Part I
Does anyone else find it maddening when you're searching for a rental on VRBO (or AirBnB) and you accidentally move the map and lose all the rentals you were just looking at? UGH! Infuriating. As per usual, I did this a few weeks back. As luck would have it, the very 1st result that popped up would be the most adorable little house in Ft. Pierce, Florida. Where? Fort what? I know, I know. But hear me out...
Every summer our family spends 2 glorious weeks soaking up the sun and playing in the waves of North Carolina's Outer Banks. But this year our favorite little sandbar saw an explosion of visitors--the demand for vacation rentals far exceeded the inventory available. This left us wondering, "Where to now?" Don't get me wrong, we'd never abandon the OBX, but it was clear that we were out of luck for our second beach week this year.
Now, given that my job is literally to travel & advise other people on travel, one would think this would have been a fairly easy predicament to be in. But search after search l came up empty; there was nothing to be found on what seemed like the entire East Coast. All my go-tos, all my secret spots were booked. And we were running out of time. Outside the box we went. My husband brought up a little side trip I had taken with 3 of our kids at the end of spring, where we explored several cities along Florida's Treasure Coast. This is how I found myself screwing up the VRBO map and stumbling upon the Ft. Pierce Garden House.
While we'd wandered the Treasure Coast briefly a few months ago and had a great time, there was nothing begging me to return to Ft. Pierce. A place I'd really never even heard of before March. Or was there? This house was close to a beach we'd found and loved. A museum my kids were completely enamored with and dying to show their Dad. Within a reasonable drive to a ton of restaurants and other places we thought sounded fun. But who drives 12 hours to vacation in Ft. Pierce?! In this family, we aren't afraid of an adventure. We've turned stranded airport overnighters and I-95 tire blow outs into some of our favorite memories. So with my fingers crossed (and admittedly a slight grimace), I clicked book. How did it turn out? To be continued…
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