Spa Day

Mel had me up and moving at 6:45 a.m. He had a busy day planned. Last night, before I could go to bed, I had to pack an overnight bag to take with me this morning. At 7:45 a.m., we left for Jacksonville. Mel and John had made plans to drive to Ocala, FL so they could tour the Don Garlitz Drag Racing Museum. Mel didn't want to leave me alone at the RV park, isolated without transportation, so I went with him to the Sepseys' hotel.

By the time we arrived, Jackie had left for her business meeting-her purpose for being in Jacksonville in the first place. Once the guys left for Ocala, I settled into the Sepsey's hotel room but I had an agenda for my visit. Because Mel had us leave so early in the morning, I began my stay with a shower, a nice change from the RV shower. Then, I made some tea and ate bread, butter and fruit that I had brought with me.

I made good use of my alone time and began planning out our next move. Are you ready for this? We are going back to Disney World. We had planned on moving to Georgia at the end of this week, however, the weather is conspiring against us. So on our trip up A1A yesterday, Mel finally conceded that heading north is premature. So we are retreating first to Tampa and then, we will move back to Disney as of Sunday until March 3rd. Hopefully, by that time, there will be more spring-like weather in Georgia. After I finished our planning, I plugged in the computer and answered e-mail and looked up travel information. Also, I made a few phone calls to chat with friends.

When the maid arrived to clean the room, I walked across the parking lot to eat lunch at TGIFridays. My young waiter seemed a little out of it, but after I ordered, we got to chatting and it turned out that I was his last customer on his last shift at the restaurant. He had completed his civil engineering degree in December and he was starting an engineering job with the City of Jacksonville. When I told him that I was a city planner, we formed a quick bond. We talked a long time about his career goals and dreams. He attributed his quick employment after graduation to his internship with FEMA in New Orleans after Katrina, surveying the levees. What a great experience coming from that tragedy.

When I returned to the hotel, Jackie was back from her conference. I asked her what she would like to do and she said, "Let's get pedicures." So, off we went across the parking lot to a little shopping center where there was a nail salon. We walked in and I requested a manicure, pedicure and eyebrow waxing (OUCH! There will be no other waxing anywhere on my body!). Jackie did a manicure and pedicure. With our services, we got calf, foot, arm and hand massages and I got a mini-facial with the waxing. It was a real girlfriend moment. The shop was owned by Asians so no English was spoken and we only had each other to talk to. Since I started the day not knowing that I was going to have a pedicure, I just had my athletic shoes with me-no sandals. I did not want to mess up my pedicure so I wore the little styrofoam shoesies from the shop.

I was on a roll, so I walked down the street to Supercuts. They weren't busy and laughed when I walked in with the foam flip-flops. While my hair was being cut, the idle hairdressers gathered round as I explained about our travels. Dear Jackie came into the salon bearing iced teas for us as we were parched from our busy activities.

When we were finished, we crossed the parking lot again only to find Mel and John lounging at the pool. Jackie thought I was the height of class (snigger here), so here is a photo of me vamping for the camera after my day spa treatment. Finally, I felt it was safe to put on my shoes so the guys decided we should go to dinner. We ate at Copeland's, a New Orleans-style steakhouse. After dinner, we collected our belongings and returned to the campsite. A good day!