The GACRT brings us to Florida

Our annual Great American College Road Trip {GACRT} game brought us out of the Big Ten this year to Jacksonville, Florida to see the always anticipated rivalry game between Florida and Georgia. It was definitely a different feeling to not be seeing an Iowa game ~ this was only the second year in the 12 year history of the GACRT that the game didn't involve Iowa football, and the first time Dave didn't purchase, pack up and transport the food for the tailgate. He didn't really even have a huge emotional investment in the game either {although we were rooting for Florida}, so it was a very different GACRT, but also so much fun. Thanks Michelle and Andy for organizing this year!

Our first stop {besides Chick-fil-A} after flying into Orlando was Fort Caroline, France's first attempt at a permanent settlement in the United States. It was a cool fort, I just kept thinking how strange it was to be exploring a National Park without the girls along.

I kept noticing all the things I knew they would love, like this tiny grass hut, the pile of shells and the hairy trees.

The plantation area of the park was also incredibly interesting. We bought the girls a book there called Love Twelve Miles Long. Such a good book, I cried the first time I read it to them.

At The Landing in Jacksonville, the night before the game.

The whole reason for our journey to Florida ~ to experience SEC football!

The view from the stadium as the sun was setting was amazing, too bad the game was in a horrible state {at least from the Florida side of the stadium} by this point.

A small side note about the Great American College Road Trip tradition: even though I haven't been to every one of the 12 past games, I feel like we are far enough into this tradition that it is so much fun to reminisce about past games and dream about games in the future. A look ahead at plans for future games ~
2013: Iowa @ Nebraska
2014: Iowa @ Pitt
{a few undecided years that are not written in stone yet}
2020: @ Iowa for the 20th anniversary
2025: @ Hawaii for the 25th anniversary (please everybody jump on board with this idea!)

How much fun is that to think about?! And some potentially good news is that Alyssa is almost old enough to be the official GACRT Camp Counselor for anyone wanting to bring little ones with.

After the game Dave and I drove to St. Augustine. This is the waterfront restaurant where we ate dinner, the picture within the picture was our table. It was nice to sit down and eat a relaxing dinner that didn't involve any ketchup.

St. Augustine is the oldest city in the U.S. and it's just beautiful! I wish we had more than one day there.


The evidence of superstorm Sandy's passage through the St. Augustine area. This is a couple views of the parking lot at Castillo de San Marcos.

Castillo de San Marcos was another really neat National Monument that the girls would have loved. The castle-like structure is the oldest masonry fort in the United States. It was Spanish built and run in the years right after Chrisopher Columbus's final transatlantic voyage.

The castle was complete with drawbridges, dungeons and cannons.


These are some of the neater rooms and include a church alter, a treasure room, a prison, a room that served as what we might now call a "panic room" and some bunks. In the bunk bed photo ~ four men would be assigned to that one bunk, two in each bed. And all of their belongings were limited to what they could hang on the hooks on the side, and fit on the little shelf underneath.



This is the real Fountain of Youth discovered by Ponce de Leon. This was as close as we got to it, it costs $12 to go in, and we didn't have enough time to make it worth paying to get in. So while our youth is important to us, there's a price limit we set on it and I guess that price is less than $24.

The most delicious and perfect mini cupcakes ever.

Our last stop before coming back home was in Orlando for Universal Studios' Halloween event. Basically they turn the entire park into a haunted house. It was fun, but way too crowded. Maybe we have just been spoiled by visiting theme parks during off-peak times, but the well over one hour waits for every.single.attraction got old really quick. I also had myself worried beforehand that it was going to be scarier than it really was ~ it was reassuring to figure out that the scary characters that roam the park are trained not to actually touch the park guests. The Penn and Teller NEWKD Vegas was my favorite part. It's definitely a different way to experience a theme park, but now that I've seen it, I don't feel like I would go again.

These are the beautiful flower bouquets the girls made for me while we were away. All the flowers came out of my parent's yard, so I hope they still have some left :-).

We are very thankful to my parents who always gladly watch the girls and love them so well while we are away! My mom even came all the way up to our house so the girls wouldn't have to miss school on Friday in our absence. Thank you, thank you!! You both made a great and relaxing weekend possible for us, and I know the girls loved every minute of being with you.