We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Panama City beach, not as nice as some of the others, but in perfect location for us overnighters.

 Day 4 of the roadtrip is our last leg of the trip.

We had to get up at the crack of dawn since we are still about 6 hrs away from Orlando. When traveling with teens this is only accomplished with the promise that they can sleep in the car and that the earlier we arrive, the earlier they can begin to enjoy Universal Studios ;)We made it on the road by 8am after eating breakfast at the hotel.

The best thing about leaving so early on a Sunday is that there is literally no one on the road, not even church goers!  I didn’t expect the road to be so empty so it looked like we were in the middle of nowhere with no one to be found. Imagine multiple scenes of the walking dead, yeah that pretty much. Scenery really is pretty, so much Forrest, reminded me of upstate NY since those are the roads I know best.

Our 1st stop, Tallahassee because it’s important to take a break from driving, we need to teach the girls a thing or two about US history while we are on the roadtrip and because it’s important to EAT! hahaha

My daughter thought it was pretty cool to see a street with her name on it! I had to burst the bubble when pointing out that the streets were all names of US states. But as she well pointed out it doesn’t say North or South, so it’s her street! so here’s the pic:

So we parked downtown to do a quick visit to Florida’s state Capitol. The Capitol reminded me of a big Southern mansion. My favorite piece was the huge Magnolia on the right side. Maybe we are a little biased, but Austin’s Capitol building is still my favorite.

After so much seafood last few days we decided to stop and eat some meat! We chose BurgerFi, assuming it would be quick and on our way. We all built our own burger, it was delicious with some milkshakes to wash them down 😉

And now really off to Orlando!

 I told the family that we were staying at the Hard Rock hotel but I didn’t show them any pics or descriptions so it was fun to see their faces light up to all of the amenities that our home for the next few days had to  offer.

One  of the nicest perks is being in walking distance to Universal Studios, getting in earlier than other people, the hotel is fun and the pools are amazing! it was not going to disappoint them that’s for sure!

1st thing after getting settled into our room, was to head to the pool and hot tub for some much needed relaxing. They play a movie every evening at the pool at 6:30 which is a nice perk. And we were so tired from the being on the road having fun, that a night at the pool sounded amazing!

A drink and hot tub seemed to do the trick because after a couple hrs we were ready to head to city walk and explore!  Cheers, this drink was delish and I get to keep my glass!

We decided to eat dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp. Each one of us got a different kind of seafood feast which was finger licking good!

Then we went exploring the stores, not sure how long we were there but we explored every corner.  Minion googles pic was the best! That store really does have every merchandise of each franchise imaginable! There goes the paycheck ha!

The Hard Rock is within walking distance to Universal which makes it super convenient, or you can take water taxi, also  super easy and as convenient. We explored the hotel before going up to the room. They really have all the right details making it fun to explore. They have a huge Christmas tree with musical ornaments, different clothing pieces, Elvis section, rock store and a lot more paraphernalia to explore. This really is a cool hotel!

We went off to bed with the excitement of exploring Diagon alley and the rest of universal for what we know will be a cool Monday for a change!