and waves, clouds and sky, tiny birds, and this wood post. I just love this shot.

Oh, that's funny! I just saw that whichever child it was that took this picture only got half of me in it. Maybe they thought the picture was only for Terri and Shad. Hahahaha!

#youodysseythis

Ice cream at Hershey's just a quarter-mile in from the beach. Samson is always happy when there are dairy-free options!

{Thora}

{Dancy, Tommy, Katie}

"Look, Mom! I made da Hoover Dam!" I love how much he loved the Hoover Dam!

Katie took some pictures.

We wanted to have a sunset dinner at the beach, but were too slow in getting there. So we had a dusk dinner at the beach listening to the surf.

Nomad Southeast Trip, Day 7: To Ormond Beach

December 27, 2018

Soooooo...the thing is...I love cemeteries. And I've really wanted to visit a New Orleans cemetery for a long time. We didn't get to catch one while it was open, so we stopped by Saint Louis Cemetery #2 on our way out of town early Thursday morning and I'd get to see through the gates. I've never felt such negative energy in a cemetery before, but it was thick and gripped me right in the heart. I even deleted the pictures from my phone because that negative energy returned when I looked back at them. I can't say if that's true for all New Orleans cemeteries or if it was just that one or just that morning. 

But I did love the colors of these leaves with the siding behind it. Beautiful pairing!

And this tree that looks fuzzy.

Driving east on I-10 across Lake Pontchartrain.

Into Mississippi.

Mobile, Alabama

Battleship behind the flags.

Welcome to Florida! We had rain on and off during this drive.

So. I've got this book my sister-in-law Tabitha let me borrow--Reader's Digest The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips. It's been a great help in all my road tripping and fun to see beautiful landscapes and seascapes that'd otherwise be missed by speeding by on interstates. I had this plan to take the Apalachee Savannahs Scenic Byway on the hump of the Florida panhandle...buuuuuut...even though I put this ROAD TRIP book right on the pile of bags to pack for our road trip, somebody decided that it didn't belong there and put it away instead of packing it. PRO TIP: always, always, ALWAYS pack your own stuff. So I didn't have the road trip plan. Didn't have the start and end points with "stop here" suggestions. The scenic drive starts in Panama City, goes around the curve, has you exit around Newport to go north to Tallahassee. Well, I couldn't remember where to start, so I had us start in Pensacola, which is a good 100 miles and 3 hours too soon. It is a paaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiinfully slow drive down there. Generally around 35 mile speed limits, through town after town after town filled with all the extra winter people. I think we gave up shortly after Miramar Beach and headed north to I-10. So what did we learn from this? PACK YOUR OWN STUFF! Do not assume your husband or eight-year-old son will know that a road trip book is intended for packing just because it is placed in the pack pile for a road trip. So here are a few pictures of the wrong-place-but-still-coastal drive.

We kept seeing signs that boasted of turquoise water...but the day was overcast.

White sands approaching Destin.

Back inland a bit.

Hurricane Michael really beat the tar out of the panhandle in October 2018. We had thought to check out the Florida Caverns Sate Park near Marianna, but it was closed due to hurricane damage.

We stopped at Fred George Greenway and Park in northwest Tallahassee for a much needed physical activity break. The Harry Potter fans in us may have squealed just a little.

Parents walked while the kids played.

{Katie, Samson, Dancy, Tommy, Thora}

I was super grumpy and pissy all of a sudden this day, so bare feet on the dash and Nutella helped me get through it.

This is me trying not to have Resting Bitch Face. Or Bitch Face.

After we made it to our hotel, which was awful, we put the kids to bed and then went to the beach to calm down. Okay, I may have been the only one needing to calm down. And we found ice cream.

Watch the wave come in!

The end.