Congaree National Park in Columbia, South Carolina

Julie and I love national parks. We each have been to 22, but only one together. This year, one of her resolutions was to go to Congaree National Park in South Carolina, so I asked if I could go too!

Friday

We took the 7:20 a.m. flight from Detroit to Charlotte, which was quick and easy. Since I'd picked up Julie at 3:30 a.m., I was tired and slept on the flight. I asked Julie if she did too and she shook her head and said, "I don’t want to brag, but it is my concentration that keeps the plane in the air."

We then had a car rental experience that is exactly what I always WANT in a car rental, but rarely experience. We walked to the rental garage, Julie tapped the Hertz app, and it told us what number spot was ours. We walked up to it and it was a Ford Bronco, which is even what Julie drives in real life. We drove out of the parking garage and were on our way. Car rental companies take note! We didn't have to wait in line at a desk or produce insurance papers or ride a shuttle. It was incredible.

We drove straight to the University of South Carolina. We walked around the pretty Capitol building, the Horseshoe on campus, and admired all the students getting graduation photos taken. (This is also when we found out it was graduation weekend!)

We parked at Savage Craft and ate lunch outside in the sunshine. We walked to Hideout Coffee, got our coffees to go, and walked toward the Riverfront park.

We went to cross the street at an intersection, and the cars coming from our right stopped. The driver waved us to go ahead of them. As we crossed, a driver in a black truck, seeing the cars had stopped, screamed forward to make the turn. He apparently didn't see us, because he accelerated right toward Julie and me. There wasn’t enough time for us to react. He slammed on his brakes just inches before hitting us.

He was close enough for me to see him, and he was just as shocked as we were. The drivers to the right of us honked, and one of them had a siren whoop as a honk.

Julie and I, shaken, stopped on the other side of the street. A woman in a car paused as she drove by. "Y'all okay?" she asked.

We were. We both sloshed but did not spill our coffees. I want to emphasize this – we were almost in a terrible accident. I have never been this close to getting hit by a car, and I’m a runner. This would have put quite a damper on the trip.

We were incredibly relieved, discussed our near-miss, and headed to the river.

"If ever two girls needed a bench!" Julie said.

The bridge on the river was beautiful. We (very carefully) returned to the car and visited some great art. Julie had made a list of things she wanted to see, so we were checking them off. We saw Tunnelvision and Neverbust Chain by Blue Sky. (That’s the name of the artist. No, it is not his given name.)

We drove to Sesquicentennial State Park for a hike around the water. Beautiful trees and water and peaceful place. Really, really nice.

We ate outdoors at Three Notch’d and again enjoyed all the graduates celebrating with their families.

Then we headed to Congaree National Park for the fireflies.

The week before Julie and I left, we both saw that there was a lottery for getting into the park starting on May 13. We were there only May 8-10 and we were both really happy with our good fortune. We didn’t need a lottery to get to the park – in fact, the park is free! We figured that we could see the fireflies just days before the lottery started. The site told us that the fireflies will blink synchronously.

When we pulled into the parking lot, we saw that there was black tarp around the trees for a huge area to protect from car lights. We walked in the pitch black into the park, kind of just feeling our way and hoping we wouldn’t run into anything, because we weren’t allowed to use lights.

We saw lots and lots of fireflies, similar to what Julie sees in her backyard and what I see over the creek in the summer. They were not blinking synchronously, though. They were definitely blinking asynchronously. We asked at the park and did some more online research and it turns out there is one of 24 firefly species in the park that blinks at the same time. But they were pretty and magical anyway! Just a bunch of insects that light up – amazing.  

Saturday

We left our Vrbo house and went to the Soda City Farmers Market. (Cola came from Columbia, then the nickname Soda City.) They have this every Saturday, and it was giant and really good. Bakers, coffee, artists, a great mix. I got a permanent bracelet from two nice girls. They asked what we were doing, and we told them we came to see the national park. One girl said, “Here? In Columbia? I’ve lived here my entire 18 years and I’ve never heard that we have a national park, or that it has fireflies.” The other girl had heard of it, but had never been. Funny! We bought a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread to eat for lunch on our hike.

We drove to Congaree, and we went on four hikes:

Boardwalk - This was especially good, because they had a little brochure with numbers on it, and you could stop at those numbers and it would tell you what you were seeing. Great information and so cool. It identified trees, told us different historical facts, and even pointed out an old illegal still left in the woods.

Westlake – The tree knees were my absolute favorite. The tree roots made this park different than any other I’ve seen. We saw a snake and little lizards and a heron.

Longleaf – This was just a quick walk to the campground with totally different topography.

Forks Swamp – We drove 17 miles to another part of the park, and we were the only people on this hike. No cars, no people. I walked toward the water and came close to stepping on a huge snake which was right in the middle of the path. We didn’t have any service, so we couldn’t look it up to see if it was venomous, so we gave it a wide berth. We then watched it climb a tree. Later we found out it was a rat snake. We walked more carefully the rest of the hike.

All in all, we hiked about 8 miles, and it was great. Different sights, really great smell like leaves in the fall, so many birds, really interesting.

We chose to eat at War Mouth which had a great outdoor area to sit, but it wasn’t that good, so we went to Handel’s Ice Cream afterward which was.

We walked around downtown Columbia some more, and then we met up at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral for a tour: Lanterns and Lunacy of the Lost, a tour of the shocking history of Columbia. We were the only two on a tour with a nice guy who used to work at the museum, and you could tell he loved history. We walked around to a few sites and he said a lot of really interesting things. I particularly liked the cemetery at the church, since it was incredibly old. He also told about the legend three-eyed man, which I’d never heard before but seems to be a South Carolina staple.

Sunday

We hit up a drive through coffee on the way to Congaree National Park and met up with the kayaking company: Carolina Outdoor Adventures. We took the Cedar Creek kayaking trip. I can’t say enough good things about this company and tour. The owner Billy was there, our guides Julie and Paul loved it all so much, and it was really great.

Practically every stick over the creek they’d point out a snake. So. Many. Snakes. I wouldn’t have seen even one of them if they hadn’t pointed them out. We must have seen 20 snakes. They even pointed out one in a tree and Julie and I kayaked directly under it just for kicks. It was not venomous, of course. 

We actually only saw one venomous snake, and it was a water moccasin eating a skink! It was so cool to see something like that in real nature. The guides were delighted too – even they took pictures. We saw so many turtles, birds, a giant fisher spider, and of course the snakes.

Julie the guide said, “Now we only need to see a barred owl.” A few minutes later, we saw two!

Our guide Paul said, “You guys have had a magical day. That’s the most species I’ve seen in one trip.” I said, “Oh, you say that to everyone.” He said, “No, really! I saw four different species of snapping turtles alone!”  

If I had been by myself, I would have seen so much less, and probably not one snake. It was a wonderful 3-hour tour.

We drove back to the airport in Charlotte and boarded the plane. We went to the very back row of the plane and were happily surprised that there was an empty seat between us!

“Will Carla Wardin please ring the flight attendant bell?” I heard over the intercom.

I quickly rang it, wondering what was wrong.

The flight attendant came over.

“I’m Carla,” I said.

“Oh, we just wanted to make sure you were on the plane,” he said.

In all my time on planes, that has never happened to me. Thanks for making sure I’m making my flight, American Airlines!

The entire trip was full of southern charm – the people, the parks, the animals. All so welcoming and interesting and beautiful, and all with a great travel partner who is the reason I went in the first place!

Kentucky Oaks in Louisville

We’d had such a good time at the Kentucky Derby last year, that we wanted to see what the Oaks was like. We’d heard it was younger people and a more casual vibe. Tickets were also cheaper – just $70 for the infield. Kate and Matt were also going, but they did the two-day package for the seats.

Last minute, Kris couldn’t go with me, so I asked my friend Rachel, and wonders of wonders – she was free! Sure, she had to keep her eye on two live video streams, one of water filling her cottage crawl space, and one of her pregnant horse who was due to give birth, but otherwise totally free!

The drive to Kentucky is really easy – just five and half hours on the highway. I drove, and Rachel and I had a wonderful time talking. The hours really flew.

When we neared the city, we were greeted by pretty stone tunnels. They were so beautiful, and Rachel in particular loved them.

We checked into the hotel Kate and Matt had gotten – the Hampton Inn and Suites Louisville East Oxmoor. The people there were so incredibly nice. They were all dressed up in finery and hats, and they were hosting a party in the lobby. They offered us free Oaks Lilys and Mint Juleps, pointed us to the pretty buffet of Kentucky Derby-themed foods, and encouraged us to hang out and listen to the live music. They also offered to take our picture in front of their Kentucky Derby backdrop, and asked us all about where we were from and what our plans for the Derby were. They were so nice and wanted us to love it in their town, which was a theme that was repeated the entire weekend.

Rachel and I enjoyed the lobby music for a little while, and then we drove downtown and picked a parking garage to park. We walked by the Cardinals stadium and checked out the Bluegrass Brewery. I asked a question about Louisville, and Rachel answered that that when you have a city that doesn’t pronounce a letter they can do whatever they want! (Side note - our GPS pronounced the town Lou-ee-vil-ee. Delightful!)

Just as we were leaving the sun was setting, so we hurried over to the river (including wearing wedges on cobblestone leading into a dark tunnel – but!) It led to a scenic view of the river and bridges. We ate dinner at the Country Boy, checked out everything that was happening downtown, and went back to the hotel to meet up with my brother Gage, Kate, and Matt. They all got to the lobby at about 11:30 p.m. and we talked to them until 1:15 a.m. It was a happy coincidence that Gage was in town – just so happened he had a flight scheduled there!

Kentucky Oaks

We woke up early and got all prettied up for the day. Rachel called our hats fancifers, and I liked that even better than the name fascinators. I wanted to get to a place where we could park in someone’s yard, and I knew that last year I’d paid $30. We drove right to Churchill Downs, and a man offered us parking in his yard - $40 and guaranteed out. Sure!

We walked to a diner named Wagner’s Pharmacy to meet Gage for breakfast, but we were on the wrong side of a fence, so we had to walk across the overpass road, cross, and walk back. This added two miles to our walk to Churchill Downs, and Rachel was very happy she had worn sandals that she could walk in instead of pretty heels.

Gage eventually was able to direct his Uber driver to the right spot, and we were pleasantly surprised by Wagner’s Pharmacy. Since it’s right next to Churchill Downs and kind of famous, I thought it would be packed and expensive. No! It was fine and affordable, too. We all talked and had a lovely breakfast complete with very Southern biscuits.

I made the same mistake I made last year and walked a long way to the wrong gate, and then back again to the correct gate. The good news was we saw a gorgeous parade of outfits along both ways!

Gage said goodbye to us just before the first race at 12:30 p.m., and we entered the infield just as it was starting!

For the rest of the day, we walked around, watched from different spots, tried to find the least windy and warmest spots, and cheered on the horses. Rachel bought a fleece blanket, and we sat on it and wrapped up in it. We participated in fake betting, where we enjoyed choosing our winners before the race, and then watching them lose – but with no money our of our pockets!

Things I love – the bugle call (what a thrill), the horses trampling past, especially when they’re on the grass, people’s outfits, THE HATS, and the happy atmosphere.

There were way fewer people than there were at the Derby, and there were younger people. One time as we were crossing the middle at the height of the day - about 3:00 p.m. - it was as if we had stumbled into a college party! All college-aged kids, all dressed in cute outfits, all loud and flirting and laughing …some even falling down, getting kicked out by the police, and others being forced to empty their pockets of airplane bottles! By the late afternoon, it had really calmed down and a lot of people left. The final race was at 8:40 p.m., and I did bet on it and lost $6. I didn’t expect to win, since I won the Derby last year, so that was a manageable amount! High stakes gambler over here. On the way out, I found a penny. That meant I only lost $5.99!

Rachel and I left and were hungry, so we stopped at a gas station on the way to the car to buy candy bars for dinner. Only the finest dining for us! 

With traffic, it took awhile to get back to the hotel, but it was fine. My watch told us we'd walked nine miles. Kate and Matt weren’t much farther behind us, and we heard about their fun day before falling asleep. 

Derby Day

I woke up early and worked in the lobby. A hotel staffer immediately offered me a mimosa. So hospitable at 6:00 a.m.! I didn’t have one, but that was kind of him to offer.

There were six men with laptops, the book from the races, pens, papers, and very angry demeanors. They were discussing the races and choosing what to gamble on. But they were not having fun. They were mad. They must not have won the day before, or perhaps they were in gambling debt, and one of them was mean to a guy who said to them, “You guys look like you know what you’re doing!” I didn’t like them, and I took notes on what they said. (Later I was able to check - they didn’t mention the winning horse once. In fact, none of the horses they mentioned were in the top three.)

But that’s horse racing. With all their knowledge and insider info and research – my guess was as good as theirs.

We ate breakfast and said goodbye. We saw the tunnel again on the way out.

“I love infrastructure!” Rachel said.

We turned back to check on her pregnant horse on video. We’ll watch them in person, we’ll watch them on the big screen, we’ll watch them on her phone. Horses are fun, and so is the whole Derby weekend - especially if you can stomach a $5.99 loss.

Spring break in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

MSU played in a sweet sixteen game at 10:00 p.m., which meant that by the time the game got over, we had an hour and a half of time to sleep before we left for the airport at 2:00 a.m. We did it! We flew Grand Rapids > Orlando > Punta Cana. I thought it might be super busy due to spring break and TSA, but we didn’t have any long waits or problems. We even laughed because Max and Kris got extra legroom and special snacks in their seats, while I was slumming it in the back – and I’m the one that got all our tickets! This was the first time we’ve flown Southwest with their new seating system and it’s much better, even without extra snacks.

This is Max’s first country other than Canada, and so I prepared him for what it’s like when you get to the airport in many places - a crowd of people aggressively offering you a ride with their company. It’s helpful to have the transportation ahead of time so you have either already paid or know what it’s going to cost before getting into a van with a company you’ve never heard of before. We had booked with Amstar, so we found a representative and went the 30 minutes to Ocean El Faro, our all-inclusive resort.

We were a tagalong on this senior spring break trip, which expanded to siblings and siblings’ friends. Fourteen St Johns families went, totaling 49 people!  

We checked into our room and immediately went to the beach. It was hot and sunny, and the water felt good. We met up with the Uptons for dinner at the Mexican restaurant, then with the Halleads, and then the whole group. I finished the day with a gelato stand that is open a crazy amount of hours, and ate there once or twice a day the entire trip. They had funny topping options, like hard candy in wrappers and raisins, but ice cream is perfect just the way it is.

Day two

I ran off the resort to the right, and as soon as you leave the beach it was just wilderness. No houses, no roads, just the beach and a single file path through really dense foliage, including cactus, and blooming flowers. Kris and I then walked to the left, where there was a path along the beach to the next resort about a mile away. We also saw mountains and grazing cattle – right next to the hotel! There was also lots of trash off the resort – both trash that had been washed up or thrown out. The resort beach was pristine.

We had to schedule our transportation back with Amstar in the lobby, where we quickly realized it was a sales pitch for buying excursions. He wanted to know who our leader was, and I said I didn’t know, but it definitely wasn’t me. 

We went to the buffet restaurant, where I had a different fruit each day – passion fruit, papaya, guanabana (just like the restaurant name in Jupiter), and more. We checked out the hammocks, then played bocce ball on the beach with the Uptons and Halleads. We went in the lazy river, and then we went to the pool with the big group and enjoyed hanging out with everyone all afternoon. Some of the guys went fishing and caught fish, and they wanted a resort restaurant to cook it for them. This extended on for days, with the guys getting more and more creative in finding someone to make it. They offered people money, riches, fame, and no takers. It was being kept in a bathtub full of ice the entire time. Matt ended up giving it to a man on the beach to take home and cook so it wouldn’t go to waste! 

That night we ate at Route 66, a diner, with the Halleads and Uptons. Chris Hallead was eating macaroni and cheese and didn’t like it. I joked that he was still eating it, and he said there were just too many good memories with mac and cheese, and his brain just wouldn’t accept that it could look so good and taste bad. We also gloried in the Duke basketball loss here!

We met up with a bunch of our friends and sang karaoke at their outdoor entertainment. Many of us sang and we all had fun!

Day three

We ran and walked both directions again, and then checked out a tennis tournament the resort was hosting. We met up with the group at the beach and spent the morning on the beach (mostly) and in the water (a little – huge waves.) They had tiki huts for shade, a swing with the hotel name on it, a volleyball court where the kids played. We headed back to the lazy river and pool.

A woman from our group (Sue) told me I was famous in the lobby, and she explained that the transportation company was pressing her for the name of a leader. Was it Carla? Was it Andrea? It turned out that they were trying to get “the leader” to change our excursion booking to their company instead of what we had, so they were looking for the decision-maker, but no one would point any fingers!

We met up with the entire group at the hibachi grill for dinner. Max had never been to one before, and it was entertaining as these places usually are. We bowled in the bowling alley, where Andrea blamed the curvature of the earth on our poor scores, and then we saw a show with a magician that may actually have been magic – I don’t understand how they do it, and I’ll never look it up!

Neve (Kate and Matt Upton's daughter) and I were going to the magic show together, and a dad asked me if she was my daughter. I said no, and Neve said, "I'm practically your daughter!" So adorable.

Day four

We ran, walked, and watched some good tennis at the tourney.

We gathered in the lobby to take our transportation to our excursion. Andrea said they were being really weird about it, and she had to take a copy of the drivers’ licenses and the paperwork to the lobby that morning to allow them in the driveway. 

“Andrea, if you show up they’re going to know who the leader is,” I said.

“That’s when I’ll reveal myself – It was me all along!" she said. "And twirl around, maybe in a cape.”

So, Andrea announced to the 47 of us going, “St Johns group! Let’s go!” And we walked out of the hotel to see…two giant open-air vehicles!

We piled in for a crazy ride. We were on a highway, and everyone was driving and weaving as fast as humanly possible. There were lots of mopeds. We could see the vehicle in front of us, and they turned down a drive that was so steep, we all gasped. Our driver went down a different one. Then we turned into a tiny street with clearance so small, you would trap your arm between vehicles. I saw someone reach out and pat another car. Sometimes we were between a car and two cement walls, speeding as fast as the driver could go. It was dicey.

Suddenly, we were stopped in a place that was too narrow to continue. 

There was a garbage truck parked on the side of the street, and a man was using a snow shovel to lift trash into the truck. 

We waited awhile, but it was obvious we couldn't pass. Our driver got out and talked to some drivers, but no luck. Then the driver of the first open air vehicle got out, and they talked. Our driver got mad, and they both went into a boxing stance and started fighting! 

“They’re fighting!” I yelled to the people in the back.

My adrenaline shot up, and I thought shoot, now there's going to be trouble. In a foreign country. 

But nope! They were just joking. They laughed and returned to their vehicles. 

“Everyone out!” our driver said. “You'll walk from here.” 

We wove our way past the garbage truck and through the traffic. I didn't see it, but Jill told me Bryce, one of seniors, had just been clipped by a car. She said the little old woman hit him in the leg while he was walking, he put his hands on the hood of the car to make it less of a jolt, and she looked really annoyed at him for being in the street. Bryce was thankfully unhurt!

We walked a few more steps, and suddenly it opened up to the beautiful blue of the Caribbean, with tons of boats and tons of people waiting to get on them. 

We were handed over to our tour operator, a man named Louis, and we got onto a big, two story boat. (See how nautical I am? I’m sure two-story boat is exactly what they call them.) He seemed kind of harried and treated us like elementary school students who weren’t listening to a teacher. He and his crew piloted us along the coast to a place we could snorkel.

The water was so blue and so beautiful. Jill said, “This water is why I got married here.” We all understood – gorgeous.

We put on little lifebelts and snorkels and went into the water. Kate took a really nice picture of us. It was kind of cloudy, but by the reef we saw lots of fish. I was kind of wishing they would chum the water, and then I saw our guide had a bag of Tostitos he was crumbing in his hands to attract fish. Max, Kris, and I went over by him and there were lots of fish! Max touched one, and I tried to, but pulled my hand away at the last second. There were a few different kinds, and we snorkeled around looking at them for awhile, until the bag of chips was gone.

We got back onto the boat and went down the slide that went into the water. The second group of people snorkeled. Then when everyone was back on the boat, they offered chips and cheese - the same chips they were feeding the fish! We’re not so different.

They piloted to a gorgeous beach. Just picture perfect blue water, white sand, green palm trees. The photographers on the boat pulled Kris, Max, and me aside and said he would take our pictures and I could buy them later. I knew I wasn’t going to buy them, but I thought posing for a couple would be polite.

“Hold hands, all together,” he said.

We reluctantly all held hands.

“Now, jump on three,” he said. 

We obeyed.

“Okay, that’s enough,” I said, as Max made his escape.

“Just the two of you!” he said.

Chances of me purchasing pictures of Kris and me posing together in bathing suits was slim to none, but I politely stood there for a few.

He positioned us in what I refer to as the prom pose, where Kris stands behind me and we clasp hands. 

“Now put your arm up behind his head,” he said.

“I can’t do it,” I said, laughing at how ridiculous it was. “We’re good.”

He went off to find other polite couples. We then watched and laughed as he positioned people in what can only be referred to as J.C. Penney poses. For instance, he had Chris Hallead lie on the ground, and then Andrea was propped up behind him, as if she were peeking over his torso. He had Samantha jump onto Bryson’s back and both of them held their arms out like they were pretending to be airplanes. 

We swam in the warm water and hung out on the beach for awhile. Guys threw footballs, and we had a nice time. Too soon, it was time to go. But we knew…we had the adventure of the trip home to look forward to!

We got into our waiting vehicles, and this time I was on the leading vehicle instead of the following. Again, it was a tight squeeze through the town, as we passed a lot of barbed wire and walls.

BANG!

We turned around to look at the vehicle behind us.

Max texted me from that vehicle – “We just hit a car.”

Oh no, I thought. This will not be good.

A guy looked at it for one second, and then the driver started up again!

Almost immediately, Heidi and I ducked because a tree branch whipped through the window. We both got out of the way, and Kris magically had one of the leaves from the branch in his hand! He held it up like a trophy.

We made it through the city and got on the highway. It was bumpy, windy, and wild.

“I feel like I’m on a roller coaster!” Gessika yelled behind me.

On one of the turns, we saw that an accident had just recently happened. There was an overturned gravel truck, and I wanted to take a picture, but there was a man standing there holding a rifle looking at us. 

My rule is not to take pictures of people holding rifles when you’re in an open air vehicle. I didn’t have that rule until that second, but it seemed right.

We made it back to our hotel sunburnt, happy, and in one piece. 

We had an hour until our dinner reservations, so we got ready and met the Halleads and Uptons at the steak house. The naming conventions at this resort were so clear! The restaurant’s name is: Steak House.

Kris started laughing as soon as we walked toward the door.

“What?” I said.

“Look at that!” he said, gesturing to the giant statue in the middle of the restaurant. “It’s a steak house, and that statue is of a dairy cow - complete with an udder!”

Sure enough, a black and white Holstein with a pink udder greeted us.

We laughed. You KNOW it’s going to be good steak when they feature a dairy cow.

We hung out with the big group, and then we all went dancing – one of my favorite things to do.

Day five

I got up early and ran one more time. I was looking toward the mountains and saw a rainbow. What a fitting end to my time here.

We ate at the breakfast buffet, which I loved every single time, and met up with our transportation van at 9:30 a.m. Since it was an international flight, we had to check in at the airport. Amstar chose the time based on our flight time, and this gave us lots of leeway.

Instead of going straight to the airport, we went to another resort and we realized we were in a shared transportation van. He parked, got out, and we sat in the van for 20 minutes waiting for people. I was getting increasingly impatient, since I knew we were going to have to wait in line at the airport to get checked in. Finally, everyone came, and they were crude and smelled strongly, and I wondered why we didn’t get our own transportation. By the time we got to the airport, we had been in the van for an hour and a half.

But! The airport was incredibly organized, everyone was so helpful, and there were very short lines. We made it through everything in less than 30 minutes.

We had a four hour layover in Orlando, and our time through customs and TSA was incredibly quick. We spent an hour eating at Cask & Larder, and then we went to our gate, which required taking two trains. Good thing we had four hours.

When we arrived, a man came on the speaker and said that we could see the shuttle launch from the windows! It was the Artemis II, the trip with four astronauts about to orbit the moon. We had just been talking about it but didn’t consider we’d be able to see it from the airport!

Everyone moved to the windows and many people had the audio from NASA playing on their phones. Then – a collective cry from the crowd! Everyone pointed! There it was – the rocket! We all watched it as far until it disappeared into the clouds, and everyone applauded. What a surprise treat!

We flew home, made it home by 1:00 a.m., and slept in our own beds. 

This trip was great because of the fun (and funny) people, the different experiences, the beauty, the weather, and the adventure. Max had lots of firsts, and he liked them all. Ty and Cole each got to go on their own spring breaks, so I didn’t feel like they were missing out, but if I’m going to purchase a picture of us holding hands and jumping…it’s going to be of all five of us.

Shark dive in Jupiter, Florida

Andrea wanted to go on a shark dive. She had been on a shark dive before, but she wanted to go on one that was in a less controlled environment and actually scary.

Andrea makes great new year’s resolutions, and this was one of them. I jumped at the change to go with her – just like we jumped out of a plane last year!

Day one

The timing all worked out that on the way there we went to Dining in the Dark in Detroit with Julie, Kate, and Suzie. At this, you are blindfolded and eat a secret four-course meal, where you guess what you’re eating. It was held at the Detroit Club, which was beautiful. The entire event was funny and fun – it’s not easy to eat when you’re blindfolded, and we all eventually had to use our hands. We laughed a lot.  

Day two

This day was a comedy of errors. First, our flight was delayed. No big deal, we got a little later start.

When we go to the Fort Lauderdale airport, we got in a long line for the shuttle to the rental car location. No big deal. When we got there, we had to get another shuttle to the actual car rental place.

This is where the trouble started. A group of people stood in no particular order, waiting for separate shuttles.

We waited for a shuttle on a sidewalk. There was no actual line…different shuttles for different rental car companies arrived, and people would jockey for position. The shuttles stopped at different places on the sidewalk, so sometimes the people who had just arrived would get on, not realizing people standing farther down the sidewalk had been waiting. Our shuttle didn't come for a long time, and we watched shuttle drivers and people get mad at each other. It was hot and we were sweating. We were happy for the cloud cover, because there was also no shelter.

Finally, our shuttle came and we rode to our rental...U Save. Andrea booked this because it was inexpensive. There was no one working there when we got there, and when the woman working there arrived, she pointed to a yellowing document framed on the desk that said Andrea had to have a $2000 deposit on her credit card...or we had to buy their insurance...and she asked to see some 'document of certification' that Andrea had to show she had insurance in the first place. Suddenly it seemed like a hostage situation and we said - whatever. We don't know what happened or what kind of scam this was, but Andrea just said she’s never using an off-brand rental again.

We got into our (nice, no problems) car, and it promptly started downpouring. So! Andrea was driving an unfamiliar car in an unfamiliar place and she couldn’t see. She immediately got a phone call. It was a serious work call, and she pulled over to talk. She had to wait for a phone call back, and she said she just wanted to be parked when it happened so she could concentrate. I found a restaurant three miles from where we were, and we took off. Unfortunately, it started pouring even harder, traffic was awful, and Andrea got the call before we were there. A perfect combo!

I left her to talk in the car and thought I could go in and order food for her because we were both hungry. But they didn’t serve food until 5:00 p.m. She finished her call, and we drove to Tarpon Brewing. It had a great beach shack vibe inside a large building. We sat and chatted and Andrea said, “We should order.” I said, “We already ordered.” She said, “Did we?” I said, “Did we? I think so.” Then the server came and asked for our order. Was I delirious from hunger? Perhaps. Our food was great.

The drive from the airport to Jupiter was an hour when we had looked it up...with the rain and traffic, GPS told us it was two hours. We walked across the street to get a cup of coffee for the road. They had closed two minutes earlier. Okay! No caffeine then!

It was heavy traffic and poured most of our drive. It was a little stressful.

We made it to Jupiter and noted that we had been traveling for TWELVE HOURS. We walked with excitement into our tiny house Airbnb which was a boat on land.

We walked in and...we could not stop laughing. In the pictures it appeared there were two beds. And there was One. Tiny. Bed. Smaller than a single bed. A triangle. The foot of it was the front of the boat. It was shorter than my 5'7 frame. We couldn't stand up in the boat because...it was a boat built in 1915. We could barely move inside.

After we finished laughing, Andrea suggested we walk across the street to get ice cream. (Another one of her new year resolutions is to eat 52 different kinds of ice cream. I mean, wonderful.)

We got ice cream at Cones and Coffee and walked to DuBois Park to see the ocean. It was really pretty. It got dark pretty fast and started raining again.

When we returned home, I hit my head once a little, and then I hit it really hard. Takes some getting used to being a ship captain.

We got ready in our tiny, tiny house and crawled into our tiny, tiny bed.

Kris called, and Andrea and I talked to him and laughed and laughed, telling him about our day. We went to sleep looking at the rain on the skylight.

Day three

We woke up to blue sky and sun. It was a beautiful day which meant...we might be able to shark dive! The email the night before told us it was a game-time decision with the weather, but we were hopeful!

Honestly, the bed was not bad! Andrea and I both never move while sleeping, and the mattress was soft.

We ate breakfast at Bagel Bistro, which was really good.

We parked at U Tiki and met up with our guide and other people shark diving at the gazebo. We used the company Florida Shark Diving.

“Is it happening?” I asked as we signed waivers we didn’t read.

“It sure is!” Our guide Sophia said. “It’s a little swelly on the way out, but it’s beautiful!”

I was so incredibly excited. Swimming with sharks made me a little nervous, but seemed generally safe. It’s America, so legally it couldn't be crazy dangerous.

We went on a boat with a captain Brandon, guide Sophia, and a family of a dad, mom, and 2 preteen boys.

When she said swelly, they meant wavy. It was really, really wavy. We went 30 minutes at top speed offshore while we stared at the shoreline. It was really bumpy, and I felt like people could fly out of the boat, which made sense that Brandon said if anyone falls out, let me know.

This is how it worked. We went to the middle of nowhere in the ocean. Brandon dropped a box of chum attached to a rope. Fish swam around it, and this all attracted the sharks.

Then he threw a rope attached to a floating buoy into the water. We were instructed to hold onto the rope and look the sharks. They said: Don’t kick, don’t splash, don’t make noise, don’t move, don’t talk, don’t put your head up to breathe, and definitely don’t touch them.

Cage? No. This was up close and personal.

Andrea went first into the water, and I was next.

Brandon outfitted me with a shirt, gloves, life jacket, fins, mask, and snorkel. He instructed me to sit on the back of the boat with my legs over the side, and then to grab the rope and move down it to Andrea.

Sitting on the back of the boat was similar to sitting on the edge before jumping out of a plane.

I was off! The water was really wavy, but once I put my face in, it was blue and silent and serene. I made my way down the rope until I felt Andrea's hand. And...there they were. Giant bull sharks. Bull sharks look exactly what you would draw if you were going to draw a picture of a shark. They have a pointy fin on their back. They have big sharp teeth. They're also huge - like bigger than I am.

(Note: I looked them up later and this is what it said - Bull sharks are large, highly aggressive, and dangerous predators known for living in warm coastal waters and swimming far up rivers. Typically 7–11+ feet long and weighing up to 500+ lbs, they are unique for their ability to thrive in both salt and freshwater. Considered one of the most dangerous shark species to humans, they are often responsible for attacks in shallow, murky water. At the time I knew none of this.)

There were five huge bull sharks swimming around the chum box, and lots of perhaps arowana and blue runners. Some fish were riding on the sharks' bodies.

The sharks would swim right toward you and look at you. They would swim right under you. They were within arm's reach, and I saw why they had to tell people not to touch them.

Being in the water with them went against all of my normal and rational self-preservation instincts. Everything in me said danger! Stay away! But here we were, hanging out and watching them.

When one swam right toward us, Andrea and I gripped hands out of excitement. This was happening! It was really happening!

After awhile everyone else went in, but we still had time, so I stayed in by myself. The guide was also hanging out by the chum and taking pictures.

When I have snorkeled in the past, my main concern was the fish touching me. When the rest of the people went in, the sharks got closer and closer to me. I kept letting go of the rope to slide down it to get farther away from them. We were so close. Too close. When they swam under me, I also couldn’t keep an eye on them, because my snorkel would go under water. So I would watch them as long as I could, but then they would swim too far below me and I couldn’t keep the danger in my view.

Then, a shark came so close to me that it brushed against my leg. I couldn’t see it since it was below and behind me, so I questioned if it was the shark. Was it the rope? It did NOT feel like the rope. Either way, I didn’t move. I thought of a comedian who made a joke about playing dead when a bear attacks you. He said how long do you play dead? Do you just play dead until you’re dead?

I went back to the boat and borrowed Andrea’s hair tie so my mask wouldn't slip down. 

"That shark brushed against me," I said to Brandon. "Is that something that just happens?"

"They just like to check you out," he said. 

Right. Okay.

I went back in the water and watched Sophia. At one point, she dove down under water with the sharks, kicking and swimming. She took pictures of them right in their faces. She reached out and briefly touched one.

Well...now I wasn’t as worried. I kept my distance though, since I didn't want to be mistaken for chum. I watched the sharks swim for about an hour, and then I got shivery. My jaw was sore from biting down on the snorkel, and it was time to go in.

One of the kids was asleep, the mom and other kid were holding their heads over the side, and the dad looked a little pale.

Brandon threw fish to the sharks, and Andrea and I watched them feed at the surface.

“What is it?” I asked.

“It’s tuna,” he said.

“Tuna like people eat?” I said.

“No,” he laughed. “This would taste just like you would imagine.”

Actually I think all seafood tastes like I imagine that tuna tasted, but fine.

We rode back, and Brandon artfully piloted the boat between swells.

“I saw you touched them!” I said to Sophia.

“Yes, they were so sweet,” she said. Later, I thought about how her description did not match Wikipedia.

Sophia took my email address and said she’d send us the pictures in about a week. A week?! Where is my immediate gratification?

Andrea and I took advantage of the beautiful hot weather and went to Carlin Park. The waves were huge, and we just dipped in and walked and hung out and called our families to tell them we lived.

We decided to eat at U Tiki so we could be on the water, so we put our name on their very long wait list. We went to wait at the bar, and a server came over to take our order.

“Oh – can we eat here?” I asked.

“Yes, it’s first come first serve!” she said.

Well our day is coming up roses, we decided. The exact opposite of yesterday!

We ate lunch while looking at the water, Andrea joyfully checked this off her new year's resolution list, then we went home to shower.

The shower...the day before our trip I checked to make sure this house boat had AC. When I looked at the amenities, I noticed it did not have hot water and only had an outdoor shower. I told Andrea, and she replied: “It will be an adventure!”

The shower was even more of an adventure than we thought. First of all, you walk through the shower to get to our house. Second, it has a cutesy sign that said “Showers $1 – To Watch $2.” Third, it is not really private. It has wooden doors and is very open, so I quickly rinsed off with my suit on. A thermostat told me the water temp was 81 degrees.

Andrea went next, and when she returned to the boat, she looked shell shocked.

“I got stuck in the shower,” she said.

“How did you get out?” I said.

“I couldn't open the door to our side,” she said. “I tried and tried, and then the other door opened to a gentleman standing there with his toothbrush. I told him I couldn't get the door open. He said, “May I help you?””

“So wait...this is a COMMMUNITY outdoor shower?” I asked.

“I guess it is,” Andrea said. And we laughed.

We saw that a Tiki Taxi departed from the restaurant right next to us – Guanabana. It left every hour and was just $10. Perfect, we thought.

We stood on the dock to get on.

“Look,” Andrea said, pointing at the shore. “There's…our shower.”

Sure enough. We could see our shower from the dock. A VERY community shower!

We got on the Tiki Taxi and had a lovely ride talking to everyone else on the boat as we toured along the river. We pointed out where we'd been that day. There were lots of people from New York and New Jersey who moved here or wintered here.

Guanabana looked perfect for dinner, but some people told us the food was just okay. We had to wait for a table, and then we scored such a great one - on the water, beautiful view, greenery, and we could - once again - see our shower from there! What an amazing spot to have dinner AND a show!

Our food was great - mine was the best I had while I was in Florida. We also really loved the atmosphere. After we ate, a live band played, but they were an Allman Brothers cover band and we didn't know any of the songs. We stayed for awhile, and then sat outside in the warm air before heading home to our tiny bed once again.

Day four

I ran to DuBois Park again, this time to see the sunrise. There were lots of fishermen out, much shared excitement when one had a fish on the line, two men smoking cigars, and people also gathered to also watch the sun come up.

Andrea and I once again ate at Bagel Bistro because it was so great the first time.

We had tried to make a glass bottom boat kayaking tour reservation, but we were put on a waiting list. Andrea suggested we go there and see if they had any last minute spots. It took us awhile and a phone call to the company to find where to go...because we didn’t actually have any instruction or a real reservation where they would normally tell us.

We finally met up with a guide named Callaway and three families with kids that were also touring. Callaway asked where we were from, we chatted, he told us he was 26 and born and raised in Jupiter, and he gave us a dry bag for our possessions. He started off with a few pointers on paddling, and said he would get us settled into the kayaks.

We’d let them go first, Andrea and I agreed. We immediately clocker there were not enough kayaks for all of us in the water.

Callaway got the people into their kayaks and walked toward us on shore, looking a little sick.

“I must have miscounted,” he said, grabbing his kayak. “You can have this one.” He started hauling it down to the water.

“But…don’t you need a kayak?” I asked.

“I'll just go on a stand up paddleboard,” he sighed.

Andrea and I came clean fast.

“We don’t have a reservation! We were just hoping you had room!” we said, our words overlapping.

He looked sick again.

“I can't...really do that,” he said.

“IT'S FINE!” I yelled, sorry we were making him say this.

“No problem! We’ll just leave!” Andrea said.

We hurried off, dropping off the dry bag, when he jogged up and told us, “I have to unlock the gate for you to get out.”

He escorted through the gate and locked us out. People like us are why they have gated communities here.

But! Zero problem. We had another plan. Kayaks CAME FREE with the boat house! We slipped them into the water and had a wonderful paddle around the mangroves. It was calm and gorgeous. No glass bottom needed! Andrea pointed out that we had been on boats for most of our trip - counting our home - four boats in three days was a record for both of us.

I steeled myself and took my last cold plunge shower, and then we checked out and drove to Fort Lauderdale.

We marveled at the yachts that were parked on streets that were water - just like Venice! We passed a street called Isle of Venice Dr. They got it, we laughed. We walked down Las Olas Boulevard and checked out places to eat. We happened upon a place that was really buzzing – Louie Bossi's Ristorante Bar Pizzeria

The hostess asked if we wanted to be inside or outside. We chose outside, and she led us into a beautiful garden! It was so decorated and pretty! How pretty? We watched four girls take Instagram pictures there for 15 minutes. How lucky were we for finding it?

Food, service, atmosphere, and people watching were all all top notch. We walked around checking out the yachts until we heard thunder and headed to return our rental car. The shuttle was quick and we were to only people on it. We waited for the next shuttle for about 30 minutes, and it took us about 30 minutes to get through TSA.

Our flight was delayed for 2.5 hours due to weather, and then Spirit said we were going to wait for some international passengers. I didn’t even see any empty seats, but then 26 more people got on! I was happy for them…who knew we still waited? It was absolutely pouring on the drive home, it was difficult to see – but we finally made it home at 3:30 a.m.

When I went to bed I closed my eyes, picturing the sharks circling below me.

I get a real thrill out of new experiences like these, since they bring me so much joy to do and think about later. I once read that to slow down time you should have new experiences. I'm giving it a shot, and I'm so glad I have friends and Andrea in particular who is up for anything, has an adventurous spirit, and is small enough to share a tiny, tiny boat house.