Week 1: Myrtle Beach

I wrapped up my first week in Myrtle Beach. Every morning I wake to this sign in my bedroom, highlighted by the sun, while listening to the ocean waves lapping against the shore. I want to pinch myself.

My Morning View

I admit my mind is having a difficult time parsing out emotions this week. That may have to do with the crazy shit that happened at our capitol but it also has to do with trying to figure out if I'm on vacation or not. The reality is I'm not on vacation, yet I'm living beachside. It feels crazy. 

Within 24 hours I settled into my temporary home, purchased food, rearranged furniture, deep cleaned, bought simple necessities and navigated my neighborhood. I'm going to like it here. 

My 8th Covid test came back negative. As far as I know I have never had Covid. I hate Covid.

Negative Covid Test #8

I have been working through the challenges of living a nomad life. 

No car. In Minnesota I live in an urban setting and have been walking more to transition to life without a car. I've come to enjoy my daily walks. My initial thought was I would have my first 'large' grocery order delivered but quickly realized time was my biggest asset so I simply purchase a backpack full every day. The weather makes it so easy to walk and I'm enjoying exploring my neighborhood. I have a soda addiction so I must admit I've learned the toughest thing to carry are liquids (which includes wine and beer) but I figured it out eventually (pro-tip: single cans of beer). 

Mail. My apartment building does not accept packages and I am not renting a mail box. I've discovered you can have anything delivered to UPS for a $5 pick up fee and I'm tapping into Amazon Lockers. Brilliant.

My Office. I work a lot and I'm on the phone a lot so I need my office setting comfortable. I was hoping I could use my TV as a monitor but quickly realized...ya, no. So I purchased one off Facebook Marketplace. My monitor at home is huge but this new one can fit in a carry-on. I'm preparing for my next gig. I'm short and need a foot stool - I quickly realized the reason for an ironing board. 

Table-Top Ironing Board Footstool

My Office - Dish Drainer as PC Stand

Internet. I'm working off a common WiFi. The speed is really good but it doesn't reach into my living room. My travel buddy Steve suggested a Wi-Fi Extender. Amazing. It has been added to my packing list. 

Solo Life. As I mentioned previously this is the first time I have lived alone in 27 years. Annelies and I talk nightly, and I miss her, but I'm loving it. Friends have asked to visit but I've said no. First, this isn't a vacation as I'm working. Second, I'm really enjoying my time alone. Covid makes things weird but I have already met a couple people in my building and I'm satisfied with my human contact. Covid has taught me to be more comfortable with my own self.

It is odd because my simple daily life has transitioned so easily to Myrtle Beach. I wake up, eat, work, poop, pee, drink, walk, read, make connections, sleep, and repeat. Our surroundings do not make our life. Our actions make our life and I'm looking forward to continuing switching up my surroundings. 

 

 

 

 

There are TONS of shells on this beach

 

Winter Getaway 2021

I flew to Myrtle Beach today where I will draw out the winter oceanside. My 7th Covid test gave me the all clear yesterday. I hate Covid. 

If you are a regular you know the beach is my happy place and I'm from Minnesota. Going south for the winter has been my dream for 53 years (ok...maybe 35). Every decision I have made the last 35 years has focused around my "retirement and traveling". I'm still working but my job hunt three years ago focused on finding something remote to make this possible.

Why Myrtle Beach? Great question. I spent over twenty (20) hours researching where I wanted to land. Due to Covid I thought staying within the United States would reduce my risk of it being cancelled (I called that right). My goals were: 1) I didn't want to see snow, 2) the lows to be above freezing, 3) the beach and shopping would be accessible by walking (I’ll be without a car), 4) the Covid risk wasn’t the highest in the country (ruled out Florida)  and 5) a "culture" where I would feel safe and fit in as a single woman. My plan is to never return to the same place twice, so I'm not looking for a perfect fit but the next few months I will be doing my best to become a local in Myrtle Beach. 

6am Flight from MSP

I'm staying at a condo I found through Airbnb, although I am renting directly through the owner to save money. Searching in an area with lots of condos is smart to leech off those that purchase but do not use full time. I’ve been doing it for 20 years when we started visiting Daytona Beach every spring break and when I secured this lease rates were super low due to Covid.

Packing for this trip was the biggest stress. I’m a minimalist as well as low-consumer so my goal is to not buy new. I’m going with a carry on and backpack and half of what I packed is for my office. 

I’m not sure how much I’ll post but I’m sure I’ll be back to share how this feels. I have not lived alone for 27 years. 27 years. Crazy, huh? I’m preparing my soul for the empty nesting transition this fall when Anna goes to college. I will miss her and Paradis but I’m confident we will all thrive.  

Happy New Years my friends! Get the vaccine when it becomes available so we can all travel normally again. Please. 

View from my backyard

Key West: Final

Day five we checked out of our Airbnb in Cudjoe Keys and drove to Miami Beach. It took about four hours. 

We checked into our hotel, Freehand Miami, and walked to the beach. Paradis did her thing, looking for treasures, while Anna did hers, watching Netflix. 

We stopped into a couple shops on the way and returned to our hotel. It is quiet in Miami Beach. Again, some are wearing masks but not all. Little did we know our hotel hosted a popular restaurant. It is a hotel that hosts single beds, similar to a hostel, so it wasn’t expected. 

Our goal was to order Door Dash and hang near the pool. It got a bit busy since the restaurant was located by the pool so we ended in a quint garden eating great food enjoying our last night together. 

We returned to our room to hear the party was next door. Literally. It was so loud we couldn’t stop saying “This is crazy loud” while laughing in pure shock. A 10pm craving for ice cream brought us to the lobby for our Door Dash pickup and we realized why Miami has such high Covid numbers. The restaurant was packed with 20-somethings out for a night of fun. We were happy to hang inside our room listening to the music (the playlist was awesome by the way). 

The final day we checked out and stopped for gas. The girls went inside for some flight food and ended up with the best Cuban sandwich in Miami. You can plan endless activities and experiences and yet a gas station sandwich may end up being the memory your children keep from a trip. 

We took advantage of my lounge access at the Turkish Airlines’ lounge enjoying some extra sitting space, drinks and snacks. 

The flight home was full (Sun Country), but oddly felt safe with our N-95 masks and sitting in a row together. 

Trip Summary:

• Two states
• One country
• Total page views: 180,565
• Covid Safety factor: Good

Thanks for following along my friends. I know many of you are not traveling, for obvious reasons, and I get it. We have our Covid tests waiting for us at home and will find out how we did on trying to return to some normalcy during this crazy pandemic. 

Stay safe! Rae Ann

Key West Day Four: Pool

Day four was a lazy day in the sun. I woke earlier than the girls, did my sorting and tidying thing, showered and rode my bike to the pool. Beautiful day to catch up on my blog and read!

The girls joined me after sleeping in. We have bikes at our place and the girls grabbed a couple to ride to the pool. Anna’s bike had zero air in the tires. I mean...zero. She was exhausted when she arrived and said “I just thought I was out of shape!”  

The pool was really warm, although the air outside was a bit chilly (63°) when they got out. The sun would warm you up though as it fleeted through the clouds. Even at 63° it felt good to be outside. 

We cleaned up and returned to Big Pine Rooster for dinner. We were the only ones sitting outside. The waitress would run out shivering as she took our order. None of us had jackets and kept saying “we are from Minnesota”. 

Merry Christmas to all that celebrate! 

Key West Day Three: Snorkeling

Day three required the setting of our alarms, which is never desired on vacation, to make our way back to Key West for snorkeling at 10:30. We went through Fury, doing to Double Dip tour. Wow, so fun! The rain from the night previously (we did not hear it)  prevented us from going to the coral reefs but it gave us a much smaller group on the boat and still tons of fun. When you are from Minnesota seeing anything in the ocean is a bonus. 

I’m claustrophobic so wearing the snorkel is a bit challenging. Deep breaths...deep breaths. Anna has anxiety and the the wet suit was too much. We are all a bit of a hot mess but we do our best to make things fun and challenge our weaknesses. 

The crew was so much fun and the girls had a great time. We got off the boat, had lunch and did some shopping. I had to take a nap in the car while the girls went on their own....a little too much fun on the boat! 

We landed back at our place and realized it was Christmas Eve. Ordering dinner at 7:00pm found to be a bit challenging but we got the last meal of the night from Big Pune Rooster. Great burgers!

The weather was perfect. Warm. No rain. Another great day. 

Key West Day Two: Key West

Day One we got on the road and drove the hour to Key West. I imagine it is a four hour drive from Miami but I would strongly recommend making some stops along the way as we did. We did the required Key West tourist stops...

We spent the day walking and shopping. Again, some were masked and some were not but it was quiet enough to navigate the idiots. We ended the night in Mallory Square watching the street performers and watching the sunset - as one must do while in Key West. But it got too crowded for my liking so we left early. 

It is so nice to be outside. It (apparently) snowed near ten (10) inches back home in Minnesota. I’m so happy to be here. To simply be outside walking and eating and drinking is such a simple pleasure for me right now during Covid. Being with my girls is icing on the cake. 

We drove back to Cudjoe Key where we are renting a trailer in a gated community through Airbnb. Another beautiful, safe feeling, day. 

Key West Day One: Tarpon and Fun

An uneventful flight brought us to Miami. Flying felt very safe. We donned N95 masks for a bit of comfort and although the plane was pretty full we had a row to ourselves. 

MIA was fairly quiet. Not dead like JFK a couple months back but there was no pressure to walk near people. We picked up our car and jumped on Highway 1 which leads to Key West. We stopped in Key Largo for lunch waterside. 

We continued along the highway to Robbie’s of Islamorada where we fed tarpon. Such a simple activity for $4 but the girls loved it. Mask wearing isn’t as common here. We did everything outside, and could navigate the idiots, but I would say 85% are masked. Workers wear them, but not always properly. Much different from Minnesota. Sad this is such a political thing. It really does make travel riskier and impacts their livelihood. 

We landed at Banana Bay Resort in Marathon for the evening. Simple resort but with all the amenities. We walked to dinner at Overseas Pub and Grill. It was karaoke night and we were definitely the only ones from our of town. 

We stopped for dessert and drinks and landed back in the room. It was a perfect first day. 

Key West 2020

Today the girls and I are traveling to Key West, Florida. This has been such a crazy year. Besides a work trip to Atlanta, a road trip to Denver, a staycation with my girls and my two hour excursion to New York, this is my first vacation. I hate Covid. 

We fly into Miami, will stay in Marathon our first night, the next three nights in Key West and the last night on Miami Beach. I'm looking forward to feeling the warmth in my bones, soothing my soul with the sounds of the ocean and spending time with my girls. 

We have been conservative since the election and I'm happy to say just received a negative Covid test. Sigh of relief. I understand many of you will be judging us for traveling, and I do not judge you for judging us. 

I've done a ton of research on flying since the plague, so I'm sharing below. 

• Wear a good mask. We will be wearing N-95 masks while flying. 
• Although the air is well filtered on a plane it is recommended to avoid removing your mask. This will require us to avoid eating or drinking. I'll miss my bloody mary. I hate Covid.
• Avoid the bathroom. Toilets on planes use a vacuum system (which scare me Pre-Covid) so when you flush the air is pulled through the vacuum. This will be the toughest change for me. 
• Wash your hands. And wash them again. 
• Maintain that 6-foot distance.
• Load the plane when asked as they are loading to decrease interactions.
• Stay seated until it is time to depart the plane. I hope this common sense remains after Covid. 
• And...avoid interactions within the airport. Avoid bars. Spread out in the waiting areas. I've read it is more dangerous in the airport than on the plane.

I've also been watching Covid numbers along our route. Positive cases are much lower in the Keys than Minnesota (we are sucking right now). Miami is slightly higher, so we will be extra careful there. 

I fully realize we are taking a risk by traveling during these times but we are committed to following the CDC rules. We will wear our masks and maintain our distances. We will not gather in crowds. We have selected lodging to minimize interactions. 

I realize I’m writing all this to justify our actions. Here we go! 

Staycation 2020

This weekend I spent 20 hours with my two favorite people...my adult children. 

My company gave us $250 to "do something fun with family or friends". Annelies and I spent (way too much) time researching cheap flights, navigating schedules (Annelies works every weekend) and thinking through what made sense. We landed on a staycation. 

So Friday afternoon we drove 15 minutes to the Mall of America. Annelies has always wanted to go to Sea Life (news to me!) so we did that first. We felt very safe despite being in an underwater tunnel (I had to go to "my happy place" to get through it). It was nice.

Sea Life at the MOA

Sea Life - Covid - Style

Tide Pool Fun

I hate shopping...literally HATE it...but we stopped for Anna's annual Ugg purchase. That kid has always owned only one pair of shoes at a time. She rotates between a pair of Uggs for winter and a pair of flip flops for summer. I guess since she started working she added a third pair. 

MOA Covid Style

We picked up Fawn (Paradis' dog) and checked in to a hotel 15 minutes from our home. It felt silly at the time but turned out to be a wonderful get away. We are planners and I can guarantee we spent more time planning this 20 hour adventure than some do for a full week in Europe. Our plan was to pick up junk food, order a pizza and watch movies. We were successful in following that plan. I failed to get a photo of the junk food but Annelies spent $83.70 on it...trust me - it was a lot. 

Junk Food Bag - That ENTIRE Bag!

Fawn and Annelies

This was my first hotel stay since Covid and it was weird. Wearing a mask throughout the building felt normal since I live in an apartment, but the pool and work out room was reservation only and the breakfast was a grab-and-go bunch of crappy food (I know what you are thinking "ah...does Rae Ann really care all the food was crap since she ate all that junk the night before?"). 

I woke early, walked Fawn and we pissed the morning away watching TV. It was a great weekend with my girls and we had many hours to just visit. 

Covid Staycation...I hate Covid.

Early Morning Hotel Walk

Hotel Covid Style

 Statistics:

• Days: Two (2)
• Countries: One (1)
• States. One (1)
• Miles: 16
• Views in blog: 163, 425
• Cost: $310.87. $152 for hotel (includes a $25 dog fee, my first), $53.97 for Sea Life admission, $83.70 for junk food (this is not a typo), $21.20 for pizza