Back in the USA

 Hi Friends!

This blog is much delayed because I've turned into a slug!  Seriously, it's been a busy 30 days since I last posted.  We celebrated Christmas and New Years in Auckland taking in the festivities and enjoying our last few weeks in New Zealand.  Since the holidays fall during the school summer break, many families depart the city and head out to the beaches or go camping.  So Auckland wasn't too crowded which made finding a lovely spot for Christmas and New Year's Eve dinners very easy!


Celebrating Christmas Day with our good friends Chris & Keiko

New Zealanders have simple but beautiful decorations. 

The Auckland Harbor Bridge in celebration of the New Year!

A really impressive event was the Brickman Awesome Epic LEGO Creations Exhibit at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.  From animals to structures and everything in between, the details, size and complexity of the lego creations are amazing.  If you ever have a chance to see this guy's work, take the time to do it!

Cargo Plane

This motorcycle was life size!

Loved this penguin & chick

We miss our Ausie Roo's & Platypus

Two handsome guys!

On the 3rd of January, we said goodbye to our friends and New Zealand.  We have spent 10 months in this amazing place exploring all the glorious nooks and crannies.  This land at the edge of the world is truly magical and we are grateful for the hospitality of the Kiwis.  We'll miss the beautiful country and people here, but it was time for us to return to the US.  

Our flight left at 9:00 pm on Jan 3. and we arrived in LAX at noon on Jan 3.  It's an odd feeling gaining a whole day!  Our travels went smoothly with everyone following the masking rules and the flight filled at about 60% of capacity.

We'll miss the evening skies here in Auckland

Our last NZ rainbow

Heading home

Los Angeles airport - the international side is spooky quiet

Our LA to Orlando flight was packed with every seat taken.  Filled with families who seemed to be heading to Disney, it was a bit more lively than our flight from NZ!  We spent a few days in Orlando trying to work through our jet lag and doing a bit of shopping.  We were surprised to find everyone we met, saw, etc. doing the social distancing and wearing masks. Interesting how the news we've been seeing doesn't seem to represent what we've experienced so far.

It feels good to be back in Florida.  The temperatures have been lovely and we've been spotting all our familiar birds here in the state.  In the first five days of being back, we already identified 55 different species. 

Great Blue Heron

After picking up our new wheels, we headed to Vero Beach which will be our home for 2021.  It's a lovely town filled with beautiful beach views, plenty of shopping, restaurants and a very active arts & culture scene.  We've enjoyed settling back into our US lifestyle even though things have certainly changed since we left in 2019.  We have been surprised to find shortages of certain food items and of course the much publicized TP.  But we have noticed that even clothing and sporting goods stores seem to be short on inventory.  Overall, we are very pleased with our locale and are quickly figuring out our new slice of paradise.

Can't wait to see our nesting turtles on the beach!

Lots of solitude can be found here

We adore the neighborhoods off the beach which are filled with old Live Oaks covered in Spanish Moss 

So it's time to close this blog site for now.  Thanks to all who have stay interested in our adventures.  We fully intend to resume travels in 2022.  Currently, we're researching Costa Rica and Panama along with some other South American countries.  

Wishing you each good health and the ability to begin your own set of adventures soon!

Stay Curious!
Cheryl & Dan










Comments

  1. Mary BJanuary 26, 2021 at 6:31 AM

    Welcome home! We sure hope to make it to Vero to see you guys this year! Big love!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gary BMarch 8, 2021 at 1:43 PM

    Welcome back. Give Ravine Gardens a go in the next couple of weeks.
    I'll be at the beach waiting for you 😙😷🤭

    ReplyDelete

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