Today we hit the road for Florida! We have been waiting for this vacation for a long time- it’s been a year and 9 months since our last vacation! We had a long drive ahead of us, as it would take at least 9 hours plus stops to get to Winter Haven, Florida. We stopped at Buc-ee’s in St. Augustine and Daytona Beach, FL for snacks and gas. We had great weather for the drive down. It was slightly chilly today with mostly sunny skies.
A note about this trip: I’m the vacation planner in my family (it is my actual job, after all), and I booked this cruise about 18 months ago. Since it’s just a 5 night cruise, I asked CSP if there was anything he’d like to do while we are in Florida. He had 2 requests- go to Legoland and go on an airboat ride. So I got to work researching and planning and that’s why our first stop is in Winter Haven, Florida instead of the usual cruise port.
Once we made it to I-4 and the Orlando area, my GPS betrayed us! I followed the directions which told me to get in the toll lane. But the stupid toll lane ran parallel to I-4 and didn’t save us ANY time or miles!!! We’d missed rush hour so we didn’t need it! UGH! You KNOW I made sure to turn on that Avoid Tolls button after that!
We finally made it to Winter Haven and our hotel- the Best Western Plus. We don’t normally stay at Best Westerns, as we normally stay at Hampton Inns, but it looked so good online and I got a great rate. CSP was a bit dubious on the drive down about the hotel. But we checked in quickly and easily. We went to our room and were pleasantly surprised! SO modern and new and clean and LARGE!!! Plus, the staff are great! And breakfast is free! I HIGHLY recommend this hotel!!!
Plus, the bed was super comfortable- our backs didn’t hurt at all after not sleeping in our own bed!
Loads of counter space!
And a huge bathroom with walk in shower!
Once we got checked in and unpacked a bit, we hit the hay! We have an early morning tomorrow- we’re going to Legoland!!!
Bless Your Heart 