Florida Trip!

The competition showing went amazing on Saturday night.  I helped my student with her hair for pictures on Sunday, and packed up the few pairs of shorts that I owned.

Monday morning, my taxi picked me up at 3:45 am to be at the airport by 4 am.

By noon, I was here:

on the beach in Florida, hanging out with my parents!

It was an incredible week, and a break that I really needed to recharge my batteries.  Not only did I get to hang out with my parents, but we did a ton of fantastic things together!

I won't go in to a long winded post about everything we did, so here's pictures of some of the highlights:

Key West was our first stop, where we started with a gorgeous fancy meal on a private resort island!  As you can see, my Mom and I found some fancy hats to keep the sun out of our eyes.

After, we visited Ernest Hemingway's house!  I'm don't like him, persay, but he's a great American author and I respect his books.  Plus, he has 6-toed cats.  You can't not like a guy that has 6-toed cats. :)

We got to spend time listening to live music and drinking margaritas, enjoying (and slightly warm) in the 90 degree heat. :)

We continued to move up the keys, stopping at the most gorgeous beach I've ever been at- Bahia Honda State Park!

We got to go snorkling that day at Looe Key, where I saw a giant shark, tons of groupers, half of the fish you see in the movie Finding Nemo, and my favorite- a Spotted Eagle Ray!  The ray was HUGE, and watching it glide underwater was incredible!

Sunsets in the keys were gorgeous, and the nights were filled with great talks, hanging with my folks, knitting, and relaxing.

We stopped in Key Largo for a day as well, and went to the Islamorada Dive Center where my MN friend Tony works!

Tony was the one that went on my fated night dive to the Madeira last September before he moved to FL in mid-February.  It worked out well that I got to go diving at the Hens and Chickens Reef while I was there!

Diving in Florida waters was amazing compared to Lake Superior- I didn't have to wear a wetsuit at all, and the wildlife was incredible!  I saw my favorite underwater creature of the trip- a Hawksbill Sea Turtle!! :)

After the keys, we went back to my parent's place in Viera (on the East coast side of FL), where I enjoyed a weekend of relaxing in the comfort of my parents' home.  

We did a long bike ride next to super expensive houses (and let me tell you, 7 miles in 90 degree heat is not an easy feat)...

I learned how to play my parents' favorite new sport, Pickleball (notice how awkward I look- games with paddles are a little difficult for me)...

And I even got to go on a sweet airboat ride through swampy areas that had 1000 gators per square mile!  We did see a gator, but luckily no attacks... ;)

I even got a little knitting done on the trip, which I'll detail in the next post.  :)

I ended my trip the same way I started it- at the beach.

All in all, an amazing week away with two of the most generous and great parents ever. :)