My Trip -- Part I
Here's the first part of what I did on my trip to Florida.
We started driving on Saturday, May 1. One thing I like about driving to Florida is the way you can notice the gradual change in weather, vegetation, and accents as you get more and more south. I find US highways quite different than Canadian ones. They feel a need to have much more signage than in Canada warning you about every little thing. It can be quite distracting. They also vary the speed limits greatly. Unlike Canada where all major highways seem to be 100 km/h, the US highway speed limits vary from around 50 - 70 mph, which is irritating. One of the most surprising signs I saw on the way was a sign marking the C&O Canal. I wish I could have taken a picture.
On the first day, we drove as far as Staunton, Virginia, which happened to be the birthplace of Woodrow Wilson. It was here that we were introduced to a restaurant chain that we would subsequently visit in about 5 other states. I'm talking about "Cracker Barrel". During the winter school term, I think Adam and I were wondering at one time what Cracker Barrel was. Now I know. Fairly good food and fairly cheap, which was nice.
The next morning we stopped at a place which claimed to be "One of the seven natural wonders of the world." It was the Natural Bridge in Virginia. I have since learned that there isn't actually a definitive list of the seven natural wonders and that about 19 sites have claimed to be on the list, and Natural Bridge rarely appears on any version of the list. Nevertheless, it was very impressive. It was a gigantic rock bridge 215 feet tall and 90 feet tall. It actually has a highway driving over it, but from the road you can't tell what you're driving over. George Washington actually carved his initials on the rock wall when he was a teen, and they can still be seen today! There's some pictures of the bridge here.
As we drove out of Virginia, we had to cross over a mountain range called the Blue Ridge mountains. The road kept going up and up and by the time we started back down, we were literally above the clouds. At the top it was perpetually foggy and raining. Speaking of rain, once we got closer to Florida, we drove through one of the worst rainstorms I've ever seen. It was during the middle of the day, but the rain was coming down so hard that you could hardly see a couple metres in front of you. Almost everyone had their four-way flashers on while driving so that they could be better seen. There was even a stretch of highway that was littered with tree branches and leaves from the strong winds. I certainly haven't seen weather like that in Canada. Fortunately, we didn't have any more rain until we were on our way home, during which we drove through yet another torrential rainstorm.
The rest of our drive was fairly uneventful and so a couple of Cracker Barrel's later, we arrived at Daytona Beach. It was really nice here. We had a great hotel room with a balcony overlooking the beach, which was great for people watching :) Surprisingly, the language we heard the most at the hotel was French. This was because the swim team from Laval University was staying there. There was also a carload of girls from Toronto at the hotel. I think we met more Canadians here than any other time on our trip. Swimming in the ocean was great. The huge waves were great for body surfing. Took awhile to get the salty taste out of my mouth, though. For dinner one night, we found an Olive Garden restaurant to eat at. I've been wanting to eat at one again ever since they closed all their Canadian locations like 6 or 7 years ago. It turns out they closed them because it was costing them too much to import certain ingredients to Canada. Anyways, it was just as good as I remembered, so that greatly pleased me. It was also here that I got my first sunburn of the trip. What fun!
That's all I'm going to write about tonight. Next time, I'll talk about the start of our time in Orlando.
We started driving on Saturday, May 1. One thing I like about driving to Florida is the way you can notice the gradual change in weather, vegetation, and accents as you get more and more south. I find US highways quite different than Canadian ones. They feel a need to have much more signage than in Canada warning you about every little thing. It can be quite distracting. They also vary the speed limits greatly. Unlike Canada where all major highways seem to be 100 km/h, the US highway speed limits vary from around 50 - 70 mph, which is irritating. One of the most surprising signs I saw on the way was a sign marking the C&O Canal. I wish I could have taken a picture.
On the first day, we drove as far as Staunton, Virginia, which happened to be the birthplace of Woodrow Wilson. It was here that we were introduced to a restaurant chain that we would subsequently visit in about 5 other states. I'm talking about "Cracker Barrel". During the winter school term, I think Adam and I were wondering at one time what Cracker Barrel was. Now I know. Fairly good food and fairly cheap, which was nice.
The next morning we stopped at a place which claimed to be "One of the seven natural wonders of the world." It was the Natural Bridge in Virginia. I have since learned that there isn't actually a definitive list of the seven natural wonders and that about 19 sites have claimed to be on the list, and Natural Bridge rarely appears on any version of the list. Nevertheless, it was very impressive. It was a gigantic rock bridge 215 feet tall and 90 feet tall. It actually has a highway driving over it, but from the road you can't tell what you're driving over. George Washington actually carved his initials on the rock wall when he was a teen, and they can still be seen today! There's some pictures of the bridge here.
As we drove out of Virginia, we had to cross over a mountain range called the Blue Ridge mountains. The road kept going up and up and by the time we started back down, we were literally above the clouds. At the top it was perpetually foggy and raining. Speaking of rain, once we got closer to Florida, we drove through one of the worst rainstorms I've ever seen. It was during the middle of the day, but the rain was coming down so hard that you could hardly see a couple metres in front of you. Almost everyone had their four-way flashers on while driving so that they could be better seen. There was even a stretch of highway that was littered with tree branches and leaves from the strong winds. I certainly haven't seen weather like that in Canada. Fortunately, we didn't have any more rain until we were on our way home, during which we drove through yet another torrential rainstorm.
The rest of our drive was fairly uneventful and so a couple of Cracker Barrel's later, we arrived at Daytona Beach. It was really nice here. We had a great hotel room with a balcony overlooking the beach, which was great for people watching :) Surprisingly, the language we heard the most at the hotel was French. This was because the swim team from Laval University was staying there. There was also a carload of girls from Toronto at the hotel. I think we met more Canadians here than any other time on our trip. Swimming in the ocean was great. The huge waves were great for body surfing. Took awhile to get the salty taste out of my mouth, though. For dinner one night, we found an Olive Garden restaurant to eat at. I've been wanting to eat at one again ever since they closed all their Canadian locations like 6 or 7 years ago. It turns out they closed them because it was costing them too much to import certain ingredients to Canada. Anyways, it was just as good as I remembered, so that greatly pleased me. It was also here that I got my first sunburn of the trip. What fun!
That's all I'm going to write about tonight. Next time, I'll talk about the start of our time in Orlando.