leylakinsx13-blog

[leylakinsx13-blog]

THE TIME IS HERE!!! I know some of you have been patiently waiting for me to update this blog you’re in luck!!

Last night we stayed just outside of Chicago since we were supposed to have freezing rain overnight. We were not risking being stuck at home.

We stayed at the country inn and suites, which was actually really nice. Dad wanted deep dish pizza so we swung by this pizza joint that was super packed. Dad said to forget about that place and to just go to the mall I wanted to go to. (*giddy girl squeeee*)

Get to the wood field mall. Also super packed but alas, we trudged through anyways. When we leave dad says “well, that was just exciting.” Insert all the sarcasm in the world to that comment. Shocking. I know.

Anyways, we leave the mall. And try the same pizza joint except in a different location. STRIKE TWO! This was just a place you order and take pizza to go. No thanks.

So dad had emailed me a restaurant last week or something like that of a restaurant we could go to, third time is a charm, right? We go inside and it’s like a 40 minute wait unless you wanted to eat at the bar.

We got on the table wait list, the bar was full so we just hung out until I sniped a spot at the bar. SUCCESS! I didn’t cancel the table just in case it was not going to be too terribly long. We ordered food at the bar, started eating, finally we get called to a table. We just laughed and carried on with dinner which was delightful. Moretti’s if anyone is curious.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel for the evening and went to bed. We’re seriously exciting people.

7AM Sunday: Flight day!!!

My wonderful alarm goes off at 7. We got up headed over the free breakfast because, well, it’s me. If there’s food, there’s a Leah.

Finish up breakfast, dad has a smoke, we grab our stuff and head to the shuttle. Here’s a good laugh for everyone... I hop in the shuttle van and bounce right onto the seatbelt clamp. Seriously, I think my right asscheek is bruised.

We get to the airport, I’m briefing dad on everything. “Take your coats off, take your belt off, take your shoes off... blah blah blah” dad: “I can only do one thing at a time!!”

We make in through TSA with no incident. However while I’m packing all of our snacks back into my bag, a TSA agent asks if this random tray of chocolates and powdered coffee creamer is mine to which I said no. He then proceeds to ask if I want it. (It’s too early in the morning for me so I’m just standing there dumbfounded for a moment) I say “uhh.. no? I’ve watched too much Drugs Inc. on Netflix. I have no idea what could be in there! And I’m not trying to get busted for something!” He responds back telling me I’m a smart girl.

Uhhh? Thanks? Not my coke and crack rocks, I’m just trying to get to my vacation.

Finally we are making our way to our gate to hand out. Annnnd of course there’s one of those little electric walkways on the floor.

Let’s just say dad took full advantage of poking along on that, laughing at his snailing speed while I’m standing at the end waiting for him.

We’re at our gate patiently waiting dad is asking about our plane and commenting on other planes while seeming highly intrigued. I was fascinated. Dad seeming to be interested in something?!

Finally it’s time to board up and continue onwards with the journey. We have our passes scanned and then we were standing on the jet bridge for what felt like an eternity freezing to death. We finally get to our seats and dad sits down looking disapprovingly at me and the seats. I just laughed because I knew before we left he’d hate the seats. I chose frontier because they are the home of low fares done right! Or something of that nature...

But anyways, we’re packed in like little sardines riding with Cloe the deer fawn. The entire plane is rocking back and fourth while we’re just sitting there waiting for everyone to get in. Literally the most nauseating feeling was taking over me from the shaking. Dads response? “Imagine taking a cruise and feeling that the whole time!” Thanks dad... I’m feeling much better after that.. hahaha.

Time for take off. FINALLY!!!!

Talk about terrifying... I think I peed a little. That’s no joke. The wind was AWFUL!!! I didn’t think we were going to make it into the air. I was thinking to myself, “great, now we’re going to lose a wing and bounce off the runway.”

Me to dad: “the wing is probably going to snap off and we’ll all die.” Dad: “naw, I’m too ornery to die.” Okay dad, whatever you say.

The flight was pretty smooth, dad and I had some snacks and an in flight nap up until the landing. She was pretty rough too but we made it into Jacksonville just in time for it to finish raining!

We picked up our rental car which was hellish. They were packed and had no cars. We waited about 20 minutes before dad started getting crabby that we were going to waste our entire day waiting for a car. So I told the lady that we needed a car ASAP because we had reservations, we didn’t, but we got a car. NO TIME FOR A CRABBY DAD OR IT WILL BE A LONG TWO DAYS!!

I set up the GPS to head to lunch and of course dad immediately realized we weren’t headed the right direction... dad: “I thought this joint was between Jacksonville and savannah?!” Me: “no, I told you it was in Jacksonville.”

Thankfully any crisis was averted there due to the fact this restaurant has 4.7 stars with over 2k reviews. It was called safe harbor and it was delish!

Dad knew before we even got there that he wanted a grilled shrimp basket. As for me, I had no clue, but I went to the classic fried fish. We also decided to split an order of gator tail.

I’m weak. I love gator. I thought for sure dad would be hesitant but he was actually the one who asked if I was wanting to try it from there. A restaurant with locally sourced/caught seafood? Of course I’m eating gator.

No regrets. The gator was AMAZING! Dad said it was “really good” and for any of you who know my dad, that’s a rare thing to hear. He did also enjoy his shrimp basket. So I dodged a bullet and was able to wipe the sweat from my brow this go.

After we finished up lunch we took a quick walk through the area before having to sit for another two hours to get to Savannah!

It’s a straight shot from Jacksonville to Savannah on I95 so we’re about mid way there when all of a sudden dad yells “DID YOU SHIT!?!” Guys, I seriously about died laughing. It hadn’t quite hit me and I was like “oh my god! No! DID YOU!?!” We’re both dying in the car from this putrid stench that came out of nowhere and assaulted your nostrils like they owed some serious cash. Dad: “smells like Nekoosa in the middle of August! NASTY!!”

I’m laughing just thinking about it. It was disgusting but gold. Thanks for automatically assuming it was me, dad.

We are finally approaching one of the joints I put on my list to stop at with dad. It was called “peach world”. Dad likes peaches so it seemed appropriate. It was just a small roadside shack full of peach related items. Salsa, jelly, tea, brittle, you name it I’m sure it was in there.

Dad found us some peach bread and the lady gave us a sample of a peach cider slushie. Needless to say we ended up with two peach slushies.

We paid and went back to the car and dad says “this better be the best damn peach bread I’ve ever had for that kind of money!!!” Me: “then why’d you buy it? There was a sign on the table with a price.” Dad: “WHAT! I DIDNT SEE IT! HOW MUCH WAS IT!?!” Me: “11.99”

I couldn’t help but laugh. It is good bread, but definitely not quite worth that price.

We finally finished up our trip and got to our Air BnB here in Savannah, and we’ve just been hanging out here until tomorrow morning since it’s Sunday in the south.

Hopefully tomorrow’s excursions will be a little more exciting.

[leylakinsx13-blog]

Vacationing with the Man Who Hates Everything- Preplanning.

So as you may or may not know, I am taking my dad to Georgia for his birthday! I’ve decided to blog about my experience vacationing with him since he generally hates just about everything.

To put this into context, during dinner when I told him I had booked the flight, his immediate response was to ask me, when, where, what are we doing, where are we flying out of, where do we fly in to, is he going to be crammed into a small plane seat, why does he only get a backpack, and most importantly, “we better not be staying in some fruitcake flophouse with a shared bathroom.” Can someone even tell me what that is?!? I about choked on my pizza and said dad, don’t worry about it. We haven’t even left and you’re already complaining about a free vacation, good grief.

For me when I vacation I have a general idea of what I want to do, mostly because I feel the need to stay busy and make the most out of my time. I send him a few things that looked interesting that I thought he may be interested in. One was a large cat sanctuary, he emails back and says “roar”. My guess is that was a no... I sent a handful of other things as well and last I knew, he didn’t even reply.

He did however decide on two Air BnBs and told me to pick one since they were approximately the same price. Guess what guys, I picked the right one. He say “why’d you pick that one? that’s the one I was leaning towards but it didn’t really matter either way I guess.” Well dad, 27 years of existence, I think I’ve got this one in the bag.

In two weeks the adventure with the man who hates everything begins. Stay posted!!