A Few More Pics From The Keys

More from the Florida Keys

Sunday we returned early to Key West so we could see more and take the glass bottomed boat tour.

We got onto the noon tour and set out for the barrier reefs to view coral and fish. Only two varieties of fish were visible at the destination location - and we got an extensive description of the coral and why we should never never touch it, but that was about it. They definitely should not have shown a video on board of many varieties of colorful fish! The contrast between the video and the reality was great.

I got new flip flops and a KW silver bracelet. I'm quite lucky that Key West's initials are the same as mine. After the cruise, we ate square shrimp tacos on Greene Street and then went across the street to share a piece of Key Lime Pie. It was very good, but mine are just as good - if I do say so, myself!

Good-Bye, FL City and Hello, Florida Keys

We were all quite happy to leave Florida City and our RV "resort". It is run by the city and it seems they use it as a haven for their homeless and don't really have any interest in upgrading or even maintaining its current condition. The occupant of the small camper next to us was an "interesting" character. Creepy would be a good description. His rig had decals of naked sexy women plastered all over it, 7 locks (which he had to unlock each and every time he entered) and a bumper sticker that proclaimed, "I like Porn!" We kept our distance!

John and Elain White decided to get their laundry done at that stop and were sorry they did. Their chosen establishment had bars on its windows and suspicious clientele. Safety in numbers, so they made sure they didn't leave Ken and Linda alone until all laundry was done.

The road to the Keys was a beautiful one. We took a longer route with Bill and Beth Ferry, but found ourselves arriving sooner than we'd hoped. Bill's trusty electronic gadgets found us a place to have lunch (Chad's) and parking places as well for the trailers and trucks. Chad's was wonderful and we were all wishing we could take it home or clone it, making millions in the process. But, unfortunately, all we could take with us was muffins for future breakfasts.

Our new RV park is a delightful contrast to the last one. Pool, beach, sand, laundry room, etc.

First on my agenda was getting all the laundry done. I intend for it to last until we get home.

Saturday was our day to go to Key West. The Trolley Tour was a good one, but very long. The Key is very small so why should it take 90 minutes to go the entire route? They want us to get our money's worth, but that's ridiculous! We saw the Truman Little White House and Hemingway House and Larry did the Sunken Treasures Museum.

Lunch was at an upstairs cafe (fish tacos) and extremely good. We then set off to get some more shopping done. Waiting for the trolleys to arrive took a great deal of time, so we set off walking toward Margaritaville. Larry got a Margarita, which we shared, and a T-shirt so he could show everyone he'd been there!

On the way home, we had dinner at the No Name Pub back near our RV Park in Big Pine Key.

Peggy and Cal and their friends were already there and we sat next to them. Great food - and Larry got another T-Shirt.

Miami

More from Miami

Day Trip to Miami with Bill and Beth Ferry

Being this close to Miami - and not likely to return to this area anytime soon, we decided we had to go, just so we could say that "we were there!"

Lots of traffic, road construction, etc. But, the day was just beautiful and we had a wonderful lunch at the Hotel W. Very plush and upscale. We ate outside on cushioned sofas with a table between us. Greek salad and club sandwiches.

After we returned, we decided to check out the outlet mall. We don't know how it survives. The place was all but deserted and we bought - nothing.

Everglades and Alligator Farm and Swamp Tour

Golf Cart Highway and Stuart Area Pictures

Nicoletta and Gracie, Poitou donkey and Shetland pony

Umatilla Stop and Snapshots

Umatilla and Mt. Dora

The drive on Monday to Umatilla was fairly uneventful for us - but not for Nora and Frank Guros.

They arrived with a badly dented trailer and they didn't even know it! The best we can conclude is that it was hit by a not-so-high-flying bird, as evidenced by the feather left behind.

We had an indoor cookout that night and the crew did a fine job of feeding the crowd; we had lemon chicken, Elain's cherry jello salad, green salad, dinner rolls and various cookies for dessert.

After dinner the usual suspects played Joker. Girls won all the games at both tables!

Tuesday, March 15, was our trip to Mt. Dora. We split into two groups for the local trolley ride and united as one large group for lunch in between the two tours. We drove in with Bob and Elaine early and did a bit of window shopping and bakery buying before lunch. At lunchtime we congregated on the large porch and settled ourselves into the wooden rocking chairs to await the Trolley folks. As they dismounted the Trolley and began making their way up the hotel's brick stairway, Sue Wendt took a spill and fell back down the stairs. She was slightly hurt and got a bandage for her knee, but then we all noticed Sue Booker down on the sidewalk holding her hand over her right eye, bleeding profusely from some wound. Sue W's camera had flown off her wrist and nailed Sue B. just over her eyebrow. I had my endless supply of tissues (thanks to my recent allergy attacks) and felt it my duty to offer them. Donna Larson had things under control at Sue B's end. The paramedics were called and she was hauled off to receive stitches and scans, "just in case" something was more serious. At this point, I was realizing the full effect of all this and had to lie down flat to allow my blood pressure to readjust itself and enter my head again. What a scene we all made! I did recover in time for lunch, of course! I know the drill after all these years of dealing with it off and on.

Back at the RV Park, Sue B. came back around 5:00 with 8 stitches in her forehead just over her right eyebrow. Ed was in the trailer during all this, battling his bout of the caravan cold and upper respiratory woes.

The night's entertainment was one of the entertainers from the Florida State Rally, Cahal Dunne. Much was the same as Sarasota, but he added a lot to the night's performance and we were one happy crowd. Larry even talked with him during the break and mentioned that many of us had seen him in Sarasota and L. also requested Danny Boy. He also sang one of our favorite songs from the Newfoundland Caravan - Fields of Athonrye. I'll have to look up the accurate spelling.

St. Augustine and Caravan Crud

Our stay in St. Augustine began with dinner at Barnacle Bill's Seafood Restaurant. Larry and I had the Mahi Mahi and it was delicious. We took home half to have another night.

Friday morning, bright and early, I should say COLD and WINDY and bright and early, we made our way downtown to the Mission's parking lot to catch the Red Train for our tour of Historic St. Augustine. We took Art and Pat Fischer with us as our passengers for the day - and a very long day it was.

After our initial tour, we got back on the train and made our way downtown where we got off to find the cinnamon buns. Delicious! We then made our way further downtown to the winery for a tour, which we took - but skipped the tastings due to overcrowding at the table. The quilt shop was right across the street and so was lunch at Carmelo's Pizza. When we reunited with the truck it was time to journey out to see Dave and Vickie Buttleman, who stay with friends at their acreage near our RV Park. They wanted us to see their church, some springs and have dinner at the Elks Club. We did it all.

Saturday morning we went downtown very early with Pat and Art again. We needed to get a parking space early due to the town's first St. Patrick's Day Parade. Saw the parade and if my brain weren't so stuffed up from my cold I'd probably have some comments to make. They'll have to wait.

The museum where the parade began is located in an old hotel - the Alcazar. It's full of very ornate items and collectibles. Not my style at all, but I know people who do have that style...

Did I mention we walked there because the Red Train was not running due to the parade. Since we found ourselves on King Street, not far from the aforementioned winery and quilt shop and pizza shop - we revisited each of them. Then we waited and waited - and waited - for the train to pick us up for our return trip so we could get another train to take us to the waterfront for our boat ride. Eventually the Black Train came and our tickets were also good for it, so we hopped on. It was proving itself to be a very slow ride, so we all made an executive decision to hop off at the waterfront and wait there for the group to arrive. Good Choice! We'd have missed the boat otherwise.

Nice cruise and the weather was great today as well. At its conclusion we again took off walking, not wanting to wait another 20 minutes for either the Red or Black train to arrive. So, we walked first to the Visitors' Center and then the Seafood Festival where we sampled Winn Dixie's seafood specialties. We'll have to try them again sometime. We still had Barnacle Bill's leftovers to eat, so then headed back to the RV Park. I'd also had enough of my runny nose, so we took off for some OTC meds to alleviate my symptoms. Time change to Daylight Savings tonight!

As for the Caravan Crud, several caravaners picked up bacterial bugs while on the cruise ship. Illnesses of one kind or another have been making their way through the ranks and today we lost another couple - VJ and Herbert.