All in a Day's Drive

Because we were so excited about vacation, or because we're just gluttons for punishment, we decided to drive all the way to Cocoa Beach, Florida in one day. We planned to head out about 4am and ended up on the road by 4:05. (an unheard of scheduling accomplishment for us) Guess we were just a bit excited...

The kids had never seen the Missisippi River before, so after passing the Port of Baton Rouge, they "oohhed and aahhed" over the long bridge that spanned the Mississippi.
Dad "oohhed and aahhed" over the HUGE Bass Pro Shop we passed in Spanish Fort, Alabama.
Beautiful blue sky against the water tower as we passed through Biloxi.
We saw a "Foxy Grandma" along the way.
The kids were so glad to finally reach the state line in Florida. We made great time and they felt like we were almost there. Unfortunately, it's a long way from the eastern side of the Florida panhandle to the west coast of Florida...
We took a brief stop to sample some Florida orange juice.
Not long after we crossed the Florida state line, it started raining so hard we could barely see the cars in front of us.
We made really good time most of the day. The GPS had said we should reach our hotel in Cocoa Beach at 11:30 that night and we were on track for that almost all day long. Ran into some traffic once for an accident and once for some construction. We had to stop almost every other hour for someone to go to the restroom or get gas. We ate in the car - even fixed PBJ's while driving down the road. We arrived very tired and very ready for a bed at about 12:30am. And even though it was an incredibly uncomfortable bed, it was so good to stretch out and go to sleep.