Sunday, September 20, 2015

Relaxation 101: Long Key State Park, Florida Keys

Finally I got to get away on a quick trip to the Florida Keys! Our 3rd annual Long Key State Park week end camping get away. The drive itself was the work out for the week end, but so worth it and Blue went for her first ride with me in 3 months.


First things first, about Long Key State Park:
Located in the middle keys at mile-marker 67.5, this island was once the site of Henry Flagler’s Long Key Fishing Camp. In the early 20th century, the fishing camp was a popular luxury destination along Flagler's railroad for the rich and famous, as well as many of the world's great salt water anglers of the time. The entire facility was destroyed during the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 and never reopened.

Fast forward to now and we have one of the busiest to reserve parks in Florida,  in average it takes about 9 months to get a reservation for a campsite, let alone 2 side by side. This trip was also a little different since I had limited movement on one of my legs due to knee reconstruction about a month earlier. Luckily this place lends itself as much for sitting back and relax with a cold beverage while bird watching, as it does for fishing, kayaking, stand up paddle boarding and even hiking.




Yeap, those are empanadas and tostones, because we are fancy that way, lol.
 

 ...and if you are being fancy, might as well have tea in your beer, and no I'm not joking these things are delicious!





Derek reorganizing the food we will be putting in the ARB fridge for the next trip
 

Good beer is an important part of our trips (title beer sponsor opportunity still available)
 
 
If you've ever tried taking pictures of wildlife, you could imagine how many shots it took to get these two.
 


One of the best things about this place is that you can take many if not most of your pictures from your lounge chair (like I did).




Tunes provided by Derek's EcoXGear, Ecostone which we've been using on every trip for sometime now, and it not only has great quality sound, but it can take a beating around the campsite.










I had some fun playing the camera settings which lead to some interesting shots.




Breakfast is not only the most important meal of the day, but also of the campground.



Derek's amazing custom built trailer and roof top tent.
 









And like all adventures, vacations, and enjoyable moments in life this one too came to an end. Now get out there have an adventure, and leave no trace behind.




2 comments:

  1. You are an amazing photojournalist, feel like I was there with you. Thx for including our speaker in the fun. Very cool! - Angela from ECOXGEAR

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    1. Thank you very much for your kind words Angela, we have been enjoying your products for some time and now I have my own Eco Pebble. Feel free to re-post to your site.
      Gio

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