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It's hard to believe that three weeks have passed since we left Colorado! As whirlwind as our road tripping and plane hopping has been, I'm glad for the opportunity to see everyone before we jet off to the opposite side of the world. Currently I am sitting in my sister's house on Kent Island, Maryland, in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. But before I go any further, let's briefly catch up on the 11 days we spent in Florida.
I don't have a ton of photos to share because, frankly, we didn't take too many. Most of our time was eaten up by such fun-filled activities as visiting government offices, opening online businesses and bank accounts, getting international driving permits, and 101 other necessary evils that must be done before you attempt to move 10,000 miles away. As I love to remind everyone, "travel" comes from a French word meaning (and I quote) "to engage in a painful or laborious effort." Yes, it all sounds so exotic - sailing off to far-flung corners of the globe, lounging on some white sand beach with a Mai Tai in hand - but it takes a heck of a lot of work
A Horse is a Horse...
Of course, of COURSE I had to ride one more time! to get there. LIVING there takes even more effort...but we're hoping all the effort will be worth it!
When we weren't busy filling out paperwork or beating our heads against counter tops, we were visiting family and friends from Fort Lauderdale clear up to Orlando. We did do one obligatory trip to the beach, where I got a rather impressive sunburn (after four years in the mountains, no surprise there). I also met up with my old horsey pal Jessie (who competes in long-distance endurance riding), and we did a 4-hour, 15-mile trek through a wildlife preserve in Martin County. A stroll in the park for her, but a little bit longer than I'm used to riding these days! Suffice to say I was saddle sore for a good four days afterward. Totally worth it, of course. It may be quite a while before I'm back in the saddle, so I'll take what I can get!
Other highlights from our Florida jaunt would include all the food we've been craving from home - our beloved Thirsty Turtle chicken wings, Publix subs, beef carpaccio and bar burgers from Brio, Big Apple pizza...you name it, we ate it. I also
Thirsty Turtle
Also known as the world's best chicken wings. consumed a disproportionate amount of sweet iced tea (what do they PUT in that stuff, anyway??), but I think my pancreas has since recovered from the sugar shock.
I would love to entertain you with photos from a boat trip we took up the Intracoastal Waterway - we saw manatees, dolphins, and even a shark - but about twenty minutes into the trip, my graceful self decided it would be a BRILLIANT idea to place my phone on the edge of the boat. You can guess what happened next. Yep, my brand new Nexus, all set and ready to go to Malaysia with me, went for a swim in the deep blue sea. The next day (the day we were leaving for Orlando) was spent in a panicked frenzy, trying to locate a suitable replacement that wasn't going to cost more than our plane ticket to Malaysia. (I am, by the way, a firm believer that something big will always go wrong RIGHT BEFORE a big move like this. Everything had been going along so smoothly! It was only a matter of time before I did something dumb...) Anyway, in the end we found a shiny new Galaxy S5
at Costco for an extremely reasonable rate. Jeremy claimed ownership of the new phone and passed along his Nexus to me. Not exactly the way we envisioned spending the weekend, but hey...it could've been worse.
Thankfully, the rest of the weekend was uneventful. Cruised up the Turnpike to Orlando, hung out with Jeremy's family, and said our goodbyes at the curb of Orlando's airport. We arrived in Maryland late last night, but I shall save the stories and photos from here for the next blog! (14 photos in this blog, don't forget to scroll down!)
In the meantime...we're into our final five days in the states! Its crazy to think that this time next week we'll be sitting in an apartment in Kuala Lumpur...
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