Our time in the Keys is coming to and end

Friday, February 17th, Mary's parents, her sister Sue, Sue's husband Denny and their daughter Sara arrived just in time to enjoy the fish dinner special at Navigator's, the marina bar and grill.  In the morning, they checked out the beach at Boca Chica:

then rode the Conch Train.

 While we were waiting for the Conch Train ride to end, John got a little fresh with Marilyn:

After lunch at the Cuban restaurant on Mallory Square

we went to Truman Annex to see the goats and lizards then relaxed on the beach nearby.

Mom and Dad went back to their room on base and the rest of us attended the sunset celebration then had dinner at Hard Rock.

Sunday was a planned relaxing beach day and we executed our plan perfectly:

Sara joined John on the 12 mile bike ride around Key West while the rest of us began our day of leisure.

Mary and Sara swam to the island at the swimming beach,

we had a picnic in the Tiki Hut, John did some laundry, and we enjoyed our own quiet sunset.

That evening Sara and Mary beat Sue and Mom at hand and foot and we all went to bed early, tired after our strenuous day.

Monday we went back into town to do some shopping (all except Dad, who was reading Dana Stabenaw's latest Kate Shugak mystery on Mary's Kindle).  We checked out 2 cruise ships docked at Mallory Square, went to Kino Sandals and some other stores, and had lunch at Hard Rock.  John ran some errands and returned to base to wash the boat while Denny kept the parking permit current and brought us back to Boca Chica so Sara could paddleboard and kayak.  She wasn't too crazy about sharing the water with this jellyfish:

Sue was successful on the paddleboard, also:

and Sara and Sue took a kayak for a spin.

John grilled for us for dinner, but a mosquito hatching (the first time we've had any bugs here!) drove us indoors early.  Mary's dad and Sara went on the Ghost Trolley and really enjoyed it.

Tuesday we packed up the cars and Mary went with the rest of the family to the Everglades while John attended a presentation on "Marathon to Norfolk".  But first we had to visit the goats one last time, as Sara had promised them she'd bring each of them a sugar packet.

John joined us that evening at Homestead Air Reserve Base in Homestead and our company left early Wednesday morning to drive back to Michigan, arriving Thursday just ahead of a snow storm.

We visited Biscayne National Park on our way back to the Keys.  We'll be here by water soon.  We stopped at a Pro Bass Shop at mile marker 81.6 to visit a "sister" boat of Hemingway's Pilar:

Now it's time to put everything away and give the boat a good cleaning, do laundry, reprovision, return the rental car, and prepare to get back underway on the next leg of our journey.

More fun in the Keys

Wednesday, February 1st, we interrupted our bike ride to walk out on the docks at Galleon Marina to see if Rich and Carol on Salt 'n Sand were aboard.  They had let us know they were coming to Key West and it was wonderful to see them.  We made arrangements to spend time together on Friday.

We showed them the lizards and goats, of course, and would someone please tell these 2 lizards to "get a room"?!

We told them that we often see flowerpot sponges along the bike path by the ocean so we stopped to pick a couple up:

 No matter how many times Rich rinsed them, however, they still smelled.  Now we understand why some local shop owner doesn't gather them each day to sell.  We went to Garbo's Grill for lunch, showed them our marina and took them shopping (remember, landlubbers, most of us on this trip don't have access to a car very often) then they treated us to dinner at Flaming Buoys.

Monday, 2/6, we went to the airport to meet John's sister, Jo.  After lunch we took her to see the lizards and goats:

 We took Jo on a driving tour then to the boat.  We saw and did a lot during Jo's visit, including watching special forces troops jumping from helicopters into the water:

 The eagle chicks are finally big enough that we can see them:

We went to the Key West Botanical Gardens:

 and to West Martello, the remains of a Civil War fort that the Key West Garden Club has transformed into a gorgeous, peaceful oasis:

When we ate at Sloppy Joe's, we had unusual company:

Saturday we took Jo to the big flea market and to see Key Deer at Big Pine Key.  Sunday we drove to the Everglades.  On the way we had a view of Fat Albert that we hadn't seen before:

 The weather was cold and windy, so alligators were scarce, but we hardly missed them, as other animals and birds entertained us.

A wood stork:

These vultures were actually tearing a rubber strip from the top of this car:

A better view of a Roseate Spoonbill than we saw with Sarah and Benj:

Crocodiles!

 The manatee were putting on a show and we saw a single Black Skimmer, who stayed behind when his flock left for the winter.

Jo had to leave Tuesday, Valentine's Day.  It's wonderful to have family visit, but a little sad when they leave.  That evening we had dinner with Carol and Rich at Pepe's, the oldest restaurant in Key West.  We joined Kathy and Garth from Algonquin at their table.

More planes:  We've spotted a C-17 and the electronics version of the Intruder.  Students training for aircraft carriers were here for a few days.  The runways were painted to look like carrier decks and they practiced here before venturing out for landings on a real carrier.

Only 3 days before more company arrives.  Have to do laundry and clean the boat.....

Happy Birthday, John

On January 25th, John celebrated one year of being old enough to collect social security.  He heard from his in-laws and his sisters and received from Mary an external hard drive, a sunshade for the camera lens (we think the last one bounced out of the bed of the pickup back in Hudson), and the book Last Train to Paradise about the building of the railroad to Key West; from Matthew and Christine the dvd 1941 and the book Battle, the Story of the Bulge; and from Benj and Sarah the dvd Blues Brothers and the book Midway! Incredible Victory.  He decided he wanted to do a Duval Street pub crawl so we rented a room at Truman Annex so we could walk home afterward.  Our usual pub crawl companions (all 2 we've done in the last 10 years-both on Mackinac Island), Jackie and Paul, are wintering in Arizona, so we were on our own.  Steve and Kris accompanied us all on the last Mackinac Island crawl, but they're home in Saginaw.  We started at 4:30, had snacks and drinks and listened to singers at different bars and were tucked into bed by 10:30.

The next day Mary had a nice surprise.  She was standing in front of Sloppy Joe's waiting for John to pick her up and along came Terri, a retired library media specialist from Michigan.  It was terrific to see her and they had a nice visit.

We've seen some additional planes here:

The AWACS (air force radar plane):

 A T-6 trainer and an F-8 Bearcat, WW2 planes here for a change of command ceremony.  An F-18 and an F-5 in the background.

 

Saturday, January 28th, we drove up to Marathon and walked the 2 miles on the old 7 mile bridge to Pigeon Key, which was a work camp when the railroad was being built.  This picture of the camp was taken from the new 7 mile bridge:

This is where the bridge was "blown up" in the movie True Lies:

After our walk we drove through some of the marinas to look for other loopers.  We said hello to John and Rita from Brandy as they dinghied past then visited with Julaine and Fred on Boreas and had a double treat as Marc and Michele from Marc's Arc were aboard Brown-Eyed Girl where we visited with them and Ginny and Craig. We had dinner with Mary and Bill from Harbour Reach at the Marathon Marina restaurant then drove back to Boca Chica.  Wednesday we drove to Marathon to a Looper potluck.  We were pleased to see Chris and Kerm from Southern Belle again.