Today, we finally had a reason to clean the windows of the van for the first time in a long time. Since the beginning of our trip, we have not yet washed either the van or the Airstream. The occasional rain has help a bit in washing off any big chunk of dirt but if we wanted to get nice pictures through these windows today, they are going to need to be spotless.
Today we had a choice to make. Spend the day at Easterlin County Park or head out? Hmmm. What to do. What to do. Just then Ava walked out of our bedroom with a HUGE mosquito under her eye. That settles it. We are out. Of. Here! See ya Easterlin. Next stop, Lion Country Safari in West Palm Beach!!! Our 2nd KOA of the trip. Finally putting some good use to that annual member discount card we bought back in New Mexico.
After 10 days and 9 nights in the Florida Keys, today is the day to go. Our original reservation at Long Key was a 1 + 2. It meant that we would have to move from one site to another after the first night. Luckily for us, when we got there, a walk-up site was open and we were able to switch to it for the entire stay. That meant that we actually have the option to stay here for up to 14 nights if we chose to. I might have considered it if we didn’t already spend my left arm and right leg on a Fort Wilderness/Disney World visit next week. To tell you the truth, we are ready to see other places. We have been in Florida for about 40 days and most of that have been in South Florida. It is time to move on.
Today as we were packing up to head out of Sunshine Key Resort, Dan ran into a little issue. The tongue jack stopped working. Oh oh. The jack would not lift up with the aid of a little handy dandy switch. Today Dan had to do it manually. And finally put those muscles to work! So he had to remove the propane cover, bust out a little tool that’s been sitting in our bumper storage compartment and crank that sucker by hand. And all together now…. ahhhh, poor Dan.
Today we packed up the Airstream to head further down the Keys. But not into the unknown as usual. Everyone warned us about how crowded the keys are this time of year so we made reservations for all 9 days just to be on the safe side. Even though we booked these sites a couple months ago, it was still nearly impossible to find spots. So during these 9 days, we have reservations at 3 different campgrounds.
Since yesterday was a beach day bust due to Ava being sick and super crazy winds, today we were determined to venture outdoors more than ever… just as soon as I can get poor Mila out from under the dinette. Hehe. One of these days she will learn how to scoot herself forwards instead of just backwards.
Our last full day in Miami we decided to checkout another county park that is on our side of town. Florida has some very interesting and creative county parks that are very worth visiting if you are looking for something not along the mainstream. Today’s stop, Miami-Dade County Fruit and Spice Park.
The forecast this morning called for thunderstorms in 80 degree weather. It is now definitely feeling like vacation weather with this high humidity. We were getting a quick fast food breakfast when it suddenly started pouring. It came down so fast and so hard, we didn’t even want to chance getting drenched running across the parking lot to our car.
It feels nice to know that we will be settled down in Miami for a week. It’s not that I love Miami or anything. I have never spent any time here outside of one work trip to South Beach a long long time ago. But it’s nice to know where we will be for the next few days. Something I think all five of us needed.
Mila woke up this morning not a happy camper. Her tooth that is on the verge of busting through her bottom gum has really been bothering her. Here she is with tears and drool dripping out of her face at the same time.
This morning we were greeted with these geese at our door step. I don’t really know what kind of geese they are but they sure were friendly.
Our first few days in Florida have been a slew of one night stays with short jaunts to the next spot in the afternoon. We have gotten use to spending the whole day and all night driving and logging in the neighborhood of 200 – 400 miles during travel days. We have slowed down significantly since we got to Florida to about 50-75 miles a day and for good reasons – so we can see clear skies and fluffy clouds like this one.
