I came thisclose to peeing in a cooler

I'm pretty sure I am a rich, retired woman in a struggling 20-something's body. I am a proud supporter of warm weather, sunshine, and all the fun that goes with it. I'm telling you, living on the Florida coast is THE life. There's a sunrise group that gets up early and watches the sunrise every morning. There's a tennis group, a kayaking group. There's a group for everything that's fun, and at the end of the day you can sit on the deck and watch the sunset with whatever beverage you're in the mood for.


The terrible town in Tennessee we stayed in after our first day of traveling.


Sunset


At McKee Gardens


Banyan Tree


Alligator...don't worry, it's fake.


Just a rock, but it looked more like a giant donut.


Mom, Grammy, and I. The always beautiful self-shot.


Another sunset.


I love this photo. It was my first day accidentally attending the sunrise group. I thought I'd be the only one awake at such an early hour, but I should've known better.


Sunrise on a cloudy morning.


Kayaking with Grammy.


Mom and I.


Another attractive self-shot.


This photo has made me laugh every time. We were walking through the sand trying to get our feet wet in the ocean, and the water came up higher than mom expected. I think her scream scared Grammy right outta the picture.


The traffic ahead of us while we were parked on I-75 North this morning.


The traffic behind us... After sitting in this traffic for about 45 minutes, I HAD to go to the bathroom. Mom wanted me to just go in a cooler in the car. Yeah, a cooler. I almost did it, too, but instead I turned the engine off and grabbed Mom's zip-up jacket. I made her get out of the car and follow me to the side of the highway. I planned to climb the guard rail and find a nice tree or even just an area with some brush blocking the view to at least one section of the traffic. The jacket was for Mom to hold as a curtain between me and whatever traffic the brush didn't protect my butt from. However, before we climbed the guard rail, the driver of that blue SUV on the right of the photo opened his window and warned us that his son just tried to go pee down there but almost fell because it's so slick and steep. He offered us a blanket for Mom to hold up over by our car. How absurd but kind. How humiliating. But we used this generous stranger's blanket as a curtain while I peed, directly onto the pavement of I-75 North. I then returned the blanket...awkward. We would see this blue SUV hours later, on the side of the highway, but we would be too selfish to stop and help.


After about 2 hours without moving. We were stopped for 2 hours and 40 minutes because of a couple of accidents, likely due to the fog and icy roads.

It was out of this world - people were getting out of their cars all over the place, just to go for a walk to see what was holding us up. They'd walk back and those of us who didn't want to venture out would open our windows or doors to chat and get the scoop. At one point, a couple of young, skinny guys with shaggy hair in their eyes walked by. Mom said, "Who are they, the Jonas brothers?" It's not as funny in writing, but I still think it's hilarious.

I had a GREAT time, and I actually wouldn't mind moving to Florida some day, but for tonight I am excited to sleep in my own bed.