Florida from coast to coast

After all the great time with relatives in Alabama, we had to press on with our plans to go to the end of Florida. We figured the best way to start was to go all the way to the west to Pensacola, which has a special place in our hearts. My medical screening for entry into the Marine Corps was accomplished in Pensacola and it's where I started flight school. Shelli and I got engaged on the beach there on the way to the Marine Corps Birthday Ball. Eight years later it's where we bought our first home, and had Michael and John at the naval hospital there. It's also where I left the Marine Corps after a flight instructor tour.

After stopping by our old house to see how big the trees had grown, we went to Naval Air Station Pensacola and set up at the campground on base. The weather was clear and cold, and the sugar white sands and shiny blue water looked magnificent. A flight of two Blue Angel F/A-18 Hornets screamed overhead with smoke on while they flew low over us and came in for the break. I realized right away I missed flying the Hornet. Going fast, making noise, & blowing stuff up; of course I miss that. However, I don't miss the deployment schedule and time away from home so much.

Our first home.

The pavilion in our old neighborhood where we used to take Michael and John in a wagon while we walked our dog Otis, and threw the racquet ball for him over and over and over. We have a lot of great memories from here.

Being at the edge of Florida, we decided to drive over into Alabama and meet Shelli's cousin Kim and her family at Lambert's Cafe in Foley, AL. The home of "throwed rolls" did not disappoint as the rolls were thrown right to us, and they were warm and good. Michael and John enjoyed the roll catching and tricks played by the staff on the unsuspecting diners. They enjoyed seeing their older cousins Jim and John, and really enjoyed hearing their stories of getting into trouble even more. It was great seeing more family and laughing through the night. For a video of us catching the rolls click here.

In Lambert's Cafe with the Gallops family. I'm the only one that didn't order raccoon eyes with supper.

My last Marine squadron commanding officer still lives in the area and stopped by to spend some time catching up. It was really good to see him and catch up on many things including what all the guys are doing now. One of the neat things about aviation is that the personalities are similar enough and the community small enough that there are always plenty of things in common to talk about even after ten years without seeing each other.

Some of our friends from Virginia are stationed nearby and we were able to go to their house and have the kids spend an afternoon playing with friends. The Shiels family are good friends and we enjoyed comparing home schooling notes and talking about crazy ideas like living on a boat and traveling around. Unfortunately Mike was still in Afghanistan and we just missed seeing him by about five days.

Visiting our friends in Florida for the day.

We took Maui out for some fun running in the sand along the beach right by the campground. He had a great time digging in the sand and racing Michael and John. After the beach time, we spent several hours touring the National Museum of Naval Aviation. It's a great place for a review of aviation history including the space program. Afterwards, we went to the Naval Hospital to take a picture with the kids where they were born, then we went down along Perdido Key where I used to rent a condo back when Shelli and I got engaged. We continued over some bridges past Orange Beach Alabama and on to Alabama Point for some fishing at sunset where I remember fishing with my dad. I guess I used up all my luck back then when I caught two catfish at once when I was about ten years old. This time we saw shrimp, fish, and jellyfish floating by, but we didn't catch anything.

While we were driving back at twilight and John briefly looked out his window as we were crossing a high bridge, and commented "look at the snow!". At that time of the day it really does look like snow, but it's just sugar white sand. That rounded out a very full day for our last one in Pensacola.

On the beach right outside the camping area on the Naval Air Station. There is plenty of nice white sand and shallow clear water here.

Maui wins the races now.
Zoom, Zoom (John)

Get ready, set, go! (Shelli)

I wonder just how long Maui would dig? (Shelli)

Cool action shot huh? (John)

They call this area of the panhandle of Florida the Emerald Coast because of the water color.

I named the jellyfish Blob. (John)

Out by the F-14 on a stick in front of the National Museum of Naval Aviation. It's a really nice museum and it brings back some great memories for me.

John in the A-4 cockpit.

I'm fat. Fatter than usual. (Michael)

The Blue Angels' A-4's hanging in the Diamond Formation from the ceiling.

Standing by a HARM missile like the one I got to shoot years ago. It was really impressive to watch it come off the rails and streak across the sky.

On the steps of one of the helicopters from HMX-1, the Marine Corps unit that transports the President. Several of my friends had this duty.

Flight of the intruders.

Manning the guns!

Michael in a Blue Angels' A-4 cockpit.

Outside Naval Hospital Pensacola where Michael and John were born. Michael got to come out the front door when it was time to go home. John had to go out the back to an ambulance and be taken to the neonatal emergency room at Sacred Heart Hospital because he had a hole in his lung.

We tried fishing but didn't catch anything. (John)

The next morning we left Pensacola to drive towards Orlando. Luckily for us, that took us not too far from Geneva where we had mistakenly left a lot of our food in my parent's freezer. They were kind enough to get everything for us and meet us for a pizza lunch in Bonifay, FL right off the interstate. We continued on and made it to an RV park in Kissimee, FL after dark. We got everything hooked up but couldn't get the satellite to pick up anything, so I moved the RV back as far as I possibly could in the site to get a clear shot past some trees. Once it locked in, I put down the levelers. The next day when I went to empty the tanks, they didn't seem to drain out at all. When I did a little checking, I found out why. See if you can figure it out from the picture below.

Can you see why the tanks didn't drain well? When I retracted the leveler and moved the hose it worked much better.

Technically, I guess I could have backed up a little more. There really isn't much reason to leave so much space left unused.

We had been doing pretty well staying away from the expensive tourist trap activities on our trip until we got to Orlando. Of course, Orlando is pretty much the center of the expensive tourist activity universe, so we decided to go ahead and do a few touristy things. Michael had been wanting to go to a Ripley's Believe it or Not museum for a long time so we did that. We had been to Disney World and Universal Studios here a couple of years ago and really did all the Disney stuff, but John was too short to ride one of the roller coasters he really wanted to try at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, so we spent one full day there. They were building the Harry Potter section of the park the previous time we were there, but now it was open, so we got to check that out too. We had good timing with limited crowds and good weather. We had really short or no wait time on the rides. It was nice not to have to stand in the rows and rows of guard-railing that we would have spent hours waiting in per ride during the summer rush.

For some reason, I couldn't get the picture straight? (Shelli)

The new Harry Potter Village is pretty impressive (Shelli)

They had Who-ville people walking around this area with very impressive makeup jobs.

After getting soaking wet on a couple of rides.

The butter beer was really a very good frozen drink that seemed to be a mix of cream soda, butter, and butterscotch with some heavy cream on top. We got in line for these several times.
This stuff was good! (Michael)

We also went to Gator Land in Orlando and had a good time there. The shows for jumping gators, exotic animals, and gator wrestling were entertaining. They had several hundred gators from babies to huge adults, and some very large crocodiles in multiple areas of the park. We were allowed to feed them hotdogs, but they wouldn't let us hand feed them.

Rawr! (Gator), (Michael)

The gator on the left has a hotdog resting right on top of his head. Michael threw it just right to peg him right between his eyes. He eventually submerged and a seagull claimed the hot dog.

I think this gator was considering what it would be like to have some human boots.

This guy looks like he quit brushing his teeth when he got around to the front. The last ones are a nice shade of green.

This gator was excited enough to lift out of the water to grab some chicken on a rope. It was a little cool so the thrashing was subdued - maybe later in the day when he had warmed, he woul have jumped up a little higher.

Heere gator gator gator. (Michael)

Good thing there is glass between us and the gator. (John)

This guy kept his eye on us the whole time. 
I call him blacky. (John)
Durrhh! (Gator) (Michael)

That big one ate all the food (John)

Isn't he cute...............not Michael. (John)
Photo BOMB! (Michael)

It was pretty swampy out here, maybe even a few gators here and there. (John)

Yep, I wrestled this here gator all by myself. (Michael)

That guy would just not leave! (John)

This crocodile seemed content to dry out and bake in the sun for hours. Jokes about braces didn't seem to offend him.

We drove from Kissimme down towards the Keys and passed a Lamborghini in the process. I don't mean we saw a Lamborghini, I mean we passed him with our RV while pulling a minivan. He should feel really bad because he was passed by us, but at least he has company, because we passed a Ferrari somewhere else along the trip. I don't remember where. I just thought I should point out the fact we passed those guys.

We made it through Miami down to Islamorada just below Key Largo and stopped at San Pedro Village (campground) to spend a couple of nights. We were near the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and spent most of the day there exploring the beach and walking through the mangroves. We decided not to go out on the boat to snorkel the reef because they had reports of Portuguese Man of War jellyfish. We had follow on options for getting into the water where there were none, so we went fishing instead. We fished off the bridges south of Islamorada and saw spotted rays jumping, big fish stalking prey, and had a lot of our bait stolen by small fish that knew how to quickly get tangled on the bottom or rocks on the sides. We watched the sunset and called it a night.

The next day we tried our luck fishing right off the boat dock behind the campground and we caught a bunch of interesting fish. Using shrimp and light tackle, we caught snapper, cow fish, needlefish, pompano, and small pan fish. Each of us caught something.

The weather was sunny, warm and nice down here. (John)

A bunch of bugs kept biting us. (Michael)

Fishing from one of the many bridges.

We saw spotted rays jumping out of the water from here.
Not much luck here either, but we had fun. (John)

Cool fish huh? (John)

 This cow fish held his breath so long, he started turning blue.
Vibrant. (Michael)

That thing had some sharp teeth (John)

I wasn't holding him because of the teeth. (Michael)

I wasn't really asleep. (John)

I think Maui was using John for a pillow rest. (Michael)

We went to Key West and parked our RV in front of my friend Jim's house. I used to work with Jim before I retired and he and Joan were gracious hosts. We started the next day in Jim's boat and went to fish a few miles out.  We stopped in an area that looked good with tons of birds flying around chasing bait fish. With a big lure trolling, we soon had a big cero mackerel on the line, but I lost him when he ran and took the line by the prop before I realized it. We stopped at another area and put live bait fish on the lines and sent them down to hang out just above the bottom. In only a few moments we had fish on and realized we were right above a bunch of grouper. Several times we had two on at a time as we raised them to evaluate if they were big enough to keep. John hooked an obviously big fish and asked for help with it right away, Jim grabbed the line and confirmed it was something big. After some work and scooping it into the net, we pulled in a 35-40 pound Jewfish (Goliath grouper) that unfortunately had to be thrown back because it is considered endangered. After bringing in probably 15 grouper, we decided to head back in for a break. With two grouper over 20 inches long to keep, we had a great start for dinner.

That fish was 40 lbs and I hooked it. (John)

It was up to my waist. (John)

If you look closely at John's fish on the right, you can see two cuts where something really big had tried to eat it. 

Fish slime on my shirt... ;(   (Michael)

After a good morning of fishing we went out for an afternoon looking for lobster and stone crab. We started off in a shallow area about four feet deep where some old culverts and other debris was scattered around. Right when we slowed down, we saw about a four and half foot long nurse shark just hanging out on the bottom, but it swam away when it saw us. The nurse shark was a good sign, so we hopped in and started looking for lobsters in the pipes and under the edges of debris and rocks. Michael, John, Jim and I took tickle sticks and nets to catch the lobster while Shelli and Jim's dog Cubby watched from the boat. The Florida Spiny lobsters don't have big claws like the Maine ones, but their spines can stick you, so we also wore gloves to protect our hands.

The tickle sticks are used to move the lobster out from under cover, align them facing away from the net, and then tap them on the antenna to cause them to dart backwards into the net. Then the tickle stick is used to close off the net and seal the lobster in until it can be measured. If it's big enough, it goes to the boat, if not, it is released right away. Each of us were able to catch lobster, especially when one of the pieces of debris was turned over and a crowd of probably 10 lobsters were exposed and walking along the sand.

We paused to take a Christmas picture before going after the lobster.
My hat almost fell off the boat. (Michael)

See the nurse shark on the bottom, pointing towards the camera? On the right you can see an old culvert piece that lobster like to hang out in.

Michael holding up his first lobster catch.

I figured the best way to measure this lobster was to size him up on John's head.

Michael and John comparing catches while I worked to get a smaller one released from the net.

Warming up on the boat and holding some lobsters. You can see these spiny lobsters don't have the big front claws like Maine lobsters.

At the second spot, there was a nurse shark hiding in an abandoned tub. I used the tickle stick to get it's attention and it quickly departed the tub. As I filmed it scurrying out from underneath the tub, I was surprised to see another four foot long nurse shark fan out behind it. We didn't find lobster at this spot, but we caught some spider crabs just to check them out and then moved on to another site to try our luck a little deeper. The water was about 70 degrees, which becomes pretty cool after being in for while. Riding in the wind on the boat then getting back in the water and repeating the cycle a few times starts to sap away body heat, so it starts getting cold.

Michael decided not to get in at the third spot while Jim, John, and I went in with the spear gun. Jim made a shot at a large grouper. The fish was hit in the stomach but it swam away so hard it ruptured it's gut and got away. On the next shot, Jim landed an invasive lionfish that is a threat to the entire reef system. After removing the lionfish, he went back down and the grouper was still in the same area and he was able to shoot him again and get him aboard the boat. The sun was about to set so we decided to head on back and check the stone crab traps on the way in.

Michael and his shipmate, Cubby.
It was freezing. (Michael)

The grouper and lionfish that couldn't escape the spear gun.

Michael and John pulled in the ropes for the traps and I lifted them into the boat. We had a very good day and there were a lot of big stone crabs in the traps. Jim showed the kids how to pull the crabs out, grab them by both claws at the same time from the back, and snap off the claws that were big enough to keep. Stone crabs are incredibly strong and it takes some finesse to remove the claws large enough to harvest without getting a pinch. Each of us had a go of grabbing both claws, measuring each one, and snapping off the keepers. John lost a little meat from his thumb when one crab got him, but overall the people came out ahead in this competition. Most of the crabs lost one or two claws and only one of us got a cut. The crabs will get a chance to fight back another day because they grow the claws back, and can survive just fine with both claws removed at once. The claws went in the cooler and the crabs were thrown back into the water. The traps were all reset with pigs feet for bait and we were off to prepare our catch.

We ended the night with a supper of plenty of grilled grouper, two lobster tails, and 30 stone crab claws. Jim and Joan gave Michael and John their first lesson on cracking open the thick shells of the stone crab claws. The meat is a delicacy and is sweeter than snow crab legs, but it takes some work to get it. There were little pieces of shell and splatters going all over the place as we tore into them. We ate a lot, but there was so much meat in the claws we probably didn't even eat half of what we had available that night. The lobsters were outstanding, and the grouper was mild and pulled everything together.

The crab trap and the rope for it was soo slimy. (Michael)

The crabs were strong! (Michael)

Those things are strong (John)

 Adding more to our dinner pile! (Michael)

There is more food here than the picture shows. We had a feast and still had left overs. Jim knows how to prepare seafood!

The next morning we went out see what we could find using a seine net in the shallow areas near shore. On the way out, we went by several big iguanas basking in the trees to warm up. We pulled the boat up alongside and were just about within touching distance of them as headed out. There was discussion about grabbing one by the tail, but it didn't happen. I was too short by about two inches when I jumped up for it. That was probably a good thing.

We went to a nice wide shallow area near Naval Air Station Key West where F/A-18's were coming in and out of the landing pattern. The shallows were great with sandy and grassy areas to spread the seine net and walk along to collect whatever might be there. It was a really interesting thing to do because there was no telling what would be in the net. After walking a few yards, we pulled the ends together and took a look at what we had collected. We had several crabs, some pipe fish, and needle fish. We took turns walking along and checking out different areas. We found unusual crabs, big cow fish, a puffer fish, a baby flounder, and a lot of little bait fish. It was like a science class as we examined the life in the shallow areas. We collected the fish in a bucket and then put the video camera in the bottom of the bucket to get a view from the fish's perspective. The images turned out very neat.

Iguanas in trees! (Michael)

Seining was really cool. (Michael)

Putting our seining catch in the bucket for review.

A baby cow fish. (John)

Learning to seine was fun. We took turns pulling the net, collecting fish, and using the GoPro video camera.

A bigger cow fish and a puffer fish

A day in paradise!

A puffed up puffer fish (John)

A tough life!

Besides all the adventures on the water, we spent some time just hanging out at Jim's house. It backs right up to the water where we were able to catch snapper and look at barracuda right from the edge. The hot tub and pool with a hidden cave under a waterfall were a lot of fun for Michael and John.  Maui had a great time playing with Cubby and looking over the edge down at all the fish.

We went to Mallory Square one evening to watch the street performers and sunset. The area has plenty of shops for the cruise ship tourists that dock nearby, and it gets pretty crowded around sunset. There are too many acts going on to see them all in one day. There are jugglers, sword swallowers, gymnasts, escape artists, fortune tellers, people painted like statues, animal acts, and other oddities. Each one tries to generate as much commotion and draw out their performance as long as possible to get the biggest crowd around them. This gets the most people around at the end of their show when they make their money from donations. We watched a couple performers as the sun was getting near the horizon, and then tried to find a good spot for a picture. After the sun set, we walked along to view another performance before heading out for supper. The Great Rondini was just starting his straight jacket escape act and he asked Michael and John to help him draw a crowd. It took me a few pushes to get Michael to go out in the front, but soon he and John were at center stage. Rondini gave them Christmas hats, put them on a stage and asked them to raise their arms while the crowd yelled to draw attention. After a bow in front of the crowd, Michael was the first to escape the act. 

Maui and Cubby taking a break from playing hard. Cubby is about 6 months old and he kept Maui busy.

The hats and paddles are real homemade ones used by Cuban refugees that made their way very close and then abandoned their boat. These hats and paddles were left behind. I apprehended these two guys near Jim's hot tub.

This is the famous marker of the Southernmost point in the Continental US. Previously on the trip we had gone by the Southernmost point in Hawaii.

Hey boys...there's something behind you!

It was very crowded along the sea wall for sunset, we couldn't find a spot without people in the background of our picture.

Watching the sunset at Mallory Square in Key West

Right after the sun set, the sky really lit up.

YEEHHAAW! Great Rondini! (Michael)

When it was time to leave the Keys, we took a few pictures in Marathon on the way up and stopped for a souvenir Christmas ornament by the big lobster in Islamorada. The water color along the drive is really very pretty with baby blue shallow sandy areas, emerald greens, and dark blues. We also drove alongside the stretch of road they pretended to blow up in the movie True Lies.

Coming to the end of Seven Mile Bridge in Marathon.

Maui is trying to figure out a way to get to the seagulls - (Shelli)

Quick picture and Christmas ornament stop.

We kept driving until we got to Gator Park in the Everglades on the Tamiami Trail to the west of Miami. They have a couple of RV sites and we set up for a couple of days right across from some water. After getting hooked up, we were leaving to go have dinner when we noticed two gators floating on the top of the water within about 40 yards of the RV. We decided it would be wise to keep Maui on a leash and use a flashlight when taking him out at night. We went to a Latin American restaurant and got several dishes to sample. We had a Cuban sandwich, the vaca frita (fried flank steak), pechuga (chicken breast flattened and grilled), fried sweet plantains, and congri (rice and beans). The hit of the table was the vaca frita. Everyone liked it the best.

The next morning we went to the front of the park for the airboat tour and gator/wildlife show. The boat held about 20 people and we were in the back just under the elevated driver's platform. Right after starting the tour we were seeing gators, birds catching catfish, turtles, and fish. The guide was good at pointing out plants and animals, and providing information about the everglades. When he throttled up the boat, we really moved along quickly and the ride was very fun. We drifted sideways at times and did a fast 180 degree turn at the midpoint. The animal show afterwards was very entertaining with a wide variety of animals presented by the guide.

Think the gatorman knows he is being made fun of? - (Shelli)

One of the many gators on the airboat ride.

This one was coming to get us.

Michael is trying to get his earplugs to stay in. The boat was loud - especially when sitting right in front of the prop.

The air boat tour was pretty interesting and more fun than I expected- (Shelli)

On the way back in.

John trying to get a Purple Gallinule that flew onto our boat to land on his hand.

It went here instead.

This was a mom alligator with about 8-9 babies! (John)

They were staying pretty hidden, but there were several gators in the grass.

Right before heading in for the animal show. 

Here baby, baby gator. (Michael)

We went slow through this area and saw several gators, fish, turtles, and a heron catching catfish.

The guide had a big black scorpion on his hand as he reached out and collected tickets from Michael and John.

A big cane toad. I had heard about these in Australia, but didn't know we had them in Florida.

This guy talked strangely. (Michael)

Teamwork.

Moe was very strong (John)

Mooo (Michael)

After the tour and show, Shelli, Michael and John went back to the RV to do homeschool work and I took the van in to Costco to get a tire repaired that had been going flat repeatedly. I made plans to drop off the van and go to lunch with friends I used to work with in Miami. We had a good lunch at a place for arepas, which are corn cakes I really liked when I was in Colombia. Of course, I had arepas.. with cheese and shredded beef and it was very good. It was great to catch up with a couple of friends, although it was unfortunate that most of the guys from the office were gone. They are always working hard and busy on the road to various countries, so this day was no exception. After lunch I went back to Costco and waited, and waited, and waited. After a total of 4.5 hours with the van at Costco, they told me they couldn't find a problem but said they reseated the tire. I finally left with the same tire I showed up with and a strong feeling I would have a flat again soon. Most Costco's are very good, but this one in Doral, FL has a tire shop that has the efficiency of the federal government.

The next day we drove out on the Tamiami Trail through the Everglades and had miles and miles to look for gators as we drove. It wasn't long before I was spotting gators right off the side of the road in the waterway and started calling them out to Shelli and the boys as they did school work. After a couple of loud "GATOR" shouts, they came up to look for them with me. We would each shout out when we saw one. After about 50 or so spottings, Shelli was ready for school to continue. I kept spotting and shouting out each and every gator we went by. Somewhere past the hundredth time, it was getting old as Shelli tried to keep the boys focused. Michael was also concerned about me actually looking at the road while I drove the 56.5 foot long RV and van combo instead of looking to the right and scanning the water and banks. Unfortunately, I felt the need to continue calling out every gator sighting and this went on for a looooong looooong time. I enjoyed it.

Unfortunately, the gator sighting tapered off as we worked our way over to the gulf side of Florida and up to Bradenton, where we had a reservation at Pleasant View RV park. It was very nice and we had a great lake view. As we set up, we noticed the park was mostly filled with snowbirds driving around in their golf carts and carrying dishes to a potluck. We were through setting up in time to drive to the beach to watch the sunset. We took Maui and let him run on the beach while Michael and John threw sand at each other. We later found out dogs are not allowed on the beach and we could have been fined a few hundred dollars.

The next day I had reservations to go out on a boat and scuba dive to look for fossilized shark teeth. Venice, Florida is known as the shark tooth capital of the world because of the abundance of fossils there. There are many types of fossilized shark teeth, turtle, stingray, whale, mammoth, horse, bison, camel, and mastodon parts that can be found. The most sought after are the huge teeth up to 7 inches long from the C. megalodon shark, which at over 60 feet long is believed to be the largest prehistoric shark. It is also calculated to be the most powerful biter of any animal that has lived (up to 10 times the bite force of a great white). I had looked for fossilized shark teeth from the shore in Maryland, North Carolina, and South Carolina before and had found many, including some small megalodons, but no big ones. I had been wanting to dive looking for a big tooth for years so I was on a mission.

While Shelli homeschooled Michael and John the next morning, I drove to Venice Beach and went out with Capt Gil Cross, his son Bryan, and two other divers. We went about a mile and a half offshore and dove at a depth of around 30 feet in 68 degree water. The water was calm, but the visibility was only a couple of feet. Luckily, I only needed about a foot to be able to see the bottom and look for fossils. I was focusing on finding the big megalodon teeth, but picked up anything that looked interesting as I went along. As I picked up things and stirred the silt, the visibility got worse. At one point, I noticed a couple of remoras just off to the side of me. Not being able to see more than a couple of feet in any direction, I began to wonder if the remora (known to commonly attach to sharks) had just detached from something big that was watching me as I swam around. I thought it would be ironic to be looking for fossilized shark teeth and find some new ones in a living shark. I decided I was there to find big megalodon shark teeth didn't have time to be concerned with living ones, so I focused on the bottom and just kept looking. I was using my dive knife to move stuff around as I looked, so anything that bumped into me would have probably been stuck before it knew what was going on.

I made a total of four dives during two days with the visibility being better the second day at around five feet. On each dive I filled two mesh bags with fossils. I found a lot of shark teeth including sand, tiger, snaggle tooth, and makos. I also left with whale rib bones (one with a tooth mark from a megalodon bite), turtle shells, stingray barbs and dental plates, bison teeth, horse teeth, a 30 caliber shell casing from WWII aerial gunnery practice, a whale ear bone, and .... a few big megalodon teeth. Unfortunately I didn't find any huge ones, so that means I will have to come back and try again some other time.

Looking over the first day's finds.

The stuff I kept from the four dives.

From the top left - Two deer antler pieces, an unknown mammal bone, two turtle shell fragments. Next row from left - stingray dental plates, stingray barbs, small shark teeth.

A part of a mammoth tooth, shell casing from WWII aerial gunnery practice, bison teeth, horse teeth, small shark teeth.

Top row is turtle shell pieces. Second row- two unknown mammal bones, part of a mastodon tusk, whale ear bone, whale vertabra, coprolite, whale rib bone with cut and break from shark tooth, crab claw tip, small shark teeth.

Big teeth from top left - The largest megalodon tooth would have been just over 5 inches if intact. The broken ones are called heart-breakers. The one below the biggest is 3 1/4 inches. The biggest one on the bottom row is a mako, and the last ones on the right are from a snaggle tooth (Hemipristis elongatus).

Shelli, Michael and John met me after my last dive and we explored Venice Beach and Caspersen Beach. We watched porpoise feed on small fish within less than 30 feet of the shore. We found several small shark teeth as we walked along.

Maui enjoying the view of the lake.

Shhh....don't tell Maui he's not a person. (Shelli)

Life is good! (Shelli)

Trying to get out some of our energy- (Shelli)

Had to pause the sand ball fights for a picture. - (Shelli)

We found a perfect spot for watching the sunsets at Bradenton-(Shelli)

The end of the Florida adventure

Michael - "The Florida trip was very fun! My favorite activity was The Ripley’s Museum and Universal Studios. I have been wanting to go to a Ripleys Museum for a long time and it was a great trip! The Ripleys Museum building was tilted sideways and there was a two way mirror where people made crazy faces (including us) and they didn’t even know other people were watching them at the end of the tour. It was wacky and funny. At the end, we watched a bunch of people make themselves look pretty silly. In Universal Studios we went to “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” and it was really impressive. They had this really good frozen drink called ‘Butterbeer’. I bought myself three of them and we are going to try to make Butterbeer once we have a new home. My favorite ride in Universal was the “Dueling Dragons”. It had many loops and made us feel like we were about to crash into other coasters and brick walls.

    After Orlando, we drove to the Keys down at the tip of Florida. Driving down to Florida was different because it looked like we were driving out into the middle of the ocean. We stayed at Dad’s friends house, Mr. Cusick. He had a boat, pool and a seadoo right on the water in Key West. His pool had a tunnel under the waterfall that lead to a cave with benches, it was really neat. Maui even had a friend to play with, a six month old Pomerainian named Cubby. Mr. Cusick took us fishing, taught us to seine and also took us to pick up crab traps. I had an idea to put the Go Pro camera in the bucket of fish and it looked really cool with all the exotic fish swimming over it It was all very cool and memorable, the entire trip to Florida was fun and I am glad we added it on to our adventure!"
 

John- "Florida was a great trip! I am so happy that we decided to extend our adventure and not stop in Colorado back in September. We did some of the coolest things. First of all, the Harry Potter World in Universal down in Orlando was awesome. It had some great thrill rides, wand shops that had all of the Harry Potter movie wands (I am hoping to get one or two for Christmas and my birthday) and these great frozen drinks called ‘Butterbeer”. The entire place was very authentic and made me feel like I was at Hogwartz. My favorite ride at Universal was ‘the Dueling Dragons’, it had loops and walls that looked like we were going to hit them during the ride. I had been waiting a few years to ride this ride. When we went to Universal last time I was too short and could not ride it so I was really looking forward to getting on it this time.

After Orlando, we headed down to the tip of Florida. The drive down was really neat, we went over bridge after bridge and just kept driving out into the water! We stopped at a few bridges to fish but didn’t catch much. We finally got all the way down to the tip of Florida in Key West. Dad’s friend, Mr. Cusick took us out on his boat. We also stayed with him for the weekend in his house right on the water. We caught a lot of grouper and I caught a monstrous Jewfish that was 35-40 pounds!!! It was really hard to pull in, Mr. Cusick had to help get it in the boat. Sadly, we had to let it go because they are endangered. Mr. Cusick also taught us how to tickle lobster right into our nets for dinner. We also got to pull up his crab traps, which were really heavy, and pick out the stone crabs. One crab pinched my finger pretty good and drew blood!  But, we had the last laugh...they were all on our dinner plates."


It was about 10 hours of driving to get back to Alabama for Christmas. We went through Georgia on the way which makes it 25 states we have been to since March. Sometime just after New Years we will be driving to Colorado Springs to settle down. We will go through Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico on the way which should put us at 28 states total for the trip. We will update the blog after we stop and properly winterize in Colorado.