Key West

Found the bus schedule and where it would pick us up and took the “blue” bus into Key West. Fascinating little town, we did most of our wandering in old town down by Mallory Square. Had to make our stop at Kinos today, so we could get all the Kino sandels that we had to buy to fill requests (and of course Lisa needed a pair). Walked around Mallory Square but didn’t stay, it was cloudy and not very many people there. We had a wonderful cheese and fruit plate at Island Dogs Bar.
The liquor laws here allow you to carry out your drinks, just get it in plastic and carry it with you, so we stopped several times to try different beers and “umbrella” drinks. Also went in to the Key West Winery and tried several fruit wines. They only have one grape wine, which is based on the muscadine grape, so I didn’t try it. Bought a bottle of Coco Polada, coconut flavored of course. They ship to Michigan, so if we need more we can get it. The clerk kept looking at my shirt, I had on one of my Hat Trick t-shirts from the One Trick Pony, and after we talked, I found out she was born in Hastings and moved downtown by Diamond and Michigan Sts and was very familiar with the One Trick! Small world for sure!
Lisa did some more shopping along Duval St, we stopped at Ricks for a beer and some coconut drink that came with a cute Easter Island head shaped cup. Free chips and salsa in a heated popcorn popper dispenser, nice treat. Finally caught the 9:00 pm bus back to Boyds Campground, cost $1 for Lisa, $0.50 for me being a senior you know :-)
Thursday we eased up in the morning, lazed around til 10:30 then bused it back in to Key West. Got off at the other end this time, and walked toward old town, just planning on stopping if something caught our eye. Went through the Hemingway house, lots of history there, walked through the Lighthouse grounds, but didn’t want to pay the $10 to walk up the tower. Enjoyed a nice walk making our way down Duval St back to old town, finally stopping at Caroline’s for lunch. It was recommended by Pat and Julie, and after eating there I can see why. Very good food, and reasonably priced (for Key West). I had the conch fritters and a southwest salad, and couldn’t eat it all. Lisa had the quesidias and had the same problem.
Found our way to Mallory Square for the sunset party tonight, the weather being much better. Enjoyed the buskers, sword swallower, fire breathers, bed of nails guy, and all the artists. Of course the “guy with the cats” was there, and I got some nice sunset photos. Had the caricature artist draw one for me, did pretty good. Glad we were here today, made for a nice weather day for our exploration of Key West. Our nightlife was spent at Sloppy Joe’s, of course made famous by it’s Hemingway connection, but we were here for the “Put-In-Bay”connection. Pat Daley is playing here each weekend, so we stayed for the show. Lots of Put-in-Bay people here, they even have a Put-in-Bay festival weekend t-shirt for sale, but was sold out so I couldn’t get one. Lots of Ohio people in town today, even walking down the street we were hearing the “O-H-I-O” being yelled out from the bars. Paul and Peg would be in seventh heaven!
Took the bus back after the show, and in the morning we got ready to leave and head back to Key Largo.

More later…………….

Key Largo and Key West

Left Punta Gorda on Sunday morning about 10, hit the Eden Vineyard Winery at 11:00. Lisa did the sampling and enjoyed these wines more than at Lakeridge. They have the hybred grapes here, and you don’t get the muscadine grape flavors like you do at the Lakeridge Winery where they use more of them. She even bought a couple bottles to take along. Noon we were headed back south to the Everglades. Took the Tamiami trail which found us driving right through the middle of the Everglades. Stopped at the Everglades welcome center, and just down the road found a airboat ride so we stopped and had one (ride that is). Saw a couple gators in the swamp, and the boat captain was explaining a bit about the lack of water in the Everglades and how that, along with all the snakes (boas), was affecting the ecosystem. Fun ride, he would spin the boat to stop it a couple times to show off, but with the wind blowing as hard as it was, he was having a hard time turning the boat in a smaller space. Shopped in the tourist trap and picked up a alligater foot for Bradley.

Kept going east on US-41 and saw the Indian Casino, thought we would stop for a bit, and saw RV parking so we set up for the night. Went in and played a couple slots, had a drink at the Cypress Lounge, and listened to the singer before going back to the RV for the night.

Up in the AM and on the road to Key Largo, another windy day driving. Made it to Key Largo about noon, found a laundry to do some clothes washing, and over to Pat and Julie’s about 2. Got settled in, Pat was there, Julie showed up after work about 5, and Randy and Gloria got back from Key West about 6. We all had dinner together, and a nice evening spent visiting.

Got up in time to wish Randy and Gloria goodbye, as they were headed north to see friends in Bradenton, and then making their way home. After breakfast Pat and I ran a few errands, I got my hair cut, we were back in time for Julie to leave for work at 2. Lisa and I went for a nice walk, picked up a couple coconuts, and Pat helped us crack one open and get the milk and meat out. Went to Gilbert’s Tiki Bar for dinner, I had a conch sandwich with sweet potato fries. Back to Pat’s after dinner for a little talking, watching TV, trying out a couple different whiskeys, and off to bed at 10:30.

We were rudely woken during the night by a nasty storm, lots of rain for an hour or so, but as we got out of the trailer about 8:30 the sun was poking it’s head out a little. After a shower and breakfast we bid Pat and Julie a temporary goodbye and headed down to Key West. Most of the drive was clear and sunny, until just before we reached the campground and the skys opened up on us! Quite a thunderstorm, waited a bit to set up the trailer in Boyd’s Campground, and finally got things done about 2:00. Having a little lunch as I type this, and after posting we are heading into Key West for the day.

More later………….

Saturday in Punta Gorda

Saturday morning we took it easy for a while, got a cab about 12:30 back to the Fisherman’s Village for a afternoon cruise on the river. Took the afternoon tour with the King Fisher Fleet. Nice little tour, showed us the city from the perspective of the river. Lots of high dollar homes here, lots on the river go for ½ million and up. Had one dolphin surface off the bow, not enough time to get a picture. It rained at the beginning of the tour, but didn’t last long.

Also had a call from Pat Knott while we were waiting for the boat to take off, seems the Rick Granger and Frankie had just left Pat’s place, they had stopped for the night on Rick’s bike, seems they live in Ocala now, both working and dong great!

Back at the pier we did a little looking around in the Fisherman’s Village, had a coffee and started walking back to town. On the way we saw a eagle’s nest, the mother bald eagle was feeding her chicks, I took a bunch of pictures, was a first for me to see a eagle closeup like that. I am going to try to put a couple pictures in my blog, we will see how they turn out.

Not much open in town on Saturday after 5 so we went to a mexican restaurant for dinner, then to the Celtic Ray to see Paul and Peg and Richie before we went back to the motor home. Cabbed it back about 8, and took it easy for the rest of the night, as our expected visitors didn’t show up.

Bradenton and Punta Gorda

We left the Wal Mart about 11 on Wednesday morning, started driving south on I-75. Weather wasn’t very good, lots of rain as we were driving, and we were amazed at some of the downed trees we passed. The storm must have raged all around us last night, reports of tornadoes west,east and north of where we stayed, 59 people were killed, and had to have strong winds south to have the trees down that we saw. Our RV didn’t even rock last night, someone was sure watching over us!

Ended up at a RV park in Valdosta, GA called the River Park. Nice place, $26, electric, water, sewer and cable. Relaxed for the evening after fighting all that wind on the road.

Woke up to a nice morning, it was cool last night, but it warmed up nice as we drove on. Took I-75 into Florida, then the Florida Turnpike to Clermont where we visited the Lakeridge Winery. Nice tour, tasted a few wines, Lisa got a couple bottles and I picked up a bottle of port. Left there and drove to the Bradenton area and spent the night at the Frog Creek RV park.

Friday morning we left Frog Creek, which was a very nice park, nothing fancy but very comfortable, and drove to the Red Barn Flea Market in Bradenton. Don’t, and I repeat, don’t try to park a 29’ RV in the parking lot there! Ended up parking in a cross aisle blocking a fire hydrant just to get enough room for the rig. Typical flea market stuff, I did have a good chicken burrito though. Haven’t heard from Bode, tried calling him again and he hasn’t called back, so we drove down to Punta Gorda and checked in for a couple nights into Alligator Park. This one is bigger than Frog Creek, and calls itself a “resident owned over 55” park. I just make the over 55 part seeing as I turned 56 last Sunday.

After setting up, we took a cab into Punta Gorda and wandered the town. It’s a quaint older village/town right on the water, Peace River I believe it’s called. This place was hit hard by Hurricane Charlie a few years back, and is still in the process of rebuilding. There are many empty lots, and some new construction going on. Walked all the way down to Fisherman’s Village, some nice stores and restaurants there. Had a pint in Harpoon Harry’s at the end of the dock, watched the sunset and a couple dolphins swimming around.

Afterwards we walked back into town and made our way over to the Celtic Ray where Paul, Peg and Richie are playing. Ordered a couple Smithwick’s, Lisa got a “toastie” and some colcannon and was in seventh heaven :-) Made our way outside where the band was setting up, Paul got us a table right in front, and we listened to the band play. They started at 8 and didn’t quit til after 11! A good crowd, and for once, us Michigan people outnumbered the Ohio people (not counting the band of course). A great show, even heard a few new numbers – Yesterday from the Beatles for one. Great weather tonight too, it's about 70 and dry, much better than what's back home. Brandie keeps us in the know on the weather there.

Paul introduced us to Pat, the new owner, nice guy, he even treated us to a bottle of champagne. Christine arrived about 9, she just flew in for the weekend, and the Rooster is here til the 19^th. We hung around til 11:30 or so, and then called a cab to get us back to the park and hit the hay.

More later……………………

Stuck in Georgia

Hey all

Well, we are on the road, left on Monday while everyone was shoveling out their driveways! Took off about noon and drove down to a rest stop just outside of Bardstown Kentucky. Nothing real interesting other than getting out of the snow.
Got up at 7, shower breakfast and drove down the Kentucky Bourbon Trail! First stop was Jim Beam, I usually don't drink Beam, but heh, they were giving free samples. Had to dodge raindrops between the buildings, they showed us a 13 minute video of how they make Beam and it's history. picked up a couple souvenirs and drove down to Heaven Hill distillery.
Brand new visitor center here, they make Evan Williams along with other bourbons. Nice center, another short video, no tour to outbuildings as it was raining, couple more souvenirs and on the road to Makers Mark.
Now this was a cool tour. Took us through a replica of the owners house, then into the bottling building, watched them dip their bottles into the red wax, through the printing building and into the fermenting building. Got to dip our hands into the fermenting mash and taste it! Like tasting a sweet beer wort.
This was by far the most hands on tour of the three. I even got to dip my own bottle of whiskey! Cool!
Back on the road about 3, drove to mm312 on I75 just south of the state line (Tenn/Ga) and put up in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Good thing we went this far, the weather overnight was horrible just north of us, tornadoes and the whole bit! In fact, we holed up in a Starbucks for a couple hours on Wed morning just to avoid the weather. That's where I am right now posting this.
We should be getting back on the road about 10:30 or 11.

More later......

Getting ready

Making all our preparations this weekend for our getaway to Florida. My birthday is on Superbowl Sunday, so we are headed to Brandie's for a little birthday party and to watch the game, then up on Monday, finish getting the motor home ready, and on the road we go!