Venture Out There

Day 3 - Friday, December 3 Key Largo MM102 - Islamorada MM90 Day 3 was around 11 miles, we left the  Hampton Inn - Key Largo headed south towards Creekside Inn - Islamorada . We we excited to start the "real" miles on our hike but a bit sad to be leaving our mini-paradise at Hampton Inn. Leaving the Hampton Inn we saw our first two manatee! Seeing them has been on my bucket list for years! Of all our visits to Florida, we had never seen one in the wild!! That got us really excited about what we'd see the rest of the trip and we were more motivated to be on our way! It was also the first time reality set in about what we were hoping to accomplish. The pavement began to be harder on our feet than we anticipated, the sun was directly shining on us most of the day and the FKOHT offers very little shade to find relief from it. We tried to stay positive, despite not making the miles as fast as we thought we would. My ankle (which gives me trouble frequently due to ...

DAY 2!!! Our first full day in the keys, our vow renewal ceremony, and the first few miles of our hike!! I was so excited I couldn't even sleep late!  The morning started with a cup of coffee while enjoying the view of the bay from our hotel room balcony! It was a BEAUTIFUL view and we watched the world come to life...the sun was rising, birds were starting to explore, even the iguanas found the morning warm enough to be out and about. Iguanas are everywhere in the keys but we saw the most in Key Largo. The largest we would see, however, were in Key West. Because the trip was centered around our 25th wedding anniversary, we planned a vow renewal. The vow renewal actually happened by "accident". I originally priced photographers in the area to do a photo shoot on the beach. Wow, were they expensive!! Just as I was about to give up on the idea, I stumbled across  Affordable Beach Weddings, LLC  and the pricing was perfect for what we needed AND included pictures!! Our exper...

Day 1 - Travel Day to Key Largo, FL On Wednesday, December 1st, we began our journey by traveling from home, in North Augusta, SC, to Key Largo, FL. We decided to fly into Miami (although in hindsight, flying into Fort Lauderdale might have been a better option). We flew  Delta and it was an amazing, smooth experience. Because we were traveling so light, we did not need to check any luggage. We carried our backpacks (keeping liquids and electronics separate and easily accessible for the TSA checkpoint). For the trip down, I also had a smalll duffle bag with everything packed in that we needed for our 25th anniversary vow renewal ceremony the next day. I even packed a folded box that I'd use to mail the ceremony items home so we wouldn't have to carry them for our hike. The only issue we had getting through airport security was with the small bottles of sand we were taking down for our "sand ceremony". After a quick check to make sure it was, in fact, sand and not an ...

Hikers and backpackers, generally speaking, find great joy in the solitude that comes with being on a trail in the woods. We like hearing the sounds of nature, guessing what birds are chirping, looking for snakes and other critters, listening for deer or bears, and hearing the waterfalls splash their way to the creeks and rivers below them. The lack of road noise, large crowds of people, and the busyness of everyday life allows us to escape "real life" and enjoy a simplistic way of living. We thrive on carrying the bare necessities (and sometimes a few luxury items) and everything we'll need for all or a portion of our journey in our backpacks, all while keeping our packs as light as possible and sometimes going to great lengths to shave a tiny portion of an ounce from our weight. The Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail is an urban hike, much different than most hikers are accustomed to, or enjoy. The "trail" is a paved greenway that runs parallel with US Highw...