Today I have to get some work done and I have a 1pm meeting with a potential client I have little hope of winning, but I'm still giving it my best shot. We ask for a late checkout so I can take the meeting at the room and then take off to keep moving down the coast of Florida. But first, we had to go grab some good sturdy sandals for Dry Tortugas. We go to a camping and outdoor store but they had nothing. And Gideon's troublesome foot size of 13 doesn't help. We see a Ross Stores and we are successful there and Gideon and I even get matching shoes (how cute).
We head back to the room so I can prep for my meeting and get some other work done. I convince the family to go to a local arcade and have some fun while I toil away. The meeting goes great and we get out of the hotel before our 2pm checkout time.
Now I am getting hungry and we decide to keep the adventure going and try a place called Zaxbys. Adam says they supposedly have good chicken. The menu was expansive so we tried a lot of things. My favorite was strangely the vegetarian eggrolls. I'd get those again in a heartbeat! Also, while we were waiting for our food we saw a Jeep and Abby did the good deed of the day by sharing one of our rubber ducks. We heard the duck recipient screaming with joy all the way from our car.
We have 3 hours to get to our hotel and have an early night in to relax and hopefully do laundry. We're on the drive and I see something that will derail the rest of the day. A Cryptids exhibit including MOTHMAN. (See Abby's blog for pictures). I start yelling what was that!!!
and Adam has to google Mothman is coming
which is what the billboard declared. The McFarland clan has gotten a bit obsessed with Cryptids since the discovery of Mothman culture in Virigina last year. Mothman became our favorite of all the Cryptids but Lochness is a close second. We even got Cryptid tattoos for this trip!
Speaking of, have you seen that video of that cute British kid who names his moth? If not, watch it now to provide yourself some joy.
Abby and I nicely ask beg to go to Ripley's Believe it or Not to see this special exhibit. We are sure there will be lots of Mothman excitement and lore! Adam agrees despite there being a 30—minute driving detour from our plans. After all, adventure is what we're after — let's do this! We get to the front desk and I tell the clerk we are so excited for the Cryptids exhibit and she says huh, not sure what that is
. Good start.
They made us wade through the majority of the museum before seeing the Cryptid exhibit. The museum was fun though and we spent quite a bit of time enjoying the cool facts and interactive parts. The Cryptids exhibit turned out to be 2 rooms of Big Foot lore including a huge talking Big Foot. Not what we were hoping for, but fun anyways! On the way out there was a mirror maze with glasses that confuse you more. The kids led us through it and we found a secret area that was a disco dance floor and we grooved for a bit before finally escaping.
We got out of the museum around 6pm and still had 3 hours till the hotel. Ok another late night. But fun was had. We stop at a gas station to fill up and use the restrooms. One of my least favorite parts of these trips is the bathrooms. You literally never know what you'll get. Sometimes it is the nicest place and you get a horrific bathroom and sometimes it is a run—down joint with the cleanest bathroom. But most of the time, you know you will catch diseases if you sit, so Abby and I tend to squat. We also use toilet seat covers all across the country. The gas station we ended up at was a combination Mobil and Caribbean food joint. Yeah, I don't get it either. The smell was… a lot. The bathroom. The bathroom was from a horror movie. The person before us definitely tried to urinate everywhere but the toilet. There was also so much hair. Not from the head area. It was unfortunate and Abby and I had to put our squatting skills to work. We tried to wash our hands but it was just water in an old soap bottle. What a treat. Can't wait to order some Caribbean food here too! Abby and I ran out of there and covered ourselves in hand sanitizer in the car.
We got back to the hotel and brought in all our gear in order to pack for the next night and Dry Tortugas. We have to do some laundry so here's hoping we can do it at the hotel tomorrow.
Good Deed for the Day: Ducking in the Zaxbys drive—thru!
Ended the Day: Fairfield Inn, Deerfield Beach, FL