Happy New Year, y’all! We are settled into our January home: a little condo in Miramar Beach, Florida overlooking Choctawhatchee Bay. We had a quiet Christmas, a tumultuous trip to Miami, and a great visit with family on our way here.

Christmas on Tybee Island was great, but the surprise was how much we enjoyed Savannah. The downtown area is so charming with all the tree-lined streets, shady squares, and historic buildings. We enjoyed a walking tour through town as well as a couple of excellent meals, especially our lunch at Six Pence Pub. We took a beautiful walk on the beach on Christmas morning. Then we went to see a movie (this became a tradition when the kids were grown) and just took it easy. 

We drove south the next day, thinking that we would stop in St. Augustine. We ended up just driving through, as parking was expensive. It was cool to see the oldest city in the United States. We were headed for Miami, so we had a long day of driving, but the weather was good and we made pretty good time. The disappointment came as we walked into our AirBnB.

We have stayed in all sorts of accommodations over the years, especially in the past decade, and we are pretty flexible about the wide range of quality. But this one definitely ranked in the bottom three. The worst one was a lady’s place in Seville, Spain when Nathan woke up and had been nibbled by bedbugs all night. The second worst was a place near Niagara that looked great in photos, but was in a really run-down building that had the smoke of decades of cigarettes permeating every inch–it felt like we were sleeping in an ashtray. This one in Miami was a similar situation: not what was advertised. The place was not clean, not well-stocked, and crawling with cockroaches. The smoke alarm was chirping for a new battery and all-around the whole thing was just a big bummer.

We based ourselves in Miami primarily so that we could visit the Florida Keys and the Everglades. Since the AirBnB was a drag and we wanted to visit Key West, we packed overnight bags and booked a cute motel room in Marathon on Knight Key for one night. That meant we didn’t have to be sad in our icky place and we had the leisure to enjoy the drive through the Keys. It did not disappoint. The motel was great and we ate delicious Cuban food and Key Lime Pie. We walked across part of the Seven-Mile Bridge for the sunset and walked through town on Key West. Success!

When we got back to Miami, we enjoyed some tacos downtown and a little walk along the river. We saw the biggest flock of birds we’ve ever experienced in a city. They were perched on every surface and swooping and murmurating all over the place.

The next day was our anniversary. We enjoyed riding the public transportation (relaxing, since Florida drivers are…ummm…crazy). Downtown was interesting, but for us the best part of Miami, without question, was Little Havana. We had a great walk down Calle Ocho, sampled some yummy Colombian empanadas, bought sweet things from Exquisito Chocolates, and read about some of the history. Then we capped the day with our traditional dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. 

Since the AirBnB was not good, Nathan worked with the host to cancel our last two nights there and we moved to an airport hotel, which was such a relief. Then we took an airboat ride through the Everglades and saw a wildlife show with gators, toads, birds, and a BIG scorpion. Then it was north to Mulberry. We had a date the next morning with our nephew, Spencer, for a flying lesson. He’s a really good flight instructor and we both got to do a take-off, short flight, and a landing (assisted, of course) and it was fun. It was just as much fun to sit in the back of the little Cessna with Spencer’s little Jake and enjoy the scenery. We enjoyed having lunch with the whole family: Spencer, Noelle, and the three boys, Jesse, Jake, and James. We also got to go on a walk to see wildlife. It was a cold day, so we only got a little glimpse of a couple of alligators, but we saw lots of cool birds. Then we said adios and drove north for a stay near Gainesville. It was a very quiet New Year’s Eve for us as we had a quick bite to eat and turned in early.

We took the slow, scenic route along the coast to get to Miramar Beach. We stopped at Ichetucknee Springs State Park for a walk. There is a natural spring there and you can rent a tube or a kayak for a lazy float down the river–next time!

Our place here is not our typical choice for accommodations, but we are liking it so far. It is in a resort area, surrounded by golf courses and hotels. But we have a great view of the bay. So far, we have had a spectacular sunset, a violent thunderstorm, and a lovely double rainbow. We are settled in for some routine life for this month and it feels good to stop moving after a very busy November and December.