Today we had very little to do and not very far at all to travel, so we woke up late and checked out just at checkout time. Luckily, we were able to use the time in between to organize all our bags for our next adventurous portion of the trip: St. Thomas!
We had planned some fun stops between Homestead and Miami to try and kill time, so we headed on our way through those! The first stop was one of the most excellent things I have ever seen. It was a small used bookstore that genuinely looked like I was in Beauty and the Beast. It was so beautiful. Unfortunately, I am on a book buying ban, so I had to look not touch 😔.
Next I had convinced Mom and Dad to hit up the one pit stop I wanted more than anything: Steak and Shake. We headed there for lunch and I ran inside for the bathroom while Dad picked up our food. When I got out of the bathroom, I spotted one of my other favorite things about Steak and Shake… their claw machines. I told myself if there was nothing I wanted in there, I wouldn't even try, but then I found about the cutest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. So I grabbed Gideon to help me, and we tried to get him once. And we did move him! But not far enough. We gave it one more shot, but we couldn't even budge him this time. At this point Dad had already grabbed the food, so we headed out to the car. We explained what took us so long, and Mom was immediately interested. What is he?
Is he gettable?
We filled her in on the information we had, and she decided it was worth a shot. She headed in with us and immediately started making more progress. Within about 3 more tries we had won him out.
We ate in the car on the way to our next traditional roadtrip stop: a drive through zoo. But of course, 45 minutes into the 50 minute journey there, it started pouring. I don't know that I want to drive through a drive through zoo when there is no visibility. But Gideon did announce while we packed this morning that he could only find one of two swimsuits he packed, so we decided to remedy that while waiting out the rain. Me and Mom ran into Target while he was napping. Of course, mid-shop, I had to use the restroom, so I left Mom. When I returned she was nowhere to be found. When I found her, she was done shopping and it was time to pay. Turns out, she needed the restroom too, so she handed me the cart to pay. And then when she came out she couldn't find me, either! She was even texting the family group chat. Luckily, I found her on the way out and all problems were solved. And it was nice out again!
The drive through zoo was loooooong but very fun! We got to see Mom's favorite, the ostriches! One even ran up to our car and made to attack it!
Of course Mom can't leave such a destination without visiting the gift shop. And it was actually a good thing, because she fell in love with a very unqiue souvenir. One of the giraffes there is apparently really into painting, and loves painting during enrichment. She loved his work and ended up purchasing one of his pieces. And we may or may not have bought another animal tracking bracelet each… oops.
At this point it was 4 PM, so it was time to start heading towards the hotel for the night. No one wants to be overtired at the airport! We put the GPS on for the airport hotel and it said 2 and a half hours. It was one hour when we went into the park! Even backroads were the same amount of time. We knew we needed to hit up a Carrabba's on the way for Mom, and luckily there was one on the backroads route, so we took that to avoid the boring traffic. Luckily, the more we drove, the earlier the ETA got. The journey was not too long or hard afterall. And Gideon even got a chance to drive! He reached 70 this time and passed 3 semis! He is doing so well.
We still hadn't done our nice deed for the day, and at the Carrabbas we saw a guy dining by himself who seemed to keep looking for someone to join him. Stood up?
we thought. We asked our waitress if we might be able to pay for his meal, but she informed us he was the bartender. He was sitting there to participate in the paired tasting they had going on. That makes more sense. Needless to say we did not pay for him. But we did have a lovely dinner including a delicious chocolate mousse dessert before we were back on our way to the hotel.
This is where things get emotional. We are staying in the airport hotel tonight, meaning these were our final moments with our favorite guide, Jeffram. We cleaned him out, locked him up, and left him to make some new friends in central parking. Stay safe Jeffram! The way to the hotel from the car felt like Hadestown. Mom was in the lead, needed a restroom, and was not willing to look behind or stop for anyone. No Wait For Me in this iteration. We would certainly have made it out of hell with Mom in the lead.
We read some pretty horrible reviews about the rooms and service at this hotel, so we were prepared for the worst when we arrived. But the clerk was so nice as to move our rooms across the hall from one another, so that was an excellent start. Strolling down the hallway, I was certain we were back in the Gallivant Times (if you know you know) but once we entered the hotel rooms, they were actually perfectly nice! I was glad to have a nice and safe place to take a good long rest. I pulled an all-dayer today, no nap!