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We were heading to visit a friend in Bonita Beach on the Gulf side, and we stopped to check out some bike trails in Davie (near the Everglades) on our way there. We started on the Linear Park Trail that followed along a canal paralleling the road. We saw these very unique ducks we had never seen before. We saw some giant snail shells, although this one didn't have a snail inside. It's a nice trail with picnic pavilions along the way. Even with this narrow greenway between the canal and the road, we saw a ton of wildlife... Big gold and green iguanas... Equally big, but less colorful iguanas... Birds of all types... Even pairs of iguanas... :) Notice the sign for horseback riders ahead. We are in ranch country here. We saw a sign for Tree Tops Park and took a short detour to go check out the trails there. Tree Tops Park is really beautiful. We found a lovely, shaded spot for a picnic lunch there. We found our way over to the boardwalk trails overlooking a nearby marsh. It was a very pretty area. We passed a cute area called "Safety Town", which we assume is an place for the little kiddos to ride. Another small lake in the park had swan peddle boats and the obligatory big chair for photo opportunities. From there it was a short jaunt to pick up the Robbins Vista View Trail. This trail weaved past gated communities with big homes. It was an enjoyable trail, and we like seeing how other people live. This trail also followed along some canals. These canals are awesome places to watch iguanas. We witnessed this big guy get chased off by a big white bird, which he obviously didn't like, because he then turned and chased off two smaller iguanas, lol. Entering Robbins Park, which also has equestrian trails. It also has an RC (remote control) airfield, too - pretty cool! Leaving Robbins Park... Back along the canals... Headed toward Vista View Park... All the trail maps say to go this way to connect with Vista View Park, but the KOA campground has other ideas. Well, phooey on you, KOA. We needed to turn back anyway, plus we're not fans of your campgrounds. We turned and headed back to the car, hoping to reach it before any rain hit, which we did. We enjoyed our wandering ride through the neighborhoods of Davie. Here is the Relive video showing our whole 17-mile route that day:

After getting some work done, in the afternoon we headed a little further south to check out Fort Lauderdale. Boats seem to rule the roost here in Florida, so once again we had to wait on a drawbridge to bicycle from Fort Lauderdale proper to Fort Lauderdale Beach. We saw the famous Elbo Room in Fort Lauderdale Beach, but it was super busy so we didn't bother going in. We were quite happy to walk around with our own drinks and check out Fort Lauderdale Beach. The Christmas lights were very pretty in Fort Lauderdale Beach. We learned of a cool arcade bar (Glitch Bar) in the Flagler Village area of Fort Lauderdale, so we biked over there to check it out. There were lots of other games, but only two pinball machines. We played the Foo Fighters pinball machine and Eric crushed it, earning a high score and the honor of entering his initials for it. (He usually goes with BUM, which was his father's nickname for him.) We walked around the area for a while talking, then found some good sourdough crust pizza at Patio Bar & Pizza. The bartender recommended the White Pizza, and it was really delicious. We didn't end up getting home until nearly 2 am - whew! That's unusual for us, but it was fun. Here is the Relive video of our biking/walking trip that day: After sleeping in, we ventured into downtown Fort Lauderdale, where we found a Hanukkah street fair for the children. They had a small petting zoo with baby goats, bunnies, and this llama who was eyeballing Eric and only came closer once he walked away, lol. At the Riverwalk we witnessed the captain of the yellow water taxi chew out the captain of the smaller white boat for taking up more than one spot at this docking area. Cara wanted a light lunch, so we ate at Sky Thai Sushi where Cara enjoyed a nice vegetarian sushi roll. Eric's lunch special was a good deal for a lot of food including miso soup, edamame, sushi, sashimi, and chicken katsu. We walked back home for naps, passing this nice mural. In the evening we struck out again to walk Las Olas Blvd. in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Then we went back to the Riverwalk to fully explore it. Esplanade Park along the Riverwalk. Here we saw the railroad bridge over the New River raise up for boats. It was a lovely, enjoyable walk along the Riverwalk. We found the Old Fort Lauderdale area, so we explored that a little. The county's oldest standing hotel is now a history museum. While heading to dinner we saw this cute area on 2nd Street. At a place called Velvet Taco we enjoyed some very unique tacos, plus yummy chips and queso. We were definitely feeling the vibe in FTL!

A friendly bartender in West Palm Beach had recommended Delray Beach as a place to walk around, so we drove south a little to check it out. It does have a pretty little downtown. The intracoastal waterway between the mainland and the barrier island is fairly narrow here. Cara particularly liked this sculpture in front of the Cornell Art Museum. The nice man at the Visitors Center told Cara about a 100-foot Christmas Tree in Old School Square, so we had to go check it out. The "tree" has 18,000 ornaments, 31 miles of garland, 15,000 pounds of branches, and 13 miles of lights! It was free to walk through the tree, so we did. It was filled with weird displays like this one. Looking up to the top of the tree from inside. Most things are on the main drag (Atlantic Ave.), but NE 2nd Ave has a cute little area called Pineapple Grove. The man at the Visitors Center also said that Delray Beach is unique because it is left natural and not all built up. In fact, the land was donated to the residents in perpetuity, but no building on it is allowed. It is nice to see a natural beach in Florida. Lots of people were enjoying the beach on this beautiful day. The man at the Visitors Center also recommended a place called Throw Social to enjoy happy hour and games. It was a very cool place, with four different bars and a covered outdoor common area. They had a nice, long Happy Hour, and we enjoyed drinks and this gluten free flatbread that had a sweet potato crust - yummy! Later we had a nice dinner at a restaurant called Hawkers Asian Street Food. Before heading to bed we had to take one last look at the 100 Foot Christmas Tree all lit up - impressive and beautiful!

On Christmas Day we decided to bike over to Palm Beach, since parking is super scarce there, and we thought there would be less traffic on the roads. We had to wait for the drawbridge, of course. The pause for the drawbridge gave us a chance to look at more of the big boats. We picked up the Lake Trail near Bradley Park and headed north along the waterfront. The trail follows the west side of the barrier island, along the intracoastal waterway. There were huge homes to the right of the big hedges, and their private boat docks were to the left of the path. As we progressed north, the trail opened up. The trail takes a turn, then ends in the neighborhoods near the north end of the island. We continued through the beautiful neighborhoods to the very north end of the island. There we found the cute little Palm Beach Inlet Dock. At the dock we enjoyed a picnic lunch, conversations with some friendly people, and a show from the birds when they got fed. We then continued wandering through the neighborhoods. We saw these "Traffic Calming" signs and only later realized they were referring to the speed bumps, lol. Passing by the Palm Beach Country Club. The neighborhoods were all immaculately manicured. We just love these amazing Banyan trees! A beautiful church in the heart of Palm Beach. Public beach access, with buckets for visitors to pick up trash and help keep the beach clean - very interesting. Back in Bradley Park, near where we began our trip, we paused for another break. Bradley Park is a lovely public area. We continued on, and this poor tree, surrounded by parking lot with hardly enough room for its roots, seemed sad to us. A passing view of the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum. Flagler was an oil tycoon from the 1800s who was instrumental in the development of the east coast of Florida. A beautiful Ceiba tree near the museum. These remind us of Belize. We followed the Lake Trail south from where we picked it up at the start of our ride. Views near the Society of the Four Arts... We biked down Worth Ave, which is full of super high end, designer shops. At the end of the road, on the Atlantic side, is the Worth Ave Clock Tower and public beach. Before it got too dark we biked back to West Palm Beach and ended the night with Happy Hour food and drinks at Kapow Noodle Bar. These mushroom & carrot dumplings were delightful. The wok-charred edamame had been recommended to us, and it was very good, indeed. We love to try brussels sprouts if they are on the menu, and these were yummy. Avocado Crispy Rice - not on the happy hour menu, but it sounded intriguing. It was unique and good, though pricey for what you got. We were very happy with our choice of restaurant, though. Finally, here is the Relive video for our Christmas Day bike ride through Palm Beach:

After spending the night in Vero Beach, we headed south to West Palm Beach and walked around the cute downtown area there. The Great Lawn (the park by the waterfront at the end of Clematis Street) featured Sandi, a huge Christmas Tree made of sand. It's 35 feet tall and uses 700 tons of sand! Along the waterfront landing were other sand sculptures. There were plenty of big, beautiful boats to look at, too. We wondered how big a boat needed to be before it required having a full time crew. We also saw a bunch of guys racing down the main drag, popping wheelies on their 4-wheelers. Apparently, the cops don't even try to stop them because they are too fast. At night the sand tree, Ferris wheel, and park lit up. Later there was a light show. The big palm trees by the waterfront had cool lights on them. More llama sand sculptures - apparently, that was a theme this year. The city looked pretty at night. We headed back to the main walking district, where there was plenty of street art. Cara liked this one, in particular. We enjoyed Happy Hour food and drinks at a cool arcade/game bar called Lost Weekend. Clematis Street (the main walking area in West Palm Beach) was beautifully lit. Definitely not the traditional Christmas Eve, but we really enjoyed it.

We found a trail called the "Historic Jungle Trail" that looked interesting, so we drove to Orchid Island (a barrier island) to check it out. We parked at the trailhead in the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge. The trail is hard packed sand. It was built in the 1920s by the farmers who turned the jungle into orange groves. Now they are trying to return the land to native habitat again. The north part of the trail is in the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, which is the nation's first wildlife refuge, created in 1903. There are hiking trails and a wildlife viewing platform that we thought we would check out on the way back if we had time. The trail is open for vehicles, but we saw mostly cyclists, hikers, and runners. Parts of the trail reminded us of the lush green jungle in Belize. The trail also passes by some fancy gated communities. The south the trail opens up to big condos on one side and the Indian River on the other. We stopped in and took at peak at Captain Forster Hammock Preserve. There are hiking trails there, too, but we didn't have time to check them out. A little history of the trail and the citrus in the area. The homes in south Florida all have a screened-in lanai because it gets buggy, as we experienced. Some unexpected rain came in, and we were abnormally unprepared, so we took shelter under a pavilion at the Jones Pier Conservation Area. We spied this hawk in the distance while we waited for the rain to pass. Unfortunately, the rain delay (and the impending closure of our parking spot at dark) forced us to turn back before we made it to the end of the trail. The trail became quite mucky in parts from the rain, and we took some of the muck with us on our bikes and clothes. That was a sign of a good time, though, in our book. Here is the Relive video showing our route and ride:

We learned that a SpaceX rocket launch was scheduled for Friday night at 10:39pm, so we decided to head to the Cape Canaveral area to try to get close and watch it. Before leaving the area we had breakfast at a a local restaurant called Tim's Corner Cafe. We saw a few clues that Tim is a huge Buffalo Bills fan. We found a place in Cocoa Village (on the mainland) to park, and we decided to bike over to the barrier island that is home to Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral. There were several bridge crossings. Thankfully, most bike paths were separated from the busy road like this. However, on the first bridge it was not separated, and we had to really crank up our speed. Yay, we made it to Cocoa Beach! We took the sidewalk south toward the walkable downtown area of Cocoa Beach. We passed this enormous Ron Jon Surf Shop and thought it looked like a temple or something. We popped into a dive bar called Hunkerdown Hideout. A good band called The Sheep Dawgs was playing, but the stage was in a tiny courtyard/hallway area with little standing room. Very bizarre. We had dinner at a nearby restaurant called Poke Poke. You guessed it, they serve Poke bowls, but you get to pick the base, protein, and toppings. It was cute, and the food was good, although we failed to get any photos. After dinner we headed north to Cape Canaveral to get closer to where the rocket would be launched. Here is a better view of the giant Ron Jon Surf Shop (since we passed it again on our route north). The first place we tried to go to watch the rocket launch (Jetty Pier Park) was closed, so we biked over to a restaurant with a rooftop bar. It was also closed. We found a waterfront restaurant with large patio, though. We had a drink and caught the last song from a band, then we learned the launch had been postponed until midnight. There are lots of cruise ship terminals in this area, so we saw several of them moving about. Unfortunately, this restaurant also closed before the scheduled launch, but we were directed to another area to try to watch it. We found a spot we thought would be good enough, pulled up the live stream, and started getting excited. Then the countdown was like 3-2-1-0-Abort. :( So, we didn't get to see the rocket launch, but we did see a SpaceX booster across the way that we were told had recently been delivered by barge. We started back home, and Cara thought the pedestrian symbol (an astronaut) on the shared path was cute and totally appropriate for Cape Canaveral. We took our time heading back to the mainland, arriving after 2am. Here is a video of our 32.81 mile biking route this trip: The rocket launch got postponed until the next night at midnight, so we decided to stay another night and try again to watch it. This time we stayed in the cute downtown Cocoa Beach area and thought we could ride our bikes from there if we wanted. We worked during the day, then walked around in the evening. We found this cute beach access and decided that would be a great place to watch the launch. It was a cold night, though, so we hoped the nearby beachfront bar with patio would be open late enough. The bar would be open late enough, which was good. It had a nice vibe, and we even caught a little live music. We decided to go eat dinner, add more clothing layers, then return later for the launch. We found a gastrobar called 4th Street Fillin Station, and it was good. Eric enjoyed his shrimp and grits, and Cara liked her gluten free pasta and salad. We went back to add more warm clothing layers, and that's when we learned that the launch had been scrubbed again. Womp, womp! That killed any motivation to go out again, so we just went to bed. Another launch is scheduled from a different launch pad for the next night, but we don't want to wait around forever, so we decided to move on in the morning.

After completing the last of our necessary medical check-ups (no issues, thankfully) we headed to Daytona Beach because we had never been there before. We found a great deal for a couple of nights at Ocean Court Beachfront Hotel in Daytona Beach Shores. It was a super cute hotel with a lovely courtyard and nice vibe. The pool and beach access were still closed from Hurricane Nicole two years ago, but it had a friendly hotel kitty that let us love on it! :) We decided to walk the three miles up to Daytona Beach proper. Along the way we were attracted to a sign that said "live alligators", so we had to see what it was. You could feed them, but we didn't. The live gators were at a minigolf place called Congo River Golf. It had a crashing plane and everything, lol! We passed by Screamer's Park, where we saw people riding the fast moving and spinning "Vomatron". We made sure to stay out of the direct path of its spin, just in case a rider did vomit (they didn't). We found an arcade and played pinball, winning several games, and leaving several credits because our hands got tired, lol. Eric got a high score and his name on the board, though - woohoo! For dinner we opted for sushi and hot sake at Sakana Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar. Cara ordered two yummy vegetarian rolls, while Eric opted for sushi from the little boats floating by us. On the walk back to our hotel we stopped in at a little local bar with only two other customers. One of them, a funny lady named Sherry, had control of the jukebox and was playing Elvis Presley songs non-stop. The next day, after working a bit, we decided to walk up to Daytona Beach and the Seabreeze Historic District again, but this time we took the beach. Here you can pay to park on the beach and hang out. Years ago, before the speedway was built, the Daytona 500 race used to be run on the beach and the road (Hwy A1A). However, much beach has been lost, and now high tide goes right up to the seawalls. As we walked north toward the pier (home to Joe's Crab Shack) we watched a heavy fog roll in. By the time we got to the pier the tiered building to the left was completely obscured! See - you can't even see the big tiered building (a hotel) anymore! It was quite the fog, and it lasted all night. We had to clean our glasses MANY times because they kept getting fogged up, lol. This is the cute Surfside Historic District in Daytona Beach. We walked through some neighborhoods and saw this pretty cemetery. The white sign says it is closed during Bike Week, which we found amusing. The Daytona Beach Bandshell seems like a cool venue. It's oceanfront, but you can't tell because of the thick fog. Nearby, at The Beach Hut Cantina, we enjoyed Happy Hour cheap drinks and half off appetizers. We love deals like that! It was about a 7+ mile (roundtrip) walk between our hotel and the two historic districts. After the second day of doing this, our feet were getting tired, so we headed back to the hotel room and crashed. We thoroughly enjoyed the area and our hotel, though, and we would definitely go back.

Sanibel Island had been recommended to us as a great place to ride our bikes, and Friday was set to be a beautiful day, so we decided to go check it out. The bike path basically follows along the roads on the island, but it's still pretty. It's also nice because it's separated from the roads, so you don't have to worry about getting hit by cars. Much of one section of the trail follows along a national wildlife refuge. In this section we saw a tortoise munching away on the grass. He wasn't paying us any mind at all. It looked like the area had suffered lots of damage from the recent hurricanes. Unfortunately, the wildlife refuge is closed on Fridays, so we couldn't go in and get a better look at it. This was a nice place to stop for a rest, although we soon discovered that they appear to have biting sand flies here like we are used to from Belize. Cara sat and watched the little lizards running about while Eric talked to his mother on the phone. Approaching the northwest end of the Sanibel Island, where you cross over to Captiva, the sand was invading the bike path like it surely did every part of the island. There was still a lot of cleanup to do in this area. The beach on Captiva Island was still being restored. We headed back to continue our loop around Sanibel Island. We passed through the Rabbit Road West Reserve, which, according to the sign, is alligator habitat. Thankfully, we didn't encounter any gators. The developed side of the island (opposite the huge wildlife refuge) suffered lots of damage, and there was new construction or reconstruction going on everywhere. The developed side of the island (opposite the wildlife refuge) suffered lots of damage. There were loads of empty lots where destroyed buildings had been torn down, plus lots of reconstruction and new construction. We made it to the other end of the island where there is a lighthouse. The lighthouse was closed off so we couldn't climb it. At least the bathrooms were open, lol. And the view from here was cool. Uh oh, it looks like something must have been on fire in the distance. Biking back to our vehicle we saw the crazy traffic waiting to leave the island via the one and only route. Unfortunately, it meant we had to sit in this traffic for a while too. After leaving Sanibel Island we drove down to Bonita Beach to visit a friend who now lives there. He has a great location directly across the street from the beach. A zoomed in view of the sunset from the front porch. We stayed a couple of nights here, just hanging out with our friend and enjoying our view from the van. Saturday ended up being a grey, rainy day, although we were rewarded with this beautiful full rainbow when the drizzling rain finally finished. You've got to love that!

In the morning we drove south to Bradenton. We think these long span bridges are cool. We also find these enormous fishing piers super cool. This one is actually a state park! During the day we got in workouts and showers at Planet Fitness, plus lunch and work at the Panera Bread next door. Then we drove to downtown Bradenton to walk around. We decided to have dinner at a place called Oak & Stone, not realizing they had a rooftop bar/dining room. We were lucky enough to get a table with this incredible view! We have to remember to keep an eye out for rooftop bars from now on, lol. The pizza we got was made with fermented dough, and it was yummy. The crispy brussels that had been tossed in a bourbon agave sauce were also really delicious! Eric likes to make brussels sprouts, so he is always looking for ideas on making them better, and he took note of this sauce for sure. After dinner we walked the nice riverwalk along the Manatee River. This was near the Mosaic Riverwalk Amphitheater. There was also a really cool art installation of two parabolic dishes. We failed to get a photo, but Eric conjured up a video, and we enjoyed jamming to Stevie Ray Vaughan and Albert King playing "Born Under A Bad Sign" between the parabolic dishes. It sounded like they were playing live just for us!

After getting some work done at a Panera in St. Petersburg we headed over to St. Pete Beach to bike around and check out that area. We parked in downtown (not much going on there at all) and biked south. There were loads of places that still had debris along the road from the recent hurricane. We biked to the south end of the island to the Passe-a-Grille Historic District. We checked out the sunset on the newly rebuilt beach. The recent hurricane had shifted a ton of sand over the roads and into businesses, so that all had to be moved back to the beach. There were only a couple of places open in this cute area. We stopped in at a bar called Shadrack's because that was Eric's great grandfather's name. Plus, the bar had a pinball machine that we enjoyed playing.

On Saturday we drove to St. Petersburg, Florida and found a place to park downtown. We started out on foot and walked to North Shore Park along the waterfront, where they have these incredible banyan trees. In the park there was a big holiday fair for the children. The police had one of their assault vehicles on display for the kids to examine. Kids of all ages were enjoying looking at the vehicle and grilling the policemen about its cost (about a quarter of a million dollars, fyi). There was even a sledding hill with real snow that was set up just for the day! After grabbing lunch at a nearby farmers market we headed out on our bikes to check out some of the Pinellas Loop Trail. The part going through downtown was soon closed, so we turned back and biked along the waterfront. We saw a couple of these tiki bar pontoon boats returning to the marina after a day on the water. We checked out the public pier area, which is huge! Several people were fishing and otherwise enjoying the end of the pier. There is even a shuttle to take people from one end of the pier to the other because it is so big. We continued north along the waterfront. We saw all these sailors bringing their sailboats in after a nice day on the water. We continued past all the waterfront parks to the residential areas where people had private docks. Lots of docks had sustained damage from the last hurricane, and many palm trees along the waterfront were being supported like the one pictured here. We saw this rhinoceros statue (dressed as a pilgrim?) in somebody's front yard - what the heck?! After a nice bike ride, we ended the evening with dinner, drinks, and pinball at Voodoo Brewing Co.