Florida!

This summer my friend Jennifer, her husband Keith, and I went to Florida for five weeks. We tried, for the first time, Couchsurfing, which is a great way to meet fellow travelers and get to know the area like a local. Basically, people open up their houses to you for a night or more and you stay (sometimes on their couch) for free! Each couch host is different, but through the site you are able to find people who match your wishes. We were very fortunate to find the most wonderful people to stay with! All of them were very friendly and helpful. I highly recommend this form of traveling if you're into it. I'd be happy to help you set up a profile to host or surf.

We left only a few days after I got back from school, and started off by snorkeling with manatees in Crystal River (about an hour North of Tampa.) Manatees are HUGE animals ("sea cows") and do not mind being touched. Unfortunately for them, they get hit by many boaters who aren't careful to obey the speed limit. 

We spent 2 nights at a beautiful hotel called "The Plantation", where we had our first Florida Key Lime pie and transitioned into relaxation mode. 

Fishing and feeding birds outside our host's apartment

We then headed back down to Tampa for a few days to explore the area. Unfortunately, Tropical Storm Debby had other plans for us! For about 3 days, we ended up just relaxing and hoping the weather would get better. It was pretty neat to see the streets flood and the rain fall in all different directions. The weather changed so fast. As a Californian, it was so bizarre to experience warm rain, but we all loved it. We were also happy to see it go, so we could continue our vacation. (Thank goodness it wasn't a hurricane!) Our couch host, Josh, worked at a LOEWS hotel and he invited us to use the facilities there. He also lived right on a canal, so whenever the rain decided to let up a bit, we would watch the animal life (dolphins, fish, tons of birds) and talk to the neighbors. They even let me fish, which I haven't done in years. It was so fun! 

Beautiful sea oats at Lido Beach

After that we headed to Sarasota and Lido Beach, where we celebrated Jennifer and Keith's anniversary and admired the beautiful beaches in the area. We were a little overzealous about the sun being out, and ended up with really nasty sunburns. Florida sun is merciless.

 Every single beach in Florida is completely different! We decided that Lido Beach was our favorite beach because of the silky white sand, sea oats, and piles of sea shells. It was also pretty nice that our hotel was right on the beach, which meant we could go from the beach, to the pool, to the hot tub within seconds. I was in water-heaven. 

We learned to wear hats and TONS of sunscreen!

From there, we went to Bonita Springs, where we kayaked on Estero River. The river was surrounded by all kinds of greenery (even the water was green!) that hung down, creating little coves that you could kayak through. We had almost the entire river to ourselves. It was very peaceful. I'm used to ocean kayaking, so this was a breeze! 

We then stayed with a lovely couple and their 3 precious cats in Fort Myers for a few nights. They took us to their favorite Peruvian restaurant and to Sanibel Island. We liked them so much, we ended up staying with them another couple of nights later on in the trip! 

Naples

We left on my birthday and headed to Naples, where Jen and Keith treated me to a delicious sushi lunch and my first legal drink (21, baby!) We explored the town and beach, then traveled on down through the Everglades. We stopped at a bar right on a swamp, and ended up watching alligators the whole time. A very friendly southern man let us take pictures with his baby alligators. They were surprisingly soft and docile (imagine a big lizard.) I was so excited! Best birthday present ever... 

Some alligator lovin' 

We spent only a couple of hours in the Everglades, because we had plans in Key Largo that night. We were also being eaten alive by mosquitos and all kinds of bugs (these things... were HUGE and also merciless.) I would love to go back to spend more time in the Everglades. We did get to see a lot of wildlife just by driving through (caught a turtle crossing the road!) and stopping at a few hiking areas, but I hear that in the winter alligators just chill on the side of the highway. I have to see that to believe it! 

We ended the day in Key Largo to the most beautiful sunset. Our couch hosts that night were incredible! They cooked us an amazing Thai dinner and had tons of friends over. The house was so lively; we had some great conversations that night.

Sunset in Key Largo, accompanied by an acoustic guitarist

The next morning we woke up bright and early to go snorkeling in John Pennycamp coral reef state park. It was one of the coolest experiences of my life! It felt like being dropped into a huge, endless aquarium (with warm water, of course.) The water was a brilliant shade of blue, and if that wasn't enough, it was FILLED with vibrant tropical fish and the strangest looking coral. There were surprises everywhere. We even saw 4 nurse sharks lying at the ocean floor (and later ended up following one around.) I also had a one-on-one encounter with a barracuda - intense! 

That night we were in Key West, staying at the very fancy Hyatt hotel. Key West was crazy! There were too many tourists for me to enjoy it. We did get to tour Ernest Hemingway's house (6 toed cats), celebrate the 4th, snorkel another (less impressive) reef, bike the island, chase tons of chickens and roosters, and take the obligatory photo at the southernmost poing in the continental US. I wouldn't want to go back, honestly. The drive down to the Keys were beautiful - all different shades of blue - but I would prefer to check out a different, less popular, key. 

Here, have a gecko

On our way back up North, we stopped in Miami beach for a night. I loved it! It was also very crowded, but full of all kinds of interesting people. The expensive restaurants on the main strip would advertise by showcasing the full menu - lobster, crab, fish, steak... you name it. There had to be about 20 restaurants that did this. It was pretty neat just walking by and admiring all the food. 

We spent a night in Orlando just getting to know our couch host their. There wasn't really much we wanted to see in the city, so we continued on to Orange City, where we stayed at a Bed and Breakfast for 2 nights. We biked around (so easy, because everywhere you go it's flat!) and kayaked another river. We saw tons of animals there - an osprey munching on a snack, turtles, gar and other fish, a water moccasin (scary!), and an alligator up close. A manatee even swam right under my kayak! 

Gopher Tortoise in Cape Canaveral

We spent the rest of our trip couch surfing in St. Augustine, Melbourne, Cape Canaveral, and Merritt Island. St. Augustine was a pretty neat place, because of its rich history (oldest city in the country.) We toured a Spanish fort and walked around the city checking out all of the old buildings. We actually had to remind each other we were in America, because everything just seemed so out of place. The other places we stayed had some great beaches and wildlife, so we spent a lot of time in the water or hiking. We got to know some more lovely couch hosts and experienced more crazy weather changes, one of them producing a lovely double-rainbow which lasted for more than 15 minutes.

Our trip concluded with another few days in St. Petersburg and Tampa. We stayed with a crazy gay couple who took us thrift store shopping (very cheap in FL.) We had a chance to explore the town sans rain and wind. We left very tan and almost adjusted to the humidity... almost. I was happy to come home to San Diego weather, but what an amazing trip it was!

Goodbye, beautiful beaches!