Our first week back has been spent driving around Florida and visiting family. We took our convertible and visited the Everglades west of Miami. The scenery isn’t anything spectacular, but the ecosystem is very interesting and there’s alligators galore. In this water dependent world a few inches of elevation completely changes the plant life. We were driving through the park and saw a sign for a pass, you know like a mountain pass, but this one was only 3ft in elevation. We walked a few of the nature trails and sometimes had to skirt around alligators who sit just off the trail. There’s plenty in the water of course too, along with turtles fish, birds and all sorts of cool wildlife. We went to the park on two separate days, however I had caught a nasty cold from Brendan back when we were in Peru so one day I was too wiped out to enjoy much.
Other than that we’ve been eating good food again, visiting family and going to the beach. With Kim’s grandma we went to a really fun drum and dance circle on the beach at sunset. We also went to a beach the next day where we saw hundreds of pelicans diving for fish right off a jetty while dolphins jumped out of the water and did tricks to please the crowd. It’s nice to be in a bathing suit in the sun in April, even if most of the Floridians think the 75 degree water is too cold to go in. Before we returned the rental car we put the top down and took Kim’s parents for a drive on the beach and blasted the 60′s tunes including the beach boys.
Another recent pastime has been playing on my new Nintendo Wii! I finally found one after searching through a few sold out stores and everyone is loving it, but especially me I think. Those silly sports games are a big hit even with old people.
A frequent question we’re asked is when we’re coming back west. We don’t know. We’re just enjoying ourselves here for now, but we figure within a few weeks we’ll start looking for jobs in Portland, Oregon. Kim digs the food scene there and I think it’s a cool city. That’s about as far ahead as we’ve thought about it, but we’ll let y’all know when we have plane tickets or whatever.
We still don’t know
Great to here from you again. I was beginning to wonder if you would ever post again.
It is good to hear that you are going to move to the greatest state in the union. You’ll love it.
Jake
Comment by Jake — April 23, 2008 @ 10:08 pm
I was saving up a few posts due to a lot of time on the road and little computer time. Good things are worth waiting for though.
When are you coming back to said “greatest state in the union”?
Comment by mmrobins — April 27, 2008 @ 7:13 pm
I will probably be back in September for my brother’s wedding but I have no idea when I will be back for good. It might be another 20 years sinc the Navy doesn’t have any bases there. But that’s if I stay in until retirement and that isn’t guarenteed.
Comment by Jake — April 27, 2008 @ 9:56 pm