Earlier this month Jordan's family and I headed down South to the lovely city of Sarasota, Florida to take a vacation together and soak up some of the Florida heat after a wildly disappointing Canadian summer.
We hopped on our plane from Toronto with the forecast calling for rain all week but that couldn't get us down! When we walked out of the airport in Sarasota the heat hit us like a wall and we all got excited to get out in the sun whenever the weather would let us. It actually ended up being a beautiful week. We had rain two times for about a half hour each. We spent the week baking by the pool, shopping, and eating. All the best vacation activities.
Because it was so hot I quickly worked to master my dutch braiding skills. Look how straight that part is, you guys. I mean, that's pure art. This hairstyle was a necessity for making it through any day of 35 degree humidity.
Another way we kept cool was by shopping for hours on end. Every time I'm in Florida I go to Target a minimum of 5 times to look at their dollar section, wander through their clothing department, and pickup another pack of Justin's Peanut Butter Cups that I convince myself I'm going to bring home but eat instead and have to go back the next day to restock.
And we got lots of great new duds:
<< New clothes, who dis?
Things to note about this picture:
I look a million miles long and that's my main motivation for posting it
Jordan looks like a tiny and very uncomfortable hobbit, which I love
Jordan's mom photobombing the picture, which I also love >>
We started our trip with a nightmarish visit to Steak n' Shake which broke my soul in half because we love Steak n' Shake and we were introducing it to Jordan's family. Our visit included a waitress who we suspected was quite high, staff fighting over who would have to take our table, a complete lack of chili in the entire restaurant (we come to Steak n' Shake for the chili fries y'all), and a very good story. It still tasted deliciously bad for you.
Most of the week was spent hanging out by the pool, reading my books, and hopping in and out of the water trying to get a tan, while also trying not to sweat to death. We also took lots of long walks and spent basically every day trying to see a gator in the pond.
We also went to a hibachi restaurant which was the highlight of my eating experiences.
My favourite part of the hibachi night were the collectable cups that Jordan and I paid extra for so we could take them home. I've never loved a cup more than my buddha:
See those faces? Those are the faces of a group of people who don't know that their flight is getting cancelled tomorrow morning.
So, we were very unaware of the fact that we were flying into hurricane season when we booked our flights to Florida. This is mostly because we live in Southern Ontario where nothing ever happens and everyone is happy that the idea that a tornado, or a monsoon, or an earthquake belong in other parts of the world, unless you fly to said part of the world.
All week the weather reports stated that Hurricane Irma would be coming up the East coast of Florida starting on Saturday evening and hitting around the middle of Florida's East coast on Sunday morning. We were happy because Sarasota is in the middle of Florida's West coast and we had a flight scheduled for Saturday morning.
We called Air Canada to see if we could move our flight to Thursday or Friday just to be safe but Air Canada only flies to Sarasota once and week and that was our flight. We called them every day and checked the website every day to see if our flight was still on and by Thursday it still was. We still made sure we kept a full tank of gas in our rental car and bought lots of non-perishable snack, filled up old water bottles with tap water (since there was NO water in any of the stores), and storm proofed the condo, just in case we got stuck.
Friday morning Jordan and I were just about to head out for massages and I check the website and...the flight is cancelled. We had to still go to our massages or we'd be charged half the price of the massage as a cancellation fee. We threw my cell phone and computer at Jordan's family and ran out the door. I spent most of the massage relaxed and wondering if this meant I'd get some extra days off work while also battling the images of Hurricane Harvey in my head.
Jordan and I got back to the condo and his brother had been on the phone with Air Canada the whole time and hadn't found any viable options for us. We all sat down in the living room and talked through our options. We could stay in Sarasota, where the news was telling us the hurricane was going to hit us straight on now as the hurricane had changed course and was heading up the East coast, or we could take the rental car and get the hell out of dodge with everyone else. We were all worried about how bad the hurricane could be and even if it wasn't the domino effect of a hurricane could mean we could be stuck in Sarasota another week or more. We also all worried about leaving at a time when everyone else probably had the same idea. What if we got stuck on the highway when the hurricane hit? Or what if we ran out of gas because all the gas pumps were empty?
We all took a vote and agreed that this was the time to leave if we were going to. The gps said with traffic we should be out of Florida in about 4 hours and to Detroit in about 17 hours. We ran around madly finishing storm prepping the condo and cleaning as best we could and were in the car by noon on Friday.
It was over 8 hours later when we crossed the border from Florida into Georgia. A drive that should usually take about 3 and a half hours took us 8 and a half. The traffic was awful and the countless fender benders along the highway weren't helping. I drove the first 8 hours and then Jordan took over. Another problem we had was that Jordan and I were the only ones who were signed as drivers on the rental car. We could add more people but we'd have to go to the rental car office and do that. No time for that so off we went, Jordan and I ready for hours of driving ahead of us.
Jordan took the next 5 hours of driving and handed the car over to me close to Atlanta. We drove through Atlanta at around 2 in the morning and it was pretty amazing. The highway was close to empty and wove through the city all lit up. It was beautiful.
Near Atlanta we tried to find a hotel to stay at since Jordan and I had yet to sleep at all. We called every hotel and motel along our way and every single one was full. We called a 3 star motel by the Atlanta airport and they offered us a room for one night for $700.00. Can you believe the gouging that was going on there? They actually ended up being full too but we wouldn't have considered paying that much for one night. Driving past the rest stops you could see it was FULL of cars that people were sleeping in. It was pretty bleak. We ultimately decided to drive on and Jordan and I would try our best to get as much shut eye between shifts as we could.
After an hour and a half nap I was back for another shift. At this point Jordan and I were doing two hour driving shifts. Sitting in the drivers seat for any longer was unbearable. My lower back was hurting and the time was crawling. From 5:30-7:30am I drove us through Kentucky and I was so lucky to get this shift because it was amazingly breathtaking. The highway wound through the Smoky Mountains and as the sun was coming up we reached the top of one of the mountains and looked down around us at what looked like lakes with little islands within them. It was actually a thick layer of fog with mountain peaks poking out. Kentucky is one place I definitely want to visit again.
By 3 in the afternoon we were pulling into Detroit where my Mom and Stepdad were waiting for all of us with their SUVs to take us all home. Seeing my Mom after all this was such a welcome sight and we were all glad to have a couple of well rested people take over the driving for the remaining four hours.
Our trip was nothing if not an adventure. We got so lucky that we left when we did and watching CNN on Sunday from the comfort of our home made us all feel that we made the right choice.
Also, if I ever get fired from my job I could always go into a career in storm chasing.
From the desk of:
Taylor Brown
Hurricane Survivor
