What to do with a rainy day on the road? We’re outdoors people and rainy days are often initially at least, lost causes. We can’t walk around and explore a city, and chances are the outdoor act ivies we came to town to do are not in the cards. Sometimes we’re just stuck hanging out. We spent our entire trip trying to avoid rainy season at all costs.
This past weekend we had the pleasure of hosting two out of town guests. All weekend long the weather did nothing but rain, rain and rain. We had some plans to go snorkel in Key Largo as we’d done in the summer, but with the water so choppy all the boat trips were canceled. Our other plan for the outdoors was to do a bit of ocean kayaking and somehow that still happened.
We pulled into Oleta River State Park and before handing over out admission fees I asked if the kayaks were still being rented. It was raining, but no lightning, so we were still a go. We drove ahead, and a few minutes and bathroom breaks later were in kayaks, in the rain, paddling through mangrove trees hoping to spot manatees. IT WAS AWESOME.
Photo Courtesy of BlueMoon Outdoor Center.
We didn’t see any manatees but we did manage to convince our friends that a floating log was an alligator which gave us a pretty good laugh! There were loads of birds including beautiful herons and even an osprey fishing from high above. We were soaked from the brackish water filling the estuary as well as the rain falling on our heads but it didn’t dampen our spirits one bit. When our friends ping-ponged off of a mangrove tree and flipped their canoe they’re first words were: “Ohhhhhhh, I hope the paddle floats! Looks like it does….We’re in business!” By the end of our time we were all quite wet and quite happy. Next up, we changed into dry clothes and took an ‘architectural drive’ down the famous Art Deco streets of South Miami Beach!
Photo Courtesy of Flickr user: Wyntuition.
Some people loathe rainy days and I probably lean more towards loathing than liking but I do appreciate the way a rainy day forces us to be creative and focus more on each other than on an activity. The day could have been a disaster but we were four people who enjoyed one anothers company and that is what made the difference. I’m sure I could go on and on about wild and rainy days around the world, maybe we should turn that a new ishouldlogoff.com column, but right now I think I’d rather hear from some of you. What are you favorite rainy day activities?
Tiffany says
Oh, I hate rainy days too! I’m always concerned about getting my camera wet while we’re out and about… Unfortunately our timing leaving Australia is going to be bad in that respect – we’ll be hitting SE Asia during the rainy season… We’ll see how it goes!
Oh – if you really want to see manatees in the wild, you have a very good chance at seeing them in the Manatee Park in Fort Myers, FL while it’s still winter. The city’s power plant pumps out warm water into the Orange River, and the park is at the outflow. The manatees love to hang out there when the rest of the area is too cold for them!
Jillian says
Thanks for the manatee tip… it looks like we’ll have to cross to the other side of the state!!
We were pretty concerned about our camera equipment getting wet as well, in the end we protected it the best we could and made sure every spec of moisture was dried out before we put it away, but yea… it’s a pain!