It has been about 10 years since I have gone to Florida. The last time I went was with camping friends to Okechobee, and while there we went to the Florida Keys and Miami.

The weather was perfectly beautiful until we headed back on New Year’s Eve night. We heard the weather was going to turn bad so we decided to start back to Kentucky. Now this was after a New Years Eve celebration with our friends who had wintered in Florida. Flo and Bobby Brown from Paris were with us, and Bobby was going to help my husband, Eric, drive home.

All went well until we hit the Georgia line and the worst ice storm I have ever witnessed was hitting Atlanta at the same time we were.  We watched as eighteen wheelers were turning around in the road in front of us and wreck after wreck on the side of the road.  Needless to say we feared the same would soon be happening to us.  Between Flo and my screams of panic witnessing the scenes playing out before us I know our husbands wished we both had laryngitis at the time. Somehow by the grace of God we arrived home safely, never to forget that frightful night.

On Thursday I left for Orlando, Florida with my friend Elena Davis and her daughter, Mia. Elena is the Spanish translator for the migrant program in the Clark County school system. She would be in a conference for four days once we reached Orlando, Florida. We made a stop over in Riverview, Florida at her friends house for two nights. I have to say the hospitality at Rosando and Andrea’s home was like a five star hotel with our every need being met.

He treated us to dinner at a Kobe Japanese restaurant that was delicious the first night we were there. The next day on Friday we went to Apollo beach. It is one of the few beaches in Florida I had not been to. I liked it because it wasn’t overcrowded, and though the day in the sun was short it was very enjoyable. We ate lunch at a seafood restaurant named Circles, and since I love seafood I was a happy camper. The atmosphere is always so much better around a beach anyway as you sit and watch the boats in the marina.

That evening to top the night off I got to experience something else I had never done and that was to go to a Mexican wedding. It was an outside wedding and the weather man must have planned the day for the bride and groom. Perfect was the way I described it. I was, however shocked to see the car read 91 degrees. It felt like 72 to me. I guess the humidity is different in Kentucky.

The food was delicious and so much. First we had tons of appetizers to choose from, and I thought that would be enough then a huge dinner ensued. It was different than an American wedding but some things were similar. There was a sign there that I found unique. It read, “every family has a history and this is the beginning of ours.” There were more toasts. By the time the wedding cake would have been served we were too full to partake. I do not know how late the wedding party lasted, but we left around ten o’clock and when I asked I was told it would probably go on for another two hours.

The bride and groom took pictures with every guest there. So Sweet!

Anyway, my trip is sweet thus far and I will tell you more about it next week.

Sue Staton is a Clark County native who grew up in the Kiddville area. She is a wife, mother and grandmother who is active in her church, First United Methodist Church, and her homemakers group, Towne and Country Homemakers.