Vacation 2013!

K and I trecked down to Florida this week to visit her folks. It's been a good week, largely visiting, but we worked in a couple adventures.

The trip down was certainly one of them, we flew into the first snowpocolypse of the winter.....

Snow shut down most ways out  of Philly, but we got out on a last hail Mary to DC (which was not on our original itinerary) and got stuck there for a day, which was actually quite nice. We hit Chinatown for Dim Sum (which cannot be had anywhere around Central PA) and popped into REI to get a replacement for my backpack which was blowing seams out at a rate that made it unlikely it would live to get to Florida.

The guy in the above photo needed a bigger shovel. There's a lot of runway out there.

After two days and five planes, we made it to the land of white beaches and clear skies, Niceville, Florida! Once down here we spend a few days hitting some of the boardwalks, parks (Navel Live Oaks Park was pretty cool), beaches and seafood restaurants. All great and amazing how the area goes rapidly from super built up to wilderness.

Kristina's parents were excellent at giving tours of all the local sights, providing excellent restaurant picks and fun and relaxing evenings hanging out with them. 

We did one full day adventure on our own. A quick river paddleboard trip up to a super clear spring for some snorkeling (the water was in the 60's and air not much warmer, so it was certainly wetsuit mandatory swimming).

Me and our guide/instructor Gabe of Walkin on Water Paddleboards.

Paddleboarding was both easier and harder than it looks for us. It was easier to get started (and no fall in's) but I think would take a few trips to really be comfortable with. We will probably do another paddleboard trip sometime.

Yellowbelly Slider

Freshwater Mullet

Freshwater Kristina

We have one more day mainly relaxing then we fly out of Florida into another storm that will probably strand us in Charlotte, so time for me to go google what there is to do with a day or so there....