Thanksgiving in Florida

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian family and friends. We have so much to be thankful for and we are blessed to have such a great family and group of friends who love and support us.  And we are so thankful for this opportunity to explore and have this time together as a family.

We said goodbye to Key West this morning but not before one last golf cart ride through the McDonald’s drive thru. We took our breakfast to one of the local marinas and enjoyed it while admiring all the yachts. After Ron said a sad goodbye to our golf cart (I think we will have to get him one eventually) we were on our way, starting with a scenic drive back across the Overseas Highway.

Today’s drive was about 8 hours. This will be our last long drive for the remainder of our trip.  We have now started to rework our travel days to not exceed 5 hours. Our family and puppy dogs will be so much happier now. What will also be nice about this last half of our trip is the fact that we’ll be moving closer to the PST zone. This means the kids will be able to complete all their school work in the mornings instead of late afternoons. The time change right now makes for quiet mornings (or sometimes not if the kids decide they don’t like each other) in the truck and busy school afternoons right up to dinner time. 

Between catch-up work and live class meetings, the kids had a full day of school in the truck. By the time we pulled into our KOA at Saint Petersburg, it was dinner time and we were tired. Their Halloween decorations perked us up, though. It was such a treat for the kids to see and this campground really got into the spirit. They even had a creepy clown which I found the scariest. There’s something about clowns and all their face makeup that really makes me uncomfortable.  

We prepared our Thanksgiving dinner after we were all set up. It was a bit different this year but still delicious. Ron BBQ’d the last halibut fillet from our friend Mike and grilled baby potatoes.  Asparagus and fresh veggies finished off the meal. We went around the table and mentioned what we were thankful for and then enjoyed our family meal.  The Key Lime Pie at the end was pretty yummy too and the perfect finish considering we were in Florida for this special occasion. 

We have one more day here and plan to spend it on a local beach that Rahil recommended. I am happy because the temperature has dropped a couple degrees and the humidity feels a tad better. My Canadian roots are coming out and it’s becoming clear to me that I prefer cooler temperatures. Perhaps it’s not just me. Maggie and Remi seem happier here too.  

Good night from Saint Petersburg!