Keeping It Zen

We woke up, had breakfast and packed up to leave camp. We circled around the rest of the driveway of the camping area and we noticed near the exit that there was a trailer. Somebody lives here to protect the land. That's pretty cool.

We drove East to US 1 then beach side and caught Blowing Rock Preserve when it was open. It was it was really cool! The sand felt more like dirt than sand. The ocean the rocks to make the coast.

Took some pictures, had a nice walk and started our way back on again.
We went back to the coffee shop we visited yesterday. Enjoyed some nice cold brew coffee, played Scrabble, charging J.J.'s phone while waiting for the rain to go by.

We go to Publix everyday to refill our water bottles, get big cups of ice because it's free, and our 2 gallons of water to work with. We've been doing that since the first day and it's been great! It keeps all of the cold stuff we buy in my tiny cooler cool with no extra cost and we've been drinking water pretty much this whole trip.

We took I-95 to Delray Beach since we already saw what was on US 1 then. We decided before the trip started that we would take US 1 and A1A and whatever scenic roads on the west coast instead of highways so we can enjoy the ride.

We got to the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in good time. Oh my God, what a gorgeous place. There were two galleries, recent acquisitions and one showing life in Japan. The gardens were the best part. Each were labeled and explained. I like the gardens with a little pond meant to be enjoyed while strolling and the rock Zen Gardens when they rake it.

It did storm hard when we were touring the gardens but we are lucky enough to be walking near the middle of the park. We looked on the map and there was this gazebo up the stairs at it was just raining a little harder when we got to it. There was another couple there so we introduced ourselves and sat down. We didn't talk much the other couple after that. We just enjoyed watching the rain and looking at all the travel pamphlets that I brought with me. After about 20 minutes, the rain kind of subsided. It still raining but it wasn't pouring anymore. We said goodbye to the other couple and continued with walking our tour. We finished the walking tour and window shopped in the gift shop and decided to continue our way.

It was raining after we left for US1. We got to Fort Lauderdale when we decided to get a hotel room. I didn't want to rent a room but it was supposed to be really stormy.  Found a cheap room but we figured it was worth it because we can charge Jeff's phone, relax and get a really good night's sleep. Let me talk to you about this hotel.

First thing I noticed were the ducks. Ducks and families of ducks were walking around everywhere. Pulled up and there was a man having a conversation with a duck. This hotel was our second choice because we wanted to go to the hostel but they didn't have any mixed rooms and it was going to be more expensive than just getting a hotel suite together. We check in and I go get some of the extra things I forgot from the car. I had a duck come to me by my car, quack at me, then walk away. I usually take the stairs but I want to take the elevator, just feeling lazy, and a family of ducks walked up right to the elevator. I would have freaked out if they came into the elevator. Would have been so cool.   They did not get on the elevator they just looked at me and quacked.

We get back up to the room and then I asked Jeff if you want to look around and see if there's any cheap restaurants. The fence was all locked up so we have the walk around the side of the hotel. Nothing was really open but we did find a Dunkin' Donuts. Grabbed some food there and walked back. Got settled into the room and enjoyed the night. Next stop in is Miami. I'm having an amazing time! I'm lucky J.J. is so chill, he's pretty much okay with doing anything.