Idaho & California

 Dave and I went on a beautiful 12 mile spring hike in Riggins, Idaho up the Rapid River Trail with our friend Todd.  It was brilliant to see all the wildflowers and green grasses, and to go much further than we've been on the trail.  Nice to stretch the legs too.

 We saw this cow on the drive up to the trail head, and none of us have ever seen one with horns like this.

 A spring walk in McCall meant there was still snow on the beach and the lake was half frozen, but it was warm.

 The beach near us is snow free and now the lake is totally ice free too!

 Windy day at the beach in California, but so many beautiful flowers!

 I went to Reno for a week to celebrate Dad's birthday, and we took a trip to the coast.  Incredible flowers everywhere and it was so great to spend some time with my parents and visit Grandma too.

 There were two tall ships in Bodega Bay.

More flowers at the coast.

 At low tide we could see all the mussels on the ocean rocks and cliffs.  Beautiful!

 More Bodega Bay flowers.  We've never seen spring so brilliant there.

 We took a long walk in the Redwoods.

 There was flowing water everywhere, and wet trails.

 Flowers in Healdsburg, a new to us town that we visited and we took a new wine trail from Bodega Bay to 101, which was very curvy and hilly and beautiful!

This is Lake Tahoe on a beautifully sunny day.  We went towards South Lake Tahoe and stopped at all the lookouts because the Lake was so incredibly blue.  I showed my parents a private beach that Dave & I visited a few years ago that has great mountain views, and we had nacho fries at Izzy's, my favorite.  

Time flies by way too quickly, so the "bonus" week that I got to spend with Dave in McCall seemed like it vanished in moments.  It wasn't as cold as we thought it would be after Florida.  The crocus flowers are just peeking up and there's still a ton of snow in the State Park.  I spent a wonderful week with my parents and Grandma, thank you Szulok!  Love you.  And had an exceptional last day with Dave in Boise before he headed up to work.  I'm studying for my CDL which I will be taking within the week and my Wilderness First Responder refresher course at the end of the month.  Love you and thank you for looking at our pictures!

Sun Valley & Florida Keys

I went to visit my friend Julie in Sun Valley on my way to the Idaho airport before flying to Florida.  It was worth the detour to see the beautiful mountains.  Can't wait to go back there with Dave, as neither of us have been before.  Julie and I enjoyed the small town of Bellevue after a really long, scenic drive through Stanley by the Sawtooth mountains.

 Venice, Florida!  We stayed in Nokomis, enjoying the beaches on Casey Key and the shopping in Venice.

 It was so wonderful to spend the month of March in Florida with Dave's parents in a house in Nokomis.

 Bombax tree flowering at the Orange Groves.

Roger & Bette at Casperson beach, a really beautiful one that we got to enjoy several times.  This is where everyone gathers shark teeth because so many of them wash ashore.

 Waves at wild looking Casperson Beach.

 We went to see the Audobon Society's Rookery and it was wonderful!

This was a particularly foggy day at the Jetties.  We loved to come here because there were always a lot of birds and dolphins to see.  In fact, we saw dolphins every single visit!  And had delicious nachos sometimes.

Oscar Scherer State Park just minutes from the house we rented was a veritable southern jungle.  Beautiful palm trees and Spanish moss and bird calls.

 In the State Park.

 Snow egret at the beach.

 The Venic Pier where we went to see the fishermen catch sharks!  And we had some coconut drinks in pink chairs.

 The Venice Beach Pier.

Easter family photo in front of the Bougainvillea bush at the house.  We had a wonderful Easter together, with a delicious brunch (real corn beef hash for Dave and fried green tomato eggs bennedict for me).

 Our time at Casey Key flew by.  And the last days of our Florida stay, we rented a car and drove all the way south to Key West to visit our friends Connie and Andrew.  I caught this candid photo of Dave reading at our friend's pool in the morning with coffee.  We had a great stay there too.  They borrowed bikes for us so we rode all around Key West our two days there and visited beaches and piers.  Most memorable for me was all the flowering trees with yellow blossoms and plumerias of every color.

This was fun for us in Key west, riding our bikes along the beach we could see all the fish and other creatures in the ocean, including this lobster.  So happy Dave got to finally see Key West, as I got to already last year and knew that he would love the architecture, verdant trees and delicious, spicy food (we had the best Nicaraguan tacos ever! from a food truck by the beach.)

Here is our photo from our wonderful, super scenic boat trip in Venice of the Inter-coastal waterways.  What a treat!  Our captain said he sees manatees on these waterways a lot.  Can't wait till we see one in the wild too!

We had a wonderful time in Florida and it was exactly what I was craving, sunshine, family and a relaxed pace.  Loved all the grilled feasts we had, cards and fun times together.  Thank you very much Koehlingers! Love you guys!

Headed to Reno soon to celebrate my Dad's birthday.  We're enjoying our condo and warm weather in McCall right now.  Love you and thank you!  Happy Birthday Dad and Abigail (on the same day!).