If we were planning on going to see Key West, then our best bet would be to go from the Bahia Honda campground since it is much closer than the other two state parks we also have reservations at over the next few weeks. It still feels a little weird to go to cities we already explored during our 2010 cross country trip so we are going to make a conscious effort on not repeating anything we saw last time around. Challenge… accepted!
The skeeters are pretty fierce in these parts of the keys. We have been trying to stay away from them by not spending much time outside which is a real shame. It is beautiful here. The biggest problem is that the air is so stagnant. There isn’t a breeze at all to blow the bugs away. Also since the sites are on ancient coral, asphalt and concrete instead of sand, water sort of just collects into pools and they make for a pretty ideal breeding ground for these pests.
During our only other time here at Bahia Honda, we didn’t actually get to stay at the campground. We drove through it and admired all of the waterfront sites like the one we are in now. It is absolutely stunning. We are backed all the way up against the water and if you are not standing up and close to the window, it feels like we are in a boat floating away.
Today we are saying good-bye to our friends and our courtesy parking spot in Boca Raton. Little Ethan likes to call Ava and Mila “his girls” and Luka gets the label “chubby baby”, which is so on the money. Haha.
We are back in Boca Raton visiting our old friend Paul. We have known Paul for almost 15 years. We met him when we were renting a house in Santa Barbara after we graduated college and needed a roommate. We have been friends ever since. He moved to Florida a few years ago and we make sure to pay him a visit when we are here.
Our four night stay at Fort Wilderness in Disney World has come to an end. We are all a little sad to go but our wallets can’t take this place for more than the 4 nights we have already spent here. The campground is pricey at $65 a night but what killed us more were the 2 day passes we bought for the Magic Kingdom for 4. Thankfully, little Luka was free. But I must say that this campground is well worth its price. There are so many people here but you hardly see anyone, rarely have to stand in lines and getting to the Magic Kingdom is just a short boat ride away.
Our plan to take a day off between our two days of Magic Kingdom seems to be working out well. We had a relaxing day yesterday just lounging by the pool, cooking in the Airstream and not doing much walking around. Today, the girls are fresh and ready to rock and roll again.
We learned on our last trip that going back to back while staying here is a brutal undertaking. You spend all day walking and waiting and having your senses overloaded at the park, to go back for a second consecutive day is especially tough for parents like us who have little children. We opted to skip a day and hang out at the campground to enjoy what it has to offer instead.
Our 4 nights at Fort Wilderness includes 2 days at Magic Kingdom. Actually we can go to any of the other parks but with our kids age, Magic Kingdom is the only way to go. For those of you out there with 2 girls under the age of 6, you know what I mean. There is no coming to Disney World and not getting to take photos with the princesses. Oh yeah, and it happens to be Marlene’s birthday.
Last night we slept at our first Cracker Barrel and survived. I can’t even count how many times we’ve slept in Walmart’s parking lots but for some reason we were a little scared of getting a knock on the door in the middle of the night at a Cracker Barrel. They don’t really have signs that say parking overnight is okay or not okay so we are always a little apprehensive about it. Now that we survived our first night without an incident, I think we will consider it as a boondocking spot from now on.
The site we got at Anastasia State Park was beautiful. We would have stayed here longer if it wasn’t for our reservations tomorrow at Fort Wilderness and if Anastasia wasn’t already booked solid. We decided that we would head down to Orlando later this evening and boondock somewhere so we can try to get an early checkin at Fort Wilderness.
So you know how we are trying to stay on “California time” on this trip? Well, this little guy has other plans. He likes the Eastern time zone just fine and has been waking up around 6:45 am. Maybe he heard all the other campers talking crap about the lazy Californians who barley make it out of the campground by 11am on a good day. You can’t call us lazy anymore!!
