Visiting Florida in the summer of 2020 was a strange experience. Due to Covid, many attractions were either closed or significantly altered. It was simply not possible to be spontaneous, as places like Disney World, required advanced reservations and had capacity limitations. When we couldn’t manage to book a day at the theme parks, we shifted gear and went on an airboat excursion.

An airboat ride has long been on my Florida bucket list and I was thrilled to have the chance to experience it. We booked with a company called Midway Airboats, located in central Florida. It wasn't exactly the Everglades, but it was close enough.

The tour cost us just under eighty dollars (total, not each) and lasted over an hour. While waiting for our excursion to begin, we went out on the large screened porch to meet Coco the parrot and Park Chop the pig. Coco kept lifting her foot, desperate to climb on Dan. We realized that she often gets treats when people hold her, and since we didn’t have treats, she wanted back in her cage. We were dead to her. Pork Chop was so sleepy, he didn’t even open his eyes when we petted his tummy.

The airboats have four rows, and although the tour was completely outside, it was not exactly socially distanced. We were seated on the top row, next to our boat captain, there was a family of four adults and a toddler in front of us, and an older couple in the very front row. This said, being outdoors with the wind whipping around us as we flew through the water at high speeds, made me feel generally safe.

We all had headsets, so that we could hear our captain’s narration. She kept an eye out for gators and points of interest. One Covid change was we did not have microphones on our headsets to communicate with her and the tour guides did sanitize the headsets between tours- we saw them cleaning!

Selfie of Dan and I.

The tour was more amazing than I could have imagined. The speed was thrilling and the views were magnificent. We visited on a perfect blue-sky day with fluffy clouds. It was serene.

I couldn’t have anticipated that we would see more cows than gators. We learned that summer is not the best time to see gators. Since they have to regulate their own body temperature, they often stay under water and in the shade to keep cool in the heat of the day. It also doesn’t help that they are nocturnal hunters.

Cows were everywhere. Naturally, this caused us to wonder about the cow/gator situation. Apparently, they mostly live in harmony, with gators hanging out near the cows feet. The cows really being too big to be seen as prey for the gators.

Can you see the gator? This is one of three gator sightings of the trip.

My favorite part is when we slowed down and coasted through a heavy thicket of trees. It was exactly what I imagined the Everglades or a bayou in Louisiana ( where I’ve never been) would look like.

On the way back to the docks, we went under a very low bridge, saw some palm trees in the swamp, and enjoyed plenty more cows!

After our ride, we had the opportunity to hold a baby gator. The gator’s snout was strapped for safety reasons, but we saw our boat captain handle her without the strap and she was very gentle. She allowed the boat captain to hold her, much like we hold our cats. The skin on her belly was unbelievably soft, but she was heavy. I could only hold her for a few minutes.

Of course, as we were leaving, we noticed these warning signs.

An airboat ride is the quintessential Florida tourist activity and it didn’t disappoint. We look forward to taking the kids on our next trip to the sunshine state.

As a birthday surprise, Dan took me on a four night vacation to Florida. Florida has quite a bit more covid cases than Colorado, so I was a little nervous about traveling. However, we took many precautions, and I’m thrilled to report that our first major trip during Covid seems to have been a success. We are going to be extra careful for the next few weeks, in case we did become infected, but overall, I feel like we were able to have a safe and wonderful vacation.

We flew first class on United from Denver to Tampa. The flight to Tampa was one of the riskiest parts of the trip. Unfortunately, the flight was full, and although we thought we were playing it safe by booking first class, I don’t think it mattered. If anything, it might have been worse, as everyone in first class was given a Tapas Box for a snack, and the guy across the aisle from me had his mask off for over an hour, as he leisurely enjoyed his snack. I was disappointed that the flight crew didn’t take a stronger stance on the masks. There were a few announcements, but little enforcement. When we landed, we were not dismissed off the plane row-by-row, which I had been expecting, and as usual, people jammed the aisles.

Our return flight was a better experience. The snack was just a bag of chips/cookies, so people didn’t remove their masks for an extended period of time, and we were dismissed by row. The airports were different too. Tampa was much better with signage and enforcement. Denver was far more relaxed, including several people at the United check-in desk without masks, and none of the employees enforcing or even asking them to put on a mask. This was frustrating.

Here’s a picture of the social distancing measures at Tampa. Tampa is a much nicer airport.

Originally, our trip was supposed to be four days at the Doubletree Hilton in Redington Beach. We ended up having enough of the beach after two days, and moved to a Hilton Grand Vacations near Seaworld in Orlando. Both hotels had signage regarding social distancing and required masks in communal areas, things that were followed by a majority of the guests.

On the stretch of beach outside of our hotel, we were able to rent a pair of sun beds for thirty dollars. This gave us bit of space at the beach, especially as the beds were spaced apart. The beach wasn’t very crowded and I felt safe. It was a similar situation by the pool in Orlando; the beds were spaced apart, and as soon as we finished, attendants sanitized them. People stayed with their own groups in the pool, spaced apart. It was actually a really nice vacation experience, as nothing was crowded.

The restaurants all had similar covid procedures to the ones we have been dealing with in Denver, so nothing seemed a surprise, except for the Seabreeze restaurant, which asked us to text before entering. I thought this was a great idea, as it eliminated unnecessary people entering the restaurant and crowding the host stand.

This trip was not about theme parks, yet, we found ourselves unable to resist the siren call of Seaworld. I had never been to Seaworld in Orlando, and Dan had not been since he was in elementary school, so it was a new experience for both of us. We are huge theme park fans and this was our first theme park in 2020.

With the exception of the Florida heat, it was a great experience. We arrived at opening and spent about two hours and then returned in the evening. Masks are required and hand sanitizer was absolutely everywhere: every ride, every store, every restaurant. Our temperature was screened prior to the ticket counter, and it was an easy process, just a sensor that checks for temps without even having us slow down. We went to Disney Springs on the last morning of our trip and they used hand-held thermometers, which took a few seconds longer than the scan at SeaWorld. Both were a painless, quick process that didn’t impede on our enjoyment of the parks.

The park maps are all digital. The shows were open with spaced seating, and at the end of the show, employees dismissed the theaters row by row. There were a few people trying to leave before their rows were dismissed, but it mostly worked well. The ride queues were spaced, and we only had to ask one person, a kid, to step back. It’s hard, I think people in general, especially young kids, are excited to be at the parks, and the instinct is to push forward/bunch up. This wasn’t a huge problem, but guests need to be a bit more aware of their surroundings and less in a rush. The park is certainly less crowded and the lines are shorter, but also things take a bit longer, and we all need to have patience. For example, on some of the coasters ( oddly, not all) we observed the seats/restraints being sanitized. This slowed the load times, but also, the lines were much shorter than average.

Overall, I felt safe at Seaworld and I would definitely return. The biggest obstacle was wearing the masks in the heat. We couldn’t do it in the middle of the day and had to take a pool break at our hotel. Also, if you ride Mako, hold on to your mask. Mine nearly came flying off!

On this trip, I got to check a dream off of my bucket list: Dan took me on an airboat ride to see gators. It was awesome, although we saw more cows than gators. The landscape was gorgeous and the ride was thrilling.

It was hard to return home and back to the daily grind. I hope another Florida vacation is in our near future. This week we have political news with the Democratic National Convention happening. It’s virtual due to Covid, but this election year is certainly an exciting one. I’ve never felt more invested in my making my vote count. I want to get a Biden/Harris t-shirt.

After our yummy vacation food, Dan brought out the pasta maker, which hasn’t been used in years, and made us some fresh spaghetti. It was delicious. It’s shocking that all of the months we were stuck inside this winter, we never attempted homemade pasta.

And the cutest of cute cat pictures, comes courtesy of Tom, and his new toy from Florida. We bought him his own purple stuffed animal, so he’d stop stealing Figment. He loves his new toy. We let him think that he was stealing it off of the shelf. Naughty kitty!