How to Cram a 90 Minute Drive into 5 Hours - Part 1

We were going to be driving back to Miami today and we were a little worried about hitting Miami's notoriously bad evening rush hour traffic, so we decided to try to arrive in Miami after 7:30pm. We planned to leave Brian's house right after lunch, drive the 1.5 hours to Key Largo and spend a little time at the Botanical Garden there. We were then going to have dinner around 6:00pm before heading up to Miami. Well you know what they say about the best laid plans...







Suitcases ready to be loaded!






Almost immediately after we started driving, Sweet Pea said that she was feeling car sick. I handed out ginger chews and ginger gum and we hoped that would fix her. I told her to tell me if she started to feel any worse.

Grandma Trudy had been very interested in all of the "Buy 4 t-shirts for $10" billboards that line the main road down here. When we got close to the store that was doing the advertising, she said she really wanted to stop. She said she could be in-and-out in under 15 minutes or we could leave without her. Well, Ross set a timer for 15-minutes and when she was late, we just took off without her.







Just kidding. We didn't really leave her stranded all alone in the middle of the Keys! :)

By the way, it turns out that the store only offered one type of shirt for $2.50 each. Who would have guessed that if you wanted any sort of interesting color or design that you would have to pay more?

Sweet Pea said she was still feeling sick to her stomach. I whipped out my next line of defense - ginger pills.






Once we were on our way again, we were on the lookout for a bank because Grandma Trudy had brought some legal papers to Florida that she needed Ross to get notarized. We finally came across a Bank of America and Ross and Trudy went inside while Sweet Pea and I waited. While they were in the bank, I suggested that Sweet Pea walk around the grass for a little bit, which she did for about 30 seconds until she came over to me and said her stomach was feeling worse and that she just wanted to sit in the car.







At this point, I knew that I had to give her some children's Dramamine, but I also knew that it was in a suitcase in the back of the minivan. Of course it was in the bottom suitcase so I had to unload the entire car in the bank parking lot by myself to get to it. Somehow I managed to knock myself in the head with one of the suitcases. :) Ouch! [Note to Self: Keep emergency medical bag in a more accessible spot on future car trips.]

Grandma Trudy and Ross returned and we were finally headed to the botanical gardens.







Just kidding! Grandma Trudy noticed that one of her shirts was the wrong size. We needed to go back to the t-shirt store! Back we went. When she went in to return the shirt, Trudy realized that she didn't have the receipt with her. The shop would not do an exchange without the receipt even though she only wanted the exact same shirt in a larger size. We searched the minivan and finally found the receipt. The exchange was made and we were on our way again.

Well, it was getting dark by this point and we were still an hour away from the botanical gardens. I guess we'll have something to look forward to doing the next time we are in the keys! :)

And at least the Dramamine finally seemed to be doing the trick for Sweet Pea.

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