Bahia Honda Has Been Great!

 Well, we've had 3 days at Bahia Honda State Park and its been great! As I mentioned, our campsite isn't on the water like we were at Long Key, but the beaches are absolutely beautiful here.

So, we've rode our bikes several times a day to various beaches — our favorite is the Sandspur Beach which has beautiful white sand, palm trees, the works!

Hard to believe I'm leaving to go back to Minnesota tomorrow! I heard another "winter-like mix" of precipitation is happening there. I've so enjoyed this time of sunshine, blue skies, and the beautiful ocean.

Greg's good friend, Dave, is flying in as I fly out, and he will spend the rest of the time with Greg including driving back to Minnesota with him. They will have a great time together!

After spending our days outside, we've been having fun playing double solitaire every night! All in all, it's been a wonderful time together, and we're happy that we could have this chance to spend time in the Florida Keys again this year!

Moving to Bahia Honda State Park

Woke up to an absolutely beautiful day! We have had lots of birds right near our campsite when the tide is out.

We then started the process of "packing up" — taking down our awning, putting bikes, wind surfer, kayak, etc. on the trailer and so on . . . .



It was truly the most beautiful day we had so far and we enjoyed the last couple of hours of our campsite right on the water at Long Key.

We then drove further down toward Key West to Bahia Honda State Park and got settled in our new campsite. We've visited Bahia Honda for the day before, but have not stayed there.






The park is quite different — the campsites are not right on the water as you can see, but there is a beautiful beach that is about a mile bike ride away from our campsite.

The beach is just like you image when you are in Minnesota on a grey day with lots of snow — a beautiful sandy beach with palm trees!

We also found a nice place where we could watch the sun set — another beautiful Florida sunset to enjoy!

Our Last Full Day at Long Key State Park

We woke up to a beautiful day and decided to do a few "chores" before playing for the day.

The conditions were wonderful for doing some laundry — we washed our clothes out in some buckets and hung them in the warm Florida sun and breeze to dry.

After the chores, Greg did some wind surfing and I went kayaking — lots of fun and just the right amount of wind.

We decided to cap off the day with a long bike ride to Curry State Park to see if we could connect with Jay and Jackie who we met last year when we stayed at Curry State Park. Jay was Greg's wind surfing buddy — this year, Jay has taken up kite boarding!

We stayed a little longer than we planned, so we finished our hour plus bike ride back to Long Key State Park watching the sun set!

Cold Morning . . . . Beautiful Day!

Monday morning was really cold! I was bundled up in my down jacket and fleece blanket to stay warm!

However, as the day progressed, it turned out to be a beautiful, albeit it, cool day.

Greg and I both did some kayaking when the tide was up and then we filled our day with wonderful things like reading (Betsy), working on bikes (Greg), as well as playing cards.

 We decided to walk to a place we could watch the sunset — we weren't disappointed.




When we walked back to our campsite after watching the sun go down, we got another beautiful view.

Meanwhile, we knew that our family and friends in Minnesota were getting hammered with another big snow storm!

We're not complaining in the least! :-)

Biking in Florida

 One of the things we really enjoy doing while we're in Florida is biking.

Ultimately the goal is to have a bike trail along the whole length of the Keys - right now, there are still some portions of the Keys where you have to bike along the road.

Because we are staying at Long Key State Park this year, we have about a 35-mile round trip to Marathon, the location of the nearest grocery store.

On Sunday, we decided to combine some good exercise with a trip to the grocery store to pick up some more fresh fruit and veggies.

Similar to Colorado, the weather can change very quickly. We started our trip under beautiful blue skies and then rode through a fairly decent rain storm (luckily, we've learned and  brought our rain gear!). By the time we got back to our camp site, the sky had cleared up again. One thing that doesn't seem to change is the prevailing winds - we always ride back into a head wind!

Glad I brought a down jacket!

Well, the cooler weather arrived yesterday along with rain and windy conditions. I'm so glad I have a down jacket and a fleece because I've been wearing them all day!

Yesterday, we were able to sneak in a bike ride before it started raining. But we are figuring out things we can do inside as the weather looks cool and windy all next week, too.

The other issue is Florida's infamous no see ums — we've both been bitten, but unfortunately, I seem to have an extreme reaction to the bites. Greg replaced all our screens with "no see um" screening this winter and we've been careful to not go out before dawn or after dusk, but I'm still covered with bites. So, I'm popping benadryl and covering the bites with anti-itch ointments. The ranger told me that the cooler, windy weather will help keep the no see ums away — Yeah!

A Low Key Day

 The day started with sending Mom off on her next adventure — she drove to Sarasota, Florida where she will spend the next 5 days at an Elderhostel.

Of course, it was wonderful to hear she arrived safely later in the afternnoon!

Greg and I spent the rest of the day kayaking (me) and wind surfing (Greg) during the morning and then doing some biking in the afternoon. Once again, the weather surprised us by being better than what we expected — so we felt extremely lucky!

We also had a chance to talk to Mike who turned 27 years old today — where has the time gone? We are so blessed with our family . . . . and our time together in this wonderful place.

Another Beautiful Day!

We awoke this morning fully anticipating the beginning of the cooler (and potentially rainy weather) that had been predicted. So imagine our surprise when we had another beautiful morning and afternoon!

I finished my first book this morning - now I really feel like I'm on vacation when I can read as much as I like. Greg puttered with the motor home doing some tasks like washing the windows after the long drive from up north. Even Mom got into the "motor home" lifestyle and enjoyed sitting out in a chair, reading, and watching the birds gathering to eat as the tide went out.

After lunch, we drove to Bahia Honda State Park which is about 30 miles further down the Keys. We had an absolutely perfect afternoon for the beach — a warm, but not blazing, sun along with a beautiful breeze. We enjoyed reading, people watching, and walking in the water.

At the end of the afternoon, we went to Key Colony Inn for a wonderful "early bird" dinner — wow, we are now part of the older set in Florida eating dinner at 5:00 p.m.! Anyway, the meal was great - a wonderful end to a nice day.

We've Already Forgotten About the Snow!

Funny how fast you can put Minnesota, snow, cold, and work behind you . . . .

We had a wonderful first day settling into our campsite at Long Key State Park.

Our campsite is literally on the water and when there is high tide, our motor home is 30 feet from the shore . . . . so we can hear the waves at night.

We had a wonderful first dinner of pesto chicken and followed by games including a new game to us, the dice game, Farkel.

It's been a great first day with more to come. We think the weather won't be quite so good — supposed to cool down, possibly rain and get really windy, so we tried to enjoy the beautiful sunshine  . . . . memories of snow are fading fast!

Leaving Minnesota!

Friday, February 22 was the day that Greg has been working towards for many months! The planning for our now annual camping trip in the Florida Keys actually began last March when we worked to try each morning to get a coveted camping spot in one of the Florida State Parks in the Florida Keys.

It continued through the fall with Greg doing lots of work on our motor home which we've had for 15 years and that has about 114,000 miles on it.

We worked on making food for the trip and packing all the essentials.

The day Greg was supposed to leave, there was a huge snow storm that went across the entire middle part of the country. Not to be deterred, he ended up leaving mid afternoon (instead of early morning) and took a slightly different route through Iowa and Missouri instead of Wisconsin and Illinois.

Meanwhile, I stayed at home for the weekend due to a major work commitment . . . . and then my Mom, Char, and I flew to Miami just in time to meet up with Greg who had driven solo all the way from Minneapolis to Miami.

This was Mom's first solo trip since Dad died in September, so we were so happy to have her join us for a few days for a "motor home adventure" before she takes off in her rental car to go to an Ederhostel Program in Sarasota, Florida followed by visits to several old friends.

 In the airport renting Mom's rental car — we had an adventure getting out of Miami's airport . . . . but eventually met up with Greg at a service plaza south of Miami and followed the motor home to our first camp site in Long Key, Florida.