A Beach Ball Bash and a Belated Five Month Anniversary Update

The weather has been fickle, with wild swings in temps and forecasts for thunderstorms and rain. So when our wetsuits arrived, we decided that we couldn’t wait for optimal conditions if we wanted to try them out. Although it was cloudy and blustery, we geared up on Saturday, 12/28, and headed for the rock jetties. There were a few hardy souls in the water, but the visibility was poor. Even so, we had fun and I’m happy to report the wetsuits worked great. Compared to the cost of renting, we figure we only need to use them three times and they’ll have paid for themselves. One down and two to go! Lol.

We’d hoped to do more kayaking and snorkeling here, but the weather just wasn’t in a cooperative mood. With heavy rains predicted for the last few days of our stay, we decided to put our water toys away early. It’s much easier to clean and pack everything up when it’s dry. Maybe we’ll have better luck next week in Gulf Shores.

Move over Jacques Cousteau! lol.

Anemones are easier to photograph than the fast moving fish! 

The appropriately named Blue Crab. 

It is interesting being in a tourist town in the off season. We use Yelp a lot to find local businesses and, more importantly, ice cream! Unfortunately, we’ve been on several wild goose chases – driving miles only to find the store or, tragically, ice cream shop “closed for the season”. Arrrgh. It’s not just the small mom and pop places either, many of the larger restaurants close completely or reduce hours. After striking out repeatedly, we’re learning to call first. Just something that is different from home.

Another thing that happens in the parks during the off season here is “prescribed burns”. They use fire to clear away the undergrowth and burn off the vegetation that would compete with the pine trees. We’ve seen it here in the state park and we ran into it on our second bike ride at Conservation Park. We were stymied not once, but three times with trail closures for prescribed burns. We still managed to get in about 14 miles and enjoyed the trails that were open including biking on the boardwalks.

Ran into these signs more than once, 

Sneaked a peek at the burned area - made me think of  Tolkien's Mirkwood.

Biking the boardwalks was fun; there is a total of 1.3 miles of boardwalk in the park and I think we hit them all.

Happy New Year! Of course, Florida would celebrate New Year’s with a beach ball drop. Lol.  In fact, there were two celebrations at Pier Park – a 10,000 beach ball drop at 8pm for the little kids and a lighted “beach ball” drop at midnight for the big kids. Of course, I wanted to see both! But how to kill the four hours in between??? Star Wars Rogue One – that’s how!

It worked out perfectly – we got there early, did a little shopping and had dinner. Walked down for the 10,000 ball drop and then hit the 9:10pm showing of Rogue One. We walked out of the theater at 11:45pm and the live music venue and festivities were right outside the doors. We watched the drop, toasted the New Year (yes, I smuggled in my own champagne! Lol.), and then enjoyed the fireworks show. We got lucky with the timing, it’s so nice when plans work out.

Waiting for the drop.....

..... and there they go!

The lighted beach ball drops at midnight.

Happy New Year!

Enjoying the fireworks show. 

Starting 2017 with a giant beach ball. lol. 

We’ve still been trying to get in our 10K steps, so we’ve walked the campground and beaches here in the park several times. (Rog actually ran several days, but you know he’s doing that alone! Lol.) I’ve mentioned that we frequently see deer, but we were thrilled when a tiny fawn walked almost right up to Rog with an “Are you my mommy?” look. I didn’t have my camera, but we snapped some pics with our phones. So adorable.

Hello. Are you my mommy?

Guess not, see ya!

We’ve been having a blast beachcombing too. I love hunting for shells. At first we were only searching along the surf line, then we discovered that where the sand dunes have been worn away, it’s like an archaeological dig. The layers of shells look just like rock strata. Very cool. On New Year’s day, we did a beach walk and enjoyed watching a heron snag a crab for breakfast. The beach was strewn with yellow roses. Not sure what the story was there, but it made for a fun photo op. Lol.

Excavating the layers of shells is like an archaeological dig. 

Great Blue heron.

Gorgeous bird.

Breakfast!

Snowy Egret.

Hey, check out my stylish yellow shoes!

Beachy perspective.

Roses in the sand.

Supply your own metaphor. Lol.

December 25th was our five-month anniversary on the road!  I almost forgot to do the monthly update. Let’s blame it on the holidays, not my memory (or lack thereof). This last month has been the slowest travel-wise, only 913 miles compared to our first month when we logged 2396 miles.

So far we’ve driven a total of 8248 miles in the RV, pumped 943 gallons of diesel, stayed at 51 different places, visited 14 National Parks/Monuments, many state/local parks, Disney and Universal Studios, and hit 26 states. 

I’d have to say that easily the highlight of this past month was swimming with the manatees. The toughest part was celebrating Christmas without the girls. A first, and while I’m sure it won’t be the last, hopefully it will be a long time before it happens again.

Our expectations for long lazy days on a Florida beach haven’t quite materialized. Our time in the Florida Keys was warm enough, but we had to contend with extremely high humidity and bloodthirsty bugs. As we moved further up the coast the weather has cooled considerably, with some days barely making it into the 50’s. More fleece than swimsuit weather. Lol. While we’ve had some sunny days, there have also been plenty with dense fog, overcast skies, blustery winds, and a fair share of rain.  Still, it’s a far cry from the deep freeze elsewhere, so no complaints, but it hasn't been quite a palm tree paradise either. Lol.

Rog reminded me that we are now heading west and each mile will bring us a little closer to home. We have seven months left with lots still to see and do, so it was hard wrapping my head around the fact that we’re actually on our way home now. Not sure how I feel about that. Lol.

Our next stop is Gulf Shores, Alabama and then we plan to visit New Orleans. After that, there is nothing on my spreadsheet! I know, hard to believe!!  I promised Rog the second half of the trip would not be as scripted, so we have to figure out how that works.

From here on out it really will be more of an adventure. Should be interesting! Glad you are along for the ride. :)