We made our plans to go to Jupiter for two nights/three days. Found a hotel to stay at and some cheap things to do in the area. We didn't have a lot of money to spend, but the trip was affordable.
We left early Thursday afternoon and headed south. We listened to music and talked a bit on the way. I always find it easiest to talk to Kevin while we're in the car for some reason. I'm not sure why, but he seems more responsive then. We stopped for lunch at Subway and shortly afterward arrived at the Busch Wildlife Center. There were several animal exhibits to be seen there, and I got to touch a baby gator and a possum.
After leaving the Wildlife Center we headed over to our hotel to check in. I was a little nervous since I'd never gotten a hotel before, but it was easy enough to figure out. Kevin and I went up to our room - it was roomy and had one king sized bed. I don't remember ever having slept in a king sized bed before, but the thing was huge. I felt like we could comfortably fit four people in there. I think I fell asleep for a few minutes after trying out the bed.
Before it got dark, Kevin and I headed over to the Goodwill store because Kevin wanted to check it out. It was a big store, but I wasn't that impressed with it. He found a couple records he wanted. We then went to Publix to pick up some food for dinner and went back to the room.
We spent the rest of the evening hanging out together, mostly watching TV. We ate dinner, showered, and got ready for bed. We curled up together and read a chapter of 50 Shades before being intimate and then going to sleep.
On Friday we woke up early to get some breakfast from the hotel lobby. I had a cinnamon roll that tasted pretty delicious after being microwaved. We weren't planning to leave for anywhere until 10, so we went back to the room for an hour or two. Kevin watched TV while I fell back asleep curled up against him.
We eventually left to go to the Jupiter lighthouse. Kevin was worried because it looked stormy outside and rained off and on all day, but it didn't end up interfering with our plans. We followed our tour guide up the (very narrow) lighthouse. After hanging out up there for a bit we came back down, continued our tour with a different guide, and went back to do a quick look through the museum. It was a small place, not a ton of stuff to see, and it was raining hard by the time we left.
We stopped for lunch at Taco Bell and had some confusion over "cheesy nachos" vs. "nachos and cheese." Taco Bell's menu is ridiculous.
After the lighthouse we went over to the Blowing Rocks Preserve - the place I was most looking forward to seeing. It was supposed to have a beautiful rocky shoreline with cliffs and crashing waves, and caves and tidal pools during low tide. What we ended up seeing was not quite as fantastic... Most of the shore was buried in sand. There was only a small strip of rocks left unburied, and Kevin and I had to walk about a mile to reach the best ones. It was still a pretty awesome shore though. I loved the rocks, and I really want to go see the place again in all its glory if the sand ever erodes away. It was really relaxing to walk and sit by the water as it crashed against the rocks. And the shore was made up of all sorts of fascinating cliffs, crevices, and caves. The walk back to the car was pretty grueling though; my calves are sore from walking in the sand and I got sunburn on my neck. Still, I liked going to that place.
Kevin and I were both exhausted, so we went straight back to the hotel, showered, and stayed in bed the rest of the evening. We ended up watching the first Lord of the Rings movie on TV. Later, we read another chapter of 50 Shades, and again were intimate before finally falling asleep.
By the time Saturday morning came around, I had a hard time waking up for breakfast. I'd been driving and walking around so much that I could have easily just stayed in bed all day and been happy, but we needed to get going. We got up, ate breakfast in the lobby again, packed up, and checked out.
Before heading home, we stopped at the River Center. I had planned to go there Thursday but we didn't get around to it, so we took a quick walk through it today. It was a small but interesting place. They had a few aquarium tanks with fish. The most interesting one was an interactive exhibit where you could switch between "high tide" and "low tide" on a fish tank (with fish!) and see how the fish reacted. That was pretty cool.
After the River Center we went over to the Loggerhead Marine Center, where they rescue sea turtles and nurse them back to health. I haven't seen a lot of sea turtles, so it was fun to see them up close.
It didn't take very long to finish seeing what we wanted to see, so after stopping for lunch at Wendy's, we made the final drive home. I listened to music and Kevin read a book for most of the way.
I was sad to have to drop him off. I felt so relaxed and content being away with him, with no one else to bother us. It was a fun vacation and worth spending the money. I know I'm going to miss him when I go to sleep tonight. I always do...