Orlando to Texas

Here is a quick glimpse into "van life". When we have to sleep in the van we usually find a Walmart parking lot. Walmart has an open policy allowing travelers and RVers to park overnight in their lots as a way to get weary travelers off the road...and of course into their stores. It is also nice to have a restroom to use as soon as you wake up in the morning.


Rebecca slowly waking up after a night sleeping in the van.


Living the glamorous life. Breakfast in a Walmart parking lot. Our first night in the van was in Panama City Beach, Florida. After parking the van, we walked into the store to use the restroom and quickly realized that is was Spring Break. There were college kids everywhere buying cheap beer, pushing bikini clad girls around in shopping carts, and generally being obnoxious. Good times.


Panama City Beach has some weird attractions. This upside down building is WonderWorks. This is what their website had to say: "WonderWorks™ is an amazing Panama City Beach attraction where scientific principles and fun come together to provide an unrivaled educational experience."


Ripley's Believe It Or Not.


Killer Whale attacking Pirate.


It was really windy and cold that morning due to the storms and tornados that passed through two days before.


After leaving Panama City we continued our drive through the panhandle. We stopped at this cute beach town called Seaside. We ate a great veggie lunch at one of these airstream trailers.






We ate our 2nd lunch at this little park and watched kids play football and throw around a frisbee. It was a beautiful day.


We spent that night in Biloxi, MS and then drove to New Orleans for an afternoon.


This square was really fun to walk around. There were tons of amazing artist selling their goods at a very reasonable price.



Next up: Texas, Texas, and more Texas.

Universal Studios

A big thank you and high five goes to our buddy Chris for making the visit to Universal Studios possible. Also, much love to Brian and Brad for letting us stay at their house and to Andy and Theo for putting up with Pirate.


Universal Studios!


As soon as we entered the park we high-tailed it to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter! Look! Snow in Florida!


At platform 9 3/4 waiting for the train to take us to. . .


Hogwarts!


Went to Olivander's Wand Shop to pick out my wand and look at owls.


All the excitement was making me thirsty so we got some Butterbeer.


Mmmmm, Butterbeer.


After waiting in line for about 45 minutes we got to go in Hogwarts for a dark roller-coaster-type ride. (Yeah, I'm a dork and I'm ok with it.)


Next up was Dr. Seuss World.




This was probably Rebecca's favorite part of the day, watching artists draw people's caricature. Some of these artists are simply amazing. This couple was giddy with anticipation.


Did you know that Donkey is Rebecca's long lost sibling. They both loooove to talk. Donkey was really funny today and Rebecca was star-struck.


Many of you know that I love Great White sharks and the Jaws movies. Here I am stealing a kiss from this beauty. Of course, I prefer my sharks alive but this plastic one will do. I was very disappointed in the Jaws ride at Universal. Not only was it too short, but the shark only came up on my side of the boat once!

We are now in Austin and will stay in Texas for another week or so before making our way to Colorado.

Back to Bradenton, FL

After our wonderful stay in Tampa, we headed back to Bradenton for another week with Rebecca's dad.


Rebecca, her dad and myself went to Stickney Point for a trail run and some sightseeing.




The bridges and wooden walkways made for an interesting trail run.


I know it is a common flower but this guy spoke to me.


The hard, grey seeds in this flower are called nickerbeads. We found a huge bush full of them. It is weird that something so hard grew from a plant.


Fun root structure on this tree.


MONSTER!




Inspired by Dan Price's "Moonlight Chronicles", Rebecca and I have been keeping art journals on our trip. This is her first attempt using water colors. Pretty darn good.


This was the view Rebecca had while laying down in her kayak one morning.


The last time I really drew was back in highschool when I took some art classes. Drawing lines feels extremely foreign to me. I brought a few old pictures on this trip with the hopes that i might be able to draw them. This is a sketch of my grandfather from a picture that was taken in 1991 when I was still rockin' a mullet. Later that year I discovered Nirvana and swapped the mullet for the floppy grunge haircut. Maybe I'll draw me with a mullet next.


The yummy Taco Bus and a penguin at the zoo.

Next: Universal Studios and our drive to Austin, TX.

Tampa, FL

Before leaving for Tampa, we stopped at Anna Maria Point to walk on the beach.


Pirate was a bit reluctant to leave, but we assured her that she would have cats to play with in Tampa.


Our first stop was the University of Tampa where I went to college. These minarets (and 8-10 more) are found on top of Plant Hall, the oldest building on campus.


After dropping Pirate off at Brian and Brad's house, we went out to eat at Grass Roots. Unfortunately, they decided to chop a months worth of onions while we were eating. All of our eyes were watering throughout the entire meal.


All vegan food with lots of raw options.


The next day we went to some outdoor markets to get fresh veggies for our dinner. This lady was opening coconuts to drink.


Rebecca and Brian enjoying a refreshing beverage.




The Taco Bus was awesome. All sorts of goodies and vegan steak for your tacos! This place will be featured on "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" on the Food Network in March.


Brian and I got manly and built two benches for their back deck.


Veggies for grilling.


Got to see some kids that I haven't seen in years.


On Sunday morning after I got my butt kicked in basketball by Andy and Chris, I met Brian, Brad and Rebecca at a Thai Temple (Wat Mongkolratanaram) that serves brunch on Sundays.


I can't remember what these were, but Brian loves them.


Later that day we went to the Lowry Park Zoo. While not the biggest zoo, it has everything you want to see and can be done in less than 2 hours.


First we feed the lorikeets.


Then the giraffes.


Then the.....oh boy, get a room kids.


This wallaby had a little one in her pouch, but I was never fast enough to get it on film.


Game night while watching the Oscars. Matt gets excited when we play Ticket To Ride.


When my grandparents lived in Florida, they would take me here every time I visited them. It is a power plant that takes in the cool ocean water and pumps out warm water. The manatees love to come there and hang out.


I've seen well over 50 manatees in this lagoon at one time, but today we only saw a few.


These guys were just leaving when we got there.


The visitors center has a Hurricane Simulator. Rebecca was a brave volunteer.


Manatees move really fast and bounce off of boats in this game.


We wrapped up our stay with a walk along Bayshore Blvd., the longest continuous sidewalk in the world. It is over 4.5 miles long.