Palm Beach

Several months ago, my Aunt Jan texted me to let me know that she would be staying in Palm Beach this weekend and that Jackie and Jeannette's families would be visiting her there.  As I knew that it wouldn't really work to take my parents to see Aunt Jan earlier in the month while they were in Ft. Lauderdale, I thought this would be the perfect time for Doug and I to take a road trip.  We would not only be able to visit my family, but we would also get to see a part of Florida that we had never visited.  Even though it was only a little over three hours from our home, we decided to make a mini-vacation and stay overnight while we were traveling.

For a little while this morning, I started to regret that I had suggested the trip.  There was an accident on the turnpike that added a half hour to our trip and the traffic close to Palm Beach added another one.  Because of the delay, our lunch plans quickly changed to finding a place to grab a sandwich somewhere along the way.  Even that got stressful as there was nowhere easy to stop and the only toll plaza along the way was completely packed with not one parking space open.  

Thankfully, once we arrived in Palm Beach, the trip got a lot better.  We found a KFC with a drive thru for a late lunch and we got to the Henry Flagler Museum with enough time to tour the mansion.  We absolutely loved it.  We learned a lot about Flagler and his role in developing tourism from St. Augustine through Key West and enjoyed looking at the extravagance of the gilded age.  The older that I have gotten, the more I can see the waste of that time period, but it definitely was a beautiful home, and I was glad that his granddaughter had preserved that time in history.

Doug and I met Aunt Jan at her hotel after our tour.  She had just checked-in, and Uncle Lee was laying down.  It sounded like he may have picked up a bug while at their last stop.  We were sorry to hear that but had fun visiting with her while waiting for Jackie and Jeannette's families to arrive.  It was so nice to see everyone.  They were happy to be done traveling and everyone was looking forward to a week on the beach.  We hung out with the Barnhart family for the next four hours, eating dinner and catching up.  We were excited to hear about Evan's thoughts on going to IU next fall, and I was glad to have given Anna her Valentine's Day gift in person.  I always have fun with Joshua and Benjamin.  They were definitely ready to eat dinner, look for lizards and hop in the pool.  Overall, it was a wonderful time in Palm Beach, and I was extremely thankful that we were able to visit my family.  I don't know how much I will be in Syracuse this summer with Cameron going to Greece, Meg moving to Orlando and Brett's wedding, so it meant a lot to me that they were able to keep some time open on their vacation to visit with us.