Florida Trip - Snorkeling in Key Largo, Miami & Little Havana

Before I begin... I want to warn you, this post is loaded with pictures! Lots and lots of pictures of sunshine, ocean and so much better weather than we are having now in February in Ohio! Now go on and read... you have been warned!

We left Bradenton early in the morning (to get out of our bad Airbnb asap) and headed to Miami. The plan was to show the boys Little Havana and the South Beach area in Miami and then head to our Airbnb that was located between Miami and Key Largo.

I was a bit worried about driving our kayak trailer through Miami and especially parking. But I couldn't believe that I found almost immediately a spot big enough in Little Havana right off  main street!

The kids loved Little Havana. Jake decided that he needed a hat and asked if he could buy a cigar for the future (no). Both of them loved watching the men play Domino in the park and of course needed their own set.

We drove through Miami but we had a feeling it would be hard to find a spot, yet alone a parking spot that was secure enough to leave the kayaks. So the next few pictures are just random pictures taken from the car.

The original plan was to head to the Airbnb after checking out Miami but on our way we spotted a sign to the Biscayne National Park. Of course we decided to stop and even though it was a short visit it was worth it. Finn added another Junior Ranger Pin to his collection.

Can you spot Miami in the picture below?

After we left the National Park we stopped at at roadside fruit stand (You know we can't skip those) and got two coconuts and some fresh squeezed sugar cane juice. The kids surprised us and didn't like neither.

The next morning was the big day we have been waiting for! Snorkeling in Key Largo. We got there early (hey! I am a good German and will live by the rule of being early for everything) and had enough time to grab something to eat. Scot spotted this little Cuban cafe and it was perfect! The food was excellent! The Empanadas were the best I had all trip (remember my bucket list item from this POST) and the rest of our breakfast was just as good.

With full bellies we drove to the port and were welcomed by Captain Karsten (from Germany) on board. We decided to go with Keys Diver & Snorkeling Tours and we highly recommend them. The really gave us a fantastic snorkeling experience and were so kind and patient with the boys.

The snorkeling tour was about 4 hours long and we were taken to 3 different reefs. The boat ride to and from these snorkeling spots were perfect. The sun felt so  good on deck and if we didn't even go snorkeling the boat ride was already perfect enough.

Snorkeling was fantastic as well. We saw so many colorful fish, lost of barracudas and we did see Jesus ;)  The only thing that was difficult to me was to keep an eye on my kids. Every time I looked in a different direction they were gone, they were just way to fast for me and I had visions of them floating away in the Gulf of Mexico. I realize that's being over dramatic but I did not enjoy constantly having to try to find them versus just enjoying the snorkeling experience. Hopefully this will get better the older they get.

On board was a little girl from France and Finn and her hit it off despite the language barrier. They played peek a boo, charades, rock paper sciccors and this weird head bumping game that only the two of them understood.

This day couldn't have been better and I know we will talk about this adventure for a very long time.

Now please can someone take me back to this sunshine???

Being in the Florida Keys we made it our mission to find THE BEST key lime pie. We asked a few locals and everyone had the same answer: PUBLIX the grocery store chain has the best one. So on our way back from snorkeling we stopped at Publix, bought a key lime pie and ate it in the car on our way home. Perfect ending to this day! And yes it was soooooo good!

Btw... we had this weird experience with chickens on this trip. Not only did we see them in the parking lot in Key Largo at Publix but then a few days later we saw a bunch at a gas station in Georgia! So weird!

And because I want to end this post with my favorite picture... VOILA! Brothers actually getting a long!

aIMG_7970.jpg

3 Lakes Trip - Vermont - Part 4

Let me start out by saying: Vermont, has been forever on my bucket list.

When we originally started planning this trip and looked on the map I realized we would be only a few hours away from my friend’s lake cabin.

I met this friend 7-8 year ago on an online photography workshop. We, and many more from the workshop have kept in touch and met up a few times over the years.

She invited us with open arms and we couldn’t have been more excited about going!

We left Lake Placid from the swimming hole, stopped one more time at our favorite pizza place… Johnny’s Pizza and drove to Vermont.

Vermont doesn’t have many highways so most of our drive was on country roads. Usually we just want t get to a place but we loved that change in pace and Vermont is so gorgeous that it made the drive by go so fast!

Plus, the boys slept most of the way (a very rare occasion these days)!

We arrived at Maidstone Lake and felt welcome from the second we got out of the car! We received a warm welcome and a tour of camp.

Our plan for the weekend was to relax, relax and relax. The kids were free to do what they wanted to do. They went swimming, fishing, played pool, watched TV, learned all about throwing knives, played with other kids, got to drive the Pontoon boat etc. etc.…  Scot and I just sat back and relaxed… did I mention relaxing yet?

Saturday, Scot and I went into a nearby town and bought everything to make Schnitzel and German potato salad as a thank you.

We were treated to a really fun scavenger hunt that led us into a cave to find the missing puzzle piece.

After a very adventurous trip, camp at Maidstone Lake was exactly was we needed!

Sadly, we had to leave after just two nights. We had a 16-hour drive ahead of us which is even a lot for us! We stopped for the night near Utica and the next morning I surprised the boys with a stop at Walmart for a DVD player. We had 9 more hours to go that day and the cheap DVD player + Redbox movies got us through that.

We also made sure to stop on our way home in Vermont at a small road side market to buy lots of Maple Syrup.

We will never forget Maidstone Lake and our friends there… the boys are already planning a trip back and I am sure we will be back soon!

Sadly this was the end of our 2017 Summer Road Trip.

You can click here to read about PART 1, PART 2, and PART 3 of our trip!

3 Lakes Trip - Saranac Lake - Part 2

We met up with friends from back home in Saranac Lake. It was raining hard that day and I must have checked the weather forecast every 20 minutes... you know just in case the 4 day weather forecast of rain and thunderstorm will change to sunny and dry just because I checked! 

We had a quick lunch, purchased a few last minute items at Aldi and headed to the lake. Changed into our rain gear, unloaded kayaks and loaded them with our gear. One last prayer for our safety and a break in the rain, shuttling the trailer to a different parking lot, going back to that parking lot because of a forgotten life jacket and then getting pulled over and we were finally off. 4 adults, 5 kids, 1 canoe, 1 tandem kayak, and 3 single kayaks plus a lot of gear!

As soon as we started paddling, the rain stopped. Hallelujah! We arrived at our campsite, had enough time to unload the gear from the kayaks, set up camp, and started dinner.... and then the rain came again. And it rained, and rained and rained. The kids were all wet and cold.  The mosquitos seemed to all know that we were trapped under the tarp and they had a feast... We ate dinner (chili that we made at home, froze and reheated on our camp stove), quickly cleaned up and went to bed before 9pm. We felt defeated, especially with the forecast looking so grim.

It rained hard all night long! We woke up to clouds and soon after the sun came out! And the sun stayed out, no more rain for the rest of out stay!!! 

We made breakfast (eggs, bacon and sausages) and just hung around the campsite for a few hours. The little kids played "adventurers" in the woods, jumping from rock to rock looking to find paradise! The big kids (and the Dads) had a lot of fun gathering firewood (slim pickings and everything was soaked) and cutting down dead trees with a small hatchet.

After a few hours of just hanging out we packed up sandwiches for lunch and left to explore the lake with the kayaks. Our destination was the other side of the lake, paddle up Saranac River and kayak through the locks. We did this last year and loved it. You can read about it HERE.

It's about a 3 mile paddle (maybe a little more) to the other side of the lake and up to Saranac Lake. We went through the lock and kayaked a little bit further down the river. We stopped and we all floated down the river together while having lunch. On the way we saw a beaver dam, lots of loons, ducks and even otters! 

On our way back through the lock we decided to stop and stretch our legs. The lock operator let the kids help operate the locks and explained how everything worked.

On our way back to the campsite we stopped at a few unoccupied campsites to look for firewood. We really lucked out at one site (thank you #66) and brought a bunch of firewood home. We ended the night with some dinner (Hobo packs) and S'mores. 

Part 2 or Saranac Lake will come soon! I have a feeling this is getting a little to long! 

You can click here to read about PART 1, PART 3 & PART 4 of our trip!

3 Lakes Trip - Dog Lake - Part 1

Our last summer road trip took us to Dog Lake in Ontario, Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks and Maidstone Lake in Vermont.

How come these three lakes you ask?

We visited Dog Lake and Saranac Lake last year. Saranac Lake was especially amazing as we kayak camped on an island (yes we kayaked all of our gear and ourselves to an island and spent a few nights there). Friends of ours asked us if we wanted to come this year with them to Saranac Lake as they loved our pictures so much. So we started planning our trip.

Dog Lake we went last year too but we were so upset because it was only one night and we loved it so much. During our stay at the cottage at Dog Lake last year I took some pictures and the owner asked me if she could use them for her website. In return she gave me a major discount for any future stays. With only a few hours away from Saranac Lake we knew we would have to take advantage of that.

And the third lake… Maidstone Lake. We have never been but heard about this amazing place from a dear friend who has had a cabin on the lake for decades. In fact, even her grandparents have had a cabin at Maidstone Lake. I have always wanted to visit Maidstone Lake and realized it was “only” five hours from Saranac Lake.

This is how our big road trip of the year came to life. Three Lakes, three totally different reasons on why to be there.

I am going to blog this trip in 3 blog posts, one post for each lake.

Dog Lake in Ontario.

Our boys spent two weeks with my mom in Ontario and when we picked them up we stayed another 2 days with my mom and then headed north to the cabin at Dog Lake near Battersea. I found this cabin via AirBnB last year you can read about our last stay HERE and HERE is the listing on AirBnB.

There are three different cabins, hence the name, Three Little Cottages, and we stayed in a different one than last year. Just like last year, the cabin is the perfect size for us and has everything we need. We love the screened in porch, the adjoining farm where we purchased fresh greens for a salad, and a dock to swim, fish and kayak from.

Just like last year, the boys made quickly friends with the kids in the cabin next door. This time three girls (two of them the same age as Finn & Jake) and the first time I ever saw the kids brush their hair and teeth without being asked! Haha

We did a whole lot of nothing at Dog Lake. A lot of fishing, a lot of kayaking, swimming, bird watching, playing soccer with the girls next door, bonfires and marshmallows, walks on the farm, coffee in the morning on the porch… it.was.perfect. Just what we needed!

A couple of fun memories include:

On an evening walk we noticed a few of the chickens got out and with the owners not being around we tried to catch them and put them back. While running around, Scot was making fun on how much these chickens are worth (he was making up a rare breed) and if we don’t catch them we would have to pay for them and our trip would be ruined… “So catch these chickens!” I couldn’t stop laughing, the whole thing was just to hilarious.

Taking out the kayak on my own and coming across some strong headwind and then also being stuck in a blanket of seaweed that would totally stop my kayak in its track. I fought hard to get back to the dock that day but it was so awesome to be all on my own out on the water.

Seeing a beaver swim by. (No Photo <cry>)

Seeing a full double rainbow! My camera battery died after I took a few pictures and before the second rainbow became visible BUT it was there and I will never forget it.

Having smores with the family next door and just being so happy for their friendship even though we have never met before!

Eating Buttertarts at a small grocery story and washing them down with a small carton of milk.

Dog Lake we will be back! Next time even longer! 

Scot's favorite part: Meeting family next door who were Chinese who immigrated to Ottawa.

Jake's favorite part: kayaking and fishing

Finn's favorite part: playing soccer with the girls next door.

My favorite part: sitting early morning on the porch with Scot. It was so cold and we were bundled up in a blanket, sipping our coffee and watching the sunrise.

You can click here to read about PART 2,  PART 3 and PART 4 of our trip!

Backpacking in Grayson Highlands State Park

For my 38th birthday my boys asked me what I wanted and it only took me a few seconds to say "I want to go backpacking at Grayson Highlands State Park"

With only a few days to go, I booked hotel stays (for before and after the hike), planned our meals, purchased a few last things and packed our bags.

But with thunderstorms in the forecast and my husband spraining his ankle the night before, I almost cancelled the trip.

I texted a friend about my worries and she replied "You don't know, this might be the best trip of your life" and I thought to myself "Damn, I want to find out if it's the best trip of my life" and so we left... I made back up plans just in case we couldn't hike due to thunderstorms but we (minus my injured husband) decided to go anyways.

We stayed the night before our hike in the small town of Abingdon Virginia. Definitely a place I would like to go back one day. Very charming town and the kids and I ate at the Bone Fire Smokehouse and decided that this was one of the best meals we had in a very long time. If you ever go, you have to try the Cornbread Fritters.... yum! You will thank me later!

We set our alarm at 5:30 am for the next day (my birthday). We quickly checked out of the hotel and made the one hour drive to Grayson Highlands State Park.

We registered as backpackers, checked the weather forecast one more time at the Ranger station (50% chance for a thunderstorm in the afternoon) and left on our hike.

I think Jake (my oldest) was still hoping for our plans to be cancelled because of thunderstorms but he strapped his backpack on anyways without complaining.

A few friends asked what the boys each carried in their backpacks. Each boy carried his sleeping bag, sleeping pad and water. In addition to this Jake carried most of our clothes (rain gear/ thermal pants and a long sleeve shirt) and I carried my sleeping bag/ pad, tent, food and cooking gear. I nicknamed my bag The Beast because it was sooooo heavy!

 

We decided on a 12-13 mile loop that uses mostly the Appalachian Trail. We brought a water filter with us because the map indicated 4 water springs to fill our bottles along the way. To make it easier on the boys I divided our trail into small sections and we would only concentrate on making it to one section at the time. For example our first longer stop was the Wise Shelter (about 3 miles in) We ate lunch there, played UNO and hung out for a good 2 hours. In between I broke up the trail in miles... for every mile we hiked I had a small zip lock bag for the boys with a few candies. They looked forward to treat (and break) and the little bit of sugar gave them the boost to conquer the next mile!

At about 6pm we looked for a campsite and found a wonderful one the top of the ridge with gorgeous views and a spring only a short hike near by.

We were surprised to run into so many steers grazing on the ridge and they all seemed to be very curious about our tent. We found out quickly though that they left us mostly alone and were no thread whatsoever (though they looked scary with their long horns).

We made a quick dinner with the jet boil (Ramen noodles for Finn and I and mac n cheese for Jake). The boys were asleep by 7:30pm and I enjoyed the rest of my birthday sitting outside of the tent with a tiny bottle of Fig Vodka I got from a friend and watched the sunset and wild ponies. It was truly amazing!

 

I joined the boys at about 10pm and even though I went to sleep quickly, I woke up soon after to one of the scariest nights of my life. Even though we lucked out with the weather during the day at night was a raging storm. The wind and rain was just unbelievable. I was just waiting for our little tents poles to snap. At some points the wind was so hard (AND loud) that the top of the tent was pushed all the way down on top of us just to spring back up a second later and back down. That night I slept from 6am to about 7am. It was a very long night and I was extremely worried. We had no cell phone reception, no one near us and only this little tent that was keeping us safe and dry.

 

After we woke up, and we assessed what was going on outside (extreme fog, a little windy still but all over really eerie). We ate breakfast in the tent (UGH I wish I could get my kids to eat oatmeal on camping trips!) pop tarts, a few powdered donuts (that I brought as a surprise) and some granola bars. Finn and I hiked down to the spring and filtered some water while Jake stayed behind and packed up everything inside the tent. We packed up the tent quickly even though it was still wet and left for our hike. We had about 5 1/2 miles left to hike.

The first 1 1/2 mile was rough. I tried to stay positive but inside I just wanted to cry. Almost no sleep, the trail just went uphill on loose gravel and it was still foggy and a little windy out. Every time we went around a bend the trail just kept continuing up, and up and up. We finally made it 1 1/2 miles to the fork in the trail and we decided to take a break. Our tanks were on empty and we just felt defeated. This is where things changed. We sat on a rock in the middle of this intersection of 4 trails. We haven't seen anyone since about 5pm the evening before. After resting a few minutes on this rock (in still heavy fog) this couple stepped out from another trail who we met the day before. We were all excited to see each other (it also made me feel a bit safer) and we swapped stories from our crazy night. This seemed to really lighten the kids mood a bit. Soon after that yet another hiker stepped out in the middle of the trail (who is hiking a large section of the Appalachian Trail) and he was so good at encouraging and motivating the boys. (It all seemed a little staged like a play with characters stepping in and out of the stage). They all left and we packed up our bags again and decided that we all feel much better and we can continue on! I walked about 3 steps when I heard from deep inside my backpack a familiar BING! My phone!!! We didn't have reception since we left the hotel the morning before and no way of letting my husband know of how we are doing! We quickly got the phone out and (what seemed) a million birthday greetings popped up on my screen but we ignored them and dialed my husbands number. It was soooo good to talk to him and tell him about all of our adventures. He gave the boys and I the last little boost we needed to know that YES we can do this! Hearing his voice was just what we needed.

 

We kept going, the trail changed from loose gravel to boulders and got a lot more interesting. The fog lifted and the sun came out (and with that our rain gear went back into our packs) and we slowly started to come across more and more people. We still took many breaks, saw a lot more wild ponies. Had an amazing lunch under a tree and we knew we would be back to our car soon!

 

At about 2:30pm we finally arrived at our car! We were so excited! I promised the kids a bottle of Mountain Dew (hey whatever it takes to keep them moving), we got that from the Ranger station and off we went to our hotel about an hour away in Wythesville Virginia. I was so jealous of the kids being able to doze off and listen to their I pods while I still had to drive.

Before we left Cincinnati, I bought a bag of Epsom salt to soak in. So at the hotel we all took turns taking a long hot bath soaking our sore muscles! We were extremely proud of ourselves and talked about future backpacking adventures!

A few other things that happened on the trail that I didn't mention but want to remember are:

After dinner, sitting outside of the tent, cuddling Finn before he went to sleep he says to me: You know, out of 600 moms you are probably the only one to take us on such a crazy and cool adventure.

 

When we first came across the cattle of steer we had to hike through them. Finn and Jake counted over 40 steer and we were super nervous. We all held hands and took a deep breath and marched right through them.

Sitting outside of the shelter and playing UNO when we heard this loud neigh from a horse right behind us! It scared us so hard we almost fell over laughing!

 

Finn arguing that the white animal far in the distance is not a steer (or bull) but a pony. He got so mad at us but then all of a sudden his facial expression dramatically changed when he realized it was indeed a steer and he has about 40 friends with him.

Meeting the dog Skylar and her owner telling us that she doesn't want to hike anymore (Just like my kids). we had a good snuggle with her for a while!

We hiked 13 miles in 2 days. Highest elevation was around 5,600 feet. Check out the video we made below:

 

and to answer my own question from the top of this post... yes this was one of the best trips I ever taken in my life!