Team Leip Travels

Saturday, April 11, 2026

18 March 2026 Sanford: A Trip to the Grand Opening of H-Mart

We had our visits with Shaun and Ryan's families and then scheduled a visit with Lindsay's family. Our excursion was to the H-Mart, a giant Asian food market that has just recently opened. This visit was in preparation for the roll your own sushi party at Laura's house. Skip lunch folks because the spread at dinner tomorrow will be epic! After we stocked up with everything we could possible need, we went by a specialty fixture supply house to pick up some things for Laura's stores

Pouring out of the car

The gang is all here!

H-Mart time

It is a free for all!

It is super crowded

https://youtube.com/shorts/sIUiZI8V4is

Claw machine row

More machines

Big logo time

The Butter Family has its own space

Bamboo shoots anyone?

The fish isle

Salmon heads

So many live sea creatures

https://youtube.com/shorts/Q-VHsjIGXZo

Squids squids squids

A food court to boot!

We stopped off at the fixture store to pick up some specialized parts for Laura

https://youtube.com/shorts/XRwz9hCUEeg

So many manikins!

https://youtube.com/shorts/56jPAtfjfyQ

It has been 3 years and 283 days since we began our Migration

17 March 2026 Sanford: Ryan, Stephanie and Crew plus TSA Precheck Appointment

The crew is back from hiking and we returned Titan to his home with Ryan, Stephanie and the kids. Then we took Hayden out to lunch to Two Chicks. Two chicks specializes in chicken salads done up in various ways. Our lunch was tasty and we then headed over to Staples for our TSA appointment. The TSA funding impasse has created chaos at airports all over the US and we want to get every advantage possible on our up coming domestic flights. We forgot to wear green on this St. Patty's day, oops, sorry Ireland.

Titan is a very large dog anf he is always pulling on the leash

Back from the hike

Still very chaotic

Lots of gear to sort

Wet clothes and items to get clean and dry

Gavin joins us

Chicks do it right

The story is a sweet one. they started out selling chicken salad out of their kitchen and had to upgrade to a commercial kitchen so they decided to really upgrade

We enjoyed our lunch and talked about our upcoming DC trip

Lots of red bugs in that lake

Inside the store is a TSA Precheck booth

We had an appointment

So we could do all of the background checking and biometric collecting here

The machine that does it all, finger printing, facial recognition, passport scanning. In a few days we will be certified safe travelers

It has been 3 years and 282 days since we began our Migration

Friday, April 10, 2026

15 March 2026 Sanford: Dinner With Erin

Most of the McLane family members headed out to Alexander Springs, picked up the Florida Trail and hiked for three days. We were staying inside so we could watch Titan the Weimaraner. Erin stayed back to study for her teaching certification tests. We picked her up and took her out to dinner to celebrate those tests recently passed. While we were having our meal everyone's phone started ringing with the emergency alert system klaxon. A severe thunderstorm was supposedly on its way but in reality it was already upon us. The roof rattled, some folks asked to be moved inside, but we stuck it out. Not because we had any real weather information to guide our decision, it was because the food came out and we were hungry so we started eating.

Not a great time to be on a lake in the wind

The rain is coming down!

Weather Alert Weather Alert!

The Storm has arrived

https://youtube.com/shorts/M_0DVPjT8l4

Still afloat

Dinner has arrived so the storm can rain all it wants to

Frog legs, yummy

Chocolate beignets

A fine dinner

So Titan gets his dinner too!

It has been 3 years and 282 days since we began our Migration

Thursday, April 9, 2026

14 March 2026 Sanford: The Birds of Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

This area is one of Florida's premier birding locations with 330 recorded species just last year. There is a seven mile loop that birders can drive, the Black Point Wildlife Drive. We drove it slowly and then we drove it again. This is where we saw the "dancing" reddish egrets. There is also a Wild Bird Trail with elevated hides and a long walkway. We also drove Gator Creek Road along another driving bird trail. I got photos of hundreds of birds, including 24 different species. Of those eight were new to my lifelist. But first things first, we stopped for some breakfast before heading over to the mainland. First we had to drive north to New Smyrna Beach and then south to Titusville and then cross back over to the barrier islands. That took a bit but once we got to the bird trail we started seeing birds immediately. We had a blast and even picked up a hitch hiker bird that landed on our windshield wiper and rode along with us for a while.