Day 58: A vacation from our vacation.

Our last day in Boca Raton before our intermission trip we decided to head out to a cool place by the beach called Gumbo Limbo Nature Center. Just like Sugar Sand Park from yesterday, this is another gem of a place for kids that runs off of visitor donations. This time, Marlene stayed back to tidy things up in the Airstream and to magically pack everything the 4 of us will need for 10 days into one check-in suitcase. Good luck.

Gumbo Limbo is the name of a native tree in south Florida which is why the nature center bears its namesake. The nature center however features more than just botanical species.

Inside the air conditioned visitors center, a manatee skeleton hangs from the ceiling along with several taxidermy native animals on display inside glass cases. Some snakes, frogs and lizards were a little luckier to be alive and showcased in dressed-up glass enclosures mimicking their wild habitat.

The real attraction though is the outdoor pools that housed everything you might see along the intercoastals as well as the reefs right here in the Atlantic coast of south Florida.

This bonnet head shark along with a giant lobster were couple of the creatures Ava really was mesmerized over in a series of tanks on display at Gumbo Limbo.

The nature center is just across the road from the beach and situated right up against the intercoastals. A boardwalk through mangroves, gumbo limbos and other native botanical species takes you to a 40 ft wooden lookout tower atop the tree line.

The view from above was pretty amazing. That water behind us in the picture is the intercoastals and on the other side is the Atlantic. Being a 40-ft tall structure made of wood beams, nuts and bolts, it does wobble from side to side a bit while you are up there. It doesn’t help if you have a 6’5″ 230 lb. buddy named Paul who decided to give it a little shake to see what it is really made of. We got down to the safety of the boardwalk in a jiffy.

Our last day in Boca ended in mid-afternoon since we wanted to make sure we made our flight out of Fort Lauderdale.

We wanted to give the tri-rail train a try just in case the car traffic was going to be bad on this Friday afternoon. Riding public transportation for the first time in a new place can always be intimidating especially if you are on a tight schedule.

Our gamble however paid off as the train dropped us right off at the Fort Lauderdale Airport station with the free airport shuttle right there waiting for us with plenty of time to spare.

Mila has never been on a plane and Ava has only gone on one trip when she was 18 months old. We asked if she remember flying in a plane on our trip to Croatia and she said no. So this little trip will be another small adventure for the girls and will probably make them more excited to come back as we continue on with the rest of our trip.

We probably had around 3 hours to waste at the terminal so some mandatory horsing around was in order.

We were flying Virgin America for the first time and have heard some good things about it. Personal movie players, in-flight Wi-Fi, satellite television and designer flight attendant uniforms are just some of the highlights.

We have not flown domestic in a number of years and we are not use to all the ‘nickel-and-dime’ing that is happening in air travel these days. Our 5-hour flight didn’t even come with food of any kind. Lucky for us that coin-operated lavatories are still now just a twinkle in Richard Branson’s eyes.

As we got to our seats, we were pleased to learn that the flight was not sold out. That means we all had an extra seat next to us so we can stretch out a bit. I pulled out the obligatory in-flight magazine and noticed that Virgin America has teamed up with the CW Network to launch a reality TV show based on 5 of their very politically correct flight attendants called ‘Fly Girls‘.

“Sure they are real flight attendants.” I thought to myself. “I am sure they are just waiters/wannabe-actors like on every other reality show posing as stewardesses.”

Just then I look up and saw Louise from San Francisco (second from the left in the photo above) who seemed to have jumped right out from the full page magazine spread I had just been reading. She was walking up and down the aisle making sure everyone’s seats are in the upright position and belts are fastened and ready for take off. I’ll be darned.

What took us nearly 2 months to drive across sure goes by in a jiffy at 500-miles-per-hour. Even though there were no free meals or free movies, I got to catch a full game of my Lakers beating the snot out of the Jazz on the free in-flight satellite TV. It’s a good way to start our trip.

The girls slept most of the way. The time difference meant that even though 5 hours had passed, it is only 2 hours later here on the west coast. With both car seats in tow, we headed to the baggage claim area to pick up our bag and to look for our ride.

Do you think Ava is excited to go to her nona’s house? You betcha.

Florida, we will see you again in 10 days.

over and out,
dan