by T Byrd

Created on: June 21, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

Way back when I was just a lass my father announced that we were going to Florida for our summer vacation. My siblings and I all probably did a happy dance and began our daydreaming. We had heard a lot about that magical and sunny place called Florida. I remember stopping in my tracks the moment an Anita Bryant orange juice commercial appeared on the television. How lucky was she to be able to stand in the middle of an orange grove in Florida and sing. One of our neighbors had pictures of Disney World and we were in awe. My grandmother lived there and I always pictured her out on her patio lounging and sipping a cool drink surrounded by palm trees.

This was going to be the biggest vacation my family had ever taken so a lot of preparation went into it. Well I guess I should say that my parents did all the preparing. My siblings and I just waited for our departure date. My father had just purchased a new Dodge van that all five of of us kids could fit comfortably in and now was the time to break it in. The plus to the van was there were now enough windows for all of us to look out of. My mother went out and brought us shorts and tees to suit the Florida weather. We were elated that we were going to look like all the other Florida kids. We didn't want to be in danger of looking like tourists and uncool.

Our trip was a straight shot down Interstate 75 and we began to notice the change in scenery once we reached Kentucky and Tennessee. I can still picture the trees growing near the guardrails and the See Rock City Signs. Our excitement began to grow once we got through Georgia and were reaching the Florida stateline. In those days it was a rite of passage to stop at the Welcome Station and get your cup of fresh Florida orange juice as you stretched your legs and basked in all the glory of the Sunshine State. Why didn't anyone warn us that we would be attacked by lovebugs and that the front of the van would be layered with them. I will say that my only negative memory of that vacation was dodging lovebugs that whole week.

My grandmother had her ideas of what we should do and where we would go. So she went into full tourguide mode. Although we were not in a more glamorous city like Miami, we did have the time of our lives. At that time many people had not heard of Saint Petersburg, Florida. It was still a sleepy little retirement town in the late 70's. We went to the beach every day. The popular Webb City was still around so we went and shopped, ate ice cream and went looking for the dancing chicken my grandmother had told us about. It rained every afternoon and magically the sun would come out and dry it up and you then went about your day.

All good things must come to an end but we left satisfied that we packed as many activities as we could into the space of a week. We still have the vacations memories and the polaroids to show it.

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