Step outside and stand in the afternoon sun for a just minute. Do you feel that?
What I’m referring to, of course, is the warmth of the spring sun. It means summer is right around the corner. Our 10-day vacation ended last week, signaling the final, home stretch until the end of the school year and the beginning of the summer.
You might ask why I’m so anxious for summer to come. After all, I begin work Memorial Day weekend and continue through to Labor Day weekend. It’s almost like going to school, right?
I don’t think so. I love the summer for the obvious reasons: the warm weather, the beaches, the freedom, the sleeping in and staying out late, just like every other Jersey girl. And I got my first taste of summer two weeks ago, on vacation.
My mother, brother and I spent five days in the wonderfully warm and pleasant Florida for Spring Break, just like many New Jersey and northern United States residents.
We arrived at the Orlando International Airport on a late Monday afternoon, and drove through Daytona to Ormond Beach, to visit my aunt and uncle for the night. The last time we had been on a real vacation in Florida was when I was five or six, so being in a new place was a nice change.
The weather was gorgeous, but the first day, my mother and I did what any girls would do: we went shopping. And after a day in Ormond Beach, we drove back to Orlando in the rental car. Of course, we managed to make three wrong turns, go through a “Do Not Enter” sign, and cut across a median of grass to correct an error, but we did safely arrive in Orlando.
We spent the week at the theme parks: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Typhoon Lagoon, MGM Studios, Animal Kingdom. We managed to squeeze all five into a four-day spread, even with an afternoon spent at the beautiful Disney’s Pop Century Resort that we stayed at, in the pool and arcade.
Vacation was awesome. Cape May County can be very, well, dull at times and it’s nice to get away and have a good week. And I’m not going to argue with the 95 degree, sun-blasting weather, even if it did give me a good sunburn.
But coming home is always positive. Sometimes you just begin to miss the regularity and normal patterns of home. So, at four o’clock on Saturday morning, we left our hotel for a 7 a.m. flight out of Orlando to Philadelphia.
We did manage to smoothly catch our shuttles, get through security, check our bags, make the flight, retrieve our bags, and arrive home before one o’clock in the afternoon. Needless to say, my family spent the Saturday afternoon and most of Sunday sleeping, but no regrets from me.
My spring break may have been a little rushed, and I did come home to nasty, 45 degree weather (oh, lovely Wildwood), but I loved the vacation, and I hope everyone had a good break.
Davis, 16, of Green Creek, is a tanned sophomore at the Technical High School.
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