Travel Journal

December 31st

After taking a picture with the Florida state sign we went to Jacksonville Beach. At the entrance of Neptune beach we were greeted with all sorts of Christmas decorations including a 25 foot artificial Christmas tree among all the natural palm trees. We parked in the first space we could find and walked down the beach while finding a hermit crab in a tidal pool. Further down we found live star fish that we held. After the beach we walked around the local neighborhoods and picked oranges off of a local mans tree.

After dinner at the mellow mushroom, we sat on the beach while watching illegal fireworks shoot off in celebration of the upcoming new year. A local college bar guided our countdown into 2014 and we danced the night away before retreating to our bed in the back of the wagon.

We woke up, grabbed coffee and went to watch the polar bear plunge on Jacksonville beach. After that cold, rainy weather increased and we headed across the state for the gulf coast which has wonderful weather when we got to it.

January 1st

We arrived in Venice, Florida and hopped into the water happily celebrating the new year in salt water. That night we headed to ginas where we had thai food.

January 2nd

We woke up refreshed and headed to the beach. There we discovered our first shark tooth while walking and enjoying the salty waters. After a couple of hours it became evident that a storm was coming in. To escape, we packed our belongings and headed to the car. As we drove back to town we spotted a huge banyan tree so we got out and climbed it and took pictures while waiting for the wind to pick up. It never happened and the storm never came so we just hung out in a giant banyan for a while.

Next we stopped at a magic shop in town and met the magician and shop owner Glenn Gary. He does a show every night at 7:30 and offered us free seats to watch after offering Katie a job. The night was filled with magical brilliance.

January 3rd

Next morning we woke up and helped gina move a great deal of things from the storage trailer into their new house since they were just moving to venice florida from Lancaster pa. After this which ended around noon the sun was finally coming out and the temperature was rising. We left and headed to the beach again.

At the beach we made a new friend. He was a seagull with a stub foot that we named George. Then we took off to the Venice Inlet where we stumbled upon a great view of the ocean, surfers, and we even saw a couple dolphins.

After that we met gina and Darwin for pizza at a local pizza shop. We noticed that the sunset was about to happen so we finished up, paid our bill and rushed to the beach to catch the sunset over the gulf.

We then went downtown for gelato at the local gelato shop and were surprised when gina and Darwin took us to a Christmas lights display.

January 4th

We go to casperson beach where we are pretty fortunate in our shark teeth finding compared to our last days out. We walk around in the waves and on the rocks and enjoy getting our pants wet by accident in the chilly water.

We continue on down the coast headed for ft. myers. We are chilly and hungry and our friend aaron tells us that he is having a littlee cookout at the house and invites us over. We arrive to meet his parents and one of his good friends about to eat. They happily invite us to join and we spend the evening among nice people and a collection of four wonderful dogs hopping all over us.

January 5th

Aaron fortunately does not work today so he suggests a boat day. We load up his boat with all the necessary goodies for a fun days trip and head out on the water around Fort Myers. We stop at the beach and Katie takes a walk down the beach. She returns and we all climb into the water and swim around having a great time hanging around. Aaron has a photoshoot with Katie and I when he climbs on the top of his boat and gets a great angle of us. It was impossible to wipe the smiles off our faces.

The boat speeds out into the water until we come to a halt and the music is blaring and we have a dance party a couple miles off shore. We all hop in the water and swim in the ocean for a bit. After that we jump back in and ride around Sanibel island before heading back to the boat dock. What an amazing day!

January 6th

We walk around downtown fort myers and lay out on the beach for a little bit. Katie builds a small sand sculpture right before a storm brews up and starts blowing sand everywhere. We pack up and meet some Canadians before heading up to launi kai for some food. The bar is on the top floor on the roof and they just so happen to have karaoke tonight. After singing a frank Sinatra hit Katie persuades me to live up to my fears and conquer them. Meanwhile a midget comes in and quickly takes a liking to us. He sits at our table and chats with us a great deal before getting up and singing smooth from Santana. Nobody knows how to play an air guitar like that guy. We then get up and sing Len “steal my sunshine” and we get the whole crowd singing along. We then go back and meet aaron who takes us with him to meet a lady friend at a bar that she tends at.

January 7th

The weather is not nearly as nice as we had anticipated. A cold front moves in so we head off to a park and set up blankets behind bushes to block the wind while facing the sun. We read and write and nap and talk about life. There is nothing like cuddling with someone in a foreign place in the sunshine. We head to fort myers beach for the sunset and walk along the coast. After that we spend a couple of hours in a discount swimsuit shop where we both buy suits for $10.

January 8th

the weather is again rough. We got o barnes and nobles to read and write and then head to the olive garden for the soup and salad lunch special. Katie orders a martini that’s on sale and excitedly spills it all over herself. They serve her another. We then stop by marks house who lives on the other side of town. We hang there for a bit expecting to possibly take a nap, but decide to instead go back to Aarons to meet him for a movie night.

January 9th

We wake up and walk Aarons puppies bella and diesel around the neighborhood. These odd chicken ducks are wild and walking/flying around so we decide to call them duckins. We lay out a blanket at Aarons and wire wrap our shark teeth and hula hoop until the sunsets. Then we go to the backyard for a bon fire and a great feast of good food with great people.