Triathlon Training: Swim...Bike...Run

Had a good workout today: 750m swim...20km bike...5km run! First time in a long time (not since last summer's Rockwood Park triathlon) I've done a multisport workout! Feels good to push yourself occasionally during the off season! Somebody stick a fork in me, I think I'm done

Tomorrow's a travel day so we'll be spending the day tearing down, driving to Louisiana and setting up at Reunion Lake RV Park in Hammond, LA. So this will be it for Florida. Leaving this place will be bittersweet for us, it's time to move on and see some more places, cool places but at the same time, we'll really miss this place.

Weight Training Day

It's chilly out there today! Windy and real feel of 8 C...brrrr
Time to do an indoor workout!

Sheila went for a walk on the beach. She met up with a fellow riding his fat bike on the sand, singing away, obviously having a great time.

Did a little Walmart shopping this afternoon. Parking lot here looks quite different than the Walmart back home - Jaguars, Cadillacs, Mercedes, BMWs, Corvettes. lol

Mountain Biking

Spent the afternoon mountain biking at Grayton Beach State Park! Beautiful flat trails throughout open fields, woodland, lake beaches and more! But it was almost too warm!

Falling Water State Park

Today, we met up with some friends from Saint John, Michael Lynch and Mary Brosnan who are also wintering in Florida. We took our dogs to the Falling Water State Park, and went for a nice hike!

Afterwards, a light breakfast was needed...lol

Chance was exhausted after spending his morning at the park playing with his friends Dylan, Taidg, Michael Lynch and Mary Brosnan

Sunset over the Gulf

We walked down to the beach, and wow, the seas are angry today!

I've posted sunsets before but I'm posting yet another one! These sunsets over the waters of the Gulf of Mexico are beautiful and we see them on a daily basis.

We were down on the beach and this fellow wandered over to look out across the water. I really liked this guy's silhouette against the colourful background.

Start of Marathon Training

Have I mentioned yet just how awesome it is to go for a run or go cycling whenever the urge strikes?

18 km long slow run completed today...with emphasis on the 'slow' part...lol
With that said, marathon training has now begun!

Grayton Beach State Park

After a cool day yesterday here in Destin, FL, we're back to great weather today...sunny and 20°C
We decided it's time to go for another hike! We've got two State Parks within a short drive of the campground: Topsail Hill, a gorgeous park we already explored last week, and we hit Grayton Beach State Park today. What a beautiful area!

The very established trail winds its way between dunes and is well marked. We came across this enchanting natural tunnel almost immediately.

The black hole you see amongst the branches and foliage on the right is actually a tunnel, where the trail disappears from view! The vegetation has actually grown over the path, enclosing it, and creating a 50 feet long tunnel! Absolutely fascinating! Photos can't do it justice! Incredible!

Chilly Day

BRRRRR, chilly morning for my run today...only 9°C!

Not great weather, so a good day to do laundry! The laundry facilities here are awesome - 10 washers (including 2 extra large front load washers) and 8 dryers, ironing board, huge folding table, laundry carts...pretty impressive.

We use the indoor heated pool this morning - they also have a really nice outdoor pool that's locked up this time of year. I figure the water is probably as warm as the Aquatic Centre pool back home.

Morning Run and a Dip in the Gulf

What a great way to start the day:
5km run along the beach then a quick dip in the Gulf of Mexico! Nothing like it!

Palm Lined Streets

I'll never get tired of having palm tree lined streets as a backdrop for my morning run.

This is down the scenic 98, among all the fancy schmancy villas, condos, and rental properties. Fog started rolling in before I finished my run, and got home in the nick of time before a thunderstorm and heavy rain began.

Airstream Food Trucks

A beautiful day for a ride to Seaside where they have "food trucks" in Airstream trailers!

Such a cool little community that really caters to cyclists...you can bike for miles along the 30A trails.

Later in the day, we went for a long walk on the beach today, we covered about 5 kms before turning around to return to the campground. It's beautiful out!

On a nice day like this, there are dozens of these shelters down on the beach! The yellow one caught my attention, so I had to get a shot.

Five Guys Burgers and Fries!

Sunny and 14°C currently with a high of 19 C later...perfect conditions for this morning's long run!
Along the way I discovered a tiki bar sitting on the beach!! Just what you need halfway through your morning run...cheers! 😍🍺

Five Guys Burgers and Fries for supper...OMG, I love this place! Their fries are out of this world!

One Month as Snowbirds

I don't think I'll ever get tired of this view of palm trees from the kitchen table of our camper.

Another awesome morning here in Destin, FL. It's so great to go for my morning run in shorts and a T-shirt

This afternoon I realized we just surpassed one month as 'snowbirds'...wow! Seems like it was just yesterday we left home! And I'm liking it!

Bad Ass Coffee!

Good morning from Miramar Beach, FL! And no, that isn't a snowdrift...it's in fact a sand dune...lol

We took the puppy dogs for their morning stroll, then it was time for breakfast! I went with soft fried eggs sitting on top of cheesy grits! Yummy!

Time to go for another run. There is large factory outlet shopping complex nearby with a residential subdivision behind it, so I ran down past the shopping complex and through the subdivision. Still doing my 2 & 2s. Legs felt good!

I think I'm gonna get me a bad ass coffee! Seriously...that's what it's called!

A Day to Chill

Icy this morning...beach is empty, but calm and beautiful. The RVs on the beach have a great view! Kelly is getting warm and cozy with Chance :-)

With this crappy weather, I'd say that makes for a good day to curl up with a hot beverage and catch up on my backlog of classic books!

Exciting Times, it's Laundry Day

My left calf muscle is still pretty tight, I need to work it out. So I went for a short walk/run this morning - walk two minutes...run two minutes. Repeat. I ended up doing 6kms. No pain, just tightness. I think I might continue doing these 2s & 2s for the next week or so in hopes that leg muscles loosen up.

And, this is an exciting day at the ol' campground...time to do laundry!

Some More Running...Some More Beach Time

Another beautiful day to go for a run!

Although I somehow managed to pull a calf muscle! Around 3 km into my run, I felt a sharp pain in my left calf! It was bad enough I could barely walk...let alone run :-( So I stopped for a bit, did some stretching, did some walking, and eventually some slow running. Today was long run day, and I planned 12 kms so I debated continuing or turning around and heading home. I decided to persevere and carry on. Walk some...run some. I made it, I completed my run, albeit not very fast, but I got 'er done!

It was such a nice day we decided to spent part of the afternoon on the beach. Oh yeah...this is how I like to spend the dog days of January!

Quiet Evening on the Beach

Lovely morning for a walk on the beach. Still a little chilly (but not too chilly for us tough Canadians!) so the beaches are quiet.

This evening I was strolling along the beach taking in one of most colourful skies I've ever seen and noticed a guy with his family, out fishing. They had a couple rods braced in the sand and had a little drink cooler. I suspect they weren't terribly focused on fishing though. It appeared they were simply enjoying some quality family time on a gorgeous evening at the beach. Other than them, there were very few people around. I hope, I think, I was able to capture the serene, relaxing atmosphere of the beach and the vastness that surrounded this happy little family.

Topsail Hill Preserve State Park

Holy crap, it's chilly out there! After hitting 22C yesterday, we woke up to 0C...BRRRR!

Okay, so yesterday Sheila was reading about hiking trails in a local State Park that sounded really nice! So off we go, not knowing what to expect. We get there, park the truck, grab our backpacks and cameras, and head to the trail.

It was quite fascinating, in retrospect, to look at how the trail surface changed as we progressed down the path. We start out walking along this nice paved path and we thought it was nice but we were hoping for something more challenging!

We keep going and eventually the pavement ends and we're on a dirt trail. Okay, that's better, but still hoping for a tougher trail. After a few minutes, the soil gets really sandy.

Along this path we come across an interesting patch of woods. Burnt out woods. We were puzzled! Apparently through this section, the park rangers use prescribed fires to protect the natural vegetation while eliminating invasive species. We were surprised to learn that oak trees are considered invasive.

The farther we walked, more and more charred remains appear. CRAZY!

After some time the trail becomes significantly different. We cross a bridge over a swampy, marshy area...

then dunes appear, and suddenly we're transported to a desert!

This is fascinating! We've seen dunes before but never like this. We're familiar with dunes that run along oceanfront and reach maybe 50 feet, 100 feet, sometimes even 200 feet away from the water's edge. But these dunes! Unbelievable! They extend thousands of feet from the ocean. In other words, acres and acres. Occasionally we catch a glimpse of the water, but it's almost entirely sand. Everywhere!

If it wasn't for the signage, a person could easily get lost out here!

Eventually we reached a fork in the trail where we followed a loop through some more 'desert' before eventually retracing our steps back to the truck. Driving back to the RV park, we couldn't stop talking about these trails. Absolutely fascinating! I'm thinking we'll be visiting this park again before we leave Florida!

We're Overdue for a Hike!

Wow, it really rained HARD overnight! Woke us up from a sound sleep! The hard rain didn't last long, eventually easing off to a shower but that was crazy!

Took the puppies for the typical morning stroll so they could take care of business then back to the trailer we go to plan our day's activities. Over breakfast we looked over some visitor pamphlets we picked up recently and noticed several nearby hiking trails. Ya know, we haven't done any hiking since we left Saint John. I think it's about time. So we'll do some research to decide on a trail or trails!

Still raining out, so we'll postpone our hike until tomorrow.

Perfect Morning for a Run!

Here's the route from my morning run...not too shabby! It's actually a bike path...totally separate and isolated from traffic and it's nicely lined with palms, It's great!
You gotta love this January weather! It's another shorts and tank top kinda day!

We decided to go for a drive out to a community we've been hearing lots about - Panama City Beach. Wow, that was awesome! Drove through 'Pier Place Park', very cool! Never did stop to get photos, but it's really something! Lots of places to eat...lots of places to shop! I'm sure we'll be back!

Pool Workout

So how do you pass the time when you're camping at a Florida beach? You do a workout in a pool...lol

One Happy Puppy

No sandy beach in this post...no ocean...no palm trees...just a happy dog, running and playing like she's a pup. And she's still a puppy at heart 😊

Our old girl, Miss Kelly, loved to run when she was younger. Unfortunately she doesn't run much these days. Frankly, she can't. she wills her legs to, but her 15 year old body doesn't respond. There was a time she could run all day. But not anymore. She certainly wants to,but it rarely happens. Occasionally though, she surprises me. Sometimes during a walk, she'll dig deep and find the energy to sprint. More often than not, it's simply a fast paced walk. But today, we found this gigantic dog park. The Alaqua Unleashed Dog Park, not far from the campground, is the largest off-leash dog park in the county. It's acre upon acre of grassy fields and woodland. The dogs had a blast! And Miss Kelly managed to run, not very long, and not very fast, but she ran!
l swear she was smiling the entire time!

Glorious Florida Morning

What a great morning out there! 17°C and a mix of sun and cloud! It's awesome to be back in shorts and a tank top for my morning run!

Hypnotic Surf

I'm sure y'all get tired of seeing our posts of the ocean, but I'm posting a beach shot yet again 😃
The sea is just steps away from our camper and we're down there every day. I've always loved the ocean. The sight; the sound; the smell. The rhythm of the waves. It's tranquil, hypnotic, almost therapeutic. I could listen to it and watch it all day, the steady ebb and flow as the waves reach up higher and higher on the beach then recede only to do it again and again. Sometimes reaching more, sometimes reaching less.

Hello Sunshine!

What a beautiful day! During our morning doggie walk I had to get a shot of the sunrise...

We need to go for a bike ride. We haven't been on the road bikes for awhile so I spent a few minutes prepping the bikes...should be a great day for it!

Beautiful Beach

We can't get enough of the beach that's just minutes from our camper. We went for a walk, about a 3km walk, and it was quite enjoyable. I actually waded in the water for most of that time...I can't believe how nice and warm the Gulf water is!

Beauty of a Day in Florida

Woke up to a beautiful day!

Went for a run this morning...ended up running on the beach.
So far, I would have to say the beach is my favourite running route 😎🌞🌴

Exploring Destin

Drove around a bit today to get a feel for our surroundings. Lots of shopping to be had just down the street at the Silver Sands Factory Outlet shopping complex. Nike, Converse, Adidas, Under Armour, and on and on! I'm sure we'll be dropping a buck or two here...soon!

As it turned out, we were out and about for most of the day! As we were heading back to the camper we noticed it was a gorgeous sunset so we had to stop to enjoy it!

Life is a Beach!

Now that we have some time on our hands, we walked down to the beach today. It's only a two minute walk from our campsite. It's awesome...I love it! We had to bring a camera!

Happy New Year!

We made it to Camp Gulf RV Park in Destin, FL! We've finally arrived at our winter place! Well...the first of our three winter homes! This will be home for the month of January  :)

What do you think of our backyard?