Our first stop after Chattanooga was Asheville, NC. (In true contrarian fashion, we head North to go South, East to head West etc.) Javi had never been to this gorgeous mountain town, but Laura had spent a good amount of time there during her college years in Wilmington, NC. We also wanted to visit some friends there. We had a great few days hanging out with our buddies and getting to know their adorable kids. We did a solid hike in the woods, which is basically a requirement in Asheville, and then we visited some food and drink spots in the River Arts District. We were craving melty cheese and beer, and the Wedge Brewing Co. and Melt Your Heart food truck certainly delivered.
We moved on through the Carolinas feeling satisfied from our mountain adventure. Our next stop was Columbia, SC, where we visited with Javi’s extended family members. Some of those folks are the same ones we went to the Caribbean with, so we were lucky enough to go sailing with his uncle on Lake Murray. It was a beautiful day and we got a good skipper lesson, which affirmed our interest in future sailing adventures. Happily fed and sent on our way, we made our way to our very first camping experience in the fully stocked camper we had worked so hard putting together.
Jekyll Island, GA was a surprise and a delight. We felt very at home there and were so excited to finally set foot on an Atlantic beach after crossing the entire country. We also realized how glad we were that we brought our bikes, because we biked all around the island, out of both necessity and fun. The campsite was clean and the neighbors were friendly, some of whom were also excellent bluegrass musicians. We were a little bummed to leave after only one night, but we had our sights set on Florida.
Long Point Park in Melbourne, FL was our next stop and also where we had our first weather issue. In the middle of Laura cooking dinner outside, it started to absolutely pour and later in the night we woke up to a crazy wind storm. We felt like we were going to be blown away, but the truck held it together and we survived to tell the tale. The neighbors must have felt bad for us because the next morning they offered us their kayaks to use in the amazing lagoon. We put in right from the campsite and had a short but beautiful trip. We just missed a manatee according to the neighbors, but saw some dolphins. Overall, the campsite was great and again, we wished we’d had more time there.
We left Long Point toward our final destination: Key West. But before the Keys, we stopped in Ft. Lauderdale to have lunch with Laura’s aunt and cousins at Aruba’s Beach Cafe. After a relaxing meal with an ocean view, we kept it moving on down to Key West. It was a loooooong driving day, but totally worth it when we made it down to that unique paradise. More on that later.
