Okay I know that I call everything an adventure but Memorial Day was a ROLLERCOASTER let me tell you.  You’re definitely not ready.

The journey begins with the semi-chaotic one-hour-late wake up before quickly packing for the adventure. With apples, grapes, water, and mini oreos packed and swimsuits on, my dad, mom, sister, and I hit the road to make the long trek to Vero Beach. Immediately my dad turned on the AM radio which was the signal for my sister and I to put in the earbuds. I turned on the recently discovered Dear Evan Hansen Soundtrack and I was set.
Around 41 minutes into the trip, we decided we needed to get some gas so why not stop in Jupiter for some snacks and coffee too. After making our way to a pretty sketchy gas station and getting some VERY expensive gas into our car, we set off to find the widely acclaimed donut shop. The thing about Jupiter is that everything in Jupiter is named “Jupiter (blank)”. From Jupiter Animal Hospital, Jupiter Barbershop, Jupiter Tattoo, EVERYTHING began with the word Jupiter. (If you live in Jupiter and disagree I’m sorry but TRUST ME when I tell you that I’m right and from what I saw, this is true.) This called for reading everything out loud in weird voices because why not. It got a little out of hand.
My sister: Where are we?
Mom: Jupiter!
Me: What are you talking about mom? We’re on Earth?
I’m hilarious, I know.
My sister even caught on with Jupiter puns saying things like “Jupiter lose yourself” in the words of Eminem’s song “Lose Yourself”. GENIUS
But it seemed the trek to find the perfect donut shop was harder than previously thought. Jupiter Donuts are the best donuts around and perfect for our stop on the way to Vero but they were closed for memorial day. Tragic, I know. So we decided to go to the next best coffee place, Oceana Coffee. My dad was on a crazed hunt for coffee and baked goods. One could even compare him and his neon sky blue sunglasses to Guy Fieri on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives (don’t worry he doesn’t have the bleached hair). All rules of the road were lost and rolling through stop signs in empty parking lots was the new thing. When we finally reached Oceana Coffee, we all got up and out of the car. An elderly woman was giving me the stink eye from her open car window but I ignored it until we came to a halt at the door. They were closed. CLOSED? Yup, the sign on the door said that it was closed for Memorial Day. Never had I seen a more mortified look on my father’s face. We ran back to the car to drive to find another coffee shop because my dad NEEDED his coffee. We quickly made our way to another Oceana Coffee and at last they were open. When you walked in you could immediately smell the coffee. With pictures and diagrams of how to make coffee all over the world to a map of the world with different currency pinned to it’s original location, the small shop was simply an aesthetic. They had blueberry, carrot cake, chocolate chip, and cranberry muffins as well as almond, chocolate, and regular croissants and homemade protein balls and sandwiches. With iced coffees and muffins in hand, our family made our way out of the quaint coffee shop and into our car to enjoy our purchases. My sister got a Blueberry Muffin and I chose the Carrot Cake Muffin. I like to consider myself a Blueberry Muffin Connoisseur but today I chose to be adventurous (yes I know I’m SO adventurous) and go for the carrot cake.

With the Fleetwood Mac Pandora Station on, we cruised along to Orchid Island. My uncle needed a part for his hose at his house so we stopped at Home Depot as he turned the car off and ran in to get the part. And this is where I leave you, my last will and testament in this hot car with sweat dripping down my face with the windows closed in 100 degree heat. Tell my family I love them….

I’m just kidding but I was actually suffering. Watching my sister teach my mom how to play sticks is actual torture. It even got to the point where we were singing “it’s gettin hot in here so take off all your clothes” screaming in pure hysteria.

We finally finally FINALLY found the part we needed and hit the road again to make it to my uncle’s beach house. Once we were there, we chilled for a little bit and then squeezed everything into one car and headed to the beach.

The beach was sweltering hot. Like unbelievably hot. Like the surface of the sun hot. Like flesh melting off your bones hot. Okay maybe not that hot but it was pretty damn hot. We wasted no time rubbing on some sunscreen and running to the ocean water. It was cold ocean water. Like melted ice caps cold. Like an oasis cold. Like it felt so good as if it was the last drop of cold water left on earth during the apocalypse cold. It was pretty darn refreshing if you ask me. The mixture of the hot air and burning sand with the cool breeze and icy water made the perfect combination.

After swimming around in the water for an hour or so, we got back out and reapplied sunscreen to avoid becoming Larry the Lobster. Something we always do every time we go to the beach is dig a huge hole kinda like a hot tub. If you dig deep enough on the beach, you can hit water, so my siblings and I always dig huge holes and build up walls in order to create our own tiny private beach or pool. Yes it is as epic as it sounds. With the sun beating down on our backs, my sister and I sang the Original Hamilton Broadway Soundtrack as we dug and dug and dug and dug and dug. We tried our best and alternated building the wall and digging the hole. We dug past the soft sand and got to the layer that was straight up shells which pretty much cut up our hands but we finally hit water and expanded our “hot tub”. But before we could enjoy what we had worked so hard to dig, it was time to go back to the beach house and wash up for dinner. We were covered in sand head to toe to we jumped into the freezing ocean to wash off, hopped into the car, washed our feet off in my uncle’s outdoor shower, and we all ran to the nearest shower to get rid of the feeling of being sticky and all the sand in places where sand should not be.

At this point we were ravenous. So we head to the nearest and most popular restaurant. We chose to sit outside, partly because it was crazy crowded inside and we also wanted to enjoy the view of the bridge and the fishermen. Around 5 minutes after we were seated, we immediately regretted our decision. Where was the breeze? Where was the cool water? WHY WAS THIS A FREAKING SAUNA? WHY IS THERE SWEAT BEADING UP ON MY SKIN WHEN ALL I WANT TO EAT ARE MY CONCH FRITTERS? Clearly, the struggle was real.

Although I’m pretty sure Satan was chilling with us in the heat, the food was amazing. The conch fritters we ordered were delicious and I was so hungry I even ate some of the lettuce the conch fritters came on. Everyone pretty much got fish tacos but I ordered the Fried Green Tomato BLT with sweet potato fries and my sister ordered The Ultimate Grilled Cheese. Trust me, if you want cholesterol, you will eat this 7 cheese triple decker sandwich with bacon and tomatoes. Mine was delicious; I don’t think my sister could finish hers.

After the meal we stopped back at the house for a pit stop, made sure we didn’t forget anything, and hit the road again. Here’s where the REAL adventure begins.

My family car closely followed my uncle’s family car along the scenic route. We watched the sunset as we drove windows down with loud music playing. I was exhausted so I eventually fell asleep. When I woke up around 45 minutes later, something wasn’t right. First of all, my family was playing Elvis Presley. Like at full volume Elvis Presley. Like no thank you I hate Elvis Presley. Secondly, my family was in front of my uncle’s car and we were leading them where to go. Thirdly, there was an accident so we had to drive around into an airport and out the other side to avoid the accident. The roads were rough and the car just didn’t feel right. Sure enough, we turned down the Elvis Presley and we heard the sound of a flat tire. So we pulled over in the dark to check it out. Sure enough, there it was. The front left tire was flat so we had to move everything from the trunk into the car to get the spare tire. My dad started changing the back left tire until we told him he was about to change the wrong tire so he moved on to the front tire. The lugs refused to come off so our insurance guy came to fix the tire. Before he could get his hands on it, my uncle pulled up out of nowhere and pulled out the lug wrench. He jumped up and down on it and loosened them up right in front of the insurance guy. He just came out to do his job and my uncle straight up showed him up. We were back in the car and on the road in a jiffy. We had to drive slowly in order to avoid damaging the spare tire but that didn’t stop us from listening to loud music and watching old music videos. By the time we arrived home, the spare was flat too.

It was at this point I realized I had a paper due so I ended up staying up really late to write it even though I was exhausted and then I hit the hay. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out.

I ended the day with a semi decent tan….more like sunburn but I swear, it’s not THAT bad. The day was exciting from start to finish and there was no shortage of new experiences and struggles but I wouldn’t trade it for anything else….except maybe an open donut shop or something. 🙂

Kasual kook xx