How to ruin a beach

We have a nice place in Daytona beach.  It’s got a bedroom, living room, and a kitchen – plus it’s oceanfront with a nice balcony.  However, they allow driving on the beach!  I don’t know why…but it really ruins it for me. 

You can sit on the balcony, but you hear the loud music of cars driving by.  You can lay on the beach, but cars drive by just feet from you, and can park right next to as well.  We have even seen a backup of cars on the beach…it’s just wrong.

But, when this is the view and not grey skies and snow, I guess you can’t complain too much.

Space Shuttle Launch

We’re staying in Daytona Beach these days, so it was only about an hour drive to go see the launch of space shuttle Discovery.  I’ve always wanted to see a launch and now there are only 3 left, so it was perfect timing that we happen to be so close.  In fact, we purposely stayed in this general area so that we could go…of course staying in Florida in February wasn’t a hard thing to do :)

We had a great view! I think we were about 11 miles away, so it took a while for the sound to reach us, but we did hear it.

It moves very fast – a few minutes of excitement.  We were able to ever so faintly see the solid rocket boosters falling.  Look closely and you can see them in the picture below.

What a great experience…I’m so happy we were able to witness this.

Back to Orlando

We had some time to kill due to some lodging problems – namely, the upcoming shuttle launch and the Daytona 500.  One area we knew there would be plenty of hotels – Orlando.  So, we headed inland for a few days. We’ve been fortunate to often  have rooms with fridges and microwaves. However, there’s never really room for storage, so we often just leave our groceries in the bags on the floor.  Staying in hotel rooms for extended times is sort of like camping indoors.  We have our dishes, but no kitchen. Our place in Islamorada had a patio so we used our camp stove there, but in your typical hotel room like this one in Orlando we just eat cold meals: sandwiches, hummus, crackers, cereal. It really makes you appreciate hot meals when you have them.

We spent three days at the hotel, mostly working on Jason’s business, but taking a break in the afternoon to go to the pool.  The hotel was very empty during the day – everyone else is off at all the local attractions.  On our last day, we went to Universal Studios.  The crowds aren’t too bad yet.  We had to wait about 20 minutes for some of the popular rides, but towards the end of the day the lines were just about gone. 

We liked the new Simpsons ride – at least it was new to us. Last time we were here (2002?) this was a Back to the Future ride.  We really like the Revenge of the Mummy roller coaster – we rode it three times!  Two of them back to back without any lines.

We stayed until the park closed at 7pm – still plenty warm out though! Got to love Florida in the winter!

Everglades, east side

After leaving the Keys, we stopped on the east side of Everglades National Park – and we weren’t disappointed. There were so many different kinds of birds, turtles, and plenty of alligators.

Fishing for Valentines

The owner of our resort treated us to two free tickets for a half day of fishing.  I’ve never really even been fishing before, so I was excited to give it a try.  We were out for about 4 hours with maybe 20 other folks. You select your spot on the boat and tie your poll up while we venture out into the ocean.  Once the anchor drops,  everyone drops their line.

 

The first couple spots we didn’t have too much luck.  Jason caught one and I didn’t catch anything, but our last stop of the day we had amazing luck.  We ended up with eight keepers and threw a couple back.  The poles had two hooks and  I caught two fish at once! It was a little chaotic to take pictures as we were fishing – too much going on at once.  I caught four in a row – all I had to was drop my line and right away I’d catch something.  One of the crew comes over and take the fish off the hook for you and it gives it your groups unique marking – for example ours was three on the throat.

Back on the dock they sort out all the fish, based on the marks.

Here’s our bounty…

We had them filleted, where plenty of pelicans were ready for the scraps.

Then we took our fish to a restaurant near the dock, where a French chef cooked a delicious meal from our own catch.

A very unique and memorable experience for Valentines Day with my hubby.

Wanderlust guilt

So, this kind of traveling is nothing new to me.  I’ve always had wanderlust.  My first big trip I quit my first real job and went to Africa for two months.  It was a big step for me – moving out of my house, storing my car, and the uncertainty of not knowing what would happen when I returned.  Would I regret quitting my job?  Well, the answer was no.  I loved the trip and have never regretted anything about it.

Jason shares the same sense of adventure as me and since we started dating back in 2001, we seem to go on big trips every few years.  We both quit our jobs and went to Alaska – twice.  We put our stuff in storage and took a trip up the east coast over the course of a few months.  This kind of traveling is nothing new to us. 

However, as we get older and more of friends have “settled down”, I feel more  guilt for my lifestyle. I know that I am extremely fortunate.  I hate that my friends at home are suffering through the winter, as well as their jobs.  I hate that my parents want to retire, but need to work a few more years.

Jason and I have intentionally planned our lives to have this freedom.  We always save our money for trips and experiences rather than spending our money on possessions. I’ve never bought a TV and we use Jason’s TV that he had as an undergraduate.  We have hand me down furniture and used furniture.  It wasn’t until 2009 that we bought a brand new piece of furniture.  We make do with what we have, resisting the urge to upgrade or buy things we don’t need.  We share a cell phone – a very basic cell phone.  We get basic cable.  Jason has never had a new car – always used.  When my car was totaled instead of buying a new car, we made due with one car for a year and half before I got my mom’s 1999 Honda. We’ve never had a pet, no kids.  We can live on very little money and are not tied down to our possessions or house.

Jason started his own online business that gives him the freedom to work from any where.  It didn’t come easily.  For years he worked full time and then spent his evenings working on his own business.  He still works a ridiculous amount – even on “vacation”.

I know we’ll still get comments from our friends about on how jealous they are, but it has nothing to do with luck. We didn’t win the lottery or win a vacation – we worked for it and have made sacrifices over the years to have the freedom we enjoy today.

Stormy day in paradise

We reluctantly left Key West yesterday, but were fortunate to find a nice little low key resort on the island of Islamorada, in the upper keys.  This morning is overcast and very windy, making me think how scary it must be when big storms or hurricanes come this way. We're right on the water, so after this storm passes, we'll be ready to enjoy the scenery and relax in the sun.  According to the forecast, by sometime this afternoon we should be back to the beautiful weather the Florida Keys are known for.  Until then, it will be a much needed work day for us.