Spring Break 2010

OK - this one's a short one...

Last week, my husband, daughter and I went to Florida for spring break. We wanted to stay part of the week at Daytona Beach, since my husband absolutely loves the place. He likes it 1) because he wants to relive his 1980s youth and 2) because they allow cars to drive on the beach.

We wanted to stay near the boardwalk and near our favorite little sandy seafood restaurant, the Ocean Deck, which is located right on the beach. Its doors open right onto the sand and we would often walk right in and order a plate of oysters...enjoying the sun and view of the ocean.

We checked in late - our plane didn't get in until 8:30 pm - so it was almost 11 pm by the time we reached our hotel. I chose the Mayan Hotel out of all of the 100 some hotels listed for Daytona Beach. Wrong choice... We were met at the parking lot by a security guard who said, "Are you sure you want to stay here?"

At check in, we were handed a notice that said in bold block lettering that we were not to open the bolted balcony doors, no balcony swinging, no letting underage drinkers into our hotel room. Oh boy...

Then the fun started. We got up to our room on the 6th floor (ocean front with no ocean access due to the bolted shut windows and doors). We were directly above the biggest college spring break party in Daytona. Six thousand drinking teens were crowded on the beach along with a huge blow up beer bottle and loudspeakers.

The music was so loud that we couldn't hear the television. At first, my 12-year-old thought it was pretty cool...at least when they played songs she knew. Then the HOTTEST A** contest began. We heard every blow by blow on microphone, punctuated by the dj screaming "PARTY!!!! SPRING BREAK 2010.... LET's GET *****!"

As we lay in the dark, waiting for 2 am when the police would close down the party, and quiet the crowd, I had to smile. Here I am writing a blog on media's influence on our kids, and I just exposed my own child to a wild and sometimes explicit drinking party. I guess we can't prevent everything. And somehow I think she survived it.

I think I survived as well... At least I definitely slept better the next night in the "older people's hotel" down the street.

Comments

Anonymous said…

Thanks for sharing Janoszes Gone Wild! So was this reminiscent of your husband's '80s experiece?

April 1, 2010 at 12:03 AM

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