Sunny Thanksgiving in Delray Beach, FL

Fri, Nov 19 - Sun, Nov 28, 2021 Thanksgiving week at a real house - Thanks Yusaf!

We hopped on bikes to go see the #1 TripAdvisor attraction in Delray Beach, and since it was at a wastewater treatment plant, I was naturally skeptical🧐. The Wakodahatchee Wetlands is like a free safari! I was completely taken aback and haven’t stopped praising the place to everyone. You name it, and we got up close and personal. Snakes, turtles, alligators, and big orange lizards were all in attendance, not to mention the bird life.

Looking thru binoculars all morning, we really worked up a thirst😛, so over for a snack of delicious fish dip and a refreshing beverage at Saltwater Brewing. A quick bike along the towns main street - Atlantic Ave, and it’s fashionable drag of “where to be on any given evening “. Finally, we went out to the beach and a happy hour cocktail at the Sandbar, and then back to the house on not-so-well-lit bikes. The next morning, we’re back on the bikes and headed to Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge to walk the boardwalk and check out some birds. We found a nice boardwalk there and a quite popular butterfly garden, but mostly we found the canoe rental for another date.

The birds were decent and a resident gator lazily sunning, but the best birding was done on the way over on the freshly plowed farmers fields🤨. A long bike ride over to Due South brewery that will be closing its doors soon. Very sadly too, because we like all their beers (tasted in a couple of flights, not cause we drank every beer😜) One more stop at Hopportunities for a quick 37 ounces of “samples”. Another place that we should have visited every day, because the selection was the best I’ve ever seen! Out that evening to Crazy Uncle Mikes for a fundraiser with Yusaf’s sister and brother-in-law, Noreen and Lee. Live music, good food, and new friends, what a great way to help out the community!

Look at all those taps! ( & that’s not even half)

A bike to Boca Raton & back along the beach route via a few parks with a sunset at the beach to finish the day.

Gumbo Limbo Nature Center with its sea turtle rescue hospital, a big indoor and outdoor aquarium, a boardwalk thru the mangroves, this was a highlight of the next day… and it is free! Then a long beach walk at Red Reef Park before sunset sitting along the intercostal waterway with a cooler for happy hour. Sadly this blog has taken so long to finish because we had too much TV, and had to finish season 2 of Loche & Key on Netflix first😛.

mangrove tree crab & strangler fig & golden silk spider

In the car for the first time since we parked at Yusaf’s, & drive over to Green Cay boardwalk that’s 1.5 miles long! All the usual creatures, and a very nice nature center as well. Beers & eats out after some errands. Home to prep for tomorrows big dinner and welcome Yusaf & Sophia.

Thanksgiving 😋

Out for a pre-meal bike ride up the coast along the A1A and all the mega mansions. Check out some beaches on the way back, then home to clean up and head over to Noreen and Lee’s house (10 doors down from Yusaf’s) for the holiday. Ended up in the pool with the family and the antics of their dog Blue. A lovely meal cooked by Grandma & drinks &

charades to end the night. Grateful to have a wonderful place to share the holiday. Thanks Payne family!

Ready to work off Thanksgiving, we head up to the Jupiter Outdoor Center at Riversbend park on the Loxahatchee river for a paddle. Small kayaks luckily, because the water was high, and the current rather strong!? Not the way to see the swamp, because you are making tight turns around logs, bends, and other boaters (sone that are in a boat for the first time…!). We were nervous to go too far, because we saw others struggling to paddle up the current. I should have known it would be a breeze for us seasoned waterfolk, catching eddies and attaining the river. It was amazing and like paddling thru Jurassic Park, minus the velociraptors. After we finished, we stopped at the wakeboard park for a beer & snack, but got engrossed in watching the action of the guys being pulled along by a cable around the jumps.

Jungle cruise

Jurassic Park found in the Loxahatchee

Goodbyes to Yusaf & Sophia that next morning, who were flying home, and zip back over to the nearest Loxahatchee (Auther R Marshall) and rent a canoe. The canoe trail here is easy to follow, clear of motorboats, and gets you far, far into the northern Everglades. 5.5 miles in length, with a floating platform 1/2 way thru to stretch (and lunch), you will feel like an explorer making their way into the unknown! Tall marsh grasses and weird wooded islands are along the route, and very unexpected, incredibly clear, water underfoot (or underboat if that’s a word?).

Hidden wildlife sounded all around us, and some very fleeting glimpses of some really big fish, or fish splashes, accompanied us along our paddle. Sadly, back to start the packing and move out process 🥲. We were excited to get back out to the woods and camping, because we are loving the Real Florida, and next was the Everglades!

paddle friends, lotus flower, apple snail eggs