After getting up and have a fine continental breakfast, we left the Super 8 in Valdosta, GA, and jumped back on I-75 south toward Florida. About 16 miles later, we hit ‘the motherland’, Florida. Our first stop once across the border was the Visitor Information Center, where we took some pictures, picked up some brochures, had a cup of free Florida grapefruit juice (except for Kiara… she’s allergic), played a little at their children’s area, and visited the restroom. Then we were off again.

Paula Dean from Food Network had an episode of her show where she talked about boiled peanuts. Jennifer and I both wanted to try some, so a few miles later, we had seen a sign for a gift shop where they sold boiled peanuts, so we stopped. They had real alligator heads for sale there! It was sort of neat to hold an actual alligator’s head in my hand, but it was creepy seeing the heads all lined up on this long table. I thought that I was in some sort of horror movie. Jennifer was freaked out, but Kiara was fascinated. (I see a therapy bill in my future for her.) This shop sold fruit and juice, the obligatory Florida gift shop items, and the hot boiled peanuts. We couldn’t decide if we wanted the ‘spicy Cajun’ or ‘regular’, so we got one of each. I mean, come on… Paula Dean likes them, so why wouldn’t we? Well, we found out why. They tasted like what they were…waterlogged peanuts. The texture was the part of it that Jennifer couldn’t get past. I didn’t mind as much, but I still didn’t see why people gush on about them. Kiara wanted to play with them more than eat them. Oh well, live and learn. Now we can say that we tried them.

When we got to Orlando, we drove around to find the Wal-Mart we knew about, and picked up some shorts for me (the washer and dryer keep shrinking mine…right!), other clothes, some food, and other miscellaneous items. We then stopped off at Hooter’s by the airport for some chicken strips and to watch the end of the Pistons/Bucks game. We then headed to the Orlando Airport Marriott, where we met up with our friends. We went up to our room, watched some Saturday Night Live (Robert Smigel, you’re a genius!), then went to bed.

Again, pictures can be found on Flickr.