on our way out of the keys, we stopped at shell world, where anna picked out one million different shells to bring back to her personal hoard of memorabilia, and isaac and hazel spent their money on overpriced tourist candy. back on the mainland, our first stop was to head back over to robert is […]
florida
sunshine key rv resort.
during our time in the keys this year, we stayed in sunshine key rv resort. it’s part of our collection of thousand trails affiliated campgrounds, so it’s relatively inexpensive, but it was hard to get reservations during these snowbird months. anyways. first things first. upon our arrival, derek cooked up the fresh vermillion snapper he […]
the anna baby snorks.
FINALLY! on our third day in key west, anna and i were able to snorkel. the windy weather had caused our reservation to be postponed twice, and even though it was still a little choppy, it looked like day three was our best day to head out. so, early on our third day, we geared […]
key west. revisited.
the weather for our second day in the keys was the same as our first, exceptionally windy, so we had to stick to land bound activities. we hadn’t planned on visiting key west again on this trip, but with a shortage of options, we decided to give it another go. our first stop was to […]
dolphin research center.
the weather while we were in the florida keys was quite windy. so, our options for activities were limited to land based excursions. last year, we visited the sea turtle hospital, and had planned to again, but after our impromptu stop at the marine life center on the way down, we were on a quest […]
everglades and fruit stand detour.
when we were planning this florida trip, we knew we wanted to revisit the everglades. but, this time, with ruby in tow, it was a little more complicated. the campgrounds don’t have hookups, and she’s not allowed on any trails, so we would have to leave her inside, with no a/c, which could be a problem, depending on weather. so, we didn’t even bother with the risk. instead we opted for just a quick visit, stopping on our way to the keys. we parked the rv in the shade in the parking lot for the anhinga trail, opened all the windows, and went for a short ranger led “hike” (walk along a paved path and boardwalk).
we eventually moved on from the tour, because the group was soooo big and we could hardly hear anyways. and i also forgot about all the little crickets on the ground that completely freaked hazel out and made us be the annoying family with a crying kid. anyhoooo. we saw TONS of wildlife. it is such a strange and surreal place.
of course, the main attraction is the american alligator. we saw a few along the way, but the highlight of the hike (walk) is “alligator point” (i think), where there’s a large gathering of gators, soaking up the sun, in what must be extremely ideal conditions. they were still a few weeks away from the social distancing mandates, so it was ok. 🙂
gator party. 
allligator point. i promise isaac was happier than he looks.
isaac had the good zoomy camera, so i bummed a lot of the shots from him, like this guy…
after alligator point, the rest of the walk is along a boardwalk that passes through/over some marshy, watery parts. lots of lily pads and things lurking beneath. we played leap frog with the massive crowd from the ranger tour, which is always fun when you have small people leaning over a railing, peering into a soup full of things that would like to eat them.
we stopped to take a few selfies with this guy, which was probably the closest alligator we encountered.
on our way out, we remembered to stop for the obligatory sign photo. early in our travels, we talked about whether we should do this at all national parks, before deciding it would add a level of stress to each visit that i wasn’t prepared for. also, the line for the sign photo is often rather long, and i would rather get to seeing the things in the park instead of waiting in line for a pic with a sign. anyhow. there was no line this day. so we stopped.
on the way into and out of everglades, there’s a fruit stand called robert is here. it’s massive. and pretty much the main reason i wanted to go back to florida. there are sooooo many weird tropical fruits. and other fun snacks. and the MILKSHAKES (which we postponed until our return trip on the way out of town, like last time).
between anna’s photos, and mine, i have quite a few, but i’ll spare you massive amounts of tropical fruit photos.
we heart mamey sapote. 
and sapodilla. 
after we made our fruity (and sunflowery) purchases, we grabbed some fast food, while ruby waited in the camper. :). and then, we were off to the keys….
florida keys pit stop.
while it seems like it was in another life completely, it was less than two months ago when we loaded up the rv for a trip back down to the florida keys. we planned for the trip to take 13 days (leaving after co-op and arriving in time for co-op two weeks later). derek and […]
st. augustine with the grandlidboms.
for our final stop on our loop around florida, we met up with the grandlidboms in saint augustine. the wait between the last time we saw them and this time wasn’t as long as some of the visits out west, but the kids were just as excited, nonetheless. our first stop was dinner at a […]
up the atlantic coast of florida.
wow. it really has been forever since i blogged. i’m having a hard time getting my mojo. for one. it’s hard to look back at these days. but, also, i can’t remember all of the details. so. i’ll do my best. when i left off, we were in miami. we had visited everglades, big cypress, […]
SCUBA noob.
when i was on my way to big cypress national preserve with the kids (on a friday), derek called and informed me that i was going on a scuba trip the following monday. i was hesitant at first. nervous. concerned about cost. and logistics. but in the end, i decided it was an opportunity i […]