Back to Gainesville

It's New Years Day and the nest tradition I have is to spend it outside! Off to Gainesville we go to look for shark teeth in the water of the Hogstown Creek accessible through Loblolly Woods. A word of warning... this time we went there were signs posted that it was high in fecal bacteria. It didn't stop all of us... maybe it should have. Yuck!

 

Some of the cool teeth we found.

 

We tried to get in a visit to Lake Alice and to see the bats come out but the rain and temperature drop ended that possibility. We headed to The Swamp to have some dinner and ended the holiday with some friends. Good stuff. Next in Gainesville: more locations to explore on Hogstown Creek. 

ABJ Road Trip - Day 4 - Key West

Southernmost Point of the Continental United States... here we come! Whew. Wordy, isn't that? Well,  we are heading to Key West and they do claim that fact but it's a little off in actually being that point, but you can read more about that here.

There are quite a few mandatory things you have to do in Key West and we were all too happy to oblige. The Mile Marker 1 sign was our first location we hiked to and then we ran into the store across the way to pick up some stickers.

Now off to the Southernmost Point Buoy as we pass Hemingway's House, the Key West Lighthouse and more beautiful properties with the banyan trees draping across the yards. My daughter was determined to get a coconut but was so disappointed that she didn't have a good tool to really get inside of it and tear it all apart. 

Time to eat some lunch after all that hiking and playing tourist! One of the true traditions is Sloppy Joe's and it didn't disappoint. Lunch consisted of fish tacos and wings and some live entertainment! Perfect!

Time for more walking and sightseeing. We hit Mallory Square, the marina, all of Duval St. and more. All in all we hiked about 10 miles today. It truly feels like it. We wanted to wait for the sunset at Mallory Square but had so much more to do. We headed back to the middle keys and pulled into Bahia Honda State Park. We didn't have snorkeling equipment but we really should have grabbed some for this trip. We could have done a good bit of snorkeling here and it was beautiful. Walking over to the old railroad was on my list... I have a thing about bridges apparently. It comes up over and over. Going under them is my favorite thing and some of the best geocaches we have done have been under bridges. This bridge didn't disappoint. Just look at the view. How could you not love this view? 

Time for sunset but back to the 7 Mile Bridge for that. See, I do have a bridge thing. Or a nature thing. Or a sunset thing. Or a being outside thing. Or just an adventure thing. Yep, that's it. Adventures by Jen. Overall, a great ABJ day. 

ABJ Road Trip - Day 2 - Ft. Myers

It's time for the beach but it is actually pouring outside. I mean the wake you up in the middle of the night, trees swaying, flash flood warning kind of rain. We took it slow this morning and then just vowed that it would be a wet day and said, "so what!" And off we went...

After reading up and seeing some of Lover's Key State Park we decided to make that the stop first thing. There is a great trail there but remember the rain I was talking about? Well, most of our trail looked like this...

This would be the point where she questions my vacation planning skills and I replied that she'd have really good stories to tell one day. Really, it was awfully mucky and buggy. We did the shorter option of the trail but it was pretty funny. 

The beach, however, is gorgeous! Just beautiful white sand and clear, calm water as far as you can see. There were quite a few sea turtle nests as well. We watched the next wave of storms come in as we sat there. 

What got my attention was a bunch of driftwood trees off to my right so I went off to get a better view. These trees were absolutely beautiful and really made my day. A few were overturned and the roots exposed showing the beauty of nature. One tree had shells placed all over it (yes, I placed one as well!) and there were a few locks place on it as well. How romantic to have a lock placed on this tree in Lover's Key State Park. Maybe one day I'll get to go back for that reason. A girl should be so lucky. 

Remember that storm moving in? Well, it was time for us to move out! Off to lunch. Another place we had on the list was Heavenly Biscuit. Yum!!! They really do have some wonderful biscuits and is worth a stop in to eat. Be aware... cash only!! There is an ATM on site for your convenience. 

All in all a pretty wet and wonderful day was had by both of us. The bonding time has been a plus as well, even with a little extra time in the room watching the weather pass. Ft. Myers, I will be back!