Totally Taylor: Journey to Disney

Howdy, hello and good to see ya!

I know, I know, it's been much too long since I last posted; however, it took me this long to get unpacked, laundry done, attend Pop's funeral, help my parents get his home ready for an estate sale, get Tay back from Louisiana, celebrate the Fourth of July and get back into our weekly routine.

To say we had an absolutely wonderful trip would be the understatement of the year, my friends. It was magical. It was amusing. It was tiring. Best of all, it was full of memories our little family will carry forever. Pure awesomeness.

As I stated previously, I took 742 pictures of said trip so I'm going to have to break this up by days. Let's start with the very long journey to the Land of the Mouse. It's 18-20 hours from our house so we set out really early - out the door before 5am - with hopes of making to Tallahassee for the night.

It was so dark when we left that I didn't take any pictures. Well, that, and I took a bit of a nap. But I did wake up around Houston (we made it there is 2.5 hours...Dave has a bit of a heavy foot apparently) so we had breakfast at Whataburger. Apparently my man was afraid they didn't have this fine establishment outside of the Lone Star State so he wanted a last meal.

We ate quickly and got back on the road. Before you knew it, we were in my home state of Louisiana and things were still looking mighty familiar to me since I have driven/ridden this route more times than I can count since we moved to Texas when I was 8.

We passed over the LONG bridge over the Atchafalaya River, which is also the spillway, and they'd obviously just released the water because it was higher than I've ever seen it. And it's been 22 years. So that's saying somethin'.

Ahhh - the swamps...I was right back at home...and, even inside of the vehicle, I could already feel the humidity rising. Fabulous. We got gas somewhere about this time, I believe.

We went through New Orleans and, because of historical significance, I took this picture of the Superdome. We drove straight through town (thanks, Google Maps, for taking us the long way around) so we had a birds eye view of the canal where the levees were breeched during Hurricane Katrina.

Let me just tell you that they are not exaggerating when they say much of the destruction is exactly the way it was the day Katrina rolled through. It's incredibly sad.

We then drove through Mississippi. Now I'm absolutely certain there are many beautiful spots in this state that would warrant a photograph; however, they are not located along I-10. All I can tell you about this state is that it doesn't take long to cross, we ate at a McAlister's in Gulfport (where they actually served everything on real dishes with real silverware) and Dave quickly decided those who worked there were "more interested in getting their own tea than the customers."

Thing is, he was right. So we ate quickly and got back on the road after a quick fuel stop.

While we were in Alabama, both Tay and Dave experienced their first experience driving through a tunnel. They both loved it. So we documented it for posterity's sake...

Then Dave saw the USS Alabama and asked that I take a picture of it. Because I'm a loving wife who always does what he asks, I rushed to do so and you find evidence of that right here, my friends.

About this time, the trip was beginning to wear on us so I just took random pictures...isn't he cute? He drove the entire way. Apparently I don't drive fast enough.

And after hitting the highway for what seemed like a couple of days, it finally happened. Y'all, we saw this and were immediately rejuvenated!

Yes, friends, we had made it to Florida. Being the tourists we were, we stopped at the official visitors center to get a little taste of all the Sunshine State has to offer...which is a lot.

After picking up a Florida road map and a hotel guide for Tallahassee, we hit the road again with our eyes set to making it to the capitol.

We got a great deal on our hotel for the evening through the hotel guide we'd picked up. It was a charming bed and breakfast, Cabot Lodge. It usually has a $149/night rate but we had a coupon and got it for only $49. Gotta love a good bargain. Especially when it includes breakfast!

The next morning we were up and at 'em really early again. Even earlier once you realize the time zone just changed...

We hit the road and got to Orlando in just under 6 hours. Tay had her first toll road experience, which was funny because she just couldn't figure out how those roads were any more special than others you don't have to pay to drive on.

Out of the mouths of babes, right?

With anticipation building continuously...