Friday, February 21, 2014

Summer in the Florida Keys - Part Two

Friday, February 7 - 23
    
Our very generous campsite

     We arrived at our southernmost destination two weeks ago:  NASKW (Naval Air Station Key West) Sigsbee Beach Annex.  We are “dry camping” which means we have no electricity.  But with our battery and propane we have everything except air conditioning and the microwave oven.  The first week was too hot and humid for us central coast Californians.  But there are always cool restaurants for lunch, the cool camping office for wifi, and on weekends, a bracingly cool pool at another NASKW annex.  After a heavy two-day wind and rain, the temperatures cooled off to the

Dave's Life Is Good t-shirt

high 70’s and the breeze picked up so we are more comfortable and enjoying life more.  Or maybe we are just acclimating!  Unfortunately we had to take down our tent canopy when a gust broke a piece of it.  But we have enjoyed it's shade and wind protection for many days!





Best meal: filet, southern beans, red potatoes, salad

    
     This place is full of surprises.  One is that the keys are coral rock, so there is very little sand.  Another is that the pace of life is very, very slow.  People drive slowly - often from necessity because of the congested, narrow streets.  People are very helpful and friendly – tourism is the main industry today.  The history of Key West is fascinating – we have accumulated bits of pieces by frequenting the many museums. Although our campsite is at the edge of the Gulf and we have been to beaches both gulfside and oceanside, we don’t swim. (too cold, Man o’ War jellyfish, rocky bottom, etc.)  There are beautiful roosters crowing all over the island - originally brought here by Cuban cock-fighters, they are protected here and flourish.  We have enjoyed worshipping for two Sundays at the beautiful St. Paul's Episcopal Church.  As modern as it appears on the outside, there are beautiful, old-world style stained glass windowsn..We have been introduced to Pickle Ball - does anyone know of a place to play this in Monterey???

      We were told that it is a different culture down here.  Some of that culture probably revolves around Duval Street, Mallory Square, and the many restaurants and bars.  But bar-hoppers we are not!  However, since we spend a lot of our time at the campground, we have discovered the “winter camper culture.”  Most of the folk at our campground have come here year after year, not just for two  weeks like us, but for three to five months.  So many folk have made friends down here that they reunite with year after year.  While we have met really nice folk, we probably will not come back to Key West.  There are too many other places to visit in our US!

Jay and Julie visited for a fun day!












Friday, February 7, 2014

Summer in the Florida Keys - Part One

Monday, February 3 - 6 (near Key West)
      Jane has loved being with her sister for the past week.  On Monday morning we left Jay's house in Miami and caravaned down Hwy 1 through / over most of the drivable keys to a KOA Campground on Sugarloaf Key.  It is a very crowded, expensive location, but there are a nice large pool, clean facilities, and electricity (aka air conditioning in the Casita)!

Pop-up, canopy, and Casita together.


    











     The four of us have had a busy time touring the area.  We drove into Key West on Wednesday to walk around and eat lunch at Jimmy Buffet's Margueritaville.  Then we spent some time sitting at the beach at Zachary Taylor State Park. The sun is way too hot for us Califoria folk and the humidity is murder, but the breezes are wonderful.  The temperature ranges between 83 (day) and 78 (night).


Jane found a large metal white heron or egret in a store and had to have it!

     Yesterday we drove to the beautiful Bohia Honda State Park that has beaches on both the Atlantic and Gulf sides.  Oblivious to the many Men-of-War floating in the water, we plunged into the deliciously icy water!  Heaven!  But once we spied the multitude of blue jellies on the beach we could not enter the water again.

     This morning we bid farewell to Bill and Fran.  We then headed to Key West where we will spend the remainder of our vacation.  We are checked into the NAS Key West, Sigsbee Annex, overflow camping area for 16 days.  We now have to "dry camp" now - i.e., no electric outlets for recharging computers or phones, no microwave, no air conditioning!  So check back later to see how we are faring.  We can always head north early if our bodies can't take the heat. 

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Spring in Florida

Friday, January 31 to February 1 (near Tampa, FL)
     We met up with Jane's sister, Fran, and brother-in-law, Bill, at their son's house in Trinity.  Our nephew and wife, Mike and Stephanie, have a beautiful family of six.  We had fun playing cribbage with Liam in the Casita; playing I-pad games with Finn; watching Scout ride her trike; and

Jett, Scout, Liam, Finn
witnessing how creative wee Jett can be in stealing french fries at dinner.  Saturday, we took a refreshing hike through the Brooker Creek Preserve. It's hard for us to get enough exercise on a trip like this, so we were grateful to Steph for the suggestion. 

  
Sunday, February 2 (near Miami, FL)
     We followed Fran and Bill down Hwy 75 to Cutler Bay, home of our brother, Jay, and sister-in-law, Julie.  There we experienced the perfect temperature, neither too hot nor too cold.  Anticipating the heat of the Keys and remembering the cold of the Panhandle, we truly appreciated just letting the warmish air flow over our bodies as we sat on their patio, sipping wine and talking.
Bill, Fran, Dave, Jane, Jay, Julie
Dave, Jay and I paddled around the lake in Jay's and Julie's kayaks.  Later we ate Julie's delicious pulled chicken sandwiches as we cheered in vain for the Broncos to win the Super Bowl.
     Tomorrow we drive to the Keys!