March 1 – 5, 2014  We say a bittersweet Goodby to the Keys and head on down the road. First stop, Krome Ave in Homestead, Fl. to pick strawberries, tomatoes and whatever else is ready to pick. After that Walmart to restock and then Big Cypress National Preserve.

We get a campsite at Monument Lake, site #5, right on the lake.  We watch alligators swimming around in front of our site.  We take a ride in the car to the Oasis Visitor Center and I get some fabulous photos of, what else, alligators and oh! some birds. Actually I get an absolutely gorgeous photo of a male Anhinga.  I’m thrilled.  Then it’s down the road to the Kirby Sorter Roadside Park. We walk a 1/2 mile  boardwalk trail out into the Everglades.  We see all 5 main habitats of Big Cypress hardwood hammocks, pineland, prairies,   cypress swamp and estuaries.  Another phenomenal job by Mother Nature.

Back at the campsite we have a dinner of fresh con on the cob, fried green tomatoes and fresh strawberries and ice cream for dessert.  We watch another beautiful sunset this time over Monument Lake.

Next Stop … Saint George Island.

Feb 20 – 28, 2014  We’re back at Fiesta Key and aren’t as lucky as the first time, we don’t get a waterfront site. It’s still nice, warm and relaxing.

We put our bikes on the back of the Volvo and head over the Channel 5 bridge.  There is no bike path that goes over the bridge  and it’s really not safe to bike with the traffic. So we park on the other side where the bike trail continues and bike 7 miles to Robbie’s. Robbie’s is a marina famous for feeding the Tarpon.  If you’ve ever come to the Keys and didn’t feed the Tarpon at Robbies you’ve missed out.  When we get back to Fiesta Key we round up John and Nancy and take them to Robbies.  If you think it’s fun feeding the Tarpon, watching people that have never done it is twice the fun.  We all had a ball!  The Tarpon are huge and they come right up out of the water and eat the bait right out of your hand.  Sometimes you feel “fish lips”!!!

We take John and Nancy into Marathon to do a little grocery shopping and a side trip to Sombrero Beach.  It’s a beautiful day for a walk on the beach.

David and I put the bikes on Half Pint and head over to the Marathon bike path. This is one of our favorites in the Keys.  You’d think all the paths would be the same, but the scenery is very diverse.  You may see beautiful homes, mangrove forests, ocean views, maybe even an iguana or two or ten!  After our ride we head to The Wreck for dinner, another one of our favorite places to eat.  We’re sitting out on the deck and this man comes in and hollers “Who’s Volvo is that in the parking lot?”  I panic because I thought he’d hit it. He may have been a we bit tipsy.  Nope, he didn’t hit it. Yes, he is a little tipsy. He has to come over and talk to us and tell us “when he had his PV544 story”.  We laugh together. What a character!

We spend our last day in the Keys Kayaking out to Indian Key. It is this beautiful “island” with walking paths full of plaques with information about  plants and History of the Keys.  There are ruins and lookouts that you can explore.  It’s an easy kayak ride, but from experience, take my advice, watch the tide.  We walk the boardwalk at Anns Beach and then head back and pack up.

We’re sad to leave the Keys, but on to our next adventure, Big Cypress National Preserve.

Feb 12 – 19, 2014  We traveled 35 miles south from Fiesta Key to Bahia Honda State Park. We have reservations for a week.  We have another awesome site, #16 in Buttonwood, right on the water.  The week is spent walking, biking, snorkeling and kayaking.  Our Sea Eagle inflatable is fantastic!   We have one windy day and head into Key West on the bus. We have Half Pint, but the bus is the only way to travel in the Keys. You get to enjoy the views, not worry about traffic or parking and you get to meet the “locals”.  We are creatures of habit and head to Fogarty’s for dinner. Mallory Square for sunset and The Bull for drinks and entertainment.  Our favorite singer, Sallie, isn’t working tonight.  If you close your eyes when Sallie is singing you’d think Janis Joplin was alive and belting out the tunes.  In between all that, we walked to the Southern Most Point and passed Ernest Hemingway’s House. Key West is great fun.  There is something for everyone there.  I’m sure it gets crazy, but we’re home before midnight.

Valentines Day we go to a Luau at Fiesta Key with John and Nancy.  We entered a dance contest and won consolation prizes. Everybody that was dancing did. They roasted a pig, which I’m told was delicious. I’m still vegetarian and stuck with the rice and fruit.

Sunday we go to Church at St. Paul’s. The priest should have been a comedian. He had the entire congregation’s attention from the minute he started speaking.   He gave the best sermon I’ve heard in a long time.  We go back to the flea market and No Name Pub, but this time for lunch. Gotta mix it up a bit.

Last night I woke up in the middle of the night to high winds and torrential downpours.  I was ready to put on my lifejacket, but it was in the Volvo, so I rolled over and went back to sleep.  It was still yicky this morning so we went for a walk around the marina. This gigantic manatee was hanging around the boats. As we approached, I saw all the propeller scars on her back and almost cried.  She was trying to drink the fresh water run off from a boat.  David turned on a water faucet and directed the flow toward her.  She came over and was almost drinking out of his hand. She turned and rolled enjoying the treat.

We attend a Ranger led “Star Party”.  We star gaze and listen to a talk on the “Sky”.  We saw Orions belt, Beetlejuice, and Jupiter.  National and Florida State Park Rangers are the best.  I have started photographing and identifying water birds and a few spiders. I spend a lot of time in the Nature Center and the Rangers at the desk are so nice and helpful.  If I were young and thinking of a career I’d want to be a Ranger.

February 19, 2014  We go back to Fiesta Key for another 10 days

February 1 – 12, 2014   I don’t think I will ever tire  or stop marveling from the views driving into the Keys. Starting at mile marker 110, let the views begin.

We are a little nervous. We have reservations for 3 out of the  4 weeks that we’ll be in the Keys at Fiesta Key.  It is a campground that we’ve never been to and has been recently bought by a conglomerate.  We got an unbelievable rate per week at a camping show.  Another Adventure!

At mile marker 70 we turn into “paradise”.  Our first impression is good. I’m not saying the whole impression is favorable, but efforts to improve are noticeable. BUT, big BUT, Mother Nature does not let us down. Our sit #575 is waterfront, with the best ocean view we’ve ever had at a campground.  We are facing “sunset”.  Our front yard is an awesome “all natural” aquarium.  We watched two horseshoe crabs being romantic while one was being ridden by a conch. We have very nice neighbors from Nashville, TN.

Feb 2, 2014  We bike out to the road and get on a very nice paved bike path. Seven miles from mm 70 to mm 63 to the Conch Key bridge. We bike, still on the bike path, 2 miles of beautiful, beautiful ocean views from the bridge. We stop to watch 4 Cubans trying to catch a Nurse Shark.  The shark probably weighed as much as all 4 of them together. There was no way they were going to bring this shark in, it was playing with them. This was one better than watching a Three Stooges episode.  At one point, one of the guys looks at me, I’m taking photos of the shark.  He yells to me “Hey lady, take a picture of us 4 Cubans!”    They stop and pose. I take the photo and they go back to there nonsense.

We have developed “Key Disease”.  We have no concept of day or time. Every moment is enjoyable.  We meet 2 old friends of David’s from Connecticut. We’ve met many new friends.  I played mahjong at the Marathon Yacht Club and plan on going back next Tuesday.  David went fishing on a charter and caught 16 yellowtail fish.

There is a  Mexican Pot Luck dinner tonight at the campground.  David has been on a mission researching inflatable Kayaks. He ordered a Sea Eagle 370 Pro Pack. We can’t  wait for it to arrive.

Feb 8, 2014  David’s cousin’s John and Nancy are coming today.  We ride our bikes  out to the Channel 5 bridge, mm 71.  It’s going to be fun being “tour guides”. They have never been to the Keys before.  We go to the Big Pine Flea Market, Lunch at No Name Pub, Key Deer viewing and introduce them to some of our friends that live in the Keys.  We go to Church at San Pablo.  Every day Nancy and I do water aerobics and John and David “sunbathe”.  The days are just warm, relaxing and totally enjoyable.

We spend 12 days at Fiesta Key and then head to Bahia Honda State Park.  We have a week there and then will be back to Fiesta Key.

Jan 27, 2014  Enroute to the Everglades we hit our first traffic jam (accident) not a horrible delay, but Florida drivers are crazy!  If you’re a timid driver, take a bus.

***** What an amazing drive into the Everglades.  I always talk about amazing scenery.  This scenery is so different.  You hear about different species of flowers, trees, butterflies, animals, Mother Nature holds the Gold Medal for the Everglades.

It’s HOT!  It’s January!   We went from temperatures in the 50’s and low 60’s to high 80’s.  hot, humid and sticky, but it’s the Everglades.

Our first bike ride is the Guy Bradley Trail. One mile from the campground to the visitor’s center, all paved, views, views, views!  The Bay covered with Keys, an osprey nest, birds, NO snakes. I’m on the look our for the Pythons. I’ve heard all the hype.  We are on the lookout!

Our campsite is awesome. We have shade all the time.   We have signed up, in advance, for a FREE 3-4 hour Ranger led canoe trip tomorrow.  Today is  hiking and biking.

We ride our bikes to Bear Lake. The road to the lake is 4 miles. We are suppose to hike the trail, bikes are not allowed.  We take a look at the hiking trail … Holy Batman! It looks like a jungle! There could be anything in there, like alligators or pythons!.  We have not seen a single person since we got on Bear Lake Rd.  We decide we’ll ride our bikes and if we see people we’ll pull over.  We apply our 1/3 can of bug spray and off we go “jungle biking”. The trail is spooky, scary, eery, but a bit thrilling.  We ride in 2 1/2 miles to the lake.  We take a quick peak and head back.  We never see an alligator or snake. We do see birds and butterflies.  That was fun!

Our plans for the evening … a Ranger talk about “Romance in the Everglades.  Sounds good?  It’s all about the way critter of the Everglades court and mate.  After hearing how pythons, octopus, black widow spiders and praying mantis get romantic , I have a hard time sleeping. I didn’t mention at the beginning, but Flamingo Campground (where we are staying) is 50-55 miles into the Everglades.  In a vehicle it’s one in and one way out, Basically we are the minority among all the critters listed above and lots more, like panthers.

Jan 28, 2014  We wake up in the night to thunder, lightening and torrential downpours.  In the morning it’s drizzling. Will they cancel our canoe trip?  We decide to drive the 10-15 miles to our meeting place, Nine Mile Pond.  The Ranger is there and it’s a go, as long as there isn’t any thunder or lightening.  The rain stops, skies clear, but we have clouds.  Nice, no beating hot sun.  Perfect weather for canoeing.  Another 1/2 can of bug spray and off we go.  There are 10 of us (5 canoes). The Ranger, Mandy Clark,  is in a kayak. She is wonderful. vWe see endangered species of birds, lots of alligators, the biggest crocodile I’ve ever seen. I hear what I think is a giant bullfrog and Mandy says “It’s a  gator “bugling”, just like Elk do. We heard about this at the “Romance talk”.   Now we’ve heard it, awesome!  I hope this doesn’t mean we’ll see cotton mouth water moccasins, coral snakes or diamond back rattlesnakes. We’re on the lookout. We canoe in and out and all through mangroves and grasses of the Everglades. What fun!  Time to head back. Prime alligator sun bathing time!  On the shore, right near the canoe rack is a JUMBO alligator, sunbathing.  Oh, No!  Mandy says not a problem, we’ll just land  to the right of the big guy.  David and I hang back and let two other couples land first.  Now we have a couple of canoes between us and the gator. He is motionless.  I ask Mandy ” Is he a stuffed animal and the park staff put them there for our entertainment?”  She said “No, and I don’t suggest you get any closer than we are.”  I believed her.

We spend the afternoon walking with Ranger, Shauna, learning the history of the Everglades and about different birds and trees here. We see a manatee, more alligators, more osprey nesting. There are some pretty terrific National Park Rangers and programs.

Jan 29, 2014  Biking the Rowdy Bend Trail and Snake Bight.  I’m wondering if we’re pressing our luck here.  No snakes, so far. We had rain again overnight.  We bike 6 miles to Rowdy Bend and it’s wayyyy to muddy.  We head up to Snake Bight. I am really looking forward to biking there because I’ve heard of an awesome overlook boardwalk  at the end of the trail.  Hurray! It’s dryer than Rowdy. Off we go into the wild green jungle. The sign at the entrance says 72 inch path.  We were lucky if it was 20 inches in  some areas.  We did meet 2 hikers coming out and 2 on the boardwalk. This was a popular trail.  I’m thinking we’re crazy!  This is nothing like anything we’ve done before. It is so exciting. At the boardwalk it is low tide.  We have a view of muddy flats. How can mud look so good? On the way back we stop at a couple of lakes.  We see some very interesting birds and butterflies. One of our Ranger talks was on butterflies. It’s pretty cool being able to identify them.  We also learned about their host plants.

We’re almost back to the campground and David gets a flat on his bike.  Fortunately, it didn’ go flat on the bike trail. David would not have liked walking through the “glades”.

Jan 30, 2011  We have to get up early.  We are heading to another campground, close to the entrance to the Everglades, Long Pine Key Campground.  It’s a first come, first serve campground. still in the Park,  No hookups, but nice paved roads  and sites.   We set up camp and head into Homestead for a “work” day, laundry, shopping, post office and “pick your own” strawberries and tomatoes.  Where else can you “pick your own” in January?

We do all that and have time for a side trip to Biscayne National Park.  It is not a “knock your socks off” park, but like all National parks they have there own uniqueness. We attend a  Ranger  talk on the history of the park.  We also took a walk on a very, very nice  trail. It was a nice way to spend an afternoon.  After dinner at Sonny’s Bar b que in Homestead we head back to the Everglades.

We have one more “must do” in the Everglades, The Anhinga Trail.  We pull into the parking lot and it’s like a scene from the Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Birds, excpt these birds are common buzzards.  The park provides tarps to cover your cars with.  The buzzards will peck anything rubber on your car.  We are not leaving Half Pint to the mercy of the Buzzards.  David and I take turns guarding the car and walking the .8 mile trail. I see more birds, alligators, butterflies and tourists then  I’ve seen anywhere else, at one time,  in the Everglades.  Still no snakes!

Next stop Fiesta Key.

Jan 26, 2014  We are enroute to visit our son-in-law,Chris, NINETY-NINE year old grandmother in Land O’ Lakes , Florida.  But first priority we need to find a campground for the night.

David and I love Florida State Parks. We have camped at many and have NOTHING bad to say about any that we have visited.

We get lucky, again.  The Ranger at Little Manatee River State Park, was awesome.  When we called the campground, not the reservation line, he said he had two sites available for “drive ins”.  Rarely will park personnel hold a site for you.  He said he’d hold one for us. We were able to have a fantastic lunch and visit with Nanny and then head to the park.  I’m convinced that Nanny is 99 and still going strong because of her upbeat, positive attitude. I don’t thing I’ve ever heard her complain.

Before dinner, we have time for a walk on the nature trail.  We would have liked to have rented a canoe and explored the river, but we have reservations at Everglades National Park.

Jan 24, 2014  On our way to visit our friends Lenny and Gerry in Hernando, Fl.  “Snowbird” season in Florida and we didn’t make a reservation at a campground.  The State Park is booked solid.  We try an old stand by from a few years ago,  Sandy Oaks RV Resort, in Beverly HIlls. They have ONE site. Hurray!  They are a little more expensive and much less “nature” oriented than the State Parks, but it’s a nice, clean park with friendly people and they have entertainment on the weekends.

Jan 25, 2014  We spend the afternoon with Lenny and Gerry. Gerry and I go shopping and the guys do car stuff.  We had a “mouse” incident and I needed to find a new a new comforter for the RV.  It was still cold and I got an awesome deal on a winter comforter.  We go out to dinner, make plans for the next day, to go to the Don Garlits Drag Racing Museum Car Show.  We make it back to the campground in time for Sat night entertainment.  Ronald Noodleman, comedian ventriloquist.   VERY corny, but lots of laughs.  The concession stand sold water, soda and beer … all 75cents.  Beer it was and Ronald was funnier!  We sat with a nice couple  from Michigan.  You meet the nicest people camping.

Jan 26, 2014   Hurray!  Finally a nice warm day!  We head out and meet Lenny and Gerry enroute to the Don Garlits charity car show.  We are in the 1964 Volvo PV544 (everyday driver) and Lenny and Gerry have there 1944 Ford (mint condition classic).  David is going to park in general parking, but Lenny convinces him  to park in with the classics. David was “tickled” when the 64 got as much attention, if not more than the 44.  David has an uncanny way of picking unusual cars.

Another fun filled day.  Next Stop Land O Lakes, Florida

January 23, 2014

***** I have lost count of how many times we’ve stopped here.  Hmmmm! Do I have a problem??   Of course, we have to do a tasting.  Deb, our wine hostess was not only knowledgeable, she was funny. A case and a half later we’re headed to Hernado, Florida to visit friends.

January 21, 2014   Not our first time at Disney, but first time together.  First time for both of us at Fort Wilderness. First time for both of us when it was this cold. All I’m going to say is the dress of the day was LAYERED (especially when you left your winter coat in Connecticut).

*****Fort Wilderness Campground is great. Once we figured out the shuttle system we were golden. We did not have a reservation, but got in easily. The campground was $75 a night which was reasonable for all you got. Anyone that has been to Disney knows that everything here is over the top.  If you drove in for the day parking alone was $10 for a car and $16 for an RV.

I loved every site!  I loved every site had there own little (kid sized) trash can.  Maybe I just love everything about Disney.

*****Our first night we went over to Downtown Disney. We saw an amazing street performer, Michael Marx,  an acoustic guitarist. He was so good we sat through two sets. The singer, guitarist that performed in between was pretty good.  He did all requests and there weren’t many he didn’t know.  Of course, we went to Ghiardelli Chocolates for Free – bees.

January 22, 2014 David only wanted to do one park so it was difficult to pick.  I thought Epcot had the most things that he would like. I go often enough with the kids that this one was for him. We opened the park. It was a super time to go.  We walked on to all the rides except Soarin.  We got a fast pass to come back 7 hours later.  You can get fast passes on line now. I can’t imagine what it will be like during prime tourist season.  We had a wonderful day, but that was enough Disney for David.

Next Stop  … Our favorite Winery, Lakeridge  in Clermont, Fl .

***** January 19, 2014  Jekyll Island Campground (site G24, pull through $38) (site E19, back in $35). We booked too late and couldn’t get two nights in the same spot. We had to move, but it wasn’t a big deal.  Both sites were nice E19 a little nicer than G24.  The campground is nice and in a great location on the Island. We never took Half Pint out, we biked or walked(at night) everywhere.  There is a wide paved (maybe 2% dirt)  bike path that circles the whole island. There are a couple of cut through’s if you don’t want to double back.  We biked the entire path one day, my guesstamate 20 miles, Flat, Flat, Flat the couple of times that I had to put real effort into pedaling I was surprised.

I’m in love.  I would buy a house here in a heartbeat.   The scenery is breathtaking. The island is so serene and totally unique.  One of the negative feedbacks I read was not enough restaurants.  I don’t think we saw any. We biked beaches, boardwalk, crooked tree forests and the Historic District.  I could have spent two hours in the Jekyll Island Book Store. It’s in a historic house.  There is a sign on the door that asks you to gently open and close the 100 year old door.  There are 12 -15 rooms each with a different theme.

We spent our lunchtime sitting on a bench at the marina watching a dolphin find his lunch.  In the Historic section there was a Huge Inn (Old Estate) and people were laying croquet on the lawn. They were all dressed in period clothing. Very neat!

I can go on and on about the very, very nice things I liked about Jekyll Island.  Oh! great fishing pier!

Next Stop “We’re going to Disney!”