Tropical Christmas

We're still in Florida. We've tried to leave. At least 4 times in fact. And yet somehow new opportunities keep arising- ones we just can't pass up. It's all been so very synchronistic. But anyway, let's at least start by filling you in with our Christmas, geez it's already been a couple of weeks!

As I mentioned in a previous post, Andrew and I spent 3 nights camping in Everglades National Park. We rented a canoe for a very reasonable cost and paddled between three different keys along the Gulf Coast. No kidding, paddling along felt an awful lot like being on the Kuskokwim! Weren't expecting me to say that right? It was surprising for us too. The mangroves looked like willows and the keys and coast were flat, almost like tundra. See for yourself below:

Tubungaluk river, a narrow Kuskokwim tributary outside of Bethel

Canoeing the Everglades coast- talk about tricky landmark identification...

Haha, you can't really see much in those photos can you? Oh well, you'll have to take my word for it. It was nice to experience a little familiarity on Christmas. Sike! It looked like Bethel for a hot second but let's be real, it was probably at least 120 degrees warmer, which is not exactly what we've been accustomed to! I feel a bit bad about posting these pictures, beloved Bethelites. I know you've had a particularly cold and blustery winter. Last we heard it was -37 (ambient) in Bethel with pipes frozen all over town and school cancelled. Yeah, we're terrible. Sorry. In our defense, we were two of maybe a dozen Alaskans who never vacationed in Hawaii during those cold, long winters. That doesn't really soften the blow does it?

Algae along the beach where tidal differences shape the landscape considerably.

Andrew said I looked like I was going to the races. What can I say? It was $2 from Goodwill and entirely effective.

Is he serious?

Merry Christmas! We were sure in the spirit after a beautiful, starry Christmas Eve night in a tent without the need for a fly- wow, what a concept. I was happy I picked up a star chart a while back. As you can see above though, Andrew got a little too excited with the sunscreen in anticipation of a beautiful day. Apparently he thought it was necessary to rub zinc all over his legs and face (including the beard, friends). Unfortunately, it barely came off- only later that night after a good 20 minutes of frustrated scrubbing with Bronner's. Needless to say, I thought this whole episode was hilarious. 

Couldn't resist one more photo

Even though the mangroves looked a bit like willows on the bank
 from a distance, in actuality, they're altogether different and very beautiful.

Tiger Key where we spent our second night

So the above photo looks like a tropical paradise, right? Almost. There was one little drawback to our stay- actually millions of tiny drawbacks. Yup, you can leave Alaska but apparently not the mosquitos or no-see-ums. Sigh. Andrew and I were nearly eaten alive Christmas night in a  mad dash to erect our tent. From the time the sun dropped below the horizon until it rose the next morning with a sweet breeze, we were trapped in our tiny 2-person tent! So much for the fancy jarred caribou we brought for the occasion- it was tortillas with peanut butter for Christmas dinner along with about 200 bug bites each and a good 2 hours of squashing those little bastards against the side of our tent. I was good about not scratching the bites at first but I reached a limit and lost all control a few days later. These lasting marks aren't permanent scars, right?

Anyway, our last night was much better thanks to a kind breeze on Picnic Key, where our beach spot looked out over the Gulf of Mexico. (We found out the next day upon returning the rented canoe that there are apparently lots of big sharks that like to swim all around this area. Good thing we took only a quick dip!)

So ends our Christmas entry. We hope all of you had a lovely holiday as well!  Love you lots!