We got up early, ate some breakfast and then headed down to Florida for the day. I had decided that since I was going to be in Florida, I needed to have fresh Florida orange juice, key lime pie and head to a beach.
Arrived at the Visitors Center just over the Florida line and they had fresh Florida OJ. First goal achieved!
Since we wouldn’t be in Florida very long, my one Aunt decided to book a historic tour. I dodged that tour and found the nearest beach! I really don’t like tours! I dropped them off and told them to text me when they were done with the tour.
I was able to spend a few hours on the beach by myself and recharge. My parents brought me down to the Ft. Lauderdale area every Christmas for a week and then a week doing all the Disney and Sea World type stuff. My mom always planned amazing vacations and most of the time she found things to do that lined up with what I was interested in. So many stories to share!
For the past few years, I have wanted to go back to Florida. It’s been on my mind a lot but I didn’t know why. My Dad was the exact opposite of my Mom on vacations. His anger and lack of interest in doing fun things with us. Even mini-golf could turn into a nightmare!
I had a moment while laying on the beach. Memories came back and I knew I needed to pray and ask God what I needed to reclaim from those years. Then I got up and walked into the ocean.
Now, on this trip I had said I wanted to see a shark. I’ve seen a lot of sharks before but still wanted to see one on this trip. There was a guy surf fishing by me and another guy stood up and pointed and yelled, “Shark! Shark!” Sure enough, there was a shark about 75 yards out from us! That ended the time of praying and reclaiming! I went back to laying out!
Went and picked my family up and went out for lunch. Had a slice of Key Lime pie and was quickly reminded that lime tastes like cleaning solution ever since I had COVID awhile ago! It tasted awful but I ate it anyway!
We didn’t realize that St. Augustine had such a high amount of witchcraft and I had a weird experience with that, but that’s another blog post!
Since we had a 5 hour drive back to Pawleys Island, we decided to head back to South Carolina. On the drive, we found a place that had Florida oranges and some candy we used to get when I was a kid. We stopped and bought a large bag of oranges and the candy. Growing up, we had a certain orange grove we would go to every year for oranges and grapefruit so it was fun to get these things again. I walked around and did more reclaiming and thanking God.
I checked the radar before leaving and it showed rain in SC. As we came into SC, the sky was not looking good. I kept driving and went over a causeway and a massive cloud formed and part of it looked like the start of a funnel cloud. I asked my Aunts to check the radar. Their response? “Now how are we gonna do that Amy?” I reminded them they all have phones with weather apps and then they started laughing because “why didn’t we think of that?!” Meanwhile, I’m watching this cloud and I am trying not to panic. From the backseat I hear “there is rain.” Oh my word!
Kept driving and it started downporing to the point I could barely see. I was praying like crazy and once I drove out of it I had two options to choose from as far as exits go. Left or right. I knew I was to take the Myrtle Beach exit but instead I took the one going away from it. I even told my Mom I knew I was supposed to take the other exit but the car went the other direction.
They loved the detour because they saw more of SC than what a highway allows you to see. We got back on the road I was supposed to be on. It was about a 10 minute delay from taking the wrong exit.
We got to a gas station and stopped in. My one Aunt asked an employee if they had any rain and she looked at my Aunt like she was crazy. She went on to say, “A tornado just went through here. You missed it by maybe 10 mins!” I wasn’t shocked but my Aunts were! All I said was, “Look at the radar!”
We made it back to the condo. Trees and branches were down around the area but no serious damage and nobody injured.
Thankful that we were directed to take the wrong exit. I’m sure my angel was like, “Amy’s really trying to figure out the weather and nobody’s listening so I’m gonna help a girl out!”
Such a great day to just randomly drive to Florida for 6 hours!
Butterflies & Bumblebees 