Another Week in Paradise

 These last 10 days or so have been typical for our time here, with the exception of our trip to Miami.  Our little Grand Daughter was being Baptized and we wanted to be there. We loaded up and headed north towards our sons house in the Miami area. We spent the night with him, enjoyed a good dinner and visited the evening away. The next morning we were off to the church for the ceremony, and a celebration lunch at our daughter in laws parents home. The ceremony went well and her parents put out quite the spread. We were enjoying our visit but had to cut it short, in order to make it back to Key West before it got to late.

 This is a typical gathering which occurs every couple of days. Seems one person or another in our group of friends is putting together some sort of feast. It's great to have good friends here and we have met many.

 Our time in full hook up was over before we knew it this time. Amazing just how fast two weeks can go. However, that being said, we still scored a pretty good spot in the dry camp area, the water is just behind that row of RV's. The view from up higher inside the coach is much better.
One main thing we noticed on Dry Camping vs Full Hook Up here in Key West (probably applies most anywhere). You tend to get outside more in Dry Camp and visit or just sit outside, as opposed to staying cooped up inside staring at the TV. Sure makes it nice, being out enjoying the weather, watching the sunsets and visiting with folks.

 Speaking of getting out and enjoying the weather. The girls were finally able to get out and enjoy the water. It's been almost a 1 1/2 months since the weather has been nice enough to get out on their floaties. Sheryl and her friends sure made the best of it, even had the husbands playing Cabana Boy for them, you know fetching them drinks and such.........well as they say, happy wife, happy life......lol

The other up date from a couple of weeks ago are Sheryl's finished Coconut Fish. She has been really busy learning new crafts and diving in head first.
The base also held their monthly Craft/Yard Sale event. I got a table and was able to sell several of my photos again. Sure is a nice boost to the ole ego to have people enjoy your work enough to buy pieces of it to display in their homes.
Of course there are all the other day to day chores that come with full timing, it's not all parties and sunsets here in paradise, ok, well may be it is but don't tell anybody.......lol.  That's all for now and we'll see you next time................................

A Day in Key West

 Sunrise

 Noon

Sunset

Up early today, so I thought I'd make it a Photography kinda day. Went out at different times of the day to see what I could capture and found a few that worked.

Hope you enjoyed them.....................see ya next time...........................

Just Another Boring Week in Key West, Not!!!

 Some folks may think this whole retirement gig is just sitting around in a rocking chair watching the world go bye. Well, not on your life buddy!!! (ok, maybe some of it.....lol) We do manage to stay pretty busy from week to week. We'll start with the Sunset Cruise we finally managed to go on, (had to keep rescheduling it due to poor weather) and what a great cruise it turned out to be.  Here we are, along with our friends Bob and Mechele, getting our pre-cruise drink on!

 The cruise we chose (which was a Christmas present from our son in Miami) was the Commotion on the Ocean through Fury Adventures. The Sunset cruise takes out for 2 or so hours on one of their large Catamarans. It features a live Classic Rock Band, complementary all you can drink adult beverages and barfood.

 While heading out of port, we saw this unique Key West contraption. Guess there's more than one use for a Weed Eater.......lol

 But the Star of the Show was the Sunset and on this day it did not disappoint. So if you happen to find yourself in Key West, a Sunset Cruise is a must do!!!

 One of the many events put on by the park here is the Sigsbee Shuffle. This is where several RVers play host at their RV and the Shufflers go from host to host around the park. It's a great way to make new friends.

 All the hosts really get into the spirit of things and usually have their own theme going.

 Another event put on by the park, is the Monthly Arts and Crafts/yard Sale. I decided to print out some of my favorite Key West pictures, grab a booth and see how it went. I was pleasantly surprised by the feedback on my photos and actually sold a few!!! Hmmm may just be on to something here.

 As you may remember, we picked up a Sea Eagle Inflatable Kayak. Sheryl and I took it out together and we were really pleased how well it handled with both of us. I was however, curious to see how it handled with just one person. One of our friends stopped by the other day and asked if I wanted to hit the water with them, hmmm  a good opportunity to try her out solo. Again, very pleased at how easy it handled. Really glad we decided to get it.

Sheryl has been learning several new crafts since we've been here, the least of which is making Coconut Fish, yes Coconut Fish, you, like me will just have to wait and see how they turn out, that will be next time.
So as you can see we have been busy little bees (of course, all the above dose not include various dinners and gatherings with friends) and will stay that way, as there are alot more events and thing we just want to do while here. Ok, that's it for now and we'll see you next time.

Key Deer and the Bahia Honda Bridge

 This weeks adventure out found me at the Key Deer National Wildlife Refuge on Big Pine Key. I wanted to try and capture the Endangered Key Deer in the wild. The weather really worked against me on this trip, cold, windy and rainy (yes there are actually yucky days in the keys....lol) and all the  wildlife seemed to hunkered down and not moving at all, as we should have been.

 After scouring the refuge for a while with no luck, I took a short trip over to No Name Key and as luck would have it, I found these guys riding out the weather in a cove just off the road. These were the only deer or any other wildlife, I saw all day.

 With my wildlife search pretty much a bust, I headed to the next key over to check out Bahia Honda State Park and the old Bahia Honda Bridge. The park has some nice beaches which of course is why you come here, but my main focus today was the bridge.

 The old bridge was first built in the early 1900's as a railroad connecting the middle keys with the lower keys. As more and more people traveled to the Keys by car, they decided, instead of building another bridge to hold the car traffic, they would just build a road on top of the railroad bridge. Doesn't look like the best of ideas to me, but I guess it worked out, until the 1970's when it was replaced with a new one to carry the increasing vehicle traffic.

On my way out of the park, I found this guy striking a pose, so of course a portrait shot was in order. With the weather being as it was, the sea was pretty rough and churned up, so I am hoping to get back up there on a calmer day and capture the same shots with the crystal clear waters shining through.
A fun and enjoyable day out, it's great having a hobby that gets us out and about to some of the most scenic places we can find during our travels.
That'll do it for now, hope you enjoyed the shots, take care and see you back here again................

Our New Sea Eagle Kayak

 Well, after being here in Key West for over a month now and seeing all the beautiful water surrounding us, we broke down and bought another Kayak. I know what you saying, didn't you guys just sell your kayaks??? Yes we did, the difference now is, I don't have to take this one on and off the Jeep all the time as we travel, which became a major PITA. With the inflatable Sea Eagle, I can just let the air out and she'll store in one of the under compartments till next time we need her. We had been taking about getting one for while now and Sheryl found a pretty good deal on Amazon, so we placed the order and it arrived at our campsite in just a few days. The Sea Eagle Sport comes in two sizes, we opted for the larger one, 12.4' vs 10' . We figured the more room the better and hopefully more stable. After getting her out of the box we were very impressed with how well built it is and how well it handles out on the water.

Here we are on our maiden voyage, not a long trip, just a short spin around the base and through the base housing canals. Not much in the way of pictures as we found, you seem to get a little wetter than in a traditional kayak. I think it has to do with higher sides and having to bring the paddles up higher, thus more water from the paddles seems to find it's way in and on you. Hmmm sounds like a good excuse for a waterproof camera in the future???
Ok, just a quick entry to show off our new play toy. There will be much more to come as I foresee giving this little kayak a work out while were here and throughout the rest Florida. So, until next time................................see ya then!!!

Wounded Warrior Soldier Ride through the Florida Keys

 Yesterday (Sunday) Sheryl and I, along with some other folks from the RV Park had the honor of cheering on a group of Wounder Warriors during their ride though the Florida Keys. The RV Park provided transportation to a spot along the route (US 1) Where we cheered the riders as they went by. I must say we were pleasantly surprised at how grateful the riders were for our support.

 All toll there were about 30 riders with varying degrees of disabilities.

 I believe this event lasted 4 days with the ride beginning in the upper Keys and ending here in Key West. The event is held by the Wounded Warrior Project and helps promote healing through cycling.

It was a great time seeing these men and women out enjoying life and we were proud to be out supporting them.
Another fun event that we were able to be a part of here, and it seems there's always something going on at the park or downtown to keep us busy. Of course in between our busy schedule there's plenty of time for relaxing and just enjoying the tropical weather.....ahhhhhh. So until next time..........................

First Week of the New Year

 New Years Day has come and gone now and Sheryl did find a nice relaxing way to recover from our New Years Eve celebration, and yes we actually made it till midnight! Since then it's been pretty much life as usual here in the keys, enjoying the nice weather, our two weeks worth of full hook ups and spending time out with friends and just ourselves.

 Speaking of which, one night we decided to go out and do a Happy Hour Bar Run for dinner. We hit three different places and a couple of items from the specials menu at each, along with a few drinks of course. We also got a chance to meet and talk with several different folks along the way.

 On our final stop of the night, we took in Sloppy Joe's, where there's is always great music playing. The place was packed, so we asked a couple with two extra chair if we could sit with them, turns out they were RVers also and down here for the Winter. We had a great night out.

 The weather here hasn't been all sunshine and 80 degrees, we finally had a nice cold front move in and cool us all the way down to 70! Ahhhh life in the Keys.............

 A couple days after our night out, some of our friends wanted to do the same thing, so we were off again. We only hit two places this night, with a final stop at a Gelato Shop. I turned Sheryl on to Gelato when we went out and now she's hooked, cant say I blame her, that stuff is good!

One minor inconvenience about being in Key West is the lack of Over the Air TV, well there's none actually. Sheryl held out for a month before her withdrawals got the best of her, enter Dish Network and their Tailgator Sat Dish. Now we will have TV everywhere we go. It hasn't been a real big issue, but we do travel to places where reception is pretty poor.
Other than that, not much else is going on, just hanging out and enjoying life............................take care and we'l see you next time.