Chloe Relaxing at Marineland

Two years ago we stood on the City docks in Vero Beach, looking over the harbor crowded with cruising boats, and wondered if we ever could, if we ever would, make it there ourselves. Two days ago we tied up to those same docks. And we've since pressed on deeper, nearing the end of the Thistle-navigable section of the waterway.

Before Vero we paused at St, Augustine where mermaids glided past during their Christmas parade and where the previous weekend 200,000 people cheered the lighting of the city's trees and buildings. And we paused at Marineland (population 5) once the premier attraction in Florida, where we walked the deserted beach, made friends with dolphins, hung out with the mayor, and completed another major livability-improving project -- DC refrigeration.

Though barely into this huge and strangely difficult to describe state, we knew we'd outrun winter and could afford to relax and dawdle. But now Hannah has joined us and we've resumed our southerly migration, this time to position ourselves for possible forays further afield.