Susan and I had the van packed and loaded and on the road by 8:30 a.m., only 17 minutes off our planned schedule. Next stop was picking up Kelly at her apartment, but we got to talking and my mind wandered and suddenly I forgot that I had to pick up Kelly. I came to my senses before we got too far down the road, and I made a U turn remarking loudly on the lack of sense of direction of my children.
Kelly was ready and came outside pulling a giant, purple suitcase packed to the gills. The case was larger than the one I had packed for three people and larger than the one Susan had packed for two people. We all made several remarks about her suitcase, but as usual Kelly let that roll right off her back. She rearranged the trunk so that all of the cases fit in nicely and then climbed in behind me in the middle row of the van. Susan was up front with me, and Darcy and Gabby were in the very back. We had plenty of room and off we went.
We had discussed previously that we would eat before we left so that we wouldn't have to stop, but Kelly apparently was not listening (her hearing is going at 50 years of age) or she chose to ignore that arrangement and she promptly wanted to know what we were getting to eat. I was more concerned with directions. I had left the house without researching our route, something that I never do. I am direction-challenged and have been all my life. I have trouble getting from point A to point B unless I know the way. North? South? Couldn't tell you. I want people to give me directions that include "turn right" not "head north". This use to drive my mother madly insane as I would end up in the opposite direction of where I was headed or I would get lost coming from a place I knew fairly well. It didn't bother me so much as I was resigned to it, but her getting upset caused me to suddenly get anxious about directions whether she was with me or not. I tend now to panic and so I make sure to map out the route ahead of time any time I am traveling. I did not do this for this trip, figuring that once we were on the road the GPS on our phones would get us to where we needed to be. WRONG MOVE.
As I headed from Kelly's I was suddenly wondering if I should go right or left (north or south) from her apartment. She was concerned with food, having not eaten per the instructions, and so no one questioned Madison when she told me to go north and then to cut across the state to Pompano Beach. It seemed like we were driving forever. Thank goodness we had stopped and gotten Kelly food before we left the county! We were on the interstate and then we were taken off the interstate to travel down some po-dunk road. Susan commented that it seemed odd that we traveled north to go south, and while Kelly and I made noises about how Pompano wasn't that much further south then the Tampa area, Susan googled it and found she was correct. There are three different routes we could have taken and after paying $12 for traveling the Florida turnpike, we all agreed the route home would be Susan's southern way. Oops.
The day started off sunny, but then we got pelted with rain and darkness. It didn't last long and the sun was out again, but this continued the entire trip. Sun and then terrible rain. Sun and then terrible rain. The last batch of thunderous rain was the kind that made people pull over because they couldn't see, but again it didn't last longer than ten minutes and so I was able to keep on driving, although I was quite tense in the shoulders.
Kelly entertained us the last hour by reading our previous journals from the travel journal which I had thought to bring along at the last minute. In it we learned that we had traveled to Pompano Beach in 2006 by the southern route. Susan did not gloat, but smiled to herself when Kelly read this aloud. We all got several chuckles from the journal.
After almost six hours of driving, longer than the four and a half hours we were expecting, we arrived in the rain at Florida Atlantic University. This was my idea since we were going to be so close to it on the the way to our resort. Why not take time for a college visit? Madison had signed all of us up for the 2 o'clock tour and since it was already two we let Kelly take the wheel after we got out at our destination. She agreed to find a parking spot and return. If I had been her, I would have found a spot and a Starbucks before heading over, but she is a better woman than me. Plus I think she needed a restroom.
Darcy - I am writing this because Madison is being a lovely poo head and doesn't want to talk or actually write in the journal. The college visit, from my point of view, wasn't bad. When we pulled up to the information gate some lady gave us directions that lasted for about five minutes, telling us where to go and why we would have trouble finding parking. We didn't really get any of what she was saying, but much to our bladder's amusement we did found where to go and we were able to release our fluids. Maddy (although she may deny it) seemed quite enthusiastic to go on the college tour. We all packed into a small room and listened to some woman talk, but honestly I wasn't paying attention so I could not inform you of anything she said. Cara - I can't really help either because I was tired and my mind kept drifting off worrying about Kelly finding us and how long this tour would take. I think she was mostly giving a run down on scholarships and SAT and ACT scores, but I was hoping Madison was paying attention.
Darcy - We then were passed off to the tour guide who was a junior at FAU. He was very fun. We started off on the tour with a good size group, but all I could think about was how cute the shorts and shoes were on many of the fellow tour-ers.
Maddy kept hanging back with the family who were farther from the rest of the group. This caused me some stress that she would miss parts of what the guide was saying as this was her college tour. Well, Maddy did not seem to share my concerns when I voiced them...so I just shut up for the rest of the tour.
About an hour into the tour, Kelly, Gabby, Susan and I wandered off to the bookstore leaving Madison and mom to continue on without us. (Sidenote: FAU is home to some BIG spiders that were hanging in the trees and were quite disgusting leaving me to believe this school will be a no). The bookstore was quite unfulfilling as everything was too expensive. After awhile of wandering through it, we got bored and decided to find our way back to the building we had started from. Unfortunately, the weather decided it did not want us to make our way back easily; we had two umbrellas for four people. Kelly used her umbrella and the rest of us packed under the one the school had provided. Kelly - Let it be known that I offered to share my umbrella! Darcy - Passing through the newly formed rivers in our flip flops we found our way back and waited for Maddy and mom to join us.
Cara - The FAU tour was interesting, wet, and at times entertaining. The guide was gung ho about his school and gave us insight on the college experience at FAU. Maddy, however, was unimpressed with this (she would prefer to know about educational stuff) and marked this school off the list that she doesn't even have.
After hooking back up with the rest of the group, Kelly took the wheel and drove us the 18 minutes it took to get to our Wyndham Palm-aire resort. I went in to register, tired and hungry. I tried to look as pitiful as I could in preparation for the pitch to get me to a sales meeting, one of the annoyances I despise about these vacation ownerships - especially in Florida. Daniel, at the front desk, saw that I was a big wig Presidential owner and gave me a unit in the last building to be renovated. He gave me my keys, showed me how to get to the building, and then apologetically sent me to the conceige desk to "get my parking pass".
There were three people at the conceige desk. Two were standing around as I walked toward the desk and one was sitting at a computer fiddling with it. I was told that "someone would be right with me" as if they had a huge amount of work they were doing and then Lizbeth stepped up and asked me abruptly for my driver's license. I hadn't even had to give my ID to the front desk so I thought it odd, but I didn't question it, just handed it to her and she in turn handed it to a good looking man with an NBA physique and height. He palmed my license and sat down at a computer to what? Run a financial report? A criminal background check? I thought it odd and wish now that I had asked what they wanted my license for.
Lizbeth started out very helpful giving me information on the area and things to do. She recommended dining options and handed me some coupons that she wrote her name on as she passed them over. She looked at me and asked me if I was tired, and when I admitted that I was, she asked, "Why? From what?" in a snotty voice as if she had ridden all day in the car with me, witnessing my day. I wish I could have told her it was none of her god damn business, but she had all ready moved on to the real reason that she stood behind that desk - to get me to a sales meeting. She started pulling out papers and rattling off times, although they were almost full, hurry, hurry. I beat her off over and over, telling her I was not traveling with my husband and that I was one of three owners and therefore could not purchase more points if I even wanted to. She ignored all of this, and finally I pulled out the big gun and told her I had just had a death in my family and that all I wanted and needed was peace and quiet to grieve. Her response? "So 10:45 tomorrow morning?" I finally got away by giving her my cell number and promising to text her if I changed my mind. We were free!
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