Florida: Part I - DC to Almost Shipwrecked at Sea

Nathan is 30, the new 15, according to the Baby Boomers trying desperately to make themselves feel better about being old.  Even so, we are having a tough time relinquishing our 20's, so we decided to escape to Florida for Nathan's birthday.

Our first day was a day of travel.  Taxi to the train to the airport for a plane, then a rental car all the way down to a beachside hotel in Pompano Beach, FL.  I really enjoyed The Beachcomber hotel, which gave us an ocean view room with a balcony equipped with lounge chairs on the sixth floor.  It was dinner time when we arrived, so we enjoyed the last hour of sunlight on the pool deck, eating bar food and listening to the guitar stylings of Mr. Pat Hayden and his CD of background drum accompaniments.

 9-27-12 - Poolside Dinner

 9-27-12 - Dinner & Dancing

We got in a good walk on the beach in the full moon, then went swimming, Alison's favorite thing to do these days.

The next day, I took this picture during a run on the beach.

 9-28-12 - Pompono Beach @ Sunrise

We skirted around Miami, stopping only for some Pollo Tropical, and spent the rest of the day at Biscayne National Park.  Since 95% of this park is underwater, we felt it only fitting to take to the seas. 

 9-28-12 - Nathan & Alison in front of Biscayne Bay and islands we kayaked around

Did we go on a nice, safe glass bottom touring boat with our 2-year-old?  No way!  I really wanted to kayak along the mangrove coast and convinced Nathan that we could all go together in spite of the looming thunderstorm in the distance. 

9-28-12 - Ready for the boat ride

The guy setting up our boat looked at the storm and repeatedly said, "Well, that's not good".  He also told us that much of Florida City and the edges of the Everglades are overrun with gangs and that we shouldn't get out of our cars.  So, we took his opinion with a grain of salt and got in the boat.

The trip was amazing.  We saw a lot of ibises, herons, and egrets, plus some plumes of mud kicked up by a probable stingray.  We kayaked all the way out to a pair of islands and when we turned around and floated along their Northern edges we saw trees covered in cormorants...and a terrible-looking storm cloud closing in on us with lightning in the distance.  Then it started raining.  I don't think I've ever paddled faster in my life.  Alison did a great job in the boat and liked to lean over the side to feel the water.  We survived and will most likely live to do some more family kayaking.  This was a good adventure for the first full day of our trip.