Spring Break Senior Style

Meg, Carson, Maddy, and Mallory all arrived safe and sound last night.  I was a little worried about their trip to Ocala as it was Meg's first time driving through Atlanta, but she made it without incident.  Doug ordered pizza for them and they filled us in on their trip as they ate.  Nick had mapped out different stops for them along the way and they each took turns driving.  It only took them a little over fourteen hours which we thought was great for their first long road trip.  

After they ate, the girls took a long walk around the neighborhood.  I thought that they might sleep in, but instead they were all up and ready for 8:45 a.m. mass this morning.  I was impressed that they made it after such a long trip and the fact that we "sprung forward" last night.  After mass, they headed to Orlando to pick up their friend, Stella, before traveling on to Cocoa Beach.  We had never been there, but with Red Tide on the gulf side, they thought that it would be a good time to try it.

While the girls were busy, Doug and I decided to do a little sightseeing ourselves.  We went to 11 a.m. mass and then drove south.  We didn't have any specific plans, but thought we'd see if there were any distilleries near us for Doug to try.  The first one was about an hour from Ocala.  It was a little shack in the middle of nowhere.  It may not have looked like much, but it had at least a half dozen bourbon/whiskies to taste.  Doug sampled a few while I looked at all of the unique merchandise for sale.  He bought a bottle of their original moonshine to take home and then we headed next door to the bakery.  It was a unique set up with a nice outside garden.  There were tables to sit at and a band playing music.  The bakery was packed, which seemed strange since there was nothing else around it, but it did look like a lot of fun.  We didn't stay, however, as we wanted to check out a couple of other places today.

Our next stop was Mt. Dora, a small town on a large lake that reminded us of Sagatuck.  It was fun to walk around and see all of the shops.  The second distillery, Maw's Moonshine, was disappointing, but the artisan pizza place that we found was very good.  We saw several other restaurants as well and thought that we would visit the area again another time.  On the drive back to Ocala, we saw a winery that Doug had read about.  Since we didn't have to be in Ocala at any certain time, we decided to check it out.  It actually was very nice and had a back patio with yard games.  We liked it very much.

Doug and I had enough time to watch the end of the Big Ten tourney, the NCAA tournament selection show, eat dinner and finish the Oscars before the girls came back from Cocoa Beach.  They had really enjoyed their time on the water and with their friend Stella.  I was glad that it all went so well and looked forward to hearing about their next adventure.