Hobe Sound & Miami, FL

Fri., Nov. 12, 2021 thru Sun., Nov. 21, 2021

We traveled 229 miles south on I-95 to arrive at Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Hobe Sound, FL. One of 175 State Parks in Florida. This one is special. Ranked #2 in the US for RV camping. Beautiful spacious sites set in an 11,400+ acre state park along the Loxahatchee River. After we were all set-up, I took a walk around the campground with Cheryl & Joe. Gary & I also signed up for our new Affordable Care Act Health Insurance for 2022. Glad that’s taken care of. 

Saturday we did some chores during the day, then later in the afternoon visited with Cheryl, Joe and Carol Ann, a very dear friend of theirs here for a week’s visit. They provided delicious appetizers and nature provided a gorgeous sunset!

Sunday, Nov. 14th, Gary & I made the 90+ mile trek to Miami. The reason for our visit to Miami was that we had an appt. scheduled on Monday afternoon with US Customs & Border Patrol to obtain a Global Entry Membership. We had to be approved by U.S. Customs. Then, for a fee, we could avoid TSA lines for domestic flights and U.S. Customs lines for international flights for 5 years. Since our appointment on Monday was at Miami International Airport, we thought it best to do a dry run so we could plan for parking our behemoth dually truck and figure out where we had to go for the interview. If you’ve ever seen National Lampoon’s European Vacation where Clark (Chevy Chase) is driving the roundabout near the Paris Arc de Triomphe  over-and-over-and-over again and can’t navigate out of it, then you have a good idea of our experience! We drove around the airport 4 times… arrivals-departures-arrivals-departures and on & on. Oy. We could see the parking lot that we could fit into but couldn’t get there! Eventually we figured it out! We parked and went inside to locate Global Entry, and thankfully found that easily. Mission accomplished! Now we can enjoy the rest of the day in Miami. We had decided to splurge on a hotel in Miami for an overnight stay. Gary had done some homework and realized it was cheaper to leave the car here at the airport and Uber over to our hotel. Parking was less expensive. We’d already decided we didn’t want to be driving around Miami. 

We called for an Uber. Our second experience doing this. We’re so modern! We had a chatty driver who dropped us off at our hotel, the Doubletree at Biscayne Bay where we were able to drop our bag, then Ubered over to “Wynwood Walls,” an urban graffiti outdoor art museum. Our friend, Mary, had told us about this. The “walls” are the brain child of the late Tony Goldman, a street artist. He was looking for a way to revitalize Wynwood. The city was the perfect “canvas” with its many warehouses (all with no windows) to bring the greatest collection of street art to one place. It started in 2009, where renowned graffiti and street artists from around the world were invited to create their works on these walls. It’s absolutely amazing. There are murals all over the city… everywhere. But you can see a wonderful selection at Wynwood Walls. Truly unique! We loved it! 

Afterwards we called another Uber and headed back over to Biscayne Bay and walked around Bayside Marketplace. We took a “Millionaire’s Row” Boat Tour around Biscayne Bay and saw where the wealthy live and play, i.e. Shaq O’Neal’s former home, Gloria Estefan and her husband’s current home… among others. We saw six large cruise ships in port as well as cargo ships offloading their containers. A fun cruising experience!

Afterwards we had an early dinner at Primos Italian restaurant at the hotel. Delicious! And we enjoyed a gorgeous night time view of Biscayne Bay from our hotel room balcony. A busy but fun day. 

On Monday morning, Nov. 15th, we were up early and actually caught sunrise. Shocking! We had breakfast at the nearby Marriott hotel, walked along the Bayfront and visited a nearby park. Then it was time for us to catch an Uber from the hotel to the airport for our 2:15 appointment with U.S. Customs. Before we were taken inside the customs office, we were asked if we had our passports with us. Yes, we had our passports with us. Apparently a lot of people forget to bring their passports. That would really suck because it took a year to get this appointment! We were asked a few questions by the Customs official, fingerprinted (that was a first!), and then told our card would show up in the mail in a few weeks. Easy peasy. 

We can’t get over how many large condo/apartment buildings are in Miami! An enjoyable short trip, but we were happy to leave Miami and return to our tiny home!

We got back in time to enjoy another sunset, delicious al fresco dining with Cheryl, Joe and Carol Ann that evening and a campfire afterwards. Gary strung up lights over at their site and it made the whole experience that much more special. Plus Carol Ann had brought real wood from home so we could have a real campfire, rather than our propane variety. 

Tuesday Gary & I finally had a chance to explore Jonathan Dickinson State Park. We’ve been here before but it’s been a few years. We checked out the Visitors Center and the Hobe Mountain Observation Tower which is a whopping 86 ft. above sea level and sits on ancient sand dunes. We also read the information and saw remnants of Camp Murphy which was on the property of the state park. Camp Murphy was opened in 1942 and was the home of the Southern Signal Corps School during WWII. At one time, there were 854 officers, 5,752 enlisted men, and 1,000 buildings. Amazing. I finished out the day with a bike ride late in the afternoon on a remote-ish trail but got a little spooked with the possibility of a run in with a gator so cut it short after 4 miles.

Wednesday, we spent the day with our cousin, Stuart, who came to visit us and then we traveled with him to see his new home in Indiantown, FL. Such fun to re-connect with this wonderful man. One of the many benefits of traveling is being able to visit with family located in different parts of the country. Such a blessing! We finished out the night with a campfire at the Hannafords.

Thursday was laundry and we played corn hole later in the day with Cheryl, Joe and Carol Ann before Carol Ann headed for home the following day.  

Then we had 2 days of rain which allowed Gary & Joe to get some shelving installed in the Hannaford’s tiny home, while Cheryl & I enjoyed a few play dates in our tiny home. Cheryl & I played numerous games of Rummikub, colored, and solved the world’s problems. We girls were very productive!

Sunday was grocery shopping, filling up on fuel, working on a blog post, and prepping for departure on Monday to our third Florida stop!