I know its been awhile since we’ve posted with any sort of regularity, our lives have taken so many twists and turns its really difficult to keep up. However the last few weeks, especially, have taken us to a drastically different landscape that it feels fitting to write about.

We left the Rocky mountains of the west in search of blue waters and warm sunshine. In just a few days, we were back in the midwest and then out the door again to head down to the coast. We have traveled through 19 states (yes we counted) between where we are now and Calgary, a bit over 4,500 miles and under 3 weeks of time! It is perfectly fitting for our nomadic lifestyle, but we are exhausted, in need of a true vacation.

Thankfully, there was one sitting in waiting just around the corner. We were lucky enough to make it to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, where we met with some of my family and enjoyed a full week of R&R, beach-style!

I believe that it has been many years since we’ve had any type of vacation such as this; one where you do absolutely nothing but relax. There was plenty of fun just visiting with the fam, but we also enjoyed taking naps under the beach tent while viewing the gorgeous Gulf coast, sipping piña coladas and whiling away our days with very little activity. Jake, of course, managed to do plenty of running; I believe he accomplished his longest distance-running session in a week ever, at 42 kilometers. I only went about 20km, not including all the walking on the beach and swimming in the ocean. It just felt great to do mostly nothing for a change. We all had a blast and I believe we have a new family tradition on our hands.

After our fun in the sun, we thought we’d continue on this ocean-path and journey to Atlanta, Georgia, which is home to the largest aquarium in the world…Or is it the largest tank in the world? I’m not positive, but either way, its supposed to be one of the best and I am a FISH-A-HOLIC. Plus, its on our way to Bosco-boat, which is where we were heading next anyways. So we decided to make a little weekend holiday of it.

This was our first visit to “Hotlanta” and boy was it sweltering. I am pretty sure we were in high 90’s (or 30 degrees C) and 100% humidity. But thankfully, we spent most of our days inside. We rented an apartment less than 1 block from the aquarium, which was right downtown. So once we parked, we didn’t move the car again until we were done. The city was plenty packed when we arrived, but we only had one full day to spend, most of it spent inside the GA.

I took about 1000 photos and tons of video of all the cute fishes, sea otters, sea lions, dolphins, penguins, whale sharks, mana rays, etc. I tried to pull out all of my favorites from the place, but I have to say, this was by far one of the best aquariums we’ve ever seen. It is actually 5 different “mini-aquariums” that join together with a huge lobby in the middle. But don’t let the word “mini” fool you, they are all ginormous.

The place is so big that we actually took a little break and walked back to our apartment for a quick bite and a cold beverage before going back for round 2. And still, somehow, we found things we missed on the first pass; including a 4-D movie, a beluga whale impromptu show and one of the largest live-coral tanks I’ve ever witnessed. Oh, and of course, several passes through the “Shark tube”. There’s going to be huge shark aquarium expansion next year, I think Jake and I are going to go back and spend the night next to the big tank (which is for adults only!).

We had a blast, even though we only had one full day to visit. Next time I hope we can explore a bit more of the city. Still its always fun to visit new places.

Video Montage

The next morning we were off bright and early for the very long, but pretty easygoing journey to New Bern, NC. Its definitely nice to be back on familiar ground. We have been here for a few days and are already settled in again to all the old haunts, visiting with friends (and big red) and of course, our Bosco boat!

We were pleasantly surprised to see Bosco boat after all of the work that was done to her since Hurricane Florence, and she is looking splendid. The one thing that we are going to do is let her go gray, i.e. the teak on the outside. Right now it looks like she had a bad sunburn and all that old skin is peeling, so I spent a good hour today sanding much of it off. Some of the rails are looking really nice and I think gray is a more suiting color on her; not to mention a hell of a lot easier to maintain!

Jake and I are very seriously considering another trip on Bosco, either back south or way north (Depending on the season). There are going to be a few more things that we will need to do to get her ready, but not too much. And I think another trip is exactly what we are aching for (Even Jake!)

But alas, that will have to wait because we have a new adventure just around the riverbed (and across the ocean) coming up in less than 1 month! Holy cow, time sure does fly. We are so excited to take on a new country and I will be delighted to share it with all of you!