A Trip to Florida

Yep! I went to Florida to visit Molly and Maggie over Labor Day.  It was soooo good to hang out with them.
We did tons of things like going to the beach, garage sales, restaurants, a brewery, and Lowes at least three times. We did projects around Molly's house and even had time to relax on a rainy day.

Before I left home, I had someone try to go with me. 

 Pete then decided to stop me from repairing my bag. He knew something was up.

 My flight sure was an experience.  Molly was worried about my short (45 minute) layover in Atlanta but I know that airport enough to not worry. But when I was supposed to leave Moline at 4:50pm and at 5pm our plane hadn't arrived yet, I became a little worried too.  We finally took off at 6:20.  I was still thinking I would be okay until I remembered the time change. The whole flight there I used the Secret and kept repeating in my head along with the airplane engine, I will make my connection, I will make my connection, I will make my connection. We landed at 9pm. Of course I was in the last seat of the plane but this gave me a chance to ask the flight attendant (she sat back there with me) if she thought my 9:15 connection would wait for me.  She couldn't tell because if she said they would and then they didn't, she would be in trouble. So she pulled up her Delta App (I have a flip phone) and told me the bad news of my connection being at a totally different concourse. I thought I would be spending the night in Atlanta.  But then she told me the good news that my connection was delayed! I raced off the plane, raced to the gate to find they hadn't even started to board yet.  Everyone looked disgruntled. I was the happiest traveler to board that plane!  I sat next to the window and really enjoyed looking at the Florida lights at night and seeing some really cool patterns. Wish I would have taken a picture of that.  When we started descending for our landing in Melbourne, I could see the city, and then we flew over the river, and then we flew towards the ocean.  My heart started racing because there were no more lights and thought for sure something was wrong, like we were headed to Europe or the pilot decided to land in the ocean.  I had my forehead on the window trying to figure out what was going on when all of a sudden, I saw land and lights in the sky. We were in an intense turn. The pilot flew way out over the ocean to turn around to land.  I asked Molly later about this and she said she didn't think to warn me, but that is how they do it. I guess so it isn't too loud for the houses below.  Maggie had driven to Molly's from Athens, Ga that day so they both picked me up at the airport, very late. Lots of hugs and kisses!

The next day we made a list of things we wanted to do.

Of course, eating and drinking were on the list.

We went to Sebastian Inlet where the Ocean and River meet. We swam on the river side to avoid those huge Melbourne waves.  I usually like waves but sometimes these waves are too big for me. 

The calm river water was very clear. This made it hard for me to stay in too long because I could see everything swimming around my legs, and sometimes they were not small things.  

We did walk to the other side of the bridge to put our feet in the ocean.

When we were not out and about,  we did projects like replant plants in new pots.

Molly pressure washed her patio after the mess we made.

Molly replaced all of the inside doorknobs and a couple of light switches.

Maggie and I watched Molly clean her rug. We giggled as we watched her clean this same spot over and over.  Molly told us that was the dirtiest part of the rug.  It is always so much fun to see the dirty water and to know that is no longer in the rug.

On the rainy day, we priced items for the Kindermarket consignment sale in Athens Georgia. Maggie hauls all of our stuff to her apartment and stores it for us until the sale. Maggie said she has run out of room for stuff.  We then had a conversation about our family moving stuff from one house to another. We have done this our whole lives and I remember Mom hauling stuff from Grandma's house and Dad rolling his eyes every time he unloaded the car at home.  Kind of like how Molly is looking in the following photo.  Hauling junk from one house to another just runs in the family.

As you can see in the above photo, Maggie slept on the air mattress in the living room so I could have the guest room all to myself. Wasn't that nice of her? I think it is because I told her I have started snoring, but she said it was because she could watch T.V. before bed.  The downside of sleeping in the living room is that she was closer to the frog that sounds like a very loud duck.

Once, when we headed out on an errand, Molly noticed something enticing in the throw away junk pile. We walked over and found someone had thrown out two swivel patio chairs and a matching table. Molly said Floridians throw away the best things and she is always on the lookout for things she might need.  The three of us grabbed one item and hauled them to her house. It was quite comical because they were heavy.

 We headed to Lowes and found cushions on clearance. They are perfect.

Can you guess where we are in the following photos?

If you guessed the Verizon store, you guessed right. Why is this so exciting? Because Maggie bought a new phone.  This means I went from a flip phone to a used Maggie smart phone. Yes, I have finally upgraded.

Of course my trip went very quickly. We were down to one day left. We went to a Brewery and then walked down to the river. 

It was then time for a selfie before bed.

This trip home was less stressful.  We got up at 4am so that Maggie could drive me to the airport at 4:45.  I had a two hour layover in Atlanta which gave me the chance to hide a QC Rocks in a bathroom stall and to make my connection with no running.  QC Rocks has a FaceBook page if you are wondering what that is.  I was able to make it to work by 12:30pm so I would only have to take 1/2 day of leave time.  I had a great time on this trip. I miss the girls.