Frank and I are back in Florida. We were on Amelia Island just three weeks ago for Cindy's wedding and now we are in the Tampa Bay area (Treasure Island) to see Michigan play in the Outback Bowl.
Our trip down here was fraught with delays. Our original game plan was to leave Friday morning at 7:00 a.m., pick up some friends in Columbus and then get to Treasure Island around 1:00 a.m. That did not exactly work out to plan.
First, our friends in Columbus had their holiday flight cancelled and had to be rebooked so we couldn't pick them up at the original time so we had to delay our departure time to 11:00 a.m. We were then plagued with a traffic jam that kept us a dead standstill which turned a normally three hour drive to Columbus into a five hour journey. After picking up our friends we then were hit with terrible weather and more traffic jams. After reaching Georgia at 1:00 in the morning it was raining with strong wind and near zero visibility so we decided to get a hotel and continue the next day.
On Saturday the weather was better but we had such bad traffic that we didn't get to Treasure Island until 6:00 that night despite leaving at 8:00 in the morning. All in all, what should have taken 18 hours of driving turned into 24 hours. Needless to say we were exhausted by the time we arrived and ended up sleeping in and relaxing all day yesterday. We spent some time reading and napping on the beach, ate some good food, and enjoyed a beautiful sunset.
The weather here was a little chilly for Florida yesterday, but absolutely lovely today and no matter what I am glad to not be dealing with the snow back home right now. Tonight we are changing hotels to be closer to the stadium for the bowl game and then hopefully Michigan beats South Carolina tomorrow.
I hope everyone is enjoying a lovely last day of 2012. What are you doing to ring in the New Year?