We LIVE for Days Like These - Hidden Treasures - Day 30

Hello Friends and Family!

Our little Snail family (we travel around with our house on our backs) has made it down to Miami!  We are just a whiff away from Jimmy Buffett's land.....the Florida Keys.  But, before getting into that, I can't wait to tell you about our FUN last day in Daytona.  A day of "hidden treasures!"

We LIVE for Days Like These

On Saturday, our last day at Daytona Beach area, we decided to go to a state park on the opposite side of the street from the beaches.  Truthfully, we really wanted to go to the beach, but ironically, dogs are not allowed on the beach anywhere in Daytona.  I say ironically because people are permitted to drive their cars, trucks and vehicles on over 1/2 of the beach area in Daytona (which is miles and miles of sand).  CARS and TRUCKS.....with the potential for oil, gas and diesel to contaminate the beach and ocean, but NOT dogs!  Not even if you swear and promise to pick up their poop!

Looking south down Daytona Beach

The view looking North

Anyway, dogs ARE allowed in the "forest" however, so we decided to go for a walk in the park just across the street from the beach.  SO COOL!  We were only 3 minutes into our walk and we found this guy crossing the path.

This "Gopher Tortoise" was pretty big, really.  Approximately 6-8 inches long.

And, when I say "we" found him, I mean, Loki and Klio.  They were on leash, thankfully, and were pulling us towards the tortoise.  The little guy got spooked and closed up quickly.  I kept the dogs away and Steve took a couple of pictures before leaving him in peace. 

He/she is our first little hidden treasure of the day - tucked into his/her shell!

After leaving this little guy alone, we decided to walk through the trails and around the park.  Hot outside, we were thankful for the lush tree cover!

I think the scraggly trees are oaks, but I might be mistaken.  They were a bit spooky and also very cool.  It was such an interesting walk!  From a distance, this looked to be just a regular walk, but hidden inside the park were these winding trails with really beautiful trees and nature signs telling us about the different vegetation we were seeing.

Back near the truck, we decided to "park" ourselves on a bench at the water's edge for a rest. 

Klio and I went down to a tiny bit of sandy beach to check out a few big shells laying there.  THEN, we saw this sign.......

Yikes!

I think Klio would make a perfect meal for a gator.......and apparently, it's not that rare for dogs to be taken as prey for the cold-blooded beasts down here.  Alligators and Crocs are more like "Hidden Dangers" than "Hidden Treasures!"  We're going to have to be more and more careful as we venture into nature.  If Klio's a nice meal, then Loki and I are a smorgasbord and STEPHEN is a feast!  Ha!

The hidden animal, living nearby, did not present itself to us today......BUT we know it lives nearby because of THIS sign......

Manatees???  I've never seen a manatee before!  Very cool.

After leaving the park, we saw a roadside (or more correctly, a gas station side) frut and veggie stand - $9.50 for fresh oranges, yams, tomatoes, onions, grapes, strawberries, etc.  So nice!  We just love stopping and buying fresh produce from the farmers!

Then, our next adventure of the day took us to the Hidden Treasure Rum Bar! 
Heaven!  Late afternoon, sipping my favourite Rum (Mount Gay) and looked out at the mangroves, watching the pelicans, listening to a Kentucky musician playing bluegrass songs on his banjo, guitar and fiddle (yes, he played all three....just not at the same time), eating fish tacos (Sue) and blackened chicken tacos (Steve), while watching the sun set over the fishing boats.  Really, a fantastic hideaway for a relaxing afternoon. 

And, what, might you ask we did with our evening once we arrived back at the Daytona RV Park?  Yes, that's right, 3 loads of laundry.  Ha!  I went into the laundromat, just a couple of sites down from ours, to wash some clothes.  There was a biker dude in there, ignoring me and working on his laptop while his laundry was running.  Well, it turns out he's a biker from Boston, Mass, down in Daytona Beach area because he found work here.  I'd say Tom is approx 55 years old and he's working 2 jobs (at one he pulls staples out of court documents and at the other he attaches snaps to children's clothes so that they can adjust as they grow).  Both jobs pay $9 per hour.  He found a third job while here, mostly because of his "look."  He has been offered a job doing security & bouncer work during Bike Week and Speed Week in Daytona.  Tom has a greying long scraggly ponytail, tattoos crawling out of his t-shirt, up his neck, all over both his arms, and God know where else.  He was in jeans and had silver rings on almost all of his fingers.  So, of course, we hit it off right away!

Tom was telling me all about being in a biker gang -  a real one!  Boston motorcycle gangs that fight each other, cause trouble, share their women, etc.  Instead of just listening to his scary stories, I chimed in with some of my own......like, the fact that my bad-ass brother has tattoos too!  We laughed about the fact that Tom has so many tattoos that he's running out of "real estate" while I haven't got a single tattoo on me.  We talked for an hour before Steve came looking for me, then he too chimed in with his stories of "wild" days.  Honestly, after leaving Tom there, I felt like a little momma's girl goody-goody angel.  And, as a result, I didn't tell him about my idea of having a drink or two (so that I could later say I had a few drinks before........) going to a tattoo parlour, having a coloured freckle tattooed onto the top of my right foot to match my natural freckle on the left foot.

 As you can see, Steve and I both have a single freckle on one of our feet.  Yeah, I know, super cute.

Anyway, laundry done, friends made, we left the next morning.  Next stop - Miami.

Miami - Almost at the bottom of the USA!  Completely opposite end of the continent from Vancouver. 

Such a huge and diverse place.  We are 10 miles from the Everglades, 30 miles from South Beach, 50 miles from Key Largo and 160 miles from Key West!  Alligators, Crocodiles, Boa Constrictors, Rattle Snakes, Iguanas, Lagartos, Pelicans, Manatees, and Canadian Snow Birds all mixed up together in this crazy part of the world.

Miami Beach - South Beach

We went for a drive along the beach in Miami, looking for the beautiful people.  The beach area is HUGE!  Once again, no dogs allowed, so we just cruised along in the truck to have a look.  While gazing out at the water, I saw a 3' long yellow-ish iguana, then approx 20' away was a grey lizard walking along the road.  Apparently trucks, cars and people don't scare him!  I had my camera on my lap, just in case we saw something interesting, so I grabbed it and snapped a picture.  The car beside us stopped also to wait for the not-so-little guy to cross the road.  Then, just as our dogs poked their heads out to see what the hold-up was about, the lizard saw them and bolted back to the other side of the road.  I guess they ARE scared of dogs though.

He looks little in the picture, but trust me, he was approx 1 1/2' long with long toe nails and a serious look on his face.

Miami area RV Parks

We stayed our first 2 days in an unfriendly park with all the fuddy-duddies of Florida.  So, we switched to a hip and happening park 5 miles down the road.  This place has an amazing pool, vollyball court, shuffleboard, basketball court, tiki bar, local grill, and really really nice people.  It's been raining here during all four of our days so far, and when I say rain, I mean torrential, sky opening up, world is ending, dark clouds with thunder and lightening, rain!  Of course, we think it's awesome because it's still warm outside.....and twice we've gone to the pool in the rain.  I've never experienced anything like it! 

Raindrops SO BIG you simply cannot open your eyes as the monster drops of water pound against your face so hard your body won't let you open your eyes!  Steve kept diving under the water to get away from the huge drops.  Drops SO BIG each one has enough force to cause air to pop up and bubbles formed all over the top of the pool.  I simply couldn't stop laughing, it was ridiculous.  They kick you out of the pool during big thunderstorms, we found out.....or they just think you're crazy for being out there in the first place.

We've met some nice people, giving us great advice on when/where to find an air boat to take us on a tour of the Everglades (you know, the ones with the big fan on the back to propel you over the water - like in CSI Miami or Swamp People).  And, giving us advice on where to go snorkeling in the Florida Keys or people watch on Key West.  I'm heading to Margarittaville.  For sure!  It would be a shame to come this far without taking a picture at the southernmost tip of the USA and swimming in Gulf of Mexico!

Thanks for tuning into our blog - it's always fun to share our adventures with our dear friends and family!  Hope you are all well and happy!

Cheers to Hidden Treasures!
xoxox S&S and L&K