Road Trip.... Headed South!

The saying, "If you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans" comes to mind.... loudly!

Mom and I headed to Florida on July 10th and had quite the beginning to our trip.  Multiple bumps in the road.... but with a little patience and a good laugh..... (it was either laugh or cry)... we were finally on our way.

Day One:

The riverfront in Paducah

We didn't make it very far today.... Paducah, KY (that's only about 3 hours from my house....yep, long morning of mishaps).  We plan to hit some antique shops in the morning and then continue on, stopping along the way when we see something intriguing.....

Day Two:

Wow, the riverfront in downtown Paducah is absolutely beautiful.  There's a wall covered in historical murals.... on the other side is the river..... truly breathtaking.  There are many adorable shops within a couple blocks walking distance.  One I really loved was Courtyard East Antiques and Books..... a book store mainly.  I have a not so secret love affair with books.  If you love books this is a great shop with a little bit of everything..... lots of military.... and much, much more. 

some of mom's finds... she's fascinated with
letters right now.

We spent the night in Murfreesboro, TN.... intending to go to a flea market in Dunlap and possibly hit one in Maryville as well....

Day Three:

We were up and moving at the crack of dawn, drove to Dunlap..... no flea market. 

Fair Warning..... if you are using internet sites to find stores and flea markets and they advise you to call the store..... they aren't kidding... call the store! 

Finally, after finding a flea market and not being very impressed we headed towards Columbus, GA (we had a plan.....quit laughing)!

We found a great set of shops right off I-75 in Ringgold, GA.  Two huge malls were open with a great selection of antiques and refurbished items.

Antiques by the Fountain and Gateway Antique Mall.

We spent the night in Columbus, GA.  Got in late and hit the sack, hoping to find a flea market in the morning..... (you guessed it, another one of those internet finds....we hadn't learned our lesson yet).

Day Four:



Ends up..... the flea market was actually a large indoor mall, across the street from our hotel.... how convenient is that! 

Great..... if it was open..... not till 1pm, it's now 8am.  Yeah..... not waiting for that one.

A quick look at the map and we decided just to go for it and head to our next location.... Dothan, AL.
Turned into an excellent day.  Dothan is a lot larger than I expected it to be and we found three adorable, fun-filled antique malls.  All of which I'd make the drive to visit again.  We had a great time!

Plaza 2 Antique Mall, Old South Antique Mall and Land of Cotton Antique Mall

Yes, it took us four days to get to Florida.... actually more like four in a half.... but who's counting!  We probably could of driven for a while and made it home last night but we had already driven quite a bit and we shopped the other half of the day and needed a good night's rest.  Dothan seemed like a good choice for the night. 

Dothan to New Port Richey, FL was an easy drive..... don't know how it took us all day to get there (oh who am I kidding.... I know exactly why it took us that long)! 

Webbs Antique Mall and Smileys are two large malls right off I-75 about 40 miles apart but due to inclement weather Smileys' power was out and we were unable to check it out..... hopefully we'll be able to stop in on our way home.

We had such a great time traveling down here and now our time is nearly up.  We've been in Florida for a little over a week and Thursday we are heading back..... not sure how many stops we'll be making (the car is pretty near full)..... who knows.... maybe I can eek out little room somewhere for a few small treasures!