Key West

Provisions were obtained at the local Walmart and Bailey is ready to hit the road for Key West. About a three hour drive and we are ready for four days of the best weather we have had on the trip so far, temp in the low to mid 70's and sunny.

Bailey is pumped!

Arrived at Boyd's Campground, very nice with a little ocean view at site 92. Lots of friendly folks and dogs for Bailey.

F15 planes with afterburners blazing woke us up this morning!  They sounded so close and SO loud. Pete thinks they came four at a time with one group after another for about 20 minutes.  Quite the wake-up alarm!

We managed to get our retired selves ready for action around noon and off to Key West.  We parked the RV at Mallory Square right in the center of the action and only $4/hr to park.  The first thing we did was take the Old Town Trolley tour for $26 each for 2 days.  Thirteen stops to get on and off but we stayed on the 90 minutes to get the lay of land.  Very interesting history to the area.  So many cargo sailing ships wrecked on the reefs that "salvage"companies prospered and become very rich so lots of big houses built.  This lucrative business ended when someone decided it might be a good idea to put in channel markers and light houses.  All good things must end so the richest city (per capita) in the US became the poorest.

One of our presidents helped Key West recover by deciding it would be a great tourist area so some dollars were spent and tourism saved the day.  Duval Street was alive with tourists from the Carnival Cruise ship docked nearby but not over-crowded.  We walked along taking it all in.  The TV show "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" featured a place here so we had Mahi mahi tacos that were great.  Our friends Rosemarie and Mark gave us the idea to do this and it turned out to be a real winner.  We may go back tomorrow for the lobster rolls!  The cigar seems to be alive and well here with lots of stores everywhere!  There is the Churchill Cigar, Al Capone cigar etc., at least 2-3 cigar shops per block.




Naps are one of the great pleasures of the RV and we indulge ourselves regularly.  We awake ready to enjoy the TERRIFIC street performers at Mallory Square where crowds are gathered to watch the famous Key West sunsets.  One act involved a trained pot belly pig.  Unicycles, juggling fire torches  and music were all there but the humor these guys came up with was great!  Another man's show was cutting up coconuts with a machete VERY rapidly then giving them to people to drink--another few hacks after that and fresh coconut to eat.  Pete and I got the whole coconut chopped up to take home.

Street performing pig

Machete faster than the eye can see

In awe

mmm mmm good

Key West is famous for sunsets and we were not disappointed!  The sailing ships (probably tourist sunset cruises) and birds flying around added to the picture perfect scene.  Fresh guacamole and chips sealed the deal.  What a great way to end a delightful day!

From Key West Pier

Sunset in Key West

Day Two-- Bocce Ball, Pickle Ball and Key Lime Pie!

We drove the RV to Higgs Beach to park for free but didn't get far before the local "beach guard" told us that Donna the new police commissioner just declared that conversion vans were no longer permitted to park near the beach.  Apparently we are a "rowdy bunch"!  We were able to park close by at the Bocce Ball courts.  It is a hot sport down here with seven hard dirt courts that were groomed between leagues.  Serious stuff!   Pete and I watched for awhile and learned the basics.  Steve gave us a set of Bocce Balls for Christmas several years ago so now we'll know how to play.

Notice the beautiful beach!  It is all TRUCKED in sand from the Bahamas and Florida panhandle.
There is no natural sand here because of the coral reef along the island prevents heavy wave action which creates the sand beach. This is the second or third largest coral reef in the world.

Man made beach on Key West

There was even more to learn as we walked along.   We saw our first Pickle Ball courts.  We've been hearing about this game--played indoors or outdoors on tennis court with a whiffle like ball and rackets a little larger than ping-pong.  Nice people who were eager to have us join in!  But alas, we had other pressing destinations!

We walked about a mile to the Butterfly and Nature Conservatory.  It is rated #1 on Trip Advisor--lots of butterflies flying around you with good displays--but not worth $9 each.  The southernmost point of the USA is a short walk and people were lined up to have their picture taken by the sign.

Sub tropical climate with no frost ever!

Back onto the Old Town Trolley to Duval St where it's all happening...although not much wildness because most of the tourists were our age!  Nice lunch at Black Fin and later a great piece of their famous Key Lime Pie.  There are so many neat places to eat outside with live music that it was hard to choose.

The Trolley took us around to where we started and we were relieved to see our van was still there with no ticket!  Our last visit was to West Martello Fort which was a Civil War Fort for the Union and was only used as target practice.  It was a bombed out mess until the Key West Garden Club took it over and landscaped the whole 1 1/2 acres.  It is full of beautiful tropical plants and large Banyan trees.  Free admission!

Banyan tree in the fort

There are lots of chickens running around everywhere in Key West.  They were brought here by the Cubans for cock fighting. This was out-lawed and all the roosters and chickens were just let loose.  By this time, all birds are "protected species" so the chickens are in sanctuary land.  There is a fine if you harass them.  They are brazen birds strutting their stuff right in front of the Fried Chicken Place!  Living on the edge I'd say!

In the town square at the pier

Day Three: Our Bucket List

Our GPS took us to the Fire House Museum where we spent about 90 minutes with retired Fire Chief Eddie Castro.   Eddie was FULL of great stories.  Key West back in the day was wilder than the Wild West with drunken firemen shooting up the bars on their day off and no one got fired because that was the norm!  In the eighteen hundreds the fire departments were all volunteers and only the first firehouse to the fire got paid, if they stayed to the end and finished the job.  Other companies would sabotage each other's equipment so they'd be the ones able to finish and get paid.  The dalmatians were originally guard dogs and taught to attack any one around the equipment other than their own firemen who might be up to no-good!  We both enjoyed our time at the old firehouse with Chief Eddie.  Thank you Trip Advisor!

Hose trough for wishing hose after the fire

On to Mallory Square to park and walk along Duval St.  Pete completed his Key West bucket list getting a Margarita at Hard Rock Cafe as we watched the tourists from two cruise ships.  I completed mine when we used our 2 for 1 coupon at Haagen Dazs ice cream!  Life is so sweet!

The street performers were in high gear at the square as the two cruise ships departed.  We continued to walk along the ocean and discovered a beautiful boardwalk with nice shops and gorgeous sail boats.  There is more to see here in Key West and we may just come back here next year.

Local Key West street performer

Bahia Honda State Park and the Sand Castle lesson!

Pete knew about this beautiful State park down here on the keys but it is VERY popular and difficult to get a spot.  He stayed on the computer and two nights opened up just the days we needed on our way up to Pompano Beach.  What a great place!  Our spot is right on the ocean in a little cove.  It rained all day the first day but we are just happy to be in this parkda State Park.  Today it was 65 degrees with 25 mph winds but the Sand Castle lesson proceeded on our beach.

Bahia Honda State Park in the Keys

 

Rick and his wife Capri have a full-time business with beach sand art.  He was an architect in Colorado hit hard by the recession 2008.  They sold their house, bought an RV and went to Texas where he took a sand sculpture lesson.  He does everything from sand castle competitions to marriage proposal sculptures.  They taught 800 classes last year.  Who knew! Four years later they employ 20 people! 

The beach here has great sand and about 20 of us showed up for the lesson.  Amazing!  Anna, Molly, Carrie and I build sand castles at the pool and we are not using near enough water!  We will be building great structures this summer!

Early stage of the sculpture

Adding spiral stairs

Adding brick, stone, and an arch

Tonight was a ranger talk on star gazing and the night sky.  This was well done.  Tomorrow we are off to Pompano Beach.

Everglades National Park--Alligators, Birds and us!

A five-hour drive and we are in Flamingo campground and Visitor Center.  Reservations are a good idea for electrical sites but this time of year we could do fine on a non electric site.  It is unusually rainy and cold here for the “dry season” at the Everglades.  Mosquitoes aren’t too bad, except early morning and late evening.  We are armed with Deep Woods Off .  The problem is when they get in the camper!  Lots of smashing going on in there!  

Osprey nest at visitor center near campground

 Today was a 2 hour cruise through the Everglades from the Flamingo Visitor Center.  Saw an alligator, manatees, lots of birds and poison trees--$35 a person with great commentary—well worth it.  Attended a ranger talk and able to see manatees right at the dock!

The rangers say the alligators here aren’t big enough to chow down on humans—we are wondering about that!  Hmmm!  We’re keeping Bailey on a short leash!

The next day was a Ranger led caravan of cars from one pond to another with Christy’s great commentary.  We learned so much.  

Egrets feeding and congregating

We decided to proceed onto the George Coe Visitor center and watch the movie there and sat on their back porch in rocking chairs and watched the rain.  Very peaceful.  The rain stopped so onto Royal Palm area to the  Anhinga Trail.  This is hard to believe but there are vultures there that attack  rubber window seals and wind shield wipers.  You can imagine this destruction would not be good for the RV and its occupants!   They have tarps and bungee cords to cover your vehicle so we spent 20 minutes securing two large tarps to the RV and went confidently on our way down the raised boardwalk trail.  Half way around the ½ mile walk it started pouring rain and got very windy.  We were soaked down to our skins by the time we got back to the RV.  The tarps had blown off and all was exposed for vulture abuse.  Luckily the vultures didn’t like the  storm either so we were saved.

Vultures eyeing the rubber on that white van

After the storm

Seventeen years ago we brought Carrie down here in our first 34 foot RV.  One of the memorable things we did was go canoeing through 9 mile pond into the mangrove tunnels.  Our "video girl" took some unusual video that trip that we still laugh about.  It was such a nice memory we wanted to repeat it again. This ranger led trip was free.  It was 3 hours and the trail markers were hard to see so we were glad to be with an expert.  It was perfect weather which was a pleasure after all the rain.  

We hiked the Anhinga and Gumbo Limbo trails again--this time without the rain storm!  A great day in the Everglades!

Gumbo Limbo Trail

Sunday was our last day and Pete's favorite!  During the Cold War and Cuban Missile Crisis a Nike Missile Battery was placed in or adjacent to the Everglades and the Park Service has a historic presentation of this time in our history. Our presenter was retired Coast Guard and gave a riveting description of the goings on in southern Florida regarding events in this region.

Nike Missile

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Camping in Orange grove and Melbourne

Goodbye to Orlando and on to Mims to stay with Richard and Glenda  on their beautiful orange grove property, “The Grove.”  

Richard and Glenda taking us orange picking

Carol is getting the "hang of it"

Washing grapefruit

We’ve stayed with them before through  “Boondockers Welcome”.  They are terrific and make all feel welcome.  The day included a late afternoon mandolin session by Murray and his wife Joan as we shared life’s adventures.  The next morning we went out in the gator with Richard and Glenda to pick lots of oranges and grape fruit.  These are gourmet citrus trees and so good. 

Richard cut up oranges for us to eat between picking.  They were SO good that Pete didn't realize he was standing on top of a large fire ant hill.  By the time he felt the bites, they were crawling up his thigh and THOUSANDS of them were on his shoes.  They got him good!  I'm sure he felt like tearing his jeans off and yelling but he just fought them off bravely!  The crazy thing is that we had discussed the fire ants with Richard the night before.  Those oranges and grapefruit were REALLY good!

We headed off to Melbourne for more memories!  Olivia and Donna, the heart and soul of our Family Practice for many years, opened their cozy home to us for the night.  We ate and talked and relived old times as only old friends can do.  They sent us off with homemade “Christmas Crack” (delicious chocolate candy made with crackers), soup, and salad after a wonderful breakfast!  What a wonderful visit!  Hope we can visit them often!

Orlando

We arrived at Bonnet Creek after a days drive, checked in, had pizza on site, and enjoyed the hot tub outside our Tower 4. Monday learned about changes in Wyndham over the past year, enjoyed our balcony in the sun and the hot tub again, got groceries and in the evening went to Downtown Disney at Lake Buena Vista which has changed its name to Disney Spring. Lots of changes since last year as there is essentially no surface parking any more except in front of Cirque du Soleil which is quite a distance away. They have an enormous new parking garage which is large enough for oversize vehicles and the Roadtrek will fit, at least on the first floor. They also have other parking for oversize vehicles. Lots of change inside too including a walkway across the lake as a short cut to the Rainforest Cafe.

We like our room, 1565 in tower 4 as it has a great view of the fireworks nightly at Hollywood Studios. Can also see the Epcot fireworks by looking out the windows at the elevators looking out the back of the building. Only downside is crowded parking in the surface lot and we can't fit the RT in the parking garage. Sometimes have to park some distance away.

Spent all day Tuesday at Epcot. Took Bailey with us, gave her a nice walk in the parking lot mid afternoon and we napped in the RT and had lunch. Then finished the rest of the park with fireworks at 9pm. Wednesday was a rest day at Bonnet Creek enjoying the balcony and the pools along with ice cream sundaes in the afternoon.  Hot tub in evening and enjoyed listening to dueling keyboards by the pool and meeting new Canadian friends.

Thursday was Sea World.  It was not crowded, easy to get around.  The dolphin show was shortened and some of the exhibits closed.  Common in January their slowest time.  Cost is same as Disney but much smaller and not as good for young children.  Did the $33 all you can eat pass for Carol--wouldn't do again.  Queue pass also not necessary--no lines!

Disney World very crowded--Disney Hollywood Studies closed by 10 am (new Star Wars area) and Magic Kingdom VERY crowded unless you go on a poor weather day and then tolerable so remember that for next time.

Our last memory of Disney on Saturday night was the Hoop de Doo Review .... always a fun time.

Shortcake after chicken and ribs

A rousing finale

  

Panama City Beach

We stopped overnight at a Pilot Travel Center after about 350 miles on the first day, Dec. 27.  Next day we arrived at the Wyndham in Panama City Beach around 5 pm. Checked in to our newly refurbished room on the 17th floor with a balcony looking out onto the Gulf. Very rainy on the way down and supposed to rain off and on all week. A fitting on the RT water heater was leaking as I de-winterized so made an appointment down here to have it repaired our first morning here. We are now dry in the RT with hot water and ready again for the road.

From our 17th floor
balcony looking toward City
Pier

Activities included walking the shops at Pier Park, the movie Concussion, dinner and music at Hofbrauhaus, walking the beach (notice we have it to ourselves), water aerobics, dinner at Moe's Original Barbecue and watching the Beach Ball drop at Pier Park with fireworks seen off our balcony, and dinner at Red Robin.

Then the Football Bowl game marathons began for the last two days--almost all day!  It was cool and rainy so happy to stay in.  The Buckeyes beat Notre Dame!

Brat at Hofbrauhaus

Hofbrauhaus

Walking the beach

Our last day we went on a scenic drive to the west on 30A which went through a beautiful area with gorgeous homes and quaint busineses. The village of Seaside had a Saturday morning farmers market, beautiful new brick streets and wonderful narrow tree shaded trails through the city blocks which gave a sense of wilderness right in town. There are several state parks along the way with trails in the woods and to the dunes and shore. After spending the day exploring we prepared for the trip on to Bonnet Creek.

Intrablock trail in village of Seaside