I hate endings. I really do. I'm a planner.....I love the anticipation and excitement of the "before", and the fun derived from all the fruits of all my efforts in the "during", but the "end"? Blech.
It's depressing. So we were totally bummed when our final morning of vacation arrived so seeminly darn soon.
Mother Nature wasn't going to let us be all down-in-the-dumps, though. It was a glorious January morning (and I mean GLORIOUS!...sunshine and high seventies!) , so what the heck were we doing inside? We had pretty much packed the suitcases the night before, so we tossed in the remaining few items and headed out to Jake's fave, Dunkin Donuts, for breakfast:
I love eating outside in January. We definitely can't do this at home!!! And yes, I had a donut for breakfast.......it was our last day, and I thought, what the heck? Sometimes you would be able to indulge and feel no guilt, right?
Our flight didn't leave until 2:50 p.m., so we had a few hours to fill before heading to the airport. We made one last stop at the Florida Mall for some last-minute shopping:
With the suitcases jammed full, we were en route to the airport.
Dropped off the car with all of two minutes to spare
(cut that a little close for my liking), then grabbed some fast-food for lunch before heading through security.
Apparently lots of folks did some serious shopping on their trips, because there was a lot of luggage to be loaded on our plane!
While we waited to board, we spend time reminiscing about our favourite parts of the vacation, and musing about how angry the cat was going to be when we finally got home
. We were also able to find out that the weather in Syracuse was favourable, meaning our drive home should be uneventful and swift (barring any hold ups at the border).
The journey back was much smoother with no turbulence
, my TV worked this time
, and we arrived back at the Syracuse airport ahead of schedule
. We picked up our luggage in no time flat, called the hotel to advise them we needed the shuttle, and were loaded into the van less than 10 minutes later. Awesome service from the Holiday Inn Express.
We arrived home about 9 p.m., stopping only once along the way to grab a quick dinner at Cici's Pizza in Watertown.
All the way home, we chatted about the fact that there were still things on our Orlando to-do list. Waterparks, Gatorland, an airboat ride, dinner shows, a trip to see the ocean.....there were still places we hadn't visited that someday we wanted to see. With a $15 credit from JetBlue burning a hole in my pocket, I quietly began my research for a summer trip, and voila! I found the deal the husband couldn't pass up. One week after returning from Orlando, we had an August trip booked and paid for.......and the planning process had begun again
.
The best cure for the post-vacation blues is another holiday. Bring on summer!!!