Sea to Shining Sea

A few weeks ago Ernie asked me if I’d want to drive to Florida with him. He had a gig and the 9 hour drive and quick turn around would be a lot to do on his own. It took me like half a nanosecond to say yes, so on Saturday we woke up literally before the butt crack of dawn and hit the road.

As we were driving, I commented on the sun rising and I suddenly realized that I would be seeing the sun rise and set on my first day, which was on my 101 in 1001! How. brilliant. I ended up crossing off quite a few things from my 101.. keep reading 🙂

We drove through Georgia, stopping to get some peach cobbler.

We listened, of course, to Bruno Mars most of the way. Naturally, right?! and then we finally hit Florida and made our way to The Club Continental, where Ernie’s gig was. It was so beautiful and despite the bugs and humidity, I probably could have spent a long time looking at how beautiful the place was. I walked around a little bit and took some pictures before getting tired of the bugs and the way the air fogged up my camera.

Ernie’s show was right on the water, and as I watched the sun set, I realized I’d driven all the way from Washington to Florida over the past 3 weeks. Literally sea to shining sea, just like America the Beautiful. I saw it all.

Beautiful, spacious skies? Check!
Amber waves of grain? Check!
Purple mountain’s majesty? Check!
Fruited plains? Check!
Sea to shining sea? Check!

Oh snap!

The evening was pretty fun except for that moment when Ernie started singing “Pony” and I straight up walked out, haha.

I did a little reading and retired to bed early because I’d been so. exhausted. This wasn’t the worst view to wake up to:

“Stand in the Atlantic Ocean” has been on my 101 in 1001 days lists since 2011. There’s no way I was going to be in Florida and not make a case for me standing in the ocean. We didn’t have much time, but I told Ernie that I literally just needed to stand in the Atlantic Ocean, snap a picture and then we could go. So he dropped me off, I walked across a beach like I’ve only seen in a movie (the whitest sand I’ve ever seen and colorful umbrellas and sea shells all over), took my sandals off, let the ocean wash over my feet, took some pictures as proof and ran back to the car.

On our way back we saw signs for the original Chick-fil-A which you know I was all over, and only like 30 seconds later did I have the sobering realization that it was a Sunday and therefore I would not be able to indulge in a chicken sandwich from the first ever Chick-fil-A. But you’d better know that didn’t stop me from still seeing it. What the heck, first Chipotle and now Chick-fil-A? ALL. THE. EYE. ROLL.

Things from my 101 I crossed off on this trip:

• Visit a new state
• Watch the sun rise + set in the same day
• Stand in the Atlantic Ocean