Stopping in Hammock Beach, FL (mid-March 2014)

We arrived here on March 11 and have not yet left. How can we not stay in a place called Hammock Beach? To me, a hammock is the ultimate symbol of relaxation. I confess to naively thinking I would find a few hundred hammocks strung up among palm trees on the beach. It turns out the place gets its name for the topography. The marina is attached to a resort of condos and has a heated pool and a small gym. Two miles away is a much larger resort with 5 pools, a 3-story water slide, lazy river, a gym with classes, a 9-hole putting green, and two golf courses. There is shuttle service to the resort at which we have full access to the facilities. The boys are in heaven.

A few days after we landed here, we took the boys to the beach. Matt and I sat down to talk about our plan while the boys ran off to collect shells. Frankly, there is no plan anymore because our timeline has been completely blown out of the water (no pun intended). We mapped it out and realized that heading further south does nothing for us. There is no way we can make it all the way down to Captiva (a gorgeous area on the west side of FL) and still make it back above NC before hurricane season begins (June 1), particularly since we have a week-long trip back to Cleveland planned (April 30-May 6th). Even realizing this was kind of hysterical – that we have actually missed our window to get any further south, despite leaving in late October!