Aluminum Bliss

Boats passing and beads flying...it's Gasparilla!

After Fort Lauderdale, we began a return trek to Tampa to meet our new nephews from Haiti (who are adorable, happy, and loved!) and  spend some time enjoying the free camping option of my in-laws’ driveway. By sheer luck, our visit to Tampa coincided with Gasparilla, a big festival and parade event in Tampa that takes place each year.  We happened to go last year (another sheer luck moment) and had an enjoyable time.  Before I go into too much detail, however, allow me to explain the purpose of Gasparilla.   I thought it was just an opportunity for college students (and others who so desire) to partake of obscene amounts of alcohol and attempt to catch beads being thrown from boats while simultaneously trying not to fall into the bay waters. Alas, its current purpose may be just that, but the festival does have historical relevance.

Shiver me timbers! It's Gaspar's ship!

I did a bit of quick research on Gasparilla and here’s what I learned courtesy of Gasparilla’s website.  Jose Gaspar was a legendary pirate who lived an adventurous life terrorizing Florida’s coastal waters in the late 18th and early 19th century.  His last ship raid in 1821 resulted in a bloody battle for Gaspar and his men who unknowingly selected to raid a disguised U.S. Naval Warship. According to the story, Gaspar took his own life as the U.S. commanding officer boarded the defeated pirate ship.  Upon his death, he supposedly left buried treasure off the coast of Florida, although the said treasure has never been found.  In 1904, Tampa’s social and civic leaders were planning a festival for the city and adopted the legendary Gasparilla as the theme for the event and created a mock surprise pirate attack on Tampa.  And, so it continues.  Every January in Tampa, pirates invade and folks gather to watch the pirate ship sail into the Bay.  Beads are thrown, folks in pirate costumes invade the city, and talking like a pirate is perfectly acceptable. Who wouldn’t find some enjoyment with this?

Good times had at Gasparilla!

Both last year and this year, we had the wonderful opportunity to join Chris’ family in attending a Gasparilla party at a house that overlooks the Bay.  This gives us front row seats to watch the pirate ship sail by as well as provides us food and drink.  While the college students took their places around the alcohol table and lined up for beer pong, I, the pregnant woman, carefully guarded the food table until parade time.  The hummus was excellent, I might add.

At last, we heard the blast of the cannons. Off in the distance, preceded by many small boats, was Gaspar’s pirate ship.  Think Mardi Gras…on water.  Music was blasting and beads were flying.  A good time was had by all.

Interestingly enough, during our attendance to Gasparilla last year, our Airstream life was just a crazy idea and not even close to reality. What a year it’s been, aye…mateys?

This snowbird lifestyle really suits me!

We flew to St. Thomas from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, leaving our shiny home for one week at the long term airport parking lot…yikes! Before our departure, we triple-checked this option.  I had heard of others leaving their trailers in RV parks while they were away but that was a rather expensive option…especially in Florida in the winter when the parks are full and the prices are high.  On the Sunday before our departure, we did a trial run.  Having never been to the Fort Lauderdale airport with an Airstream in tow, we wanted to scope out the parking lot.  Would we fit? Was it crowded? Was it safe?  We tested the parking situation and we almost fit into two spots (we stuck out a little on either end but did not block the parking lot rows).  The parking attendant suggested with talk to the economy parking office employees.  So we did and they approved of us parking in two spaces, even if we didn’t fit just right in those spaces.  On Monday, we nervously left our home in the airport parking lot (with a note in the window of the truck explaining that we received permission from the main office to take up two spaces.)  Yes, we were a bit paranoid.

Upon our return, I am happy to report that our humble abode remained in its spot, appearing unharmed.  Chris noted that this is the first time he had ever taken an airport shuttle directly to his home.  Nice!  And, even better…they only charged us for one vehicle.  Perhaps this was a mistake–we did not question nor argue the price.  In the end, we paid $7.50 per day for parking our Airstream. Not too shabby!

Our large campsite at Markham Park in Sunrise, FL

Going against my previous vow (again), I made reservations at Markham Park Campground in Sunrise, Florida so we would have a definitive place to go upon our arrival.  For once, making reservations worked out really well.  I confess, however, that we did check the campground before we left for St. Thomas to make sure it would suit our internet needs.  The campground is located in a huge county park that has 86 RV/tent sites and occupies 666 acres of land at the edge of the Everglades and Alligator Alley.   The sites are huge and the facilities are clean.  We were both impressed with the park campsites but even more impressed with the really nice dog park within walking distance of the campground.

I spent my days enjoying the wonderful Florida warm weather, taking the dogs to the dog park, catching up on my social media (since I had missed an entire week!), and doing a lot of laundry at the local laundromat.  Each night, Chris and I would take the dogs to the park just before dark to let them have one last run.  Buddy successfully marked every tree, fence post, and bench in the park while AJ had his fair share of human interaction (Seriously…he has no interest in the dogs…only the owners).  We met some nice people and, sadly, some not-so-nice people and the dogs appeared quite content for the week.

The dog park at Markham. They have a space for "Little Barkhams" and "Big Barkhams". It's great!!!

As I mentioned before, the park is huge.  And, I, being the idiot that I am, neglected to fully explore the park.  I seemed to keep busy doing other things during the week.  What I should have done, however, was study the campground/park map to see what other features, aside from the spectacular dog park, were offered in the area.  Like I said, it was an incredibly beautiful, sunny week…in fact, I was almost too hot at times.  As we departed the park on Saturday, I glanced down at a piece of paper sitting on the floor of the truck.  It was the campground map.  I picked it up to add it to our recycling pile and noticed the words “Swimming Pool.”  Apparently the park has a really nice swimming pool, that includes a mist pool, snack bar, showers and restrooms.  Doh!  Double Doh!  You have no idea how embarrassed and sad I am that I missed this.  Note to self:  Lani, you are an idiot.  Read the campground map next time.

Nonetheless, we had a great week and I am convinced that I absolutely do not miss winter.   Snowbirds:  an intelligent group of people.

Finally, I’d like to share a story unrelated to Airstream travel but one that made our week even more wonderful.  Chris’ sister, Jen, and her husband, Tim, have been in the process of adopting two little boys from Haiti for two years.  In the days following the tragic earthquake, Tim traveled to Haiti to see what he could do to bring his boys home.  After an exhausting week that included sitting for days at the Embassy, assisting with surgeries in his “spare” time (don’t worry…he’s a paramedic!), and experiencing the many terrifying aftershocks, Tim was able to get the boys’ papers processed as well as the papers of 14 other orphans whose families were eagerly awaiting their arrival in the United States.

On Saturday, all 16 children arrived safely in the United States and were united with their families.  Chris and I had the pleasure of meeting our new nephews, Sammy and Gino and it was an absolutely joyous moment. For more information on their story, check out their blog at www.hisblogherblog.blogspot.com. Also, check out www.haiti-relief.org to donate to Heartline Ministries, an organization that runs the orphanage and is also currently operating a medical clinic, assisting those injured  in the earthquake.  Additionally,  I attach a video provided by Tampa’s ABC Action News of Sammy and Gino’s homecoming. Enjoy!

View of Cinnamon Bay from the top of Cinnamon Bay Trail.

Last week we took a vacation.  Now, I know what you’re thinking.  We live in a travel trailer and travel the country…aren’t we already on vacation? Technically, I guess I am.  But, not Chris.  And, with a baby on the way, we both wanted to spend a week on a vacation…together…before our lives as we know them are turned upside down.  Further, I wanted a week that didn’t involve Chris having a phone permanently attached to his ear for ten hours a day.  Our ideal vacation involved airplane travel, beaches, sunshine, snorkeling, and a new and unfamiliar region.  After looking at the calendar in December, it appeared that last week was the only week Chris could be completely offline as his work schedule is tight for the next several months.  For our destination, we chose the island of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. And, since Chris wanted to be completely offline and close to nature, we camped on the beach at Cinnamon Bay.

Our humble abode for the week. Notice it is lucky #13.

REST:  I’m not an expensive resort girl. I don’t need the all-inclusive, fancy dining, no-reason-to-leave-the-resort-grounds, vacation.  But, am I a camping girl? I live in campgrounds but in the comfort of my Airstream.  Sure, I can shower with bugs now, but can I do a full week in a tent? Can I endure a week of cold showers? This was going to be a new adventure for me.  The first few nights were not restful…at all.  Unidentifiable critters were running over the tent or scurrying around the bottom of the tent.  The tree frogs were really loud. (I lived in Boston and slept soundly with loud city streets. But, sirens, traffic and drunk people have nothing on tree frogs.)  The humidity was brutal. And, well…my cot was not the most comfortable.  So, the first two nights were challenging.  I laid there with my eyes wide open, envisioning the unidentifiable critters attacking me in my sleep.

Entrance to the campground office and pavilion. Highly recommend hanging out here at nights.

On the fourth night, we decided to stop hanging out at our tent at night and head up to the pavilion to play cards.  I was quickly growing tired of bugs and the lantern only attracted more of them.  Upon arrival at the campground pavilion, it was then that we learned that all of the intelligent campers (a group to which, until that night, we did not belong) were there every night, playing cards and socializing.  The bugs were nonexistent there.  Campers stayed in this comfortable environment until around 11pm.  So, we did the same.  That night and for the rest of the nights, I slept soundly…never worrying about the critters or even noticing my somewhat uncomfortable cot.  Perhaps I grew accustomed to the noises and finally found the tree frogs comforting instead of irritatingly loud.  Or, maybe the critters decided to leave me alone.

RELAXATION:  We were completely removed from all things electronic (i.e. computers, phones, televisions, etc.).  We spent a week playing cards, reading, eating, and playing in the ocean…when possible.  It was wonderful.

Sitting at our tent on a rainy day. Yeah...um...those clothes hanging in the background never did dry...

RAIN:  Our first two days were amazingly beautiful.  On Tuesday, we spent the day on the beach and playing in the massive waves.  On Wednesday, we hiked one of the nearby trails, caught a bus to town, bought our groceries, made our way back to the campground, and mapped out our week as to where we wanted to snorkel and hike.

The beach at Cinnamon Bay

On Saturday, we had our longest break from the rain and were hopeful that the rain had finally stopped.  We ventured into Coral Bay to check out the village and the other side of the island that we had been curious to see all week.  I found a local paper in town that said Sunday’s forecast was only 20% chance of rain.  We celebrated by buying some fruit at the local market and began planning our last full day of the vacation.  It involved a long hike to Waterlemon Cay and snorkeling at what was said to the be the best snorkeling spot on the island. We were hopeful and excited.