a cheap vacation

I needed some time away. I am trying to find myself. I lost myself so many years ago trying to make everyone happy but me. So, one late night when I was lying in bed, I decided to drive to Daytona Beach because, hey, I'm off for a couple of days. So I asked my twins, who are teenage girls if they wanted to go. Of course, they wanted to go. Who doesn't want to lie on the beach and take all the troubles off our minds? I don't have lots of money. I'm a single mother of three. This had to be a cheap trip. We decided if we couldn't get a cheap hotel for under 100 dollars, we would spend the day on the beach and sleep in the car for a little bit if we had to. And then head back home. So I was lucky and found a hotel for cheap and it just happened to still be open. We bought all the food we could before we left and took one outfit plus our swimming suits. We headed to the gas station to fill up the car and left out for our carefree days. I drove from 8 that night until 11 that next morning. We arrived at the hotel. We were four hours early, but I had an idea, so we didn't have to pay to spend time on the beach before we checked in. So I walked into the hotel and told the woman. "I know we can't check until three," but I asked if there was any way I could go ahead and park here at the hotel and get to the beach. She explained that you couldn't check in until three o'clock. But since you are going to be staying here, you are more than welcome to park here and head to the beach. We had stopped at a rest area in Georgia and switched our clothing. So we were ready for the sand, sunshine, and the ocean. So we laid and played on and on the beach from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.This was so much fun with my girls. This was the first time I got to spend alone time and learn about them. Life is always passing us by, but in those two days, I learned more about my children than I had in the previous month. It was all about them and me. We slept that night in the hotel and the next day when we woke up we had pop tarts for breakfast. Then we laid by the pool tanning, went back out to the beach, and played in it before our departure and that evening we left. Just like that. These 2 days were the greatest 2 days I have had in some time. My getaway and the amazing time I had with my girls cost me a total of four hundred dollars. A lot of people think they can't make these trips. I wanted to show anyone how to do things cheaply and in a fun way. The only painful thing was me driving the whole 12 hours. I did make it down without any rest time. I stopped at every other rest area. It was refreshing for me and my girls. I lay on the beach for hours and got to think about life and what can make me and my family happy. The hotel was only 78 dollars and it was not a bad hotel at all. So I do give Sea escape so much credit. It was clean and very friendly. From the outside, it looked a little rough and it was very old, but I wasn't there to be in the hotel and when I did approach our room and opened the door, it was very clean and smelled great. I was there to lay on the beach anyways and clear my mind and enjoy my children. That's exactly what we got to do and enjoy family time.