Life in the tangle.
With the placid waters of Crandon Park in our minds, we set out for Key Largo. We imagined beaches of white sand and azure water, something like the Bahamas.
Instead, we found small, rocky beaches couched between banks of mangroves. Continue reading “Road Trip 2017: Key Largo, FL”
Using a suburb of Miami as our base of operations, we headed out for a day to experience one of the city’s beaches.
Google Maps provided options, and we sifted through all the nude beaches, nude gay beaches, party beaches, and others to find the most “family friendly” choice. We aimed for relaxation and wanted to experience a tropical beach without distraction. Maybe do some worldbuilding for the book and whatnot.
Crandon Park fit the bill, and it delivered. Continue reading “Road Trip 2017: Crandon Park, Miami, FL”
We left Jacksonville feeling that we’d escaped an ordeal. Our spirits brightened at the thought of leaving that sleazy drug house, of forgetting the farce at St. Augustine, of finding beaches stocked with fossils.
Vague goals swam through our heads as we traveled down I-95. We wanted to see at least one popular beach and inspect Stuart, because Coastal Living told us it’s charming. How long these stops would take, or what exactly we’d do at each, didn’t matter to us. Continue reading “Road Trip 2017: East Coast Florida Stops”
Our stay in Jacksonville was the rough patch of our trip. It was the foul-up that had to happen, since few real-world plans unfold the way they were formulated.
When we crossed the border from Georgia to Florida, we felt giddy. This stretch of the trip was the culmination of months of planning and waiting, waiting and planning. The sunset washed the palms orange. The streets were clean, and the buildings were clearly filled with well-moneyed inhabitants. Beautiful. Continue reading “Road Trip 2017: Stay in Jacksonville, FL”
Between Charleston and Jacksonville, we stopped in for a day at Savannah, Georgia. We weren’t sure what to expect, but we found an artsy, progressive city in the process of appropriating its more . . . conservative past.
We spent most of our time in and around Forsyth Park. There, children played in a fountain near what used to be a fort. A gay couple snuggled in a hammock strung between two live oaks. An African American gentleman DJed for the public, throwing in his steel drum skills as he liked, only a few hundred yards from a Confederate memorial statue. Across the street from a Spanish-American War memorial sat a health food store that sources its products from all over the world. Continue reading “Road Trip 2017: Savannah, GA”
In my post about One Tree Hill Sites in Wilmington, I mentioned that we met a man walking his dog outside of “Peyton’s” house. I didn’t tell the whole story about him. I won’t tell it now, either, but I will share the advice he gave us about Charleston. Continue reading “Road Trip 2017: Charleston, SC”
During our stay in Wilmington, NC, we visited Kure and Wrightsville beaches. Both were beautiful, but they had their differences. Kure Beach, to the south of Carolina Beach, was less developed and had a small beach town feel. The sand was coarser there than at Wrightsville beach, which sported white, powdery sand that felt great on our tired feet. Wrightsville Beach area, to the east of Wilmington, was more developed and commercialized, with high rise hotels and loads of restaurants. The water at both beaches was warm, and neither were crowded. Our time here got us pumped to experience the beaches in Florida! Continue reading “Road Trip 2017: Beaches of Wilmington, NC”