How our travels sometimes begin…..

Ruthie Lanigan
Feb 27, 2019
5 min read

We just had an interesting weekend that we started planning on Tuesday. I made a suggestion to Jim that since we had nothing going on over the weekend, he should try to head out and go skiing. Well, it took him probably a second to tell me what a great idea that was! So he planned his travel and started packing.

On Thursday, we decided to have dinner out. He was leaving Friday morning. As we were eating, I was trying to decide what to do for the weekend. Massage, clean (that was decided against quickly), visit friends………… I made the comment that if I had a couple extra days I would drive down to see my brother and sister-in-law (Al and CeCe). Here’s where the story gets fun. Jim told me he could fly me down there on his points and I could have the weekend in Florida. Just as Jim had to think about my suggestion, it took me about a second to say “Yes!”. So I planned my travel (called Al and CeCe to make sure they were available) and started packing.

Friday morning we left for the airport together and ended up with gates right next to each other! Jim heading to Utah, me heading to Florida. We also found out that our friends were heading to Denver to go skiing (where Jim’s connection was) and they were on the same flight as Jim. The universe can make some pretty interesting things happen!

We parted ways, both looking forward to doing completely opposite things. I was very excited to go see my family and Jim was so excited to go skiing. I have not been to Florida since right after Hurricane Michael so I was anxious to see the improvements. I also have a new great-niece that is about 4 months old that I wanted to meet!

My flights were on time and nice. Friday night was nice and relaxing. My brother picked me up at the airport and we had a nice talk on the way back to the house, catching each other up on things. Once at the house, I got to catch up with my sister-in-law and see their two Boxers that I absolutely love. We had a really nice evening.

Saturday………. Off to the beach! Woo Hoo! This is not a normal outing when I go to Florida since it is over an hour away from their house, but today…..we are going to the beach!

It was a very scenic drive, filled with surprises. The “improvements” that I thought I would see turned out to be the opposite. With the trees along the road all cleared, I was able to see back from the road and all the destruction that was caused. It was heartbreaking. The huge beautiful trees that were tipped over like they were nothing, the forests of trees that were snapped off like they were pencils, the homes that were severely damaged or blown away completely. It was so sad. This part of Florida will take years to recover. Some of the areas that we drove through looked like the hurricane had just come through last week. I saw so many piles of peoples’ belongings sitting in a pile on the side of the road waiting to be picked up by the trash people. Couches, clothing, desks, toys. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to go through something like that. It made me so thankful that my family was safe. They had damage to their home and barn, but they were safe.

Moving on to a happier note, the day was beautiful. We stopped at a Marathon store on the way to the beach. Al and CeCe kept telling me there was something they had to show me. We went inside the store and they both pointed at something at the end of an aisle. I looked up and there on a shelf I saw the most amazing statue of a cat. With glasses on. Holding a book. It was 100% me! As I was exclaiming how much I loved it, a man reached across us, said “excuse me” and took the cat off the shelf! My brother went into action. I have never before seen the look he had on his face. I was a little scared. Talk about being protective of his little sister! He basically told the man the cat was for me, I had come down from Missouri, etc. etc…… Needless to say, we went home with the cat. ?

Next up, the beach. We spent a few hours at Pier Park walking around, eating, shopping and walking down to the beach. I had to walk in the water! The sun was out and it was about 85 degrees. A perfect day for the beach! We had a fantastic lunch at the Angry Tuna restaurant, which I would highly recommend. Our waitress was from the Baltimore area and was wonderful. And of course there was the fudge shop, Kilwins. Yummy. After a while we were all getting a little tired and decided to head back home. Such a great day. Once we got home we had steak, broccoli and oh……………. MASHED POTATOS for dinner. I was in heaven. Long day though and we all went to bed early.

Sunday was the day I got to meet my new great-niece. So exciting! I had bought her a hat while we were shopping at Pier Park and I couldn’t wait to see it on her. We arrived before noon and I immediately held her. She is precious. And the hat looked amazing! We were able to stay and visit for quite a while but my niece had to go to work so we left and let them spend a little time together before she had to leave for work. I am so grateful I was able to see my nephew, niece and new great-niece!

Sunday evening was yet another relaxing evening. Dinner was amazing. Chicken made on the Traeger, asparagus and yes, MASHED POTATOS! Can you tell I love mashed potatoes!!!! We watched a little television, talked with one of the neighbors I have gotten to know, laughed a lot turned in early again. I definitely relax when I go visit.

Monday was a travel day with not much to tell. We all hate goodbyes. Al and CeCe both took me to the airport (and Natalie since they were watching her that day). My flights were all on time. Panama City Beach airport to Dallas to St. Louis. Jim landed a couple hours before me so by the time I landed, he had already retrieved the car and was waiting outside as I walked out of the airport.

Jim and I had talked via text the entire time we were apart, telling each other how our trips were going. It was great that we were able to get away and go do our own thing but I did miss him. We travel well together and have so much fun so this was really different for us. We got home and stayed up telling each other more stories of our travels. And then we were off to bed to try to get some sleep………….