day 37: pensacola to new orleans

drove through 4 states today into the devilish arm's of the big easy.  picked up stephanie from the louis armstrong international airport and then the debauchery began.

thanksgiving we spent at a wonderful champagne brunch at restaurant 5 fifty 5 in the marriott hotel on canal streat, boasting a beautiful spread with everything from andouille corn stuffing, brussells sprouts with bacon, to a boat load of fresh oysters, roast duck, pork, prime rib, smothered chicken, of course turkey and bottomless flutes of champagne.  we gorged ourselves like royalty, setting the tone for the following several days of equally extravagant food and drink.  needless to say... it was a delightful holiday spend with a good friend.

i have to admit the last several days have been a bit of a blur, usually i post a handful of pictures, but somehow i captured beau coup evidence of the cajun conundrum.  i am compiling a audio/video montage to showcase our drunken splendor: including thanksgiving, hurricanes, the house of blues, coyote ugly, metallic street performers, dancing in jackson square and the annual market jazz tribute to tuba fats.

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day 35: grayton beach to pensacola

moving westward and unsatisfied with the time spent on the emerald coast, we decided to stop again in florida.  almost as west florida as you can get, pensacola.  if things go as planned, thanksgiving will be spent in new orleans with our good friend stephanie.

kristen driving the livesaver boat at the gulfararium

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campground review: grayton beach state park

in the heart of the emerald coast, the red neck riviera, the panhandle of florida, we got to experience grayton beach state park.  here is a review of our experience...

the sweet:
this place is beautifully surreal; with the atlantic's crystal clear emerald green waters to the stark white soft sugar sand dunes.   doing some research, we were leary at first because the campground was fairly cheap, maybe because it sucked, but this was not the case.  it was a "camper's" camp, lots of pop-ups and tents.  the park staff was uber friendly, except for the dude that gave me the stink eye for going the wrong direction on a one way street.

the sour:
we did not get to explore as much as we would have liked, we planned on an extra night, but were rushed to leave when someone had booked our site.  the bathrooms seemed clean, but every surface in the bathroom was always wet, maybe the rain, but i don't know, weird.  first night in the new bento box, it poured down rain and the awning filled up like a bathtub, bending and snapping the frame and poles!

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day 33: clearwater to grayton beach

we pulled heavy ass, bento box, 8 hours to grayton beach on the panhandle of florida.  comically this area is called the red neck riviera, but in all actuality it is gorgeous.  sugar white beaches and emerald green water.  we will be taking a couple days to get familiarize our selves with our new home and relax from the stress of the last stop. 

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well we're movin' on up!

we brought lunch box to great escapes rv in clearwater to repair a broken lift cable and after some investigation it appears as though more than one of the lift cables were damaged.  so... we are the proud owners of a new(to us) coleman pop-up.  it is a slight upgrade in size and features, including safety, so we are excited.

here is lunch box in the shop with a crutch

introducing our second camper... bento box! - slightly larger and overpriced.  in the middle between kristen and i is linda, she is the service manager at great escapes.  linda and her crew; elloy and chico were instrumental in making our purchasing experience pleasurable.  they took good care of us.  thank you again y'all. 

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day 30: key largo to clearwater

in route to clearwater for more function than pleasure.  the camper lift system is broken and we have an appointment with great escapes rv's to get it fixed.  we will be staying in the hojo's down the street while the lunch box gets looked at.  first time sleeping "inside" in a month!  the idea of the bathroom next to the bed is uncanny.

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Cashmere's log - Day 31

What is going on?!? Why are we in a hotel room? Where is the camper?

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Cashmere's log - Day 30

Key West is my kinda town! It is beautiful and laid back, which is what mom says about me. My "Wobbly" nature also seems to fit in just fine as it appears that everyone else here stumbles as well. I could get used to this. The drive down here was nice except I read a sign that said "SPEED KILLS KEY DEER" and I want to know who is selling methamphetamine to these already endangered creatures.

After a few days and a few too many drinks for mom and dad we moved north to key largo. It was not as nice and it was way too hot and the red swampy water behind us smelled like hard boiled eggs gone bad. But I still laid outside as the camper broke even more and I don't want to be in there.... although the air conditioning is pretty nice.

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Cashmere's log - Day 26

What a long and eventful week this has been! It started out very bad. Mom & dad were so excited to visit a place called "Coco Beach" and we traveled there to stay at jetty park and we pulled into the campground, the guy took one look at me at me and said "NO WAY!" we do not allow dogs in campers. I guess that was to protect the hundreds of cats running around. That place was no good anyway, so we kept going to Sebastian Inlet. Things took a turn for the worse when we arrived late at night and as they were putting up the camper one of the cables snapped. They managed to set it up with that magical stuff dad calls duck tape. The next morning the ranger came by saying that someone complained about me. As she walked up I lifted my head from the grass and said "woof" before laying back down. I have never been so offended! So we left.

Next stop was a place called Lake Worth. I loved the new spot as I had plenty of grass to lay in. I also discovered the inner huntress in me as I chased two raccoons up a tree. My only regret is that I didn't ask them first how they can open the cooler with my food and treats as that is a skill I would like to learn. A bunch of people showed up and dad made friends with all of them as usual. mom stumbled into the camper late sat night and I hope that she did not embarrass herself by falling asleep in her chair by the fire in front of strangers. I like it here but I was not allowed on the beach and I was invited to dinner by my friend Riley's grandmom but mom and dad did not take me. I was so looking forward to checking out the night life at delray beach, but again I have been left out of the fun.

Well we are off again to a new location although I am worried the camper might not make it. Good thing I am used to being outside and quite frankly prefer it now.

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dinners in the keys

quite frankly we did not have the best meals in the keys.  maybe it was luck, maybe it was because food took second fiddle to the fluid libations.  couple things to remember.... 2 for 1 drinks special really means the alcohol of one drink split into two cups.  also if there are people outside promoting a restaurant, that is because there food is not good enough to promote itself.

we stumbled(literally stumbled) upon a good food find.  noone pounding the sidewalk in front of the thai cuisine and sushi bar.  we had a delightful sashimi app with a wasabi key lime sauce.  i had the crispy duck, a little over cooked... but still good.  kristen had the thai style garlic black pepper frogs legs that were to die for.

inspired by our snorkel trip, while in key largo i made some local grilled fish, cast-iron hash browns and duet of haricot vert.

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snorkeling pennekamp coral reef state park

we decided to go for the wednesday morning dive.  it was a beautiful day and the visibility would be good.  the captain said we would be going to banana reef home to two bull sharks... kristen looks either scared or determined. 

we boarded the boat and the water was spectacular, you could see every bottom contour.  we rode the bow and watched the flying fish.

i was the first in the water and kristen the second.  she must got over her hesitation once she found out the bull sharks would most likely attack the 4 gay gentlemen from belgium that had never snorkeled before.  kristen was excited, throwing up the "water goat!"

 banana reef was alive with the sea life.

 

i was happy i finally got to use the underwater camera for it's underwater photography features.

 i don't know the names, but the blue ones were my favorite.

i realized quickly underwater photography is not that easy.

this fish actually posed for the camera.

i was real still and pretended i was coral.

we got to see lots of species of baracuda including these giant baracuda.  sorry the picture is so far away, these guys are hella intimidating.  although we did not see the two bull sharks, we did get the pleasure of seeing a 5ft. black tip reef shark.  i got a creepy feeling when i  realized i was swimming around with predators like giant baracuda and sharks.

at the end of the dive one of the other divers dropped his mask and snorkel.  i tried to salvage his rental gear for him.  but it turns out i in fact can not free dive down 35ft like i thought.  it was a lovely day five miles out in the atlantic.

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day 29: key west to key largo

so our westward leg has officially began.  we tried to go stay at bahia honda state park and snorkel looe key, but bhsp takes reservations 11 months in advance and we did not have one.  so we are going to john (cougar) pennekamp coral reef state park instead in key largo.

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campground review: boyd's campground key west

we stayed at boyd's campground on the key just north of key west.  it was a 45 minute bus ride to key west, plus the 35 minutes the bus driver is typically late, give or take an hour or so.  here is a review of our campground experience...

the sweet:
the facility was beautiful; from bathrooms to scenic views to pool and other amenities.  i like that the island is coquina rock and i could have a fire anywhere(except in the grass).  although the masseuse was not home and i got attacked by her shitzu, there was a on property massage therapist.

the sour:
very expensive, it cost more than some hotel rooms.  the water/electric sites were the size of a stamp... we had to pay more for a full hook-up just so cashmere had a little space.

campsite set-up

tiki lounge area next to the pool and game room

 pool side at boyd's

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day 27: west palm to key west

florida is a freakin' long ass state.  we made it to key west. we'll spend a drunk disorganized couple of days and then we will start our westward leg.

too many cocktails on duval st = taking pictures of each other in random cars(we did not rent this vehicle, it was just parked somewhere when we had an idea)

cloudy sunset at the end of the continental 48 (check the dude on the paddle surfboard to the left)

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dinner with a friend

friday night we spent a lovely evening with the mother of our friend, colleen.  mary ellen lives in delray and she treated us to dinner at boston's on the beach.  we had a grand ol' time talking about florida and traveling and such.  after being on the road for a while it was a pleasure to be in the company of a friend.  we ate and drank circles around mrs. spellman, but she was sneaky and slipped away to the restroom and payed the tab before we had a word about it.  thank you again mary ellen.

if you were wondering, this is the only collared shirt i brought on the trip and yes you will see it again.

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random images from a week past

fort head

kristen at ripley's museum

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campground review: john prince memorial park, lake worth, fl

our latest adventure was camping at john prince memorial park in lake worth florida.  a giant park 10 minutes from the beach in the palm beach area.  here is a review of our experience...

the sweet:
our site was on a corner lot of a circle with a large grassy yard fenced with a hedge row so cashmere had a place to play.  on the circle was a common area with a massive fire pit and grills,  we met about 50 people(who all knew each other, except for us) that were also camping in the circle and enjoyed their company over the bonfire.  the park had several lakes, the views were splendid.  the shower layout and the water pressure in the shower were both good.

the sour:
the raccoons were tenacious we had to fight them off several times, about 75% of the campsites were under construction, including the closest bathhouses.  bulldozers everywhere!  the bathrooms were kinda funky.  we reconsidered camping next to the lake front, we did not want to have to keep such a close eye on cashmere with the gators an obvious threat.

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Name your Florida Key

Driving from Lake Worth to Key West was a fun, beautiful drive. But more importantly it was entertaining to read the names of the Florida Keys... for example: Boca Chica Key, Vaca Key, Fiesta Key, Duck Key and Fat Deer Key. So I decided I would name my key "Mon" and Andrew would name his "Doo". What would you name your Florida Key?

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day 23/24: st. augustine to sebastian inlet to palm beach

days 23/24 were full of travel and i learned a valuable lesson.  simple put.... surf when there are waves.  we traveled from st. augustine to sebastian inlet on day 23.  during our trip down scenic a1a we stopped in daytona/ponce inlet for lunch.  while eating my subway $5 foot long, the waves were waist to chest and mackin'.  instead of sneaking out for little session i decided to keep driving, since sebastian inlet is famous for surfing and the forecast for the next 3 days was good.  we arrived to sebastian inlet did out thing, i awoke to next morning to a cold blown out surf!  in addition our camper has snapped a lift cable so only 3 of the posts will support the roof now.  we decided to move on to palm beach in search of sun and better waves, and yes we have found it.

daytona beach mackin'

sebastian inlet slackin'

palm beach(lake worth) clean and fun

air temp 88 water temp 77

 

got me some green room section

 

lovin' life again

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northeast florida surfing

although northeast florida boasts some of the atlantic's best surfing... it has not proven so for me.  2 days in flagler and 2 days in st. augustine have been completely blown out.  i am getting dry and a lil' pissy.  we are moving on to cocoa beach, cross your fingers, swellinfo is showing some love.

flagler pier

anastasia state park, st. augustine

blue flag = warning dangerous marine life

if it is an constellation, i have been uninspired in the kitchen too...

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day 21: flagler to st. augustine, fl

this is the view from the window in our bedroom at beverly beach campground at flagler, although the view was beautiful the constant 30mph head wind was a lil' irritating.  with threat of hurricane ida moving up on us we decided to doubleback to st augustine for couple days to hunker down out of the wind

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campground review: james island county park, sc

while in charleston we stayed at james island county park, on riverview drive about 5 minutes from folly beach and 10 minutes from downtown charleston.  here is a review of our experience...

the sweet:
this park is gigantic with lots of outdoorsy shit to do, biggest dog park ever with a dog beach, our spot was right on a pond, activities center was close to our sight which had: a ping-pong table, tv, microwave, oven and dish washing sink, the park was setting up for it's annual holiday lights and we arrived just as they were testing them, so most our nights we got to see brilliant christmas lights while driving in/out of the park.

the sour:

the park was 95% "full hook-up" sites so all night long these gigantic over sized moble houses would come and go, sounded like an airport!, the old turd at the reception desk was mean as hell, because of the park staff setting up the holiday lights traffic in/out was redirected and it took literally 10 minutes to get to the park.

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Cashmere's log - Day 22

Home feels really far away. But I am discovering new things. For example we stayed at a campground in a place called "flagler" that was right on the beach at a and it was soooo windy that the camper rocked and creaked and flapped all night. I could barely get my 14 hours of sleep in with all the racket and rocking and then realized I was in the midst of a history lesson... this is what it was like for the early settler's dogs traveling across the country in a stagecoach! Then I guess Mom didn't appreciate the stagecoach as much as I did, even though it was her idea to spend $10 more a night to be able to see the ocean from the camper vs being across the street where the view was less but so was the wind. So we packed up and left and this time I had only a faint glimmer of hope that this time we were going home. But instead we ended up in a nice spot in st augustine in a lovely park with lots of trees and space to roam and no wind. A disturbing lack of wind given the temperature of 82.6 and I am not sure what "humidity" is but I would rate it at about 116.7%. My paws are sweaty. And the water here tastes like a plastic hose. And there are lots of "critters" waiting to eat my food and based on the signs throughout the camp this somehow causes them to die. I don't understand the logic just the bottom line.

So I am getting used to being a "hippie" dog and going with the flow and just to prove it the other night I went and laid in the brush vs the rug or neatsheet they insist on laying out for me (when will they learn I don't want to be neat!). I starting dreaming and heard a noise in the backyard and immediately imagined it was my chaise lounge running away from me so I growled and chased it as fast as I could. Well Dad nearly wet his pants thinking that I was protecting us as he had just told Mom that was why was "hiding" waiting to attack. Mom said I was sitting there because I was "pouting" so I am glad Dad thinks he is right for once.

Dad is working on his "patience" this trip and from the looks of it Mom is working on "outgrowing" all her clothes so she can get bigger ones. In order to make Dad think that is not true she has taken up running and refuses to take me with her... but I could outrun her any day! Maybe after my 9th nap and when my paws stop sweating I will prove it.

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restaurant review: fish, charleston, sc

as a mission to check out charleston's nightlife we ventured into the city on friday evening for dinner at fish, a french asian fusion joint on king street.  for a first course we had dim sum consisting of a shrimp roll, spring roll, a duck confit bun and a puff make from frog's legs, as well we the escargot.  the dim sum was not mindblowing, except for the duck bun which was stellar.  the escargot was absurdly good, served in a crock with thick cut bacon, peas and boursin cheese, only complaint it did not come with any bread to enjoy every drop of the rich goodness, we had to ask for bread.  for our main course i had the local bass poached with a pomegranate beurre blanc sauce, wok vegi's and this red drum fried cake, kristen had the bouillabaisse.  my bass was masterfully prepared and paired well with it's sauce, the fish cake was like a golden fried velvet twinky(without the creme filling of course.)  kristen's bouillabaisse was presented well, kristen's only complaint it did not sport a traditional clear broth.  jason our server was attentive and informative.  only issue was during coffee a busperson ran over and jammed a two top at the end of our table, giving us the impression we were being rushed for a large party.  i was not happy and almost kicked the table over to get out.  even the restaurant manager was pleasant and eventually after comping some desert wine had the table removed. all in all, a wonderful meal.

fish had live music in the way of a dj that evening:  good tunes, but mister dj couldn't beat match his way out of a wet paper bag.

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day 19: charleston to flagler beach florida

kristen drove the truck for the first time in 19 days almost the entire way.  as far as roads go, this one was pretty stressful.... first time on i-95 and construction to boot.  we arrived just before dark to the beverly beach campground, which is camping on the beach!

what a view, huh?

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last day in charleston

 our last full day in charleston since the weather was on our side we made the best of it.  no real waves to speak of, but i'll take 80 degrees and sunny any day.  we spend the afternoon basking in the sunny at the north end of folly beach, commonly know as "the washout" for y'all surfers.  i managed to talk my way out of a parking ticket.  then when the tide was all the way low i decided to do "an experiment,"  i rode kristen's bike as hard as i could peddle directly at the ocean to see what would happen.  well it goes like this... i peddled like a banchee then when the fork gets covered completely by the ocean, which at folly is about 25 feet out, i flipped over the handlebars onto my head and the bike landed on my back.  the experiment went ok i guess... a few scuffs is nothing for science.

cashmere sea bath take 3 

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savor the flavors of charleston culinary tour

while in charleston we had the pleasure to take the "savor the flavors of charleson" culinary tour, guided by one miss cathy.  we are not usually the tour type of people, but cathy's take on charleston's food history was fun and informative.  we learned about the early influences of charleston's cuisine and got to sample some foods uniquely charleston; like stone ground grits, sweet potato cake, collard greens, corn bread and pulled pork... can you say yum.  kristen's excited at the the spice and tea exchange she found a greek seasoning mix that makes any ordinary lettuce instant greek salad, yay for feta powder and lemon zest.  thanks again cathy for the tasty afternoon!

me, cathy and kristen at jim & nick's famous for bbq

cathy has been a tour guide for 22 years, rightfully so her family has been in charleston since the 1700's

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Cashmere's log - Day 17

I am confused. We had "halloween" at the last campground and this new one has "christmas" lights everywhere along the park road. Miles of lights. Did I oversleep? No wonder I have been so hungry. But then today we went to the beach and it was hot and sunny. Dad and Mom went swimming. Then of course Dad dragged me in the ocean... twice. Saying something about getting rid of the "dog" smell although I still don't smell it! But all of the seasons have mixed and I have no idea if it is fall, winter or summer. At least I know it is not spring.

This place is like nothing I have every seen. It's real purty and I like it. We are next to a pond though and I am leery about the creatures that live in it. There is a sign warning about the alligators and I know they don't know I can read but I can and frankly I am a bit nervous. The weather is hot during the day and cold at night. As if they don't know me they keep trying to get me next to those giant fires Dad makes with all the sparks and flames shooting out. I was hoping the fires would stop, but then Dad came home one day with the entire back of Mom's car filled with wood for $40 and he was soooo proud. Ugh.

I tried something new last night - fried tilapia tacos - and I liked it. I also like Dad's new beard but not Mom's new mustache. Well, I have to go. I don't know what "grits" are but Dad is making some now and I need to try them!

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charleston love affair

describing our trip plans to numerous people we have had overwhelmingly positive responses when we mention charleston, south carolina.  we are here and we are in love.  this city of charleston is every bit of what people describe and more.  the city has old world charm and sophistication, it is clean and the southern people are friendly.  the food is die for and the beach is back yard.  palmetto tree lined streets make it feel tropical and the architecture european.  the city is lively and colorful and the shopping on king street is abundant.

 

view from a roof deck on market street

 

view of the park by the battery

museum on market

 

views from some of the church yards

 

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