January 30, 2025 - February 19, 2025 -- Thousand Trails Peace River to Encore Miami Everglades
Written By: Wendy
After our time at Disney, we were exhausted, as you rightly should be, so we headed south a few hours to quiet Thousand Trials campground along the Peace River. We would be meeting up with 6 families that we were with in Orlando, but we had a couple days there by ourselves to recover before everyone else arrived. I was feeling completely exhausted the afternoon we got in and went to bed early that night, hoping to feel refreshed in the morning. The next morning, I felt even more tired and as the day progressed, I felt worse and worse, ending the day with a 103 fever. Unfortunately Disney had left us with a parting gift: influenza. Over the course of the next week, I would have a 103 fever for 4 days; Caroline would go down next with a 104 fever for 2 days. The boys seemed to be somewhat spared, and Parker and Scott only had slight fevers, hovering in the 100s and only lasting a day or two. Regardless, we were all exhausted, and it took us over a week for all of us to fully recover. So much for seeing all our friends.
It was cold and flu season, and most of our friends there also had other bugs going around, so no one seemed to have boundless energy for exploring and taking adventures anyway. Our days were slow and lazy and spent supporting each other as best we could. One morning, one mom made health shots that she handed out to everyone. Another evening, my husband ran over Tylenol and ear ache oil to our friend's daughter who had an ear infection brewing. Our friends brought us Pedialyte when we were sick, and we gave them extra echinacea tea to boost their immune systems. It was nice to have a community around when weren't all feeling our best so that we could help support each other. We were at the campground for a full two weeks, so after we recovered and were not longer contagious, we still had a week with friends. We had long relaxing mornings spent sipping our tea and coffee together while we watched the kids play along the river and hunt for shark teeth (there are an abundance of shark teeth in Peace River!). One of my favorite things about roadschool children is their ability to play with anyone. It is sometimes hard to find friends, so they can't be choosey about friends and are able to socialize with any kid. They are not bound by the normal confines of only 7 and 8 year olds in a classroom and playing with just one age of kids. They are able to adapt their behavior and change their play based on whoever might be available to play that day, either modeling off of older peers and learning new advanced games or taking the opportunity to use some caretaker skills and play down to younger kids. It truly is a beautiful thing to watch a group of maybe 7 children, ages 3-12 all play cooperatively together, regardless of their differing abilities and social stages. The group we were with mostly had older children, but they were very kind and patient with our kids, taking time to teach them rules to games and finding ways to include them. There were two other little girls around Caroline's age that I thought she would spend all her time playing with, and while they did get along, they were not Caroline's preferred people. For some reason that I have yet to understand, she zeroed in on the absolute most interesting and awkward choice for playmates that a 3 year old girl could choose: 11 and 12 year old boys. There was a group of 3 boys that were 11 and 12 years old and that was who she constantly wanted to play with. They would be sitting huddled together, buried in their iPads, and she would wiggle her way in and sit on their laps. While they were off taking about some new computer game strategy on the outskirts of the rest of the kids playing a game, she would wonder over and strike up her own conversation with them about unicorns and princesses, obviously. The 3 boys were so kind and gracious with her, and we all had to laugh at her unique obsession with them.
During our time there, I was able to sneak in some much needed kid free time as well. One morning, we went on a moms only paddle board on Peace River. It was relaxing, and a great way to unwind and chat with some other moms without the constant kiddo interruption. The dads then went paddle boarding in the afternoon after we returned, and we ended the day with a whole group potluck for dinner. It was the perfect lazy and rejuvenating Sunday. Another evening, a group of us moms drove out to a beachside restaurant to celebrate Galentines. It was on our last night at the campground, and we wouldn't see most of these friends for long time, so it was the prefect ending to our season together. We had grown very close to these families, and I was sad to say good-by the next day. On the road, though, we learned that it is never good-bye, but "see you down the road," as we knew we'd all meet up again at some point.
After hugs were given and kids traded toys, we set out to continue our journey south. We drove to Miami that afternoon, and although we were sad to leave friends, we were excited to have a few days just to ourselves. Our time in Miami was a whirlwind of activity and trying to cram it all in. On our first day, we headed to Zoo Miami. It was a big and very well done zoo that we spent the entire day exploring. Our favorite exhibit, though, was the crocodile. Hannibal, the crocodile, had a water enclosure with a tube running through the bottom of the water. Hannibal appeared to spend his days sitting on tube and biting at it with hope as kids and adults crawled through, screaming in terror and excitement at this close encounter with a crocodile. Our kids, and Scott, spent over half and hour climbing through the tunnel and staring at the croc's giant teeth as he tried with all his might to chomp the tube they were in. I climbed through once and called it good.
The next day, we set out to explore downtown Miami. We went to breakfast at Versailles, Miami's most famous Cuban restaurant, and were able to sample Cuban staples like beans, ropa vieja, croquettes, and sweet plantains. We checked out the Frost Museum of Science and were able to see sharks swimming above our heads and then leisurely walked along the water to the Bayside Marketplace where we had cubanos for lunch. It was a full day, and we loved the vibe of Miami. It truly almost felt like we were in another country. We were surprised by the number of people that didn't speak English and the number of signs that were only in Spanish. It was invigorating.
Another day we met up with our friends that we went down to The Keys with to go Everglades National Park. We spent the day walking on trails through the swamps and gawking all the different bird species that flew by. We saw several alligators, including one that was laying right along the path. A little too close for comfort, Mr. Alligator, sir. At the southern most tip of Everglades National Park in Flamingo, we saw several manatees swimming in the marina. Mamas and babies just enjoying the day and showing off for us by swimming right up to the pier. It was a distinctive national park day filled with an astonishing amount of unique wildlife sightings and various plants that we cannot find elsewhere.
On our last day in Miami, we packed up our trailer and got it ready for storage because we were heading on our biggest adventure yet! Due to some miscommunications with the campground, we had to put our trailer in storage one night before we flew out, so we took advantage of the opportunity to stay right in downtown Miami in the Wynwood Walls area. After checking into our sleek hotel (we were bound and determined to NOT repeat another hotel experience like in Atlanta), we walked just around the corner to the Wynwood Walls. It was astonishingly amazing. The artwork was beyond beautiful and captivating. We took our time gazing at and contemplating over the meaning of different pieces of art. We were awed by the forced perspective of several sections that played tricks on our brains, and we felt inspired by some pieces encouraging us to 'Be the Change.' After leaving the Wynwood Walls exhibit, we continued walking around the area to see all the wall art, stopping at a taco place for happy hour. It felt like we were on vacation, and we took full advantage of our one night downtown. We did not stay up too late, though, because we had a big day tomorrow. We would be taking our kids on their first international trip, and we were all beyond excited for our next adventure!