Arrival in Orlando

It's been a long and strenuous trip but I am finally in Orlando, with 2 days to explore before check-in. Unfortunately, a tropical storm is passing through today so I will likely not do much. That is fine because I need to rest from the road.

Read below for details of my 4 day trip!

Driving from CA to NM was the longest day and there was nothing of much interest along the way, mainly because I have been through California and Arizona many times. We did laugh at signs for "The Thing?" and I won't ruin the surprise, but it's not what you expect. We did not stop there, but I looked it up along the way. The weather was hot and dry the entire way, and in Palm Springs we stopped for lunch where it was 111°F. We made it all the way to Las Cruces, NM but almost all of New Mexico was traveled in the dark so I did not see much of it.

The next day we drove to San Antonio, TX. It was a long drive through Texas but it got progressively more interesting as we went. Our hotel was along the Riverwalk route, so we explored that at night. It was incredibly clean and a lot of fun. We tried Tex Mex food and weren't too impressed, but it was still good. One thing we noticed is that there are almost no guard rails or safety barriers around the canal, but I never saw anyone fall in. I originally wanted to take a boat tour, but decided against it because I was tired and did not want to sit down for that long after sitting in the car all day.

 

On day 3 we had a shorter drive ahead (or so we thought) so we visited the Alamo in the morning. It was much smaller than the photos make it appear, but it was interesting to look at the artifacts and layout of the original structure. 

My dad had a hard time using my iPhone for photos, but he kind of figured it out.

We hit the road, intending to stay in New Orleans for the night. The weather was fine until just after Houston when it started pouring rain more than I had ever seen in my life. Luckily my dad was driving and he doesn't let much get to him, but I was shaking in the passenger seat. We stopped at Buc-ee's for gas and the streets were all flooded, but the people inside did not seem phased, so I was not as panicked as before. Then we drove a little further to eat at Chick Fil-A (my dad had never been there) and I could barely stomach my food because the flood warnings popped up on my phone and we heard the emergency sirens going off. We looked at a weather map and decided to keep going and get away from the flood area. After another terrifying hour on the road, things cleared up and we made it to the Louisiana border, much later than expected. We eventually decided to stay in Baton Rouge instead and pass through New Orleans in the morning, but first we wanted to eat some crawfish!

Together we ate a 3# plate of crawfish, after our waitress showed us how to do it. We also ate some catfish and a stuffed potato. We needed the potato after the spicy crawfish! It was pretty good but as with most seafood, a lot of work for very little "meat". 

That night we watched the weather forecast because a storm was forming in the Caribbean that could potentially become Hurricane Colin. The predictions for the next day's route included a lot of rain, something I was not particularly excited about because of the Texas experience.

When we woke up the forecast was a lot better, but we still had to beat the storm. I decided to skip New Orleans and get as far into Florida as we could. I will have to visit the Big Easy another time, because I have always wanted to go there, but getting to Orlando safely in time for my check-in was the priority.

We passed through the rest of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Near the Florida border I started looking for good places to stop, and found Oasis Travel Center. 

It was a novelty shop/gas station/restaurant with nice clean bathrooms. One of those places that is fun to stop at! Also, on this trip I have been using the Yelp app and Sit or Squat app on my iPhone. This made it much easier to find food, hotels, and rest stops. My family particularly likes Sit or Squat because it helps you locate clean bathrooms - something we really appreciate! And you can rate them yourself to help other travelers. 

The drive through Florida's panhandle was long and treacherous. The speed limit posted was 70 mph and there were many state troopers on patrol, so I obeyed the limit, but other drivers with local plates raced around me at 80, 90 + mph!!! That was the first sign that Florida drivers are fast! Once we got to the junction of the 75 and the 10 (I'm from southern California, so I say "the") it was a much more interesting drive, but rainy on and off. I particularly loved Ocala because of all the horses.

Orlando freeways and tolls were thoroughly confusing, but we made it to our hotel near Universal Studios and grabbed some local maps. I'll be trying to learn my way around, but it might take a while. In California the freeways are a lot more like a grid than they are here, and there are not many toll roads anywhere.

Some of the major things I learned from my journey:

1. Don't mess with Texas! Storms in Texas are no laughing matter.

2. Bridges ice before roads. I've lived in snow before, but not with humidity. Apparently this is how it works, and I will keep it in mind!

3. The spicy part of craw-fish is in the head. That's why you have to suck on it.

4. Southern states don't provide bathroom fans in hotels, or toilet seat covers in public restrooms. It's a habit for me to use a seat cover every time, so I will probably start bringing my own.

5. Floridians drive fast and rarely use turn signals! And southerners know how to drive safely in rain, but they still go fast. I didn't expect faster drivers than southern California, but Floridians definitely have us beat!