Saturday, October 13, 2012 – we are finally in Florida!

Today we made the big break through and entered the state of Florida on I-10. I hadn’t really thought about the fact that I-10 starts in Santa Monica (where we live) and ends up in Jacksonville FL where my sister, Dee, used to work. However, we only got as far as Tallahassee today.

Oh, I guess I should back track. We have been looking at the restaurant, Waffle House, during our drive, so we finally ate at one today. It was good and very crowded. And we did spend a little time driving through Alabama. There was another fantastic causeway across Mobile Bay that was so much fun to drive. You can see the vast expanse of the Gulf of Mexico to the south and almost as much water to the north. It felt like we were suspended in the air, gliding over the water – Wow!

In Tallahassee we went to see the Florida State Capitol. Unfortunately, it was closed on Saturday, so I didn’t get my stamp again. I hope we have better luck stopping at capitals on the way home. The old capitol building, very traditional in style, is now a museum. A tall modern tower has been built behind it to house the new capitol. There are also smaller buildings to the left and right, so it is a very large complex on small acreage. They have built a spectacular fountain behind the tower (or maybe what is now the front of the capitol), with a cascading waterfall and four large dolphin sculptures leaping out of the water.

We decided to give up driving and have an early night. I was delighted when we passed an Olive Garden Restaurant and turned around to have dinner there, before we settled in at the local Wal Mart.