Arriving at Key West and a Sand Art Competition

 We had to leave Miami on Thanksgiving Day, but before we left we had the kids over for a Thanksgiving Breakfast and send off. Of course a Family portrait was in order and then we were off.
It was great getting to visit our Son, Daughter and Grandson for a few days.

 About half way down the Keys it was time for lunch, I don't think we could have picked a better spot just to sit back, have a bite and enjoy the scenery.

 We got into Key West and the Sigsbee Naval RV Park around 3:00 and got set up with a pretty good site. They didn't have one right on the water for us, but...............

 This was pretty darn close, as seen from our door. Just a short stroll to the Gulf of Mexico to watch the world go by, boats, jet skies, and wind surfers.....ahhh the retired life. Looks like we'll be here in our dry camp site for 6 days till we rotate into a full hook up site. It's taken a couple of days to settle into dry camping and all is good now.

 Yesterday we found out about an event downtown, the Key West International Sand Art Competition, being held at a beach on the Atlantic side, so we just had to check it out. Sheryl and I had never seen professional Sand Artist before, it is just amazing to watch them create these sculptures. There were only 6 artist at this event, so it didn't take to long to check them all out, but we stayed for a bit before heading back to our sanctuary and away from the insanity that Key West can be. Here are some of the sculptures I was able to capture, hope you enjoy!!!

It's been a great few days here. We keep looking at our home base weather, 32 degrees each day and are quite happy we made it down here for the winter!!! That's all for now from Sunny and Warm Key West............................see ya next time............................

Visiting the Kids and Grandson in Miami

 After driving for a couple of days in some crazy Florida Liquid Sunshine and a Night or two at  Flying J Truck Stops, we arrived safe and sound in the Miami area.

 Once again we scored a pretty good site here at Markam County Park. The site was paved and level, along with a large expanse of grass all around us. The park is a little pricey for a county park, but it pretty nice, in a safe area and well patrolled by both the Police and Sheriff's dept. a big plus down here.

 However our main reason for stopping off here was to visit our little Grandson, and of course mom and dad.

 Sheryl was afraid he would have forgot her, since it's been quite a while since we've seen them. As you can see, that didn't happen, he took to her right away yelling Gamma!!!

Of course there was plenty a Grandpa time too.

 One unexpected surprise was a flock of green parrots that came and went each day by our campsite. Must be unusual as our kids who have lived here for many years have never seen them.

 One other unexpected event was going on, a few of the local RC Model Boaters were out on the lake just behind us. I had never seen these type boats out on the water before, so our friend and I walked on over and struck up a conversation with them. They were telling us the boat are electric motor propelled and can reach speeds of 50 MPH and run for about 20 minutes on one charge.

  They were nice enough to let me photograph their boats, and in return I sent them a few of the better shot I got. These are just a few....................

We've enjoyed our time here visiting the kids and of course Grandson. Time is always too short, but Key West waits on no man!!! It's time to head out in the morning and spend Thanksgiving in the islands. We would have stayed here, but there's no room at the park and no safe place to put our rigs for the day while we'd be gone. The kids understood and we'll drive up and spend Christmas with them. But for now, we'll be off and running in the morning. Hope you enjoyed the photos and we'll see you back here in a couple of days..........................................

Mayport NAS, Jacksonville Florida

 With Pensacola behind us and a quick overnight stop at a Flying J, we landed (pardon the pun) at Pelicans Roost RV Park aboard Mayport Navel Air Station, Jacksonville Florida.

 We lucked out and scored a waterfront site for 3 days. What a view and since Sheryl and I had been here before, it has been 3 days of just relaxing and enjoying instead of running around and seeing the sights. The last couple of days has been kinda raining off and on, but not so bad that we haven't been able to sit out and watch the show unfold in front of us throughout the day. By show I mean, the Navel, Coast Guard and Civilian ships going in and out. Aircraft flying, dolphin and other creatures just going about their daily lives. I did manage to capture a few shots and there will be more posted in the gallery should you be so inclined.

Hope you enjoyed and Paul, that first shot was for you. Tomorrow (Friday) we'll be going to St Augustine for the night and showing our friends the Oldest City in the U.S. then on toward Miami for Thanksgiving with our Kids. For you Retired Military folks out there, if you never been to Mayport, it's one of those must stays if you are ever in the area. Make sure you spend several days as there's just so much going on right in front of you. That's it for now and we'll see you back here before long....................

Leaving Pensacola

 Looks like our time here in Pensacola, FL is coming to an end. Tomorrow we head out for Jacksonville, FL and the Mayport Navel Station. We have really enjoyed our time here and have done a whole lot of just relaxing. However that does not mean we haven't been keeping ourselves entertained. Sheryl has been busy working on Christmas presents for our kids and grand-kids.

 As well as getting in the Christmas spirit with some craft projects. Sheryl is a Snowman fanatic and made these cute little guys. Now I just have to mount them so the'll stand up.

 

 We had a Veterans Day Breakfast with friends at a local diner. It just so happened to be our friends birthday so we killed two birds with one stone.

 We found a great place for drinks right on the beach, Did a little beach combing and watched another amazing sunset.

 Seems you can never have too many amazing sunsets!!!

While getting ready to head home, I found this sign in the bar. Don't see too many Sunday services taking place in bars, but hey, what ever brings you in. The sign just struck me funny and had to get a shot of it.

So that is it from Sunny Pensacola Fl, next stop the East Coast on our trek toward Key West. So Stay Tuned and we'll see you next time...............................

Pensacola Sunset

 The past few days the rain and clouds set in for some gloomy weather. But last night as the front pushed on through, we were left with another amazing Florida Sunset.

Hope you enjoyed!!!

Pensacola Florida and the Blue Angels Rec Area

 After a very enjoyable few days in Dallas, it was time to hit the road again and make a bee line for Pensacola Florida. Initially we were going to make this a three day trip, however, once we got going we pushed a little bit harder and made it in two. Arriving a day early, we hoped we would be able to get into the park as our reservations started the next day. Boy, did we luck out, there was a cancellation and it just happened to be one of the prime waterfront spots in the park!!! We jump at it and before we know it we were sipping drinks and soaking in the view. Now, of course this all could not have gone with out a hick-up that drove us crazy for a bit. You see we got all set up, I plugged the coach in and no park power?? hmmm this never happened before?? Ok, go back out and check the power pole, yup breaker is on, surge protector is showing power, hmmmmm?? Back inside check all breakers, open the elec area, look for lose wires, wiggle everything and still nothing, dang!!! Starting to get really aggravated, let me try one more thing. Back out to the pole, unplug the surge protector and plug the coach strait into the pole, Woo Hoo power to the coach!!! Turns out the surge protector went bad, thank goodness I have a back up, hooked it up and we were all good! Time to relax.

 Relax we did, walked down to the beach here on the bay and enjoyed a nice sunset.

 After a couple of days of relaxing and doing a whole bunch of nothing, it was time to get out. Dinner and music seem to fit the bill. We had heard the International Songwriters Festival was going on down on Perdido Key, sounded like fun and a nice date night out. First was dinner at the Flora-Bama Oyster Bar, good food with a great open are view.

 Then it was across the street to the bar area for some live music. Now we had never heard of this festival before and figured it was just going to be some local songwriters and bands. Boy were we wrong, these were the big name songwriters in the business, who have had many many popular songs to their credit. We we're lucky in the sense, that they were mostly country writers on this night and we knew most of the songs they had written and were playing. What made it special was to hear the back story to each of the songs and then hear it played and sung by the writers themselves.

It was a great night out for us. We have been to Pensacola before and have seen most all the sights, so this stay here is all about just relaxing and enjoying the area.
After our first day here (had reservations for a week) we liked the park and our spot so much we extended our stay another week...........ahhhhhhhhhhhh. Hard to believe we've been here a week already, Trying to decide on a route to Key West and how long we want to take to get there, man if I only had tough decisions like this to make when I was working..................retirement is good!!!

Ok, we're all caught now, so until next time....................................