World of Crepes Goes to Orlando

Detours, A Publix, and More Detours!

Just 30 minutes later, the resourceful coordinator called me back. "We can do it!" she announced. And I shouldn't have been surprised. As I would soon learn, these enterprising Orlandians can build space shuttles made entirely of oranges. A hot plate, no problem!

With the highest of hopes and a healthy dash of blind optimism, Dad and I set out for the journey at noon on December 29. My brother loaned us his Garmin and my husband somehow got his hands on a car-battery-powered cooler. In it we packed our frozen crepes and a plastic bag full of our secret weapon—that heavenly, golden sauce.

What we had hoped would be a mere 8 hour-drive turned into 13 due to two traffic accidents in South Carolina and a detour in Jacksonville. We arrived at midnight, only to discover that our hotel was overbooked! Luckily we were relocated to another property which gave us an entire suite that included a kitchenette. This meant that our precious cargo could maintain its chilled state-of-being. Relieved and exhausted, we laid our heads down about 1 a.m. for 5 hours of sleep.

We woke up in the morning energized and ready to compete. First stop: our first Publix! Here two foodies were in real danger of a serious diversion. Beautiful and immaculate aisles and aisles of what seemed to be the most rare and marvelous foodstuffs. Somehow we managed to tear ourselves away, with just a pint of vanilla ice cream and a bag of fresh mint.

Looking at our watches, we realized that we had 45 minutes for a 10-minute drive to the grandstands, the site of the competition. Plenty of time, right? No, silly, there was a parade planned! The closer we got to downtown, the slower we crawled. And in the back of my mind, I kept hearing Stephanie's words. You need to be at the grandstands at 9:30!

But how could we? The direct route was blocked off and we had to endure a tedious and seemingly endless detour to the grandstands. At one point, part of me wanted to just hop back on I-4 and drive back home. Dad was calm on the outside, but like me, frustrated and prickly with nerves on the inside.

Did we drive all this way to not even be able to compete? Click here to find out!

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