We were looking for a place to stay relatively near the airport. Our flight was not until noon so we opted to stay just outside of the city since we had ample time to get to the airport.

The pictures online looked lovely of this cute little cabin. Arriving after dark during the rain was a little challenging but we used our GPS for turn by turn directions to get to Grifo Alto. Communication with Jose was great, he sent us the more detailed directions to enter the property since it was so dark. He was waiting at the gate to welcome us in and show us around. We were in the smaller of two cabins, it was a little chilly, but he had plenty of blankets there for us. We didn’t have time to cook at the cabin, but the kitchen is really cute and seemed to have all of the essentials.

We really enjoyed our stay, even though it was quick. It is just about one hour from the airport, but up in the mountains.

We had dinner at a fabulous restaurant called Pilo Restaurant as you come up the mountain on your left before the Grifo Alto sign. Great food, large portions and small price with fabulous service.

The next morning we spent some time talking to Jose. He showed us his other cabin which was really nice. Quite a bit bigger and a little more finished. He told us how he had built the cabins himself, even from cutting down the trees on his property and using that wood to build the cabins.

The views from the porch of the second cabin were spectacular.

There is not much around the Grifo Alto area, as it is just a small town and not a tourist area. So I’d only recommend this for travelers who don’t want to stay in the city the night before flying out.

If you are interested in booking a night at Finca Las Mariposas you can search Airbnb or just contact Jose directly at elticorico@live.com

Due to hurricane Matthew wreaking havoc on our hometown in Georgia, we had to extend our stay in Costa Rica extra nights. As soon as we received our first flight cancellation, I found Monica’s Airbnb listing and sent an inquiry. She replied right away letting us know of availability for my husband, myself and our three teenaged daughters. She said they had two rooms available and could add an extra mattress for one of the girls.

We stayed in touch through the day of our arrival and she replied promptly to all my inquires and specific direction requests. It was dark and rainy when we arrived she came out in the rain and helped us get parked in their secure private garage. The power was out upon our arrival but she had prepared lit candles for each of us as she and Esteban gave us a tour of their home. From the front of the house it doesn’t look big, but don’t be deceived.. it is huge!! Four bedrooms, huge kitchen with all the necessities for cooking and meal preparation. (Although, no microwave) their home also includes a yoga studio that Monica runs her business from and a bakery where Esteban bakes fresh organic bread for the local Ferreiras. He shared several loaves with us during our stay. There were also two comfortable living spaces so we could interact with other guests if we wanted as well as space to just be on our own.

Since we were facing a crisis at home, it was imperative that we had WiFi to communicate with our neighbors and friends about the hurricane destruction that was happening. We had unlimited WiFi and used it a lot to reschedule flights and rental car arrangements.

Monica and Esteban are both wonderful hosts as they were compassionate to the uncertainty that we were facing at home. And they rejoiced with us as we got word that our home was spared! They are they type of hosts that we want to keep up with and come back to see again. They had several friends visit during our stay and they were all friendly. It is evident that this family is a gem in the community of Escazu.

The rooms and beds were comfortable and we were able to rest during our stay. Escazu is still in the city that is busy with cars, motorcycles and some traffic that you will still hear during the night. Light sleepers may want to wear earplugs for a restful night. Even though laundry facilities are listed, the dryer was not working when we were there, but many places in Costa Rica only use a washer and they hang dry their clothes, keep in mind if you are looking for laundry facilities.

It’s 10am Saturday morning. The sun is casting it’s rays and throwing diamonds across the sea. Birds are serenading the droves of tourists walking down 14th Street as cars speed around them. Everyone is in a big hurry to get to the beach to swim, surf, and worship the sun. As all of this beauty and commotion is going on, I am lying in my bed wiping sleep fron my eyes as I wake up from a late morning nap.

I love naps on mornings like this. Just a few hours ago, I was on the beach with my camera snapping pictures, as the sun rose up through the horizon spreading tangerine, fuchsia and periwinkle paint through the buttercream clouds. This was the backdrop as Jeff and Jessica professed their love for each other and two families blended perfectly into one.

I enjoy photographing sunrise weddings on Tybee, but I never sleep well the night before. Even though I always set two alarms on my phone, and have never slept past one of them, I still have this great internal fear that I will over sleep and miss or be late for the wedding.

Last month, Ava and I planted a garden at the Tybee Community Garden. Most of us, here on the island don’t have enough land to plant a garden. So, thankfully we have a place where we can rent space and exercise our green thumbs.

After this morning’s wedding, I stopped by our garden to weed and water it. I noticed that some of our radishes are planted too close together which is keeping them from growing big and round like they are supposed to. It makes me think about our lives and how sometimes when we try to do too much in not enough space it will stunt the growth of everything.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m a big advocate of doing everything you want to do and doing it when you want to do it. I’m not a big fan of putting it off till “someday”. Because”someday” just might not arrive. I do believe that with a little bit of planning, you can make room for “everything” you want to do.

Last week, when I checked our garden, I also found several plants growing that we did not plant. They looked like something intentional as they were bright green and had healthy strong stalks. However, they were really just pretty weeds that were keeping our intended plants from growing. I removed the weeds and now this week our plants are growing and getting healthy as they have plenty of room now that the soil’s nutrients are no longer being sucked up by the weeds.

I believe a major key to getting
what you want from your life is to take inventory of your life’s garden, making sure you are growing what you intended to plant. If you have too many “good” plants in too small of a space, spread them out so they can each grow healthy. Look for weeds in your garden, disguised as intended plants, they may look beautiful, but they are strangling and choking out the good stuff. To bare good fruit, you will have to get ruthless and remove the weeds from your life.

Tonight I have a sunset wedding, which may sound like a lot, to have two weddings in one day. But they are both small intimate ceremonies taking just about an hour each. The rest of the day, I can take a nap, relax at the beach and hang out with my family.

After finishing our homemade dasayuno (breakfast) we decided to spend the day exploring the coast. We first went south, just beyond Uvita and Playa Balleña (which means whale’s tail) we had visited that particular beach before so we continued further south to Playa Ventana (which means Windows) I believe we paid 1,500 colones ($3) for our car to enter the beach park. There were only a couple cars in the parking lot. It was hot and sunny, even at this relatively early hour. The beach was quite rocky, and so was the walk into the ocean. Every step was carefully calculated to protect our toes. The waves and current were strong pulling us out, though it was very refreshing. We practically had the beach to ourselves. There were a couple other parties camped out under the shaded palms. We knew there were caves somewhere nearby and wanted to make sure we saw them before leaving. They cut through the large rocks about a hundred yards or so. It was high tide so we could not enter them, but it was so enjoyable to watch the waves rush in and make thunderous sounds that echoed inside. As the water traveled through the caverns it gushed with force out the other side causing a mist to fill the air.

After about an hour of watching the tides, we both felt like we had enough dircect sun exposure for a while so we packed up to find another place to go. There were changing rooms at the park, but I did not see them till after I changed in the parking lot by our car. On the drive out of the park back to the main highway, we crossed a small stream. I asked Sean to stop so we could rinse off the salt and sand in the fresh crystal clear water. We were both refreshed and ready to head north to visit the town of Quepos.

Quepos is where we visited and stayed on our very first Costa Rican vacation twelve years ago. Our first trip we travelled with our five kids, my parents, my brother, his wife (who was pregnant at the time) and their three kids. As you can imagine it’s a little different experience than just traveling with two people. Back then to travel the distance from Quepos to Dominical took almost three hours. The main coastal highway back then was not paved. It was a hard rocky dirt road that was difficult to gain any speed. Now that the highway construction has been finished it is a quick 30-40 minute drive.

We wanted to locate the house we stayed in years ago and visit Jaime (or Jota as was his nickname) he is still the caretaker of the house and we have stopped to visit him on several of our return trips. It took us a while to get the correct turn to find the house as the Quepos area is so built up and bsuy now. But once we found the right road, everything began to look familiar to us. The house is still tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the tourist destinations. It sits on a very rough rocky road atop a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. There was a family staying there when we stopped and they said that Jota was still the caretaker, but he was out for the day. Twelve years ago, the house was affordable for a family to rent, but now it rents for over five thousand dollars a week. We can just admire it from the road and savor the fun family memories of our first Costa Rican Adventure there. It was built by one of the executive officers of AOL, back in the day. They would stay there for a few weeks out of the year, then rent it out the rest of the year, making contributions to the local town from the proceeds. I’m not sure if the same owners still own it.

We had not eaten since breakfast so we stopped into a soda on the way back to Dominical. It was a newer place and had a swimming pool available to swim in for 1,000 colones ($2) This was the first place we’ve eaten in the country that was underwhelming. We both ordered arroz con pollo (rice with chicken) and even though it tasted good, the chicken was so sparse, we could hardly find any in it. We both got the feeling that it is a place trying to make a buck on the unsuspecting tourist traveler. They did not seem to care much for the experience of their customers.

More relaxing and reading awaited us at the treehouse. The sun goes down at 5:30 and we’ve been up since 5am. Later that night we had a craving for ice cream. Something neither of us has eaten in about six weeks. We stopped into a little shop in Dominical. It was delicious, but we had to eat it fast cause it was melting so quickly. By 8:00 we’re ready for bed.

Tuesday we took another road trip. This time, much further South to the port of Golfito. We took the back roads to get there, just to relive an adventure from years ago. For several miles we followed a guy on a dirt bike making a delivery. He had a cooler strapped to the back of his bike. When he stopped it was at a small store. We assumed he was probably delivering fresh seafood. Several times we had to cross the river and streams with no bridges. It’s pretty standard here to just drive right through the water. If you ever decide to travel here, and you rent a car, only rent a 4×4. You would be so limited otherwise.

We saw several billboards for Black and Decker and Oster kitchen blenders. Always interested in marketing and advertising, we talked about how the heck does huge companies like Black and Decker and Oster decide to place advertising in the middle of nowhere. An hour later when we arrive in Golfito, we see that this is where the large shipments of appliances come into the country. We then crack up laughing as we see two guys walking down the dirt path side by side. One had a Black and Decker blender in his hand and the other guy had an Oster blender in his hand.  I guess these corporations know what they are doing with their advertising dollars.

The road led us right to the bay where the water was a picturesque blue that met the mountains in the distance. We stopped at fancy little hotel on the water called Mar y Luna. Their dining room was open air and right on the water. A constant breeze cooled us off as the temperature was in the mid 80s.   Sean ordered a dish of traditional Costa Rican civeche and I ordered the fresh raw tuna with capers and olives marinated in soy sauce and sesame oil. It was quite tasty, but really salty. I ate it with the crackers that were served with it.

We had talked about continuing to drive further south, all the way to Pavones, which is as far South as you can drive before Panama. If we did it would be past dark before we were back home so we decide to head back from Golfito. We travelled the main road this time, but we hit a lot of traffic due to new road construction. I napped most of the way back.

The wifi in the treehouse has been hit and miss when trying to connect, so we have tried to connect at most restaurants so we can check in on the kids and business emails. But I’ve been able to at least post a few pictures and a couple blog posts.

We stopped into a local restaurant offering platos tipico, which is the typical Costa Rican meal of your choice of meat, black beans, white rice, a salad and a sweet fried plaintain for about $6. We usually order either the plato tipico or a fried rice dish for the same cost.  Beers here are $1.50.

Later we hooked up with a friend of a friend. Several years ago we met a young guy named Chris. He was an American teenager and lived here with his family. He was homeschooled and led worship at a church here. He gave our kids a few pointers on surfboards and we then stayed in touch through the years. He has since moved back to the States, got married and travels the world. He put Sean in touch with his friend Jordy, who could give us a surf lesson and show us around some more. We met up with him on Saturday night and made plans to meet at 7am Sunday.

The sun rises around 5 o’clock here, so getting up early is not a problem for us. Each morning I have been making coffee and breakfast in the treehouse. There is a microwave that I boil water in and I use a french press to brew our coffee, one cup at a time. Costa Rica is all about slowing down and enjoying the process.

We met Jordy in front of a surf shop (that is made out of a sea container) early on Sunday morning. We walked out to the beach with him, checking the surf conditions. There is a really strong under current here, so I opted to relax, sun bathing instead of beating myself up in the surf. I was happy to allow Sean to enjoy a private surf lesson.

We later learned more about our new friend, who is far more mature than his years. He is nineteen and has his own surf instruction company. He’s been teaching surf since he was fifteen. When he was younger and realized that higher education was not his thing, he made it a point to learn and speak English fluently and teach surf lessons as much as possible. He now makes a good living here, owns property, a few rental apartments, and has been able to travel through the States every year during his off season. There is no one I could give a higher reccomendation for if you are looking for surf instruction in the South Pacific coast. He is patient, and kind and loves what he does. He will be visiting the States next month. We’re hoping he’ll come visit us on Tybee while he’s there.

After a couple hours at the beach, we went to a local restaurant here, Tortilla Flats. We just wanted a snack and some hot coffee. But I ended up eating a second breakfast that was incredible. Egg sandwich with sliced avocado on it. We just sat and talked and got to know our new friend a little better. Jordy wanted to take us to a new place that he had just heard about. It is a hot spring that a landowner had just discovered on his property. We are always up for the adventure so Jordy grabbed a towel and we three hopped in our little Suzuki 4×4.

We pulled into the main coastal highway and travelled 4 kilometers north of here then turned off the main road onto an old metal bridge that clanked loudly as we rode across it. We then turned on to a dry red dirt road filled with rocks and boulders. To get to the best adventures in Costa Rica, dirt roads are usually required. Within 15-20 minutes of bouncing an jostling around, we started seeing signs for Aguas Termales. We followed a few turns at each clearly marked sign into what appears to be someone’s front yard. A man greeted us from his front porch and directed us to drive to a grass field parking area behind his house. We paid him 2,500 colones ($5) per person. He led us to a short trail in the woods. Only a  hundred feet or so into the trail, we could see the aqua colored pools. There were four pools on different levels. A few guests were already there lounging and enjoying their families.

He showed us a little further down the trail to the pristine river and swimming hole below and suggested we start there and then work out way up to the thermal pools.

It was not a hard walk at all to get through the trees and down to the rock platform to enter the water. The air temperature was about 83 degrees and perspiration was beginning to bead on our foreheads, so a dip into the cool springs was welcoming and refreshing.

Jordy went up a little higher and successfully slid down a natural waterslide. Now that I’m over forty I am  fearful of getting hurt, so I just safely swam and relaxed in the spring. Sean took a last dive in from the rock platform. We soon gathered our things and moved up to the warmer springs. The owner and Jordy talked for a while (in Spanish) as he told the story of how he found them. Jordy translated the story to us. They had just purchased the property two years ago and were digging on it when they discovered the hot springs. They knew immediately they had a business opportunity in front of them so they built the pools made of concrete and stone. They opened for business only four short months ago. We felt so privileged to be amongst the first people to enjoy them. He now has plans to build a little restaurant and bar on his property for guest’s enjoyment. We joked (though seriously) about how you could never do something like this in the States, without years and years of bureaucratic red tape getting in the way. Just one more reason this country is so appealing to us. If you ever find yourself down this way, make sure you plan to visit Aguas Termales near Hatillo, you won’t regret it.

The three of us were all relaxed and ready for a nap, but we were also getting quite hungry again too, so we came back to Dominical and ate a huge meal at Tortilla Flats. This has definitely been the largest and most generous portions of food since we’ve been here. I ordered the arroz con camerones (rice with shrimp)  it is served with french fries and a fresh salad. After I ate all that I could, I still had enough to bring back to the treehouse to add to our breakfast for the next morning.

We ended the night listening to the ocean below us and the animals around us. Sean enjoyed an imperial cerveza and I tried a delicious canned mojito over ice called BamBoo.

Warm sunshine spread across the island like golden sweet honey being poured out as a rich indulgent gift to everyone who felt it. Locals began to gather at the area we call “down front”. Groups of four dressed in outlandish costumes to identify themselves as a team. Each team represented a restaurant, bar, family or just a crazy group of friends. They were all about to compete to be the first to drink the taste of sweet victory from the highly coveted Kevin Carpenter Cup. Which is a wooden hand turned trophy created by award winning wood turner Steve Cook. This is the prize of the first annual Tybee Bar Olympics.

One year ago, beloved friend and restaurateur, Kevin Carpenter passed away unexpectedly at the young age of thirty-nine. In addition to creating two successful Tybee restaurants, Kevin had a vision to teach teenaged kids fine culinary skills, at no cost to the teens, through a program called Teen Cusine. This was put together through the Tybee Island YMCA. Kevin’s business partner A.J. Baker and a handful of close friends and colleagues wanted to carry on Kevin’s dream in his memory. In order for this to happen, funding for this program was needed. A.J. and friends felt that creating an annual fundraiser would ensure the success of the Teen Cusine program.

In three short weeks this team of friends pulled together a plan for the first ever Tybee Bar Olympics. The overview was there would be twenty teams consisting of four member each. The teams would travel by foot, bicycle, or chauffeur to several Tybee establishments and compete in bar activities such as quarters, flip cup, hot dog and ghost pepper wing eating contests, and consumption of beer provided by Bud Light.

The event organizers gathered donations from all over the island. Whenever Kevin’s name was mentioned, the reply was unanimously “I’m In.” days before the event My friend Carolyn Williams’ house was filled with prizes worth thousands of dollars to be raffled and auctioned off at the event.

A date was set and a simple Facebook event page was started. Three weeks quickly passed, and the eighty contestants plus hundreds of on-lookers are assembled outside of Tybee Time to kick off the opening ceremonies. A toast to Kevin and the national anthem sung by none other than our multi talented friend Jennifer Smoot.

It was a most perfect spring day filled with laughter and friendly competition as each team grappled to not be eliminated and make it in the final competitions at Hucapoos.
Navigating their way at stops in eight bars and restaurants from the south end to the north end. Flipping quarters, red solo cups, throwing basket balls and riding toddler bicycles in the park…this was serious business and Kevin’s spirit was present through the day as laughter and a love for life and community carried through the air.

The final stop was at Hucapoos, where the sounds of In for a Penny came bouncing down the stairs from the open air wooden deck hidden under the live oak trees.

Points from the day were tallied and the teams that made it to the finals were announced and instructed to gather behind the pizza joint where a food industry relay was to be completed by the top teams. Successfully serving a heavy tray of water filled glasses, running through tires, speed trash takeout, rolling silverware and bartending skills were put to the test. This relay put the Hucapoos  and 80 East teams on top.

After nearly seven hours of tough competition, the two finalists continued to battle it out for nearly an hour over a game of giant beer pong, which was played with trash cans and a volleyball in the parking lot of hucapoos. My son Bryce was on the Poo crew, so there were obviously some hilarious proud mama moments through the day. The final winning shot was made by 80 East, which appropriately was one of Kevin’s restaurants.

Everyone gathered under the stars on the Hucapoos deck to celebrate the winners and all of us being able to live in this generous community. Eric read off winning raffle tickets as prizes donated were passed to the winners. I walked away with the best prize I’ve ever won, a Fat Tire Beach cruiser! Over $7,000 was raised which will be an amazing start to keep the Culinary program moving ahead.

Here is a link to a gallery of over one thousand images from the day. We really do live here on this crazy little island where we have larger than life personalities and people love each other more than words can express. I lay my head on my pillow each night thanking God that we are so blessed to call this silly, loving, little island home.

With only had one day to spend in Nassau, Bahamas, we were determined to make the most of it.  Disembarking the ship could start at noon and everyone was required to return no later than 11pm.

Other cruisers, discussed their plans for the day.  Excursions like snorkeling, boating, water parks, drinking at Señor Frogs and shopping topped the list. Those options were too touristy for me and Sean. Diving down beneath the surface and finding the locals is one of our favorite things about traveling. 

Before we lost our internet connection with the civilized world (and I refuse to pay twenty dollars a day to check email while on a three day vacation) I put a quick call on Facebook asking other seasoned travelers to list their favorite dive bars in Nassau. Within minutes suggestions came trickling in. One that caught our attention and  piqued our interest the most was from our traveling musician buddy Joe Jarka aka José Piano. (He’s the same one that gave us the winning suggestion of tarpon feeding in the Keys too)

Joe’s suggestion required a left turn where the others went right. Including a vague description about going under a second bridge, he even added a snapshot for visual reference.

Carolyn and Ingrid were up for the adventure with us. I warned them both to wear walking shoes. Once through the gate of the city, we scurried past the displays of mass produced souvenirs and tchotchkes stamped eoy “made in China”.

Crossing a few lanes of traffic and a couple blocks into town, we overheard a woman giving a private tour in her beautiful Bahamian accent. We interrupted her to ask where the bridges were. It only took a second and she nodded her head and pointed us in the right direction.

We now trusted to be on the correct path, walking at a healthy pace down Bay Street. This took us through what once was a lively town, although now the buildings are in a sullen state of disrepair. Sagging balconies with rotten wood and peeling paint were overhead as we cautiously stepped through broken, uneven concrete sidewalks beneath our feet.

Our imaginations filled in the blanks taking us back to decades ago when one would have seen brighter colors and tasted local flavor on the main thoroughfare of this island town.

The temperature was a perfect 72 degrees with a tropical breeze wisping around us. Blue sky and no clouds overhead. In my opinion, it is still a little cool for water sports, but perfect for a couple mile hike.

I checked my wrist step tracker, we were about a two miles in and starting to break a sweat, when we saw a sign pointing to a bridge was up a head, giving us the confidence to carry on forward. Taxis buzzed by filled with day trippers off to other tropical expeditions.

Traffic was a little heavier as we neared the intersection of roads converging towards Paradise Island and Atlantis area. We came upon the first bridge where our view was now more open and we could see the postcardesque aqua blue water. Continuing on through a construction site as white concrete dust clung to my feet with every step.

We were finally standing on the water’s edge between two bridges and the view was breathtaking. Water so clear you can see every creature working its mini ecosystems.

Following Joe’s instructions we continued to turn left at the second bridge. We stepped over the cords that came from the buzzing gasoline generator on the sidewalk that provided power to the pink and white striped shack on the corner.

After a couple mile hike we were clearly ready for a first round of libations. We were greeted immediately by Charlie, offering us menus at the third shanty in line called Daphne’s. We ordered one of each type of Kalik, the local Bahamian beer, so we could try sample them all. It didn’t take long before he enticed us to buy a conch salad. We sat and watched the locals come by, shopping for their fruits and vegetables from the stands in between the local watering holes. Enjoying diced conch with fresh tomatoes, onions and jalapeños.

Charlie wanted to hook us up with his special fireball shot, he poured into four plastic cups and set one front of each of us. We looked at each other and knew this was going to hurt. It was not the sweet cinnamon fireball we know of, as this had actual red pepper floating in it. I think my throat is still burning from its poison.

We paid our tab and carried on down shanty row, taking in the sights and talking to owners and their families perched on barstools on their porches. We were giving each other high fives and praising José Piano for his travel advice.

The area we were in is formally known as Potter’s Cay, but the locals refer to it as “The Docks”. It is where the divers come in from their daily dives, hauling pink conch shells to sell at the market. You just can’t get conch any fresher than this. We met Jermain, a conch diver stacking a pyramid of beautiful shells with live conch critters wiggling from inside.

Still wanting to stop and spend time at one of these establishments, but waiting for the right vibe and connection with the right people. Well… that would have been the next stop. Walking under the covered area of the next bar that had no patrons, a friendly guy behind the bar chided Carolyn for standing on her toes as she tried to measure herself on a “how tall am I scale” immediately there was a rapport between us so we each pulled up a stool to stick around. It did not take long till we were laughing and finding common ground with our new friends Andre, James, and Jason.

The sign on the wall read “Uncle Tellis”, before too many minutes passed Sean was talking to a gentleman a little older than the guys behind the counter. Sure enough it was Uncle Tellis himself. As the night carried on, it became obvious that Uncle is a well respected patriarch in this business community under the bridge.

The sun was beginning to cast long shadows across the street, it was nearing time to meet up with Erin, Josh and Smoot who went snorkeling for the day. Uncle heard Sean making arrangements and shook his head as he pulled out his cell phone and called his nephew. Minutes later, a little Honda civic rolled up and took Sean to pick up our other friends waiting at Señor Frog’s back at the cruise port. Within fifteen minutes, seven of our nine cruising companions were reunited sharing stories of the day.

Deciding to stay perched at Uncle’s place and continue our island party right here. We each ordered food from the dry erase board menu. A beautiful young woman arrived in time to help prepare our conch fritters, and other savory treats.  Sean requested fish and chips, he received a whole fried fish, eyes and all.

The music played on as other locals arrived and we danced and carried on committing shenanigans as we tend to do when we’re together on our island or another island.

We all agreed that by eight o’clock we’d be ready to board the ship with plenty of time to spare.

Uncle called a cab big enough for our crew that carried us back to the security checkpoint. We filed through the building one at a time. I had to catch this shot, that struck me funny, when Carolyn was digging  her passport from the bottom of her bag and asked the officer to hold her beer…. and he did.

Yesterday was February 1st, for me that was like my January 1st in terms of a New Year’s fitness resolution. I really did intend to be more active and planned to log in several miles on bikes, kayaks and long walks when we were in Key West. The weather did not cooperate with my good intentions. I am guilty and the first to admit, that the first thing I turn to for comfort, is food in any form. Mostly snacks, and sweets, but no limits on quantity. Combined with very little activity and no self control, somehow once again, my pants have shrunk.

Finishing off month One with week long birthday celebrations and I finally reached a point where enough is enough. It’s time to get serious. Beach days are coming soon, and I am in no way physically ready for them. Mentally, yes…I’m ready to squish my toes into the sand and today.

I finally calibrated and synced my new Garmin Vivofit fitness tracker and dug out my workout clothes from the bottom of my drawers. Last year, they were always on the top, because I practically lived in them.

Sean is ready for a new fitness commitment too. So we laced up our sneakers together and hit the beach for day one of getting physical fitness started in 2016.

Whenever I step onto the beach after a long absence from it, I say to myself, “How can you not be out here everyday?”

There was a light breeze blowing in from the sea that brought with it salt air to greet me with a kiss, quickly reminding me just one of the reasons we moved here.

Walking on the beach provides a different workout than walking on the sidewalk. For a while we chose the soft uneven sand for a little more strenuous hike. We said to each other how walking in the deep soft sand in shoes instead of bare feet felt as close to walking in inches of snow as we want to feel. After a while I had to stop and dump the mounting sand out of my shoes.

Snapshots quickly flash to the front of my brain. Only months ago this same beach was packed with thousands of tourists. Moms and dads that plan and save every penny all year long to claim a little square patch of oceanfront property for a week. Today the beach was not totally empty, as a few families were out beachcombing. Passing an occasional fully clothed child, running in circles or building a sand castle.  Definitely a far cry from the crowd’s that gather during the summer. It’s a shame more people don’t take advantage of the great deals that are available during the winter season.

We passed a surfer, covered head to toe in a black wet suit. He owned every wave that came to him.

For the next mile, we traveled just below the high tide line where the packed sand beneath our soles provided a more stable surface to walk on. We walked under the pier and down to the south end where the Back River flows into the Atlantic Ocean. We stayed on the sand as far as we could, till we reached Alley Three. This is where we come to watch the sunset on countless evenings throughout the year.

The beach stops at Alley Three and we turn right onto the hard blacktop pavement. Continuing around Chatham Avenue that hugs the Back River till we reach the marsh. Every few steps, the tall palms reaching to the clouds frame a picturesque scene. The silent shutter in my head snaps away and my imagination paints canvases with the details of a snow white egret flying low over the brown winter marsh grass.

Soon we are back in the little strip of the Back River neighborhood with rows of cottages and beach houses on either side of us. We stop and talk to Bill, who is walking his dog. We enjoy talking to Bill and his wife Dorothy, every year as they come to Tybee, annual snowbirds escaping the brutal Michigan winters. They are smart people, just saying.

Before ending our walk we go a few blocks north so we can stop at the IGA to gather salad fixins for a healthy lunch. Entering the parking lot from the back of the store, we run into Matt, the butcher. Matt always has a smile on his face and a kind word to welcome us.

After paying for my selection of fresh veggies, we headed back to 14th street, our little piece of paradise. A car pulls up beside us. It’s my friend Diane, who owns a vacation rental company here, called Mermaid Cottages. (If you plan to visit Tybee, you really need to check out these adorable family and pet friendly cottages.) She rolled down her window to tell me that Sean and I looked like a picture of ultimate Tybee living. Walking with the love of my life in one hand and a sack of groceries in the other. The sun continued to shine down on a most glorious day. We made our last turn to complete our circuit, looking at my tracker I see that we reached 3 miles. Not too bad for day one.

Up the stairs to our little bare bones 750 square foot apartment, Sean and I give high fives and say to each other, “another day that doesn’t suck to be us!”

Cool air is tucking its chill into every open space possible. Exposed skin especially susceptible to its touch.

Jagged sticks begin to snap and crack from the glowing orange fire ring. I am standing a few feet away stirring the cheese dip over the gas stove while boiling water to mix with instant hot cocoa.

The moon is half full and directly overhead and looking over us, like a protective Mama bear watching over her cubs.

Black silhouettes of tall pines reaching to the moon are spread from the East to West and North to South.

A thinly veiled layer of clouds resembling white quilt batting is spread between the pines and the moon. When I look heavenward, the clouds swirl and move at a slow motion pace like milk being stirred into boiling water.

Every once in awhile a bare patch opening in the clouds passes over the moon allowing the naked light to shine down on us, illuminating our tent, chairs and picnic table. It looks like a painting of the nativity you see on Christmas cards of the bright star guiding the way for the wise men to reach the Messiah.

Sean is teaching the girls basic chords to play on their ukuleles, in between strumming his mandolin and plunking out a new song he was inspired to write this week.

I have fashioned my dollar store clip light into a headlamp as I have attached it to the bill of my hat. Clutching my book a few inches from my face, fully absorbed in the author’s stories.

Before we wrap up the night, we start telling jokes and reliving fun moments from the trip and highlights from years past. Sometimes we just crack up at the things they say, the best one tonight was when Ava said “every morning Mom has ‘Trump’ hair”. Sarcasm seems to be our family’s way of showing love.

A classic campfire dessert is to make s’mores, but none of us really like them. A new creation we came up is flour tortillas with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon inside. We wrapped them in foil and placed them over the fire. Ooey gooey perfection.

Soon the fire started to fade, and one by one we did too turning in after another full day of adventure.

Monday 1/18/16

The last night camping in the Keys was the most unrestful. Extremely high winds rattled the tent all night. I think the clinking of metal zipper pulls are still ringing in my ears. We arose early just as planned and began tearing down camp, even without our morning coffee. The girls were troopers and each did their share of the work. Rolling bed rolls, packing tents, deflating kayaks, de-junking the van, and cleaning up the campsite.

I went to the campground office to let them know that we would be vacating our site this morning. They were super understanding and returned our prepaid cash back with no questions asked. We highly recommend Boyd’s Campground, if you plan to camp in Key West. It is pricier there, but it does include some nice amenities, like a heated swimming pool, large screen TV, camp store and boutique, super clean showers and restrooms, a game room, plenty of laundry facilities, and several scheduled activities.

Our really sweet neighbor, Huck, (that did not steal electricity, and turned off his radio at appropriate times) gave Sean a much appreciated hand in packing up our kayaks and bicycles. They tried to strap everything down especially tight since we were going across the white knuckle seven mile bridge in 30+ mph winds.

We traveled slow and steady till we were just too hungry to continue. Next stop on the map was the Grassy Key Outpost. The parking lot was packed which is always a good sign and inside was packed even tighter. Right as we walked in four spaces opened up at the bar. After a glance at the menu, I knew we made a great choice. Before too long, I was enjoying the best rib eye sandwich I’ve ever had.

We continued to crawl up Rt 1 till we reached Robbie’s at Islamorada. Several friends suggested that we stop here to feed the tarpon. For only $1 entrance fee to the dock and $3 for a bucket of fish, this was by far one of the most economical  and fun attractions. We were told that due to the cold weather, the fish were not as active as they usually are. They prefer the warm waters at the bottom of the ocean. But Sean and Ava still laid on the dock and fed as many as they could. Kyleigh, being a vegetarian, had no desire to hold a dead fish. When the bucket was empty we pushed onward till we were out of the Keys..

The entrance to Everglades National Park is only about 30-40 minutes north of the Keys. We followed the signs to Long Pine Camping area and found a vacant spot and started setting up camp in hopes to have everything up before dark. Sean and the girls put up the tents and I scavenged the area for firewood from wherever I could find. Our neighbor came over and offered us a fire log. We have found that the camping community where ever we go are just a super friendly bunch of people.

Before arriving, we did not make a trip to the grocery store to replenish provisions…well we did go to the dollar store last night, but that was for junk food to last us till we return to Tybee.  I told the girls, no more pit stop snacks, they just are not in the budget. The rest of the road trip junk had to come from this one trip to the dollar store…totaling twenty one dollars. Now I know this is a ton of junk and I hope we don’t eat it all before we’re home, but at least we won’t be spending and more money on junk. I did buy a 3 pack of cup of noodles. These combined with hot grilled cheese sandwiches tonight was the perfect way to end the day!

Kyleigh gave up early and once her bed was made, we never saw her again. Thankfully her rash has subsided, but the allergy still remains a mystery. She has been quite a trooper, since camping is not her favorite pastime.

Ava is our true outdoorsy one, she tended the fire till the three hour paper log was gone.

Sean was dozing off before me. Finally, he was able to relax. I think the stress of traveling in high winds with all our gear on top has taken its toll on him for the day.

We have no power, Internet or cell service in the Everglades so each of my posts will be delayed till we reach a connection again.

Good night all…