The Best and Worst Vacation

This is a vacation I remember well. All of us loaded in a camper and head off to eventually end up back home in Florida. It's amazing that I lived only a short distance from Shipwreck Island, but it took my mom's family to come down from Tennessee to finally take me there.

One of the coolest things in this video is where the two sides of my family collide. In this video, the Patterson and Adams families meet up at my Grandpa Patterson's house for a barbecue.

My mom and dad first met back when they were little kids. For a time, my moms family lived in Callaway in a house across the street from my grandparents. So my mom and dad played together as kids.

I remember getting sailor captain hats from the Gulfarium. Luke got a white one and I got a blue one. I remember really liking those hats.

Looks like that old white Chevy is in this video too in the Chocomania area. We had that car for years while we lived in the trailer. I remember breaking the antenna off of it and pretending it was a sword. My mom used it as a switch to beat me with. I think I may have done it twice.

I am not sure all of this footage is from the same vacation. Starting at 2:43:53, it appears to be footage from other time frames. I am not sure, though.

00:00 Off to the mountains
01:10 Arrival at the mountains
03:43 Inside Sugarlands Visitor Center
10:58 Leaving this block of entertainment and heading towards the pick nick grounds
12:34 Pick nick and swimming in creak
28:46 Rocks
29:25 Carla has runs out of cigarettes
36:24 Mike annoys Carla
40:08 Further up the river
46:04 Back at camp
50:25 Morning of Day 6
54:00 On the road again
54:46 Mountain peak
58:07 On the road again
1:01:33 Peach Queen Camp Grounds in Jemison Alabama
1:02:51 Swimming
1:09:07 Carla and Mike
1:12:02 Entering Florida on July 1st 11:40 AM
1:14:49 Finding the next camp site
1:16:41 Next camp site (Pensacola)
1:17:52 Swimming again
1:24:10 Looking for playground
1:25:16 Morning
1:29:55 Trip to the telephone (To call my mom)
1:33:07 Park discussions
1:35:41 Picking berries and some hilarious over-sharing
1:39:49 Back at the camper after having picked berries
1:41:28 On the road again
1:41:45 Gulfarium parking lot.
1:43:29 Gulfarium
1:46:24 Gulfarium Performance
1:52:31More Gulfarium
1:58:39 Back at camp
2:00:17 Chocomania
2:12:22 On the road again
2:15:17 Racoon River Camping (This is close to Shipwreck Island in Panama City)
2:19:40 Barbeque with the Pattersons
2:20:46 Inspecting the Old Adams House
2:22:54 Back at the Barbeque
2:26:15 Watermelon time
2:27:48 Grandpa Patterson does the stomp dance
2:30:37 Discussion of poplar wood, cabins, lineage, and crafting
2:35:25 Discussion of flint identification, Muskogee Nation crafting
2:40:09 Flee market
2:40:43 Panama City Mall
2:43:53 On the road again (Huntsville Alabama)
2:45:14 Uncle Charlie footage at the pool
2:54:47 Time to sleep in the camper
3:00:33 Morning
3:00:51 At the arcade
3:03:00 Snack time
3:04:35 Walking
3:06:13 Water park
3:10:23 Restaurant
3:12:54 Parking lot time
3:14:27 Magic World
3:25:28 Dark Ride?
3:28:58 Dark Ride is over

I believe this is where the video ends. If I recall, at some point during the trip, my grandma and mom were driving in separate car while we were all in the camper. On the way to Orlando, we got separated. My mom called my dad and all hell broke loose. The cops were called and a search for the camper was put out. Long story short, Heather and I never made it to Disneyland. Instead, we got pulled over and my dad picked us up. This all happened because my dad over-reacted. While the beginning of the trip was memorable for it's truly fun and amazing adventure, the ending of the trip is memorable for how horribly it ended.

Thanks to Uncle Mike and Aunt Carla for the memories. Regardless of how it ended, this was always my favorite vacation. We had many more vacations with them, too. However, this one was always my favorite.