Before continuing on down to Florida, Mom and I headed downstairs for something we had been waiting for over a year for, an actual hot hotel breakfast served in a dining room. It wasnt quite the normal walk around serve yourself buffet experience, but it still was much There was a velvet rope between us and the buffet. You told the server what you wanted and then she loaded up your tray for you. Luckily, we were the only ones trying to get served or this system could easily get backed up. I ordered the equivalent of two breakfasts (pancakes, sausage, biscuits and gravy) to make up for lost time.
As we were about to get on the highway, Mom spotted a local shop selling praline and fudge. She insisted we stop and get some for the drive. Mom immediately fell into conversation with the 70 something year old owner, who was laying out a freshly baked batch of praline. She asked him if she needed to wear a mask. He replied that no it wasnt necessary. In turned out that both Mom and he already had covid and were not concerned about getting it again. In fact, the
two of them were long over the whole pandemic experience. A pair of the most vulnerable chatting away and sharing some homespun wisdom. We bought two whole bags of the praline and the fudge. Mouth wateringly good! The drive down to Florida through Georgia was shaping up to be delicious.
It was a bright sunny day. We ditched our jackets as the air grew warmer and warmer. Soon we were forced to turn on the cars air conditioning for the first time. Georgia whizzed by and we quickly found ourselves in the sunshine state. This was my first time ever in Florida. I had been to India and Vanuatu, but not down here. It was Moms first time in Florida since 1969, when she down to witness the launch of Apollo 12.
There seemed to be preponderance of bad drivers in Florida, but I kept faithfully cruising down the road to our destination, St. Augustine. This stop was a Mom pick. Her father had been one of the main architects for nearby Marineland back in the 1930s and she was eager to finally visit it herself. I was interested in it too because it was actually
the oldest city in North America, founded by the Spanish in 1565. We had a reservation at a resort hotel. After three days of hard driving, we were ready to unpack our bags and relax.
After we ventured out to explore the amenities before it got dark. We checked out the pool area and then wandered out on a long elevated boardwalk to get a good first look at the Atlantic Ocean. I scrambled down the rocks to get to the beach access. There wasnt much beach, a little sliver really, but hey this was a warm beach in February! Beggars cant be choosers. I went for a short stroll to soak in the atmosphere. We ended the night with a peaceful dinner at one of the resorts restaurants.
Hot breakfast alert! Hot breakfast alert! We had reached the Free state of Florida and there was an actual full breakfast buffet where we could walk around with our plates and serve ourselves. A little bit of Old Normal had been restored. We took our breakfasts to a high backed booth and organized the days itinerary. We would start out at Marineland
Marineland opened to great renown as the Worlds First Oceanarium and was partially designed by my grandfather in one of his last acts of bachelordom. It started out as a place where film studios could do underwater shoots, but soon became overwhelming popular with tourists who loved seeing the dolphins and other marine life. It was at Marineland that people first realized just how intelligent dolphins were and how much they could actually learn to do.
The park still retained the touches of the Art Deco style that was popular when my grandfather was drawing up the plans back in the 1930s. It was cute how Mom kept telling everyone she met (shop assistants, fellow visitors, etc.) in the park about her fathers contributions to the beginning of Marineland.
