i don't have to think about it theres no place i'd rather be...
Hey everybody! i'm in daytona for the races right now... i won't be home until next saturday most likely but this is what i've been up to so far up until yesterday. I'll post pictures when i get home but this is what has been going on.
Daytona 2005
First night- June 26th Fayetteville, North Carolina
So we left the house around 9 and headed for Richmond. We got there around 11 and walked over to the baseball stadium. We had to wait about a half an hour and then got our tickets for the Richmond Braves/Pawtucket Red Sox game. The Richmond Braves are the feeder team for Atlanta (that reallllly made me think of the lovely Shannon whom I miss very much from not seeing her) and the Pawtucket Red Sox are the feeder team for Boston. The Braves won so yay for that. After the game we drove over to the hotel and that’s when the fun began. So we get over there and my dad was like I have a bad feeling about this but my mom and I reassured him that everything was fine. Then we ride up the “broken” elevator to our floor that has this mold smell to it… then we walk into the room and everything was alright. We went out to the van to bring in our things and unload them into the room. So we do that and decide to walk down to the gas station to see if the mart sold bread so we could have dinner and we walked out to check out the pool. Oh my God. It was dark green and at that point my whole family was livid. So we called the help line, and went to the manager and rolled out of there. We decided that a pool didn’t matter so we would just drive until we wanted to stop. We ended up stopping in Fayetteville, North Carolina 200 miles later. We cancelled our SC reservations and made new ones for another night at St. Simons. Then my parents crashed and I waited for Ryan to finally call me and then after that I fell asleep.
Second night- June 27th St. Simon’s Island, Georgia
So we woke up at 6:00 and went and had breakfast, packed up, and rolled out. We had about a 5 hour drive to St. Simons and went through a few storms and what not. I basically just slept most of the time. When we finally got here it was 2:15 and we checked into our hotel… however here we go again… we talk to the people and read the sign saying that the pool is closed. I was like what the heck because all I want to do is swim. So we just came up to the room and sat around for a little bit, I talked to Ryan which made me feel a lot better and then we decided to go fishing after the scattered thunderstorm had passed. So we left around 4 to walk down to the pier. It was so humid and windy and we didn’t catch anything or get all but maybe 3 bites in an hour and 15 minutes so we decided to call it a day and just oh the irony. I had just said “nothing’s biting right now let’s come back out tomorrow morning” that’s when the little boy next to me yells “daddy, I caught something” he caught a freaking baby sand shark. Then we went out for dinner at Brogen’s my favorite restaurant ever. I got my salad and chili cheese fries and I was a happy kid and we had the best waitress ever. Then we left to go walk around what they call the village, which is all of these little shops, but all of a sudden there was a huge downpour. We tried to wait it out but it was too bad so we walked/ran home in the rain lol. When we got home we all just kinda laid down and my parents fell asleep in a matter of minutes. I called Ryan and we talked for a little while and then I just watched TV for a bit until I was told to turn the TV off and go to bed.
Third night- June 28th St. Simons Island, Georgia
So we woke up and ate breakfast and then switched into the room that we were supposed to have. Oh my God, it was raining so freaking hard for most of the day until about 1. So we ventured out to walk through the stores finally and we picked out everything that we wanted to get tomorrow. After that it had finally stopped raining so we decided to go fishing. Everyone was out there since the water was finally nice enough to fish and it was kinda crowded but there was enough room for us. So we fished for a while and got a lot of bites. I got a shark (I could tell because of the force and the way the rod was) but it got off. Everyone around us was catching baby sand sharks (the ones like you see in the blue liquid in the containers that they sell). All of a sudden you saw everyone go to the left side of the pier where they do the deep shark fishing and crowd around and watch this guy reel the heck out of this rod. It took 15 minutes and you heard everyone go “ooo, ahh” lol… so I left my rod there with my dad and ran down the pier with my mom. This guy had a shark… but not a baby, a 43 inch sand shark. They pulled it out of and took pictures to hang in the bait shop and what not, and then tagged him and let him go. The woman had explained everything and it was pretty cool. So we fished for a bit longer and my dad caught an eel which was really need. It was all slimy and what not but I touched it and it was so awesome. After a while we headed in and hit the pool. We went for a little bit since it was cold and then came up and got showered and headed to DQ for ice cream. Then we walked around the village some more and went to the pier and walked around and took pictures for a bit longer. Walking home we ran into some little crabs and my mom was freaking out but they were pretty cool. Then when we got back I got another shower, and called for a bit since my parents like passed out again.
Fourth night- June 29th St. Simons Island
We woke up later and rushed down to breakfast. It wasn't raining so we decided to go fishing while we could. So we headed over to the pier and they were redoing the tops of them which was pretty cool. I caught 6 croaker fish, and 1 red drum. Then it started raining again, but it was only drizzling, and then all of a sudden a huge cloud burst came over. So we went under the awning. After a while we had just give up and go home. It was pouring and by the time we got back to the room we were soaked. So we sat around for a bit and waited for the rain to stop or at least die down. After it did we walked up to the village to Frederica Station to get the stuff for the house that we wanted. While we were in there it started POURING again. So we walked next store and bought the other things we wanted and tried to wait out the rain but that didn't happen. It started flooding and so we all just took of our shoes and walked home in the pouring rain. In some places it was up half way through my shins, but then again i'm only 5'3. When everyone got home it looked like we were all thrown in the pool. So we sat around and waited and played cards and what not. Around 5:45 we walked down to Brogen's to get something to eat and when we were in there it started raining again. It wasn't that bad but at least it wasn't that heavy. When we went home we packed up everything and played another game of rummy... i called Ryan and then we all went to sleep.
Fifth night- June 30th Daytona Beach, Florida
So we got up and got breakfast, and then left around 8:00. We got to Daytona around 11:30 and told the hotel that we were here. I had to get changed in the car which was an interesting experience among itself lol and then walked over to the race track. We got our tickets for the Daytona Prototype/touring race and then walked around the field and bought programs and pins and got some free stuff and what not. We then walked over to the mall to get some food, and then a phone cable for the laptop (that turned out that we didn't need it) and then walked into the nascar store to look at some stuff. Then me and my mom went JcPenny's and got some clothes since they were on sale. Then it was raining again so we walked home which wasn't bad. By that time we could check in so we did and loaded all of our stuff in. Then i sat around on this for a little bit and talked to Megan and got ready for the race. So we left and headed over. We got awesome seats and the cars were really neat looking i took lots of pictures. When the race started it was really neat and it looked like all the cars wanted to kill each other when they would go around the turns. It was neat seeing Porches, Corvettes, BMW's, and GT0's racing together in one race and then Daytona Prototypes racing together in another race all on the same track. The only downfall of it is it's hard to keep track of both races going on at once. It took 2 hours and 45 minutes to run 70 laps which is a loooooong time for a race... but since the track was almost 3 and a half miles its understandable. Then we walked home and i got a shower, and then called Ryan and watched TV until around 1 when i finally went to bed.
That's where i am now... i'll try and update again with everything soon. I don't know if the next hotel will have internet connection but hopefully we will. I hope everyone's having fun at home. I'm having fun but its been kinda disasterous... but alright kids i think that's it... later!
Daytona 2005
First night- June 26th Fayetteville, North Carolina
So we left the house around 9 and headed for Richmond. We got there around 11 and walked over to the baseball stadium. We had to wait about a half an hour and then got our tickets for the Richmond Braves/Pawtucket Red Sox game. The Richmond Braves are the feeder team for Atlanta (that reallllly made me think of the lovely Shannon whom I miss very much from not seeing her) and the Pawtucket Red Sox are the feeder team for Boston. The Braves won so yay for that. After the game we drove over to the hotel and that’s when the fun began. So we get over there and my dad was like I have a bad feeling about this but my mom and I reassured him that everything was fine. Then we ride up the “broken” elevator to our floor that has this mold smell to it… then we walk into the room and everything was alright. We went out to the van to bring in our things and unload them into the room. So we do that and decide to walk down to the gas station to see if the mart sold bread so we could have dinner and we walked out to check out the pool. Oh my God. It was dark green and at that point my whole family was livid. So we called the help line, and went to the manager and rolled out of there. We decided that a pool didn’t matter so we would just drive until we wanted to stop. We ended up stopping in Fayetteville, North Carolina 200 miles later. We cancelled our SC reservations and made new ones for another night at St. Simons. Then my parents crashed and I waited for Ryan to finally call me and then after that I fell asleep.
Second night- June 27th St. Simon’s Island, Georgia
So we woke up at 6:00 and went and had breakfast, packed up, and rolled out. We had about a 5 hour drive to St. Simons and went through a few storms and what not. I basically just slept most of the time. When we finally got here it was 2:15 and we checked into our hotel… however here we go again… we talk to the people and read the sign saying that the pool is closed. I was like what the heck because all I want to do is swim. So we just came up to the room and sat around for a little bit, I talked to Ryan which made me feel a lot better and then we decided to go fishing after the scattered thunderstorm had passed. So we left around 4 to walk down to the pier. It was so humid and windy and we didn’t catch anything or get all but maybe 3 bites in an hour and 15 minutes so we decided to call it a day and just oh the irony. I had just said “nothing’s biting right now let’s come back out tomorrow morning” that’s when the little boy next to me yells “daddy, I caught something” he caught a freaking baby sand shark. Then we went out for dinner at Brogen’s my favorite restaurant ever. I got my salad and chili cheese fries and I was a happy kid and we had the best waitress ever. Then we left to go walk around what they call the village, which is all of these little shops, but all of a sudden there was a huge downpour. We tried to wait it out but it was too bad so we walked/ran home in the rain lol. When we got home we all just kinda laid down and my parents fell asleep in a matter of minutes. I called Ryan and we talked for a little while and then I just watched TV for a bit until I was told to turn the TV off and go to bed.
Third night- June 28th St. Simons Island, Georgia
So we woke up and ate breakfast and then switched into the room that we were supposed to have. Oh my God, it was raining so freaking hard for most of the day until about 1. So we ventured out to walk through the stores finally and we picked out everything that we wanted to get tomorrow. After that it had finally stopped raining so we decided to go fishing. Everyone was out there since the water was finally nice enough to fish and it was kinda crowded but there was enough room for us. So we fished for a while and got a lot of bites. I got a shark (I could tell because of the force and the way the rod was) but it got off. Everyone around us was catching baby sand sharks (the ones like you see in the blue liquid in the containers that they sell). All of a sudden you saw everyone go to the left side of the pier where they do the deep shark fishing and crowd around and watch this guy reel the heck out of this rod. It took 15 minutes and you heard everyone go “ooo, ahh” lol… so I left my rod there with my dad and ran down the pier with my mom. This guy had a shark… but not a baby, a 43 inch sand shark. They pulled it out of and took pictures to hang in the bait shop and what not, and then tagged him and let him go. The woman had explained everything and it was pretty cool. So we fished for a bit longer and my dad caught an eel which was really need. It was all slimy and what not but I touched it and it was so awesome. After a while we headed in and hit the pool. We went for a little bit since it was cold and then came up and got showered and headed to DQ for ice cream. Then we walked around the village some more and went to the pier and walked around and took pictures for a bit longer. Walking home we ran into some little crabs and my mom was freaking out but they were pretty cool. Then when we got back I got another shower, and called for a bit since my parents like passed out again.
Fourth night- June 29th St. Simons Island
We woke up later and rushed down to breakfast. It wasn't raining so we decided to go fishing while we could. So we headed over to the pier and they were redoing the tops of them which was pretty cool. I caught 6 croaker fish, and 1 red drum. Then it started raining again, but it was only drizzling, and then all of a sudden a huge cloud burst came over. So we went under the awning. After a while we had just give up and go home. It was pouring and by the time we got back to the room we were soaked. So we sat around for a bit and waited for the rain to stop or at least die down. After it did we walked up to the village to Frederica Station to get the stuff for the house that we wanted. While we were in there it started POURING again. So we walked next store and bought the other things we wanted and tried to wait out the rain but that didn't happen. It started flooding and so we all just took of our shoes and walked home in the pouring rain. In some places it was up half way through my shins, but then again i'm only 5'3. When everyone got home it looked like we were all thrown in the pool. So we sat around and waited and played cards and what not. Around 5:45 we walked down to Brogen's to get something to eat and when we were in there it started raining again. It wasn't that bad but at least it wasn't that heavy. When we went home we packed up everything and played another game of rummy... i called Ryan and then we all went to sleep.
Fifth night- June 30th Daytona Beach, Florida
So we got up and got breakfast, and then left around 8:00. We got to Daytona around 11:30 and told the hotel that we were here. I had to get changed in the car which was an interesting experience among itself lol and then walked over to the race track. We got our tickets for the Daytona Prototype/touring race and then walked around the field and bought programs and pins and got some free stuff and what not. We then walked over to the mall to get some food, and then a phone cable for the laptop (that turned out that we didn't need it) and then walked into the nascar store to look at some stuff. Then me and my mom went JcPenny's and got some clothes since they were on sale. Then it was raining again so we walked home which wasn't bad. By that time we could check in so we did and loaded all of our stuff in. Then i sat around on this for a little bit and talked to Megan and got ready for the race. So we left and headed over. We got awesome seats and the cars were really neat looking i took lots of pictures. When the race started it was really neat and it looked like all the cars wanted to kill each other when they would go around the turns. It was neat seeing Porches, Corvettes, BMW's, and GT0's racing together in one race and then Daytona Prototypes racing together in another race all on the same track. The only downfall of it is it's hard to keep track of both races going on at once. It took 2 hours and 45 minutes to run 70 laps which is a loooooong time for a race... but since the track was almost 3 and a half miles its understandable. Then we walked home and i got a shower, and then called Ryan and watched TV until around 1 when i finally went to bed.
That's where i am now... i'll try and update again with everything soon. I don't know if the next hotel will have internet connection but hopefully we will. I hope everyone's having fun at home. I'm having fun but its been kinda disasterous... but alright kids i think that's it... later!