Day 1: Monday, February 20
Hubby and I traveled 2 1/2 hours to Hueytown, Al stopped at Jack's in Hueytown for gravy and biscuits.
Everyone was checked in and given a name tag that was our ticket for our meals, events, and lodging.
Around 7:30, the bus arrived, loaded our luggage along with 40 other people's luggage onto the bus, and
By 8 AM, we were on our way.
Our first restroom stop was I-20 at the Georgia Welcome Center in Waco, Georgia.
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| Georgia Welcome Center Waco, Georgia. |
Our next stop was for lunch at the Arbor Mall in Douglasville, Georgia, where there were several different places to eat. We picked Chick-fil-A I ordered a kid's chicken nugget meal, and hubby ordered a chicken sandwich with waffle fries.
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| Arbor Mall in Douglasville, Georgia |
Our third stop was at I-75 Rest Area Southbound Forsyth, Georgia.
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| I-75 Rest Area Southbound Forsyth, Georgia. |
Our fourth stop was the Florida Welcome Center I-75 in Jennings, Florida. (They always have fresh orange juice here, but they closed at 5PM, and it was just a few minutes after 5).
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| Florida Welcome Center I-75 in Jennings, Florida |
We stopped for dinner at Ole Times CountyBuffet in Lake City. Here, I ate collard greens, green lima beans, carrots, a piece of fish, cornbread, and a slice of chess pie.
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| Ole Times CountyBuffet in Lake City |
We finally arrived at the hotel, were given our room keys, and took our luggage to our room.
Everyone was exhausted from the long ride, so they took a shower and went to bed.
Holiday Inn Express room 310.
Day 2: Tuesday, February 21,
Breakfast at the hotel: omelet, sausage, biscuit with grape jelly, and milk.
At 8:00, we were on the bus headed to St John's Town Center to pick up our guide.
Our first stop was Memorial Park along the St John's River.
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| St John's Memorial Park along the St John's River |
Our next stop was Sweet Pete's Candies, where they have 100s of candies & chocolates.
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| Sweet Pete's Candies |
We walked to the nearby Weldon Johnson Park, which was located in the center of town near the Art Museum and City Hall.
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| James Weldon Johnson Park |
Our next stop was Jessie Ball Dupont Park to see Jacksonville's Favorite 70-foot tall, 25-foot trunk Oak Tree.
The so-called Treaty Oak is at least two centuries old.
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| Treat Oak 70 Feet 25-foot trunk. |
We loaded back onto the bus and headed back to St John's Town Center to drop off our guide and get lunch.
We chose the M-Shack's gourmet burger that is made with all-natural, hormone-free ground beef.
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| Hubby and I split the M-Shack's hamburger. |
Our next stop was the Miss Headley River Boat Cruise along St John's River.
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| Miss Headley River Boat Cruise |
We loaded back onto the bus and headed to the hotel to freshen up, for we were going to the Double Tree by Hilton for a buffet dinner and show.
By the time we filled our plates, there was no place to sit with our group. We ended up setting up front near the band with a fun group from Louisiana.
One of the women was a librarian. The one sitting next to me had red hair, and she said her husband didn't care for traveling. She said when I was growing up, my dad would take me to the pub with him. He would give her money to play Pack Man games, and he would go and drink. Her dad was much older than her mom. Her dad had passed several years back, and her mom remarried, and she didn't care much for her new husband.
She said if anything happened to her husband, she would never remarry. Their group had already visited the Fountain of Youth, and she said the water tasted like sulfur. This group was a lot of fun, and we all danced around the room waving our napkins to the Saints Go Marching In.
