One of the highlights of last week’s visit was a “little side trip” to visit my aunt and cousins in south Florida. From Mother’s house to Aunt Betty’s is 204 miles, which Google Maps suggests is a quick drive

…that includes 180 miles on Florida’s Turnpike.  My mom is an old fashioned road warrior; turnpikes and interstate highways are not her thing. Wednesday afternoon, she mapped a much different route (on a paper map). And since she wanted to drive, and we had the time, why not?!

We left her house just after eight o’clock on Thursday morning. We headed south to skirt past Orlando on the western side and then headed southeast. Driving two-lane highways (or rather riding shotgun, with a little dog and maybe some knitting in your lap)

affords a much different view of central Florida.

I kept notes of our various turns and a few town names  –
470 to 33 to 50 to 33 to 474 to 27 to 70 to 710 to 706 to 1

Mascotte,
Groveland,
Okeechobee,
Indian Town

Mother had driven most of these roads before; she told me stories about the many trips she and Daddy had taken over the last 20 years. Despite the rain and having to slow down to 38 miles per hour for more than a few miles, we still made it to North Palm in time for lunch.

It was a treat to see my cousin Beth (it’s been more than 15 years!)

and meet her two children (they’re all visiting Betty for two weeks; they live in Boulder, which partly explains the 15+ years). Her son Joseph wasn’t much for photos (he’s 11 so no surprises there) but Rachel (she’s 8) happily posed. Especially with Holly (they have a giant schnauzer at home and I wouldn’t be surprised if their next dog is a mini 🙂

After lunch, we played Mah Jongg (those two kids are way better than I am) and then enjoyed Betty’s balcony. She lives on the 7th floor, which is the lowest floor in the building with a view of the ocean. That bit of land across the way is protected, so there won’t ever be any buildings to block her view.

Friday morning we took that walk along the marina and then headed home. This time we went up US 1 to see the water (mostly the Intercoastal Canal).

my first view of the Intercoastal

We took a quick detour onto A1A just south of Vero Beach to see the ocean.

And then back over to 1 up to Mims (just north of Titusville) where we headed west on 46. I didn’t take notes about turns and towns, but it was just as scenic, and a lot more traffic-y than the trip down. We made it home just after three o’clock.

I can totally see what my mom loves about these kinds of trips. And as long as she’s willing and able to do the driving, I wonder where we’ll go next!