For the last few years my good high school friends Sallie and Aleen and I have gotten together for a weekend getaway, just the ladies. It’s one of my favorite weekends of the year! This year we ended up at a resort in Clearwater, Florida. The weather was perfect, the drinks were cold, and the conversation was great.
This year’s spring break was pretty low key, and it was also really nice. We did a tour of the Mid-Atlantic – visiting the Townsends in Maryland, staying a few days with my family in Virginia, and then ending the week in Rock Hall with the Sharps.
We stayed with the Townsends in their new house, which is beautiful. All three girls get along really well, but Bella and Lauren are especially close.
Then we hit the road down to Charlottesville where we stayed for a few days. The weather was mostly beautiful and we took full advantage spending a lot of time outside.
Ari and the girls also get along really well, especially Ari and Lauren who are only a year apart.
We spent the last few days of the week in Rock Hall, where the weather was beautiful and we were able to hit the beach one day, and where I also neglected to take any pictures.
And we ended the week off with Easter brunch at Torresdale with the Sharps, Zoe, and Elliott.
At the end of August we went out to Jackson, WY for an end of summer vacation. Dave had been out there before to snowboard, but it was the first time for me. It was amazing! The scenery was breathtaking, nature everywhere, clean air, delicious water, so many outdoor activities – it was heaven.
We stayed in a condo that was situated between the towns of Jackson and Wilson. Lina also came with us.
Day 1
On our first full day there we headed to Heart 6 ranch, a working cattle ranch, for a 4 hour guided tour on horseback. It was an aggressive start as none of us has any horse riding experience, but we did it and it was so much fun. We had a great, very patient guide, who took us way up to the top of a mountain where we could look down on the snake river. We had lunch up top, and then headed back down. Our seats were sore for the rest of the week, but it was worth it.
The guide led us and the horses were trained to just follow. Occasionally they would try to stop and eat grass or brush, but otherwise, they were super well trained, which was great because we were not well trained at all.
The girls on their horses. Lauren’s was named Trouble and Sophie’s was named Rowdy. Lucky neither lived up to their names.
Here’s the crew on top of the mountain after we stopped for lunch.
Day 2
On day two we headed into Yellowstone. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate. It was rainy until we started to get up into higher elevations and then it turned to snow. We did not pack for this – I was wearing sandals. The poor girls were freezing all day. Despite the weather we saw some amazing things and made the most of it.
Our first stop was Old Faithful. It was pouring the entire ride there and fortunately about two minutes before it went off it stopped raining and we all went out to see it.
There she blows.
The water that blows out is extremely hot and the steam came wafting toward us, which we all tried to huddle in front of.
The landscape was just amazing. There were geothermal areas dotting the entire area, so you could look around and see steam rising everywhere.
Grand Prismatic Spring and Midway Geyser Basin. It looked a bit like we were on the surface of mars.
The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
Passing the Continental Divide.
Day 3
We headed to Jackson Hole Mountain on the third day. In the summer they use the mountain for non-skiing actives, like mountain biking, hiking, and climbing.
Dave, Sophie and Lina did a ropes course, while Lauren and I climbed up to an observation tower.
Sophie the climber.
View from the observation tower.
After lunch we took the tram up to the top of the mountain. We hit up some clothing stores beforehand to make sure we were a little more appropriately dressed this time. Yes, I wore socks with sandals. It happened.
The fam at the top of the mountain.
We decided to do a two mile hike that was a loop back to the tram and also a restaurant known for their waffles.
The girls demonstrating their strength.
Red tailed hawk looking down at us.
We also saw this marmot who was not happy we were there. He was making crazy noises at us.
After we were about three quarters of the way done the hike we realized the last quarter was pretty much a 1,000 ft rock scramble back to the top. We considered backtracking, but decided to just go for it. The girls were amazing. It was really tough, even for the adults. We took a lot of rests but they made it.
Shots of us making our way up to the top
I’m not sure who long it took us, but we finally made it back to the top. Here are the girls with the Grand Teton in the background.
The waffle reward! They were actually delicious.
Day 4
The next day we headed to Grand Teton National Park. Fortunately the weather was amazing and the mountains were just stunning. Here are just a bunch of shots from the day.
Jenny Lake where we stopped for lunch.
Pronghorn sitting in a field
Day 5
On Thursday Lina watched the girls and Dave and I headed back to Jackson Hole Mountain. He did a trail run (where he nearly ran into a moose) and I took the tram back up to the top of the mountain for a morning yoga class. Fortunately there was temperature inversion that day, so the top of the mountain was actually about 15 degrees warmer than the bottom.
View from my yoga class.
While we were at the mountain Lina took the girls to the playground where they also had a close encounter with a moose! This female was sitting in the field while they were playing, but when she stood up, Lina made the girls climb up on the fort.
After the morning we headed back to the condo, grabbed the girls and Lina, and headed to the Snake River, where we took a 13 mile rafting trip. We had an amazing guide who was very knowledgeable about everything along the river and we saw about seven bald eagles, which was really cool.
The trip started out with Lauren getting stung by a wasp twice within 10 minutes, which was not cool, but after the calmed down the rest of the trip was lovely. It was actually a pretty smooth ride with very small rapids, which the girls loved.
One of the seven bald eagles we saw along the way. This one was enjoying a fish lunch alongside the river.
View of the Tetons from the water.
That night Lina watched the girls again and Dave and I went out to a nice dinner at the Granary Restaurant. But first we had a drink next door at the super fancy Amangani hotel.
The view from the deck of the hotel where we got a pre-dinner drink.
Day 6
The next day we rented bikes and checked out the town of Jackson. It’s a super bike friendly town with paths leading everywhere.
The only bikes we could rent were geared bikes, and Lauren had never ridden one before, but she got the hang of it pretty quickly. We ended up riding 13 miles and by the end she was an old pro.
Here’s a video of the crew biking along side a big elk refuge right outside of the town center.
Day 7
On Day 7 we were supposed to go home, but because of weather our flight got really delayed, which meant we were going to have to spend the night in Dallas and fly from there the next day. We decided it was a much better idea to stay in Jackson for another day. We found a condo for just one night at the Snow King resort right in town and the girls spent some time in the pool while Dave and I got another hike in.
What an amazing week! One of the most gorgeous places I’ve ever been. We were all bummed to come home, but are looking forward to going back again soon!
We just got back from a week vacation on the Sharp’s sailboat in the Chesapeake Bay. The timing weatherwise was not great, as the first part of the week was also the first heatwave of the season – but we made the most of it. Outside of the weather we had a great, very relaxing time.
On Sunday night we met the Sharps in Turners Creek, where we did a boat/car exchange. They had brought the boat from Rock Hall and they drove back that night in our car. We grilled on the boat, did a lot of swimming, and tried to stay cool. There was a nice breeze all night, so it wasn’t that bad.
You could easily spot us on the river, as we were the only boat with a giant inflatable flamingo and unicorn. The girls spent most of their times playing on these, especially on the very hot days.
The next day we headed over to Fairlee Creek, about a 4 hour motor away. We did some more swimming, seining for creatures, kayaking, and playing on the beach.
Here’s a shot of Sophie and Lauren in the kayak headed over to the beach. Soph is getting pretty good with the kayak.
Both he girls took turns steering the boat on the trip. Here’s Lauren with a little oversight from Dave.
The Sharps met us again and we made dinner over an open fire on the beach, which is pretty unusual because most places don’t allow fires on the beach.
Here are the girls cooking their dinners over the open flames… Sophie with her not so campfire easy tofu 😉
But soon the smoke got to be too much for the girls and the dads took over…
That night, after the Sharps left, the wind died and the bugs descended. It was a pretty rough night for all. Definitely the low point of the trip.
On Tuesday, July 3rd, we headed over to Rock Hall for their Independence Day celebration, which they do the day before. We watched fireworks from the front yard of the Sharp’s house.
The next morning, on the 4th, Dave and I ran in the Flat Five, a 5 mile race throughout Rock Hall. There are only about 50 people who do it, and Dave and I both placed in our age class (first time ever)! I won my class and he came in third.
Here we are with our coveted prizes: a coffee mug for me and a beer cozy for Dave.
That day there was a parade than ran through town and then Dave (pop pop) had a gig with the house band at the Harbor Shack. It was pretty cool to hear him play.
Here’s a video of the band:
We stayed for the first set, and then got back on the boat and motor/sailed 3 hours to Baltimore, where we docked and watched their 4th of July fireworks, which was pretty impressive.
On our way over to Baltimore we passed right by the buoy marketing the spot where Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner, which was pretty cool.
The next two days we spent in Baltimore. Dave and to work 1/2 days, so I took the kids around – to the National Aquarium, the Maryland Science Center, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, and some shopping.
Lauren sitting on a “motorcycle” that was crafted from one piece of wood at Ripley’s, and the girls at the Inner Harbor.
We went to a famous dessert spot called Vaccaro’s where we got the biggest dessert I’ve ever seen. There was no way 4 of us could finish it.
It was called a snickers volcano.
On our last day we met the Townsend’s for lunch (who live just an hour away) before jumping back on the boat to Rock Hall.
In October the Sharps left for their eight month adventure down the East Coast and into the Bahamas. We were lucky enough to meet them in December in Key West, and lucky again to meet up with them in The Exumas, Bahamas, for spring break. It was amazing! We leaving a cold, snowy Philly and it was warm AND beautiful!
SATURDAY
We left Saturday morning, flew to Nassau, and then took the sketchiest plane I’ve ever been on to Staniel Key. Only a 30 minute flight, thank God. There was electrical tape holding some of the lights up, and not all seat belts worked, I’m not kidding.
Here we are taking up almost half the plane. They had to seat us according to weight.
During a stop over at another island, Sophie jumped up to sit right behind the pilots.
Here’s a shot of Staniel Key from the plane. By far the most populated island we were on all week (in fact, the only populated island). Accessibly via sketchy plane and private yacht, making it an interesting mixture of locals, a handful of cruisers (like the Sharps), and very wealthy folks – half totally pretentious and half totally crusty.
Once we arrived in Staniel Key a woman who worked at the airport (which was a building the size of our living room) was nice enough to give us a ride on her golf cart to the yacht club, where the Sharp’s boat was.
Here are the girls in the back of the golf cart.
We met up with the Sharps at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club, which had one of two restaurants on the island. It also had a large group of Nurse sharks that hung right in the water outside. They congregate there because it’s where the fisherman throw their scraps. They’re not aggressive, so the girls could go down and pet them.
SUNDAY
On Sunday we went snorkeling in Thunderball Grotto, made famous by the James Bond Thunerball movie. It was a cave that you had to hit right at slack tide, otherwise it was too hard to get into. Once inside it opened up to this amazing space that was lit from above by an opening. There were thousands of fish. It was pretty incredible. Sophie snorkeled with us, Lauren didn’t want to leave the boat.
Dave brought his go pro – here’s one of the videos.
After the Grotto we left Staniel and headed to Shroud Cay. It was about a four hour boat ride. We anchored and took the dinghy and kayaks to this beautiful beach, which you got to via a winding waterway through mangroves.
Here’s a shot of Kathy prepping to lower the anchor. It was pretty amazing – the entire week we hardly saw other people. Each anchorage had maybe two or three other boats.
On the kayak trip to the beach we saw a lot of sea turtles, including this guy.
Me in the kayak.
Sunday night’s sunset. They were all pretty amazing – it was hard to pick just one to post.
MONDAY – WEDNESDAY
On Monday we left for Warderick Wells Cay. We planned on only staying there one night, but the wind really picked up and it was just too dangerous to leave – which I am not complaining about because this place was amazing. I’ve certainly been “stuck” in worse places.
Here’s Warderick Wells.
The tides are pretty extreme there, and when it’s high tide there are some cool intertidal zones. Every day we went and checked out what came in.
Here are the girls exploring.
One of the sharks that we saw. He was pretty small – maybe two feet. He was just waiting there for his dinner to float in.
We did a few hikes at this Cay, including one up to Boo Boo Hill, which was named after the sound the waves make crashing into the cliff.
Here’s a view from the top of Boo Boo Hill. The only non-sailboat is ours.
At the top to Boo Boo Hill people leave the names of their boats on pieces of drift wood. Sophie made a sign for So Many Stars and Dave screwed it in to remain for years to come.
Sophie with her sign.
A family shot on the way up to the top of Boo Boo Hill.
Monday night we celebrated Dave’s 67th birthday. Kathy had bought a cake from a woman who also ran the laundromat in Staniel Cay.
The next day Dave, the girls and I took a hike to another side of the island. We followed a path someone had marked with yellow paint.
…and ended up at another amazing beach – totally secluded.
This one was called Barefoot Beach.
On the main beach there was this huge skeleton of a sperm whale that had died and washed up on the beach years ago. There was a sign that said it had died by ingesting plastic. Later in the week we ended up on a beach that had a lot of plastic that had washed up on it – so we all moved it up to past the waterline, reminding the girls about the whale.
On our last day at Warderick Wells we took the dinghy to another area of the island we hadn’t explored yet and spent the day on the beach. The only other people we saw was a Canadian couple and their granddaughter, who were hiking around.
On most beaches were piles of rocks. Dave and the girls help to build this one.
THURSDAY
The winds finally calmed down enough for us to travel on Thursday and we headed to Cambridge Cay, which was about a two hour boat ride. It was another beautiful anchorage, and when we arrived we were the only boat there, other than a catamaran, which was there permanently to collect mooring fees.
Our first adventure was to an amazing area called The Aquarium, known for some the the best snorkeling in The Exumas. Unfortunately the go pro had gone dead by this point, so there’s not video. Lauren did snorkel with us this time.
Next up, we went to a small island that the girls “claimed” with flags.
First the girls hammed it up…
And then planted their flags.
The next adventure was a hike out to some blowholes.
Dave, his dad, and I went out on Thursday to check it out.
FRIDAY
The next morning we did the blowhole hike again with the kids, Kathy, and Rosie the dog.
The landscape looked a little like Ireland.
Dave his dad and I also hiked to the top of a big hill not far from the blowholes.
Dave and Rosie at the top.
Me with the mooring in the background. A big yacht had joined us the evening before, so there ended up being three of us there.
Panoramic shot from the top of the hill.
After that we were off to see the swimming pigs.
Another two hour boat ride and we anchored right outside of Staniel Cay. We took the dinghy into see the famous pigs. To be honest, they were slightly terrifying. Some of them were huge, and they were very aggressive, coming right up to eat the food you hopefully brought for them (we brought carrots). Although other people were in the water, I wouldn’t let the girls get in, which they were not happy about. They did come right up to the boat though.
Lauren tossing the carrot because I was too afraid to let her feed him by hand. They were not very good at catching food in their mouths.
That night we had our last meal back at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club.
Not a great shot, but it’s one of the few group ones we got.
SATURDAY
All good vacations must come to and end. We took another golf cart back to the same sketchy plane and headed home.
One last shot of the group in front of the boat.
An amazing week!
In October, Kathy and Dave Sharp left for their 8 month adventure aboard their boat, So Many Stars, from Newport, RI to the Caribbean. On December 26th we met them for the first time since they left down in the Florida Keys. At 9:30am the morning after Christmas we boarded a flight to Ft Lauderdale, rented a car, and drove the additional 4 hours (which ended up being 6 with traffic) to Stock Island, just north of Key West. The Sharps are currently keeping their boat in a slip at a marina there attached to a beautiful hotel called the Perry Hotel. We spent the next 6 days enjoying the weather, seeing mom mom and pop pop, and just relaxing… it was wonderful.
We took the kayaks out a few times to explore different areas. Here we are going into some mangroves to see what creatures we could see. This day it was mostly fish, but in another day we saw a baby hammerhead shark, hermit crabs, a sea turtle, sting rays, dolphin, and manatee (pics and video below). It was pretty cool.
We took the hotel shuttle into Key West two of the days we were there to explore. Here the girls are standing at the Southernmost point. This was actually Sophie’s second time to this spot – we took her for a vacation when she was just 11 months.
Another day we took the boat to Grande Key, a small island only accessible via boat, where we swam and explored. Look at that water!
For Lauren’s birthday mom mom and pop pop gave her a huge inflatable unicorn (of course!), which they played on for hours.
Hotel Perry had an excellent pool that we had access to as well. The girls swam almost every day. THey’re like little fish. They were totally wrinkled each day when we finally dragged them out of the water.
Here’s a shot of two manatee that we saw in the marina. They were huge and slowly making their way around the boats. It was really cool to watch them.
We also had dolphin accompany us on one of the trips we took (click on the link above to see the video).
Sadly, the Keys are still recovering from Hurricane Irma, which as totally devastating. Most of the Middle Keys were almost completely knocked out. On the drive from Ft. Lauderdale to Stock Island we saw miles of debris that had been piled by the side of the road. Everything from trees to refrigerators to sides of houses. It was pretty terrible. This pic shows a crane picking up destroyed boats. We saw hundreds of these boats, either still in the water or on land. It will take a while for this region to fully recover.
We headed back home on New Year’s Day and were hit (literally) with below freezing temperatures. When we got home it was 12 degrees with the windchill! Talk about a reality check. But we had the lovely vacation to think about to keep us warm.
Happy 2018!
We took our week long vacation the second week in August and did a little New England tour. The Sharp’s brought their sailboat, Stolen Moments, up to Newport for the whole month of August, and we were happy to get to live on it for a week. We started in Newport and then went to Menemsha, Nantucket, Edgartown (Martha’s Vineyard), Cuttyhunk, and then back to Newport. Lydia also came with us. This was only her second time on a boat, and certainly the longest. She did great – feeling seasick only a few times (eek!).
In November Dave had his annual sales meeting in Marco Island, Florida, so we decided to make a little family vacation of it and went down a few days early. We stayed in a beautiful resort and for most of the trip the weather was lovely – in the 80s (while Philly was having their first cold snap).
