Austin Part One

One of our favorite stops so far has definitely been Austin, Texas! We spent a total of five nights there: two in a Motel 6, which is cheap and dog friendly, and three at McKinney Falls State Park, which is about a fifteen minute drive to town. We got into Austin around 10 p.m. on a Friday after leaving New Orleans and went straight to our hotel. We had spent around eight hours on the road and were both exhausted. We had only planned to stay at the Motel 6 the first night since we got in so late, but after arriving at McKinney Falls on Saturday we realized our reservation didn't begin until Sunday (and of course they were all full). I (Alexa) had made the camp reservations while we were in New Orleans before realizing it was Mardi Gras weekend and hotel rates skyrocketed on Friday, and completely forgot that we were a day off schedule. Whoops!

We were both really surprised at how drivable Austin was, everywhere we were trying to go to was within about fifteen minutes from either the hotel or campsite. The weather was pretty perfect for camping, 75 degrees and sunny during the day and lows in the mid 30's at night. We have a queen size cot and sleeping bag, and the bag is rated down to zero so we were plenty warm at night.

Monday morning we made some coffee and oatmeal and headed down to the lower falls of McKinney falls and took a hike with the dogs. The trail down to the falls is only about a half mile long, if that, and is pretty easy terrain, which is perfect for our daniff Sasha who has some hip and knee problems. Sasha loves to be in the water so she had an awesome time walking down by the falls and river, and spent most of her time up to her knees in the water. McKinney park is also home to an old rock shelter that has been used by Native Americans for centuries during storms and bad weather, and is perched right above the river a little up from the lower falls.

Since we spent most of our time in Austin eating we decided to do a separate post dedicated to all of the food we ate and the art we saw and we should have it up by the end of the weekend!

 Pav and Sasha waiting for us to unload our camping gear at McKinney Falls

 Pav and mom next to the campfire

 Sasha and Pav relaxing in the sunshine

Probably waiting to be fed...

Sasha is sure that she's a lap dog

 Ben snapping pics and making sure Sasha doesn't dive into the water

Lower falls was pretty dry but you can see it in the background

Pavlov at the old Native American rock shelter

 Enjoying the view

 Pavlov napping on dad

We put our clothes into plastic 3 drawer sets because since we're seeing most states in the U.S. and will encounter so many different climates, we needed to be able to get to things easily. Ahhhhh, organization!

Our campsite

Lower Mckinney falls

Alexa and the pups at McKinney falls

Sasha at the Native American Rock Shelter

Onion Creek

Onion Creek

Alexa and the dogs at McKinney Falls

New Orleans

We managed to forget about holidays while on the road and got to Nola on the Thursday before Mardi Gras, needless to say we had a good time. We only spent two nights in New Orleans but we managed to pack plenty of things in. Our first night we met our good friend and one of Alexa's bridesmaids Margaret for dinner and drinks at  Balise, think traditional European cuisine with a New Orleans twist, and ended up catching a parade as we walked to our second bar for the night to meet a few of Margarets friends at, Barrel Proof, a great wisky bar. We finished off our first night at a service industry hang called Bar Tonique, if you go you should order a Caipirinha, it's one of Brazils national drinks and they do an excellent version of it at Tonique . 

We were enjoying being in a hotel for the two nights we were in Nola so we ended up sleeping in pretty late on our second day, but went for lunch at Parkway, home of some of the best Po'boys in New Orleans. They have a pretty decent wait time, but once you order at the window your food is ready in less than five minutes. They also have a pretty large patio that is dog friendly so Pavlov and Sasha got plenty of scraps. From lunch we headed down to the French Quarter to do some sightseeing. It was Alexa's first trip to new orleans and she loved all of the architecture and we had a great time just driving around town and looking at the houses and buildings. We met Margaret for drinks again on our last night at Tonique and had a great time. 

We really didn't take as many pictures as we should have in Nola, but we were just so busy having a good time and enjoying the company of our good friends, but here is a (blurry) picture of the parade we stopped by:

 I plan on doing a separate photo update with the ones we did get. The next morning we were off to Austin where we stayed for five days. Pictures and stories from Austin coming soon!

Key West and the Everglades in photos.

Sorry for the long gap between posts, we haven't had steady access to wifi in a few days. Here are photos from our time in Key West and the Everglades. I will be posting a write up about our times in New Orleans and Austin this evening, followed by another photo post. Enjoy!

Sasha at Mallory Square in Key West, Fl. 

The Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Fl

Earnest Hemingway's Key West Home. 

Art Society Building, Key West, Fl.

The Six Toed Cat, Key West FL.

The southernmost point in the Contiguous U.S. Key West, Fl. 

The southernmost point in the Contiguous U.S. Key West, Fl. 

Sasha sunbathing outside the museums in St. Pete

Everglades, Fl.

Alexa and Pavlov in the hammock at Fort Zachary State Park, Key West, FL.

Fort Zachary, Key west. 

Fort Zachary, Key west. 

Fort Zachary, Key west. 

 

Alexa and the dogs, Fort Zachary, Key west.

Sunset at Fort Zachary State Park. Key West FL. 

Performers in the Everglades, Fl. 

Our Campsite in the Everglades, Fl.

Alligator spotting in the Everglades, Fl.

Alligator spotting in the Everglades, Fl.

This alligator was probably five feet from the car. Everglades, Fl. 

Sunset in Everglades, Fl

Camp Vibes, Everglades, Fl.

Our campsite was right next to the lake so we had periodic visitors. Everglades, FL.

Departure, Everglades, Fl. 

Reflection, Everglades FL. 

The Keys & The Everglades

If you have never been to the Florida Keys, you should start planning your trip now. This was our second trip and we still can't get enough. We spent two nights in the Keys and due to a lack of planning on my (Ben) part, we were not able to get a campground and decided to try our hand at car camping, which was much easier to do than expected. Honestly sleeping in the van allowed us much more freedom, we woke up each morning around 6 and got our day started. On our first morning we went to the southern most point in the contiguous U.S. and had breakfast at the Six Toed Cat, which is right next door the house Earnest Hemingway lived in during his years in the keys. There are almost 40 different dog friendly restaurants so we brought the dogs with us and the waitress brought us out a water bowl for the pups and they got attention from just about everyone that walked by. From breakfast we walked to the famous Mallory Square to take a few pictures and let the dogs get some rest while we figured out our next stop. We had seen the sunset from Mallory Square on our honeymoon and had read that the locals all watch it from Fort Zachary Taylor, an old navy base on the beach, so we decided to head over and watch the sun set from there. Fort Zach is one of the only actual beaches in Key west so there were a fair number of people laying out and swimming as well as a few families having cook outs. We wound up spending the rest of the day there and I was able to get a great time lapse of the sunset. We finished out night off with a pizza, very exotic I know, and found ourselves a nice spot to park the van for the night in the Truman Annex. The next morning we checked the weather and realized that is was supposed to rain that evening so we decided to go ahead and get a move on. From the keys we headed down Everglades National Park for two nights of actual tent camping in the Long Pine Key campground. It was only about a three hour drive from the keys up to our campsite so we had plenty of daylight to set everything up and make a fire. We somehow managed to get the best site in the campground that had the only direct access to the lake that bordered one side of the campgrounds, so we set up our chairs and enjoyed the sun set. There was some sort of artist meet up/performance that night as well and we were able to watch it from our spot on the lake as well. Unfortunately, the forecast we looked at didn't call for rain and I did not put the rainfly on our tent when we set up, so we were woken up as the rain first started to come down and rushed to put the rain fly up in the middle of the night. Luckily we got it on in time and didn't get too soaked, but we did manage to put it on upside down, and backwards. The next day we decided to take a drive to cool the dogs off and go check out a fruit stand that we saw on the way in called "Robert Is Here..." where they sell tons of locally grown fruit, I grabbed two of the biggest mangos I have ever seen and a handful of the juiciest pears, as well as fresh fruit milkshakes. I got a key lime shake and got Alexa a mango shake. It was like heaven in a cup and if you're ever in Miami or the everglades you should definitely make the trip. On our way to Robert's we saw two alligators sunning on the side of the road and stopped for a few pictures. We finished our night of with burgers and drinks around the campfire, and we fixed the rainfly since the forecast predicted rain... which never came. Yesterday we drove up to Tallahassee on our way to our next stop, New Orleans. It has officially been a full week for us on the road and the adventure is in full swing. Stay tuned!

Onward to the Keys!

Today we will be leaving St. Petersburg to head down to Bahia Honda State Park in Big Pine Key. We ended up spending two nights here in St. Pete's due to our first hiccup on the trip: van problems! We are making this trip in a 1998 Chrysler Town & Country that Ben grew up riding around in and learned to drive in as a teen. We had it serviced before leaving, but Wednesday morning when we left Pensacola we realized we had a leak...inside the van. We have been in rain ever since leaving Birmingham Tuesday afternoon and realized that somehow water has been pooling under the hood, and then begins to leak into the passenger floorboard as we drive. Hopefully we can prevent it by trying to drive in the rain as little as possible and covering the van with a tarp when parked. Besides that, staying inside has been helpful while we both recover from being sick!

One of the most helpful resources we have had while planning the trip is the website bringfido.com! BringFido provides dog friendly accommodations (campgrounds, hotels, motels, vacation rentals), attractions (parks, beaches, trails, shopping), restaurants, pet services (pet sitters, walkers, groomers, kennels, vet clinics), air travel, and events. Basically it's the best thing ever if you have a pet. For instance, today I learned that Key West has 39 dog friendly restaurants, they are allowed at the Shipwreck Treasure Museum, the Tropical Forest and Botanical Gardens, and we can even take them kayaking or on an eco-tour to see dolphins! At times we had been worried that having Pavlov and Sasha along for the ride would get in the way of things we wanted to do, but by utilizing BringFido we realized we can do everything we'd like! (Besides, I don't think either of us could've lasted 3 months without them!)

We somehow managed to fit our loft into this storage unit. I probably referenced my years of packing experience and tetris proficiency 100 times. 

Here we are with our van all loaded up just before take off with our pups, Pavlov the pug and Sasha the daniff! 

...And We're Off!

It's a strange feeling to wake up in Motel 6 in Pensacola and realize you are living your dreams. Yesterday Alexa and I finished moving out of our loft and set off on our adventure. We spent the past few weeks packing and getting everything set up for our trip, from van repairs to buying gear and finishing our route. After finishing our last errands yesterday we hopped in the van and drove for about 6 hours to make it to Pensacola, saw a Whataburger with a Motel 6 across the street and we knew we had found home for the night. Today we are back on the road and headed towards the Florida Keys, where we plan to camp in Bahai Honda State Park for about 5 nights. It's about 12 more hours to the keys from here so we may spend the night in St. Petersburg to cut the drive in half. Also we got a little behind on updating this thing so you may start seeing short daily updates to make up for it.