soooo. biscayne national park is pretty much mostly underwater. we did some research to try to figure out the best way for our family to experience the park, given our varying degrees of swimming abilities, adventurousness, curiosity, and enthusiasm. we settled on a boat ride out to one of the keys, where there was a […]
swimming
general florida february stuff.
on february 1st, we concluded our time at the “happpiest place on earth” and headed west to st. petersburg. but first. we needed breakfast. which was more like brunch. this is what our crew looks like on the morning after four straight days at disney…. our first stop after disney was a quick weekend in […]
dry tortugas.snorkeling.
one of the main activities for visitors of dry tortugas national park is snorkeling. the islands take up something like 1% of the actual park, the rest is marine life. the waters around fort jefferson and garden key are normal crystal clear and filled with excellent coral reefs, especially for beginners such as anna and […]
dry tortugas.ferry, camping, miscellany.
so. pretty much the main reason we came to the florida keys was so anna and i could take a ferry out to dry tortugas national park, for a few nights of camping and exploring. we were able to snag a two night stay, thanks to a timely cancelation, and began preparations. dry tortugas is […]
disney detox at fort de soto.
after our time with all of the millions of people and music and chaos and bright lights of disney, we were more than ready for a little detox. after a weekend moochdocking with my stepdad’s sister, karyn, and her family, we made our way to peaceful, tranquil fort de soto. originally, we only had a […]
lake tahoe with the grandlidboms.
it has been a LONG time since our last visit from the grandlidboms. we spent christmas in san diego with them, so it had been over six months by the time our lake tahoe visit rolled around, and the kids could barely contain themselves. we arrived and set up a little before they were able […]
sacramento-ish.
here we go. another mad dash round of bloggy catch up. when i left off, had stopped to visit the jelly belly factory on our way from point reyes national seashore to a little spot just north of sacramento, in nicolaus, california. the place was a thousand trails campground, which usually means there’s not much […]
yosemite. part one.
ok. so. yosemite. “the crown jewel of the national park service”. we were both excited to see it and a little bit dreading the crowds. our campground was about an hour out of the valley and had no cell signal, so derek took the first week off entirely to explore and adventure and we would […]
san elijo state beach.
after wilderness lakes, it was finally time to kick off our long stretch of california state beaches. derek booked us at four different beaches for five out of seven weeks in march and april. the first one up was san elijo, a little bit north of san diego, near encinitas, california. our campground was up […]
palm desert, california.
we just moved on from our two week stay in palm desert, california. it’s pretty much a retirement/resort community, in the coachella valley region, just south of joshua tree national park. we settled in amongst the palm trees and began our stay. we found out there was a weekly “yard” sale in the park, so […]