We have always loved a good road trip. I know, I know…you love them or you hate them. For some people, the thought of a long drive sounds like a nightmare. For others, it sounds like a fun adventure. We are the “adventure” people when it comes to road trips. We were headed on a family vacation in Florida at New Smyrna Beach. The rentals there are generally only a week at a time and we had a few extra days off before the week began. So then brought up the perennial traveler question…what are we gonna do with those days.
Not traveling was not an option, and we wanted to make it to Florida but stop as early as possible. This was a “big deal” trip because it was our first long road trip with our new addition, Rosie. She had just turned 1 year old. Don’t get me wrong, she had been on semi-long car trips to see Nana and PopPop, but never a trip this far. Our drive from our home in Morgantown, West Virginia to the beach was approximately 13 hours. đŸ˜± We had heard of Amelia Island as it is one of the first beach exits on I-95 and we started looking into where we would go to spend a few “pre-vacay” days. We came across the Ritz and we were sold. Luckily, to drive to Amelia Island was just a short 11 hour trip.
You might be at this point and thinking we are absolutely crazy, and you would be right! đŸ˜‚We got up early in the morning after my overnight call shift and headed south. We decided to make it an adventure with some old school road trip stops. We packed a picnic lunch and planned to hang at a rest area for a little while and let Rosie get out of her car seat. If you’re wondering what one does on a long car trip with a 1 year old, the answer is: almost the same thing you do at home. We basically maintained our schedule with Rosie. We left before she normally gets up so she went back to sleep in her carseat. Then I sat in the back with her and fed her breakfast when she woke up. We played, then she morning napped, then we stopped for lunch, then afternoon nap…you get the picture. We will post more about our traveling with baby/toddler trips, but that’s for another day.
Once we got back into the car after lunch we powered through with just a few restroom stops. We luckily made it to Amelia island around 6 or 6:30 pm. Upon arriving, we unloaded and left the car with the valet. We checked in and headed to our room. We had chosen a first floor room partially because those rooms have a fireplace outside the door. We love to have either a balcony or a place to sit during nap time/after bedtime so we don’t all have to go to sleep at 8pm.
Since it was really late we ordered my favorite meal…ROOM SERVICE! The food was amazing and we love the ease of being able to get the room set up and still have time for a meal. And if you’ve traveled with an infant or a toddler there can be an awful lot to set up.
After dinner, we decided to call it a day as we had been driving all day and one of us had been working late the night before đŸ˜‰
Once Rosie let us know it was time to get up, we got ready and headed to breakfast. We ate in their restaurant which was wonderful. Our favorite part was that we got to eat outside. The food was wonderful and had a nice presentation.
After breakfast we headed to the pool. We did a splurge and rented a cabana because we wanted to spend as much time as possible outside. The cabana has the capability to block out sun and has walls so we could even darken it some for nap time. Although the price was high we enjoyed the ability to have a shaded place to sit and have a shaded area for nap time and play time. We enjoyed lunch by the pool and unsurprisingly it was just as good as the other two meals we ate at the Ritz.
After pool and beach all day we headed out to dinner. We returned to the Ritz for bedtime and after Rosie was safe in her crib we sat outside the door and enjoyed our porch fire pit and view of the ocean until the sun went down.
The next morning we were ready to head to the rest of our family vacation, but since I woke up before everyone else I headed out to sit in a chair enjoying the sunrise. Once everyone else woke up we checked out and headed on to our next destination.
Would I stay at the Ritz Carlton on Amelia Island again? Absolutely! The pool and beach were wonderful, the food and service were excellent, and our room was comfortable. Plus the fire pit was super fun! The only cons are that it can be cost prohibitive, but in a relative sense we felt like it was worth it.
Added bonus…they had my favorite store there, so I did a little shopping đŸ˜‰
Lux Travel for Families 
Love to see your travels!
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Thank you! We love re-living them through blogging about them đŸ™‚
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