Going where the climate suits my clothes: friends, family and 30th birthdays in Asheville

While camping in the heat of the lowlands, we couldn't help but check out the weather maps of Asheville, NC. Situated in the smokey blue mountains, Asheville just seemed cool, both temperature wise and in terms of the people and culture that exist there. Added incentive for us was the fact that we had lots of friends and family in the area. We knew we wanted to go there.

We arrived in Asheville late Saturday night, a little over a week ago. We were kind of beat up from the late night drive and Ben's back giving him trouble. Our first stop was my cousin Danny's place where we received a warm welcome from Danny, his wife Dara, his two kids Kai and Kadin, and his enormous dog Rosco (his cats tolerated us with typical indifference). We spent the better part of last week recharging, benefitting from Danny's culinary expertise, and checking out Asheville with Kadin as a tour guide. 

Moog factory:

Dara's store space where she sells her clothes and jewelry:

We even managed to get another afternoon of tubing in on the French Broad, the river that runs through Asheville. An added perk of tubing on the French Broad is you can exit the river at The Bywater, a super chill riverside bar, complete with cornhole. http://www.bywaterbar.com/

We stayed with Danny through my birthday.... The big 3-0! It was an awesome day that included omelets, sliding down waterfalls at Dupont state park, and dinner and drinks in downtown Asheville. It even included birthday cake, compliments of a phone in order from Kate and Mo. Thanks to everyone who made it such a great day!

After staying with Danny we stayed a couple nights with my UCSB friend Sarah Jane and her husband Dan in Weaverville. Their property was gorgeous! We somehow have no pictures but we had a great time throwing frisbees, sitting around campfires, and watching fireflies. SJ and I  also had a ladies night out to see an awesome local musician, Jamar Woods, perform in downtown Asheville. 

After Weaverville, we drove about 45 minutes east of Asheville to visit my aunt Paula and uncle Jerry. They live in a really neat cabin at the top of a mountain. We were treated to amazing views and good family time. We had a great time hiking around the mountain, enjoying the scenery of the smokey blue mountains.

The bunk house:

Atlanta and visiting Kelly!

Heading North from Ginnie Springs we cruised on to Atlanta to stay with Kelly, our friend from Santa Cruz. It was so great to see Kelly, who showed us a most excellent time. 

Highlights include:

Epic roll out sessions to help straighten out Ben's back and IT band.

A walking tour of the Atlanta Beltway, old railroad tracks converted into miles of multi-use pathways.

Piper the cat, who lives along the beltway and is happy to receive letters (and guests).

An amazing dinner at Bocado, compliments of Kelly (what a fantastic wedding present!). We will need to return someday for this amazing milkshake as we were too stuffed to order it this time. We also kicked it with some of Kelly's crew after dinner. Overall a great night out!

And last but not least we checked out the Mill, off the Chatahoochee river. Good swimming! This trip also demonstrated the difference between ITP (inside the perimeter) versus OTP (outside the perimeter).

We left Atlanta with a much better idea of what this city is all about. Good times!

Ginnie Springs: crystal clear water and tubing with alligators

Wow, between camping out of cell service and a wonderful series of friend and family visits, this blog has been left neglected. Time to play some catch up on what we have been up to for the past 2 weeks!

I prematurely bade farewell to Florida in our last post. We ended up camping 2 nights at Ginnie Springs, a sweet spot North West of Gainesville. We drove through open pastures and cowfields to get there, which was in stark contrast to the high rises, freeways, and swamps of south Florida.

Ginnie Springs campground is situated on the Santa Fe river, a river that seemed to be designed for tubing on. We spent the day lazily floating down the river, admiring the turtles that populated the rocks and fallen trees. It was only much later, while hanging out with my cousins in Asheville, NC, that I learned that Florida's rivers are typically full of alligators. We didn't see any though and I'm happy we didn't know this at the time.

Floating down the river was ideal, but even more amazing were the springs that Ginnie Springs are famous for. The springs formed the clearest natural swimming holes that I have ever seen, complete with fish and entrances to underwater caves. The caves extended for miles underground and are popular with scuba divers. The springs formed inlets that fed into the river, but the spring water is 72 degrees, about 10 degrees cooler than the river, making it obvious (and a little shocking) when you float into them. We had a great time exploring the springs with our snorkeling gear.

Heading North

We woke up early this morning in a hotel in central Florida (sometimes you just really appreciate embassy suites with their free happy hour and air conditioning). Florida has treated us well, with miles of warm water beaches and wonderful welcoming friends. There is no mistaking the feeling of getting antsy however, and we have begun dreaming of higher ground, cooler nights, and maybe a pine tree or two. 

The rest of our time in the keys was great. We made it all the way to mile marker zero on interstate highway 1 and the southern most point of the continental United States.

We enjoyed the charm of Key West and ate some great Cuban food. Key West was an interesting mix of super laid back carribean island culture and tourist town. We were able to see a lot of the Island from our bikes, which was a lot of fun.

Ben, always the problem solver, came up with solutions to both the heat and the bugs. We have a new appreciation for walkin beer refrigerators and target's arsenal of bug sprays (our natural citrus deet-free bug spray was just not cutting it).

After Key West we headed back up to Miami, checked out a Marlin's game, and went swimming at Miami Beach. The Marlin's stadium was very "Miami", complete with a night club and go-go dancers, as well as a fish tank behind home plate.

One if the biggest highlights of South Florida was visiting my college friend Niki and her husband Nick. I hadn't seen them since their wedding over 2 years ago. We saw them on the way down to the keys and then stopped by again on our way out. It was so great to see them both  and they were the sweetest hosts, cooking us a fantastic meal and letting us harass their two French bulldogs. They even graciously lent us their driveway and cleaning supplies so we could clean out the van. We had jokingly nicknamed the van "Muskey", a combination of our two last names. As we camped deeper in the keys, however, the name started hitting a little too close to home. I'm happy to report that after a few hours, a vacuum cleaner, and a bottle of febreeze, the van smelled good as new.

So Florida, it's been real, but it is time to get moving North. We will be camping a couple nights along the cooler springs and rivers in North Florida, stopping by Atlanta to visit our good friend Kelly, and then heading to the smokey blue mountains of North Carolina.

Camping in the Florida Keys!

 As we headed south from the Miami area, we set our sights on several days in the Florida Keys.  The Keys are a continuation of the coastal islands that are all along the Atlantic Coast of Florida.  However, the Keys don't have any mainland.  In the early 1900's a very wealthy person built a railroad across all these keys.  Apparently, the route was a flop, and the railroad failed.  The bridges were converted to a car route, in several places the road was built on top of the train trestle.  Since then, a new modern road has replaced the old steel structure.  However, the old bridge is still standing in many places and is sometimes even accessible to pedestrians. 

We didn't realize that school had just gotten out, so the campsites were quite booked.  Still we managed to get one night in Long Key and reservations in Bahia Honda for the following two nights.  Long Key State Park was nice!  Our campsite was right on the beach.  The warm water was calm and shallow.  People were fishing, floating, tidepooling, and kayaking.  We were excited to break out our inflatable watercraft.  Our armada consists of a Two Person Floatie and a Two Person Kayak.  We had never used the kayak before, a neighbor gave it to us.  He was getting rid of it to make room for something.  We were surprised and relieved that it was in excellent shape!

Noelle was quite eager to try fishing from our "sport" boat.  On our way to Bahia Honda State Park, we stopped into a bait and tackle shop.  $45 later, we were armed with a rod-n-reel, sinkers, hooks, and a package of frozen bait.  At the park, we towed the floatie, some beers, and our fishing gear out to a buoy.  I'm pleased to report that Noelle reeled in a horse-eye jack fish in less than an hour in Bahia Honda.  I took a shot at fishing and was less impressed with the honeycomb cowfish I reeled in.  We released both of these fish, but beers were not as lucky.  Great fun, and an excellent all-day activity in the sunshine.

Bahia Honda didn't spray for bugs, like Long Key did.  I wish they had!  At night I was the victim of No-see-ums.   These tiny insects are the smallest member of the mosquito family.  They are about the size of a grain of sand and were able to get through the bug screens on the van.  As I type, I'm covered with enough bites to suspect I have chicken pox.  ITCHY!
Not all the insects were as horrible.  The wildlife in the Keys in robust and colorful.  The island had beautiful butterflies.  We saw a hermit crab the size of a softball!  We were stunned by these glowing beetles at night.  You'd see in the bushes what would appear as two glowing eyes!  Another island boasts pigmy deer, 1/4 the size of normal deer!


All of the pictures below are from Bahia Honda.  Overall it was an awesome camping experience, rounded out by some real cool camping neighbors that treated us to a laser light show and gave us great tips about camp spots in Florida.

View of the old bridge from the boat cove on Bahia Honda.

Typical scene on the bridge.

In some places, the old bridge is quite dilapidated.

View from the campsite in Bahia Honda.

We were able to walk up onto the old bridge near our campsite.

Stunning colors during sunset!

Ft. Lauderdale and Family!

 Congratulations to Cousins Laurie and Miles for tying the knot!  It was great fun, thanks for inviting us!  I didn't get enough good pictures of the wedding, but this one shows the best man, brother of the groom, my cousin, Eric and his family, Nate and Kari.  Behind them are Laurie and Miles.  Sorry for the bad photo, I blame the open bar.  :P

Ft. Lauderdale area is pretty awesome.  It's all about the beach and the intercostal waterway.  Everywhere, there is a coastal island, a protected water channel, and then another layer of coast.  There are canals everywhere to connect to the water.  The best bars are outdoors on these channels.  Shown to the left is Two Georges, which is Miles and Laurie's favorite bar and the site of the rehearsal dinner. 
There are fantastic homes that are right on these protected waterways where one can park their boat right along their backyard. 

 Mid-June is the off-season for this area, probably cause it's hot!  Things slow down from 2-4pm here.  In wintertime, this place is jumping with folks from the Eastern Seaboard.  But for now, it's a little empty.  We stayed at this awesome room in Boca Raton with a view of "Lake Boca."  The "Lake" is a wide part of the Intercoastal Waterway, and the Atlantic Ocean is just beyond the tall condominiums shown.

Monday night we spent with Noelle's good college friend (rugby teammate) Niki and her husband Nick.  We were lucky enough to attend their wedding in Costa Rica in 2011.  Their home is furnished with the comfort of their French Bulldogs, Lola and Gus, in mind.  In this picture, Gus demonstrates that the only one who enjoys a dog-pile is the one on top.

New Orleans to Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Slightly sad, we left NOLA for Florida.  Hard to be too sad when there are nice beaches and a wedding in the near future.  Some last pictures of New Orleans seemed appropriate though!

One neat change I had to been an engineer and point out is that the street cars now have nifty LED external light systems.  For the same wattage as the old incandescent lights, they get a brighter headlight and two bright strobe lights.  Nice improvement for the oldest running street car line in the USA!

 We also decided to roll through the French Quarter on our way out of town.

 First night, we camped in the panhandle of Florida.  We got a text message from my mom advising us of an oncoming tropical storm.  We thought if we left early we could avoid it... I'd say we ran straight into it though...  See our location as the blue dot...  Dear readers, if you notice we are straying into a tornado, tropical storm, or some other act of God, please let us know.  The weather apps we have are great at letting us know the weather where we are, not the weather where we are going.

We managed to get to St. Augustine to wait out some of the worst of the storm.  We checked into a fancy motel where we could get some laundry done, nap, hit the mini-gym, and soak in the outdoor hot tub.  In the evening it cleared up and we went to town to check it out.  We had an awesome dinner at The Floridian and walked around.  Noelle was amazed at the oldest plaza in the US as well as the oldest masonry building in the US.

As I write this, we've already finished our weekend of wedding, and we continue to have a great time in Boca Raton and Ft. Lauderdale.  Tuesday we'll be heading down to The Keys!