Road Trip!

     As the year comes to a close, and a new one starts anew, who better to spend your time with than your family? This year, my family had decided to go on a little road trip for new years, allowing for us to spend time getting to know an unknown part of Florida while spending every hour possible together. As college becomes more and more demanding, and I start having less excuses to go visit home, I welcomed this opportunity to spend time with my favorite people (and dog), and we had a pretty great time!

    Rather than doing a day-by-day retelling of what we did during the trip, I'm opting to instead just share a few of my favorite moments, so that this blog post isn't a billion words long. Having said that though, I had fun pretty much every moment during this road trip! Where many families would be bored and silent as they drive up and down the countryside, we were constantly talking, laughing, and yes, bickering too. I feel really blessed to have this sort of relationship with my family, as I feel like not everyone can have the same connection and relaxation around their family, for any variety of reasons. So, having said all of that, let me talk about a few core moments!

Straight off the bat, one of my favorite parts of this trip had been spending so much time messing around with my sister. Taking goofy photos together made me really happy, even when they came out looking dumb or blurry. I miss her a ton, so I'm really excited to start hanging out with her at Tallahassee once she moves over here for her freshman year!

    The same goes for my Mom and Dad, obviously, since I got some fun photos with everyone, but not everyone can see the vision for the photo the same way Sofia could... must be that sibling twintuition!

    The picture to the right was another goofy picture taken by my Mom, but what's memorable to me is what had happened before: after realizing it was getting a little too chilly during lunch, I ran across St. Augustine to where we had parked our car to retrieve a sweater for myself and Daisy. After this, I was supposed to meet the rest of my family elsewhere in the city.

    The thing is, Google Maps was tweaking out, as for whatever reason the city had no Internet connection, so I showed up a little late after getting lost in St. Augustine with no sense of direction. Was still a cool experience though!

    Another funny photo I liked taking was this picture of my dad looking very ominous as he blocks out the sun on this foggy, wasteland beach. The vibes of this beach were off the charts, as it felt like we were in a sort of desert or moon, with the flat, packed sand and the fog that obscured our vision after a few dozen feet. 

    It was a really cool side-tangent that we did on our drive over to St Augustine, and it was probably my favorite moment from the whole trip because it represents the charm of road trips, in my opinion: little side adventures that provide opportunity for fun, if you choose to set aside some time for it.

    Even though I was pretty tired at the time this photo was taken, I bet you wouldn't be able to tell- I thought that this crab shack looked sick!

    I also thought it was pretty funny how Daisy decided it would be best to turn around and show tail at the camera during the nice family picture...

    Speaking of Daisy, this was the first trip where she not only joined us for our vacation, but also joined us at the table during lunches! She was surprisingly well-behaved and chill as we propped up her carrying bag on a few chairs, which I think was just relief at not being left behind at home mixed with exhaustion from being outside all day.

    Clearly, she remains a house dog. I don't see her running around fields herding sheep anytime soon..

    And to close out our road trip, my family had indulged me and visited the beloved Buc-ee's station as my one requested stop during our vacation. As I get to do more and more road trips with friends and family, I've been seeing this friendly beaver's face more and more often. It's become a sort of religious experience for me, where we can marvel at all of the Buc-ees merchandise as well as partake in some tangy sweet jerky.

    Amazing trip to start off 2025! I can't wait to see what new adventures the new year will bring to me and my family!