As we head into spring, here’s a look back via our Christmas 2019 road trip tale. We wanted to go someplace warm, not far, and not swank. Based on prior good times, proximity, and price, we picked Florida, with Miami as the end destination. This third trip to the Sunshine State confirmed that we l-o-v-e Florida.
I declare we have been Floridated.
Feasting at Boston
Lobster afterward brought back an old line paraphrased from The Simpsons that aptly
describes my wife and daughters’ approach to all-you-can-eat seafood: “Not
normal humans, they’re remorseless eating machines.”
First
Stop: Kennedy Space Center
I declare we have been Floridated.
Motorvatin’ southward
with a purpose
The map shows it: finding
the fastest route from Nashville to Miami is a no-brainer. Once you hit
Georgia, follow the interstate highways with odd numbers like I-75, I-95. Don’t
need no newfangled navigation!
We arrived in Celebration, a familiar place
thanks to the Rising Family’s™ visit to Disney World and last year’s trip to
Tampa. Overjoyed to see tropical foliage again! Puttering around the area, we happened upon the
inexplicably named 192 Flea Market. (It has over 400 booths.) Almost all the stalls got a visit from us. It was a great place to stretch our legs and it is full
of bargains.
I
was elated to visit this shrine to the Right Stuff. One of my favorite parts
was the bus tour that took us inside Cape Canaveral to launch pad 39A. That’s
where NASA prepped and launched the Apollo missions to the moon and all the Space Shuttle launches. Now SpaceX leases
the area to make more space history from there. I was all wired up, craning my
neck left and right during the bus tour. Marina nodded off.
Another highlight
was circling the colossal Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), the HUGE building
that was designed to assemble the already-large pre-manufactured space vehicle
components, such as the massive Saturn V rockets and the Space Shuttle. The VAB
facility would stack them vertically onto a humongous crawler transporter that
would mulishly lug the spacecraft at around 1-2 mph from the VAB to the launchpad. Lots of superlative words are necessary to describe the scale of the Kennedy
Space Center! NASA’s future Space Launch System (SLS) will also be assembled there.
The bronze statues of the three Apollo 11 astronauts also hold a special
place in my heart.
Second
Stop: Miami
I
tamped down my resilient daydreams of space exploration and drove to Miami
in our trusty Nissan Rogue. Our first foray into Miami’s downtown at night was
a bit dicey, but we arrived unscathed. Our lodging was the Hotel Chateaubleu in
Coral Gables.
Naomi had booked it online. She is adept at finding unique hotels
at a good price. Turns out the hotel has been there in one form or another
since the 1920s.
The girls trudged up to our room. I went over to the hotel bar
to reward myself with a beer, but it was deserted. It was only 21:30. Whaaa?
I got a
tingle in my spine because I sensed an Overlook Hotel vibe. Lloyd the Bartender was nowhere to be seen,
though.
The Chateaubleu's hallway was a bit jarring as well. Too reminiscent of The Shining. Thanks a lot, Stanley Kubrick. Despite
my mystic musings we all got a decent night’s sleep…welcome to Miami!
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| Courtesy of State of Florida Archives |
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| Courtesy of Warner Bros. |
