If you follow me on Instagram, you’re probably confused as to why there is a picture of snow followed by a picture of the beach. I had been back from New York for a little more than 48 hours when it was time to pack up and head out again.
My mom, a school teacher, had a few days off due to furlough days and decided she wanted to go someplace warm. She booked a deal of a four night cruise from Tampa for herself, my sister and I.
We had planned on leaving Wednesday, but there was the minor problem of yet another Atlanta snowstorm coming our way, this one much more “catastrophic” (as the weathermen kept saying) than the one before. For fear of getting stuck without power in the cold and missing our vacation, we drove down on Tuesday and spent a night in Valdosta and another in Tampa before our cruise was set to depart.
And what is a two day road trip without some random pit stops? When we saw the sign for Weeki Wachee, we made the detour. In case you haven’t heard of this quintessentially Florida attraction, it’s a natural spring where women have danced underwater as mermaids for the past 50+ years.
What was originally supposed to be a short stop for the mermaid show turned into an afternoon spent cruising the waterways.
We arrived in Tampa with a bit of time to spare, so we quickly booked a hotel room while driving through the rain. We ventured out into the monsoon for a nice pub dinner and brunch the next morning before checking out a used bookstore. And of course, we boarded the boat and set sail for Mexico (more on that soon).
This trip was different from those I’ve taken for the last almost five years. It was purely a vacation. I wasn’t bringing my laptop or checking my phone, especially at the extortionate rates for on-board WiFi. I wasn’t researching an article or dreading looming deadlines. I simply sat by the pool, sipped fruity cocktails and read on my Kindle. And it felt really good.
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