KEY WEST!!!

YAY!  One thing checked off my Bucket List!  Key West!

Lindy & Maren flew out to enjoy some Florida with Grammy & Grampa!!  It was a total BLAST!  And OMG!  What a time we had!  We were mostly in Key West, but also spent nights at beautiful Long Key State Park, an Indian casino and even the Miami Airport parking lot.  We packed a lot into 6 days and 6 nights. Here's the story in pictures . . . .

They're here !!!!

First dip in the Atlantic at Long Key State Park

Song & dance on the beach - great entertainment!

(I really have no clue as to what's going on here!)

. . . still - Long Key State Park on our way to Key West

Lindy was actually running!!  And it was hot!!

Heading down to the Keys on US1, the roadside barriers of the bridges are painted this lovely aqua!     Nice touch! 

Maren in the navigator's seat - down through the Keys she was
 watching the map and letting us know what was coming up next.

The old bridge from the new one . . .

On the Gulf side of the Keys - Can you believe this water??

We're there - Boyd's Campground!!!

Sisters . . .

Fun in the sun at the RV park

. . . and more fun!!!

Oops - a private garden we stumbled into . . .

This autumn leaf butterfly perched on Maren
 and rode around the garden with her.

Key Lime is everywhere - I love it! 

Ice cream break - Duvall St. shopping district, Key West

Here we are - ready for a day of fun & sun on Party Cat - all day excursion for playing in the water, Key West style

Maren didn’t know it at the time (thanks heavens!) but once when she jumped into the water for an activity, the boat’s friendly barracuda, Barry, was swimming circles around her!  (This we learned after the fact from a fellow tourist on the boat.)

Havin' a BLAST on the banana boat!

Oops!  This was a forced exit!!  Harold is already in the water!!!

And then . . .

 Ready . . . . . set . . . . . 

. . . GO!!

How was it??

In Lindy's words - - - -  "flippin awesome!!"

Key West good-bye dinner at Hogfish - mmmmmmmmmm

 . . . one last stop at the RV park gift shop!

Then, on the way back to Miami . . . a stop at Sombrero Beach in Marathon on the Keys . . .

All over the beach - Portuguese man-o-war!!

And one final activity before sending Lindy & Maren back to Othello - a totally awesome airboat tour in the Everglades . . .

The Everglades is actually a river – 50 miles wide and 125 miles long – running from Lake Okeechobee to the Gulf of Mexico.  It’s the slowest flowing river in the world, moving at a rate of about one mile each day.  It’s depth varies between 1-1/2 inches and 2 feet!  An ocean of sawgrass . . . with islands!

Our guide John is a native and knows those Everglades like the back of his hand.
Good!  Because this is not a place I'd want to get lost!

An amazing adventure - just like on the Discovery Channel .....

And the rain came down in buckets - we were all totally drenched all the way down to our socks.  But the rain, huge drops that stung when they hit ya!, did not detract from the outing.  We saw everything we came here to see - alligators, turtles, huge flocks of birds including ibis, snowy egrets, exotic rosette spoonbills, anhinga, snail kites, wood storks, alligators again and more - - - a thrilling experience!

(It's hard to get a good picture of a gator!)

And on this boat ride, our guide John stopped to point out some alligators. Lindy leaned across Maren for a better look, and her sunglasses fell into the river.  Maren tried to grab them, plunging her hand into the water – alligator water!  I freaked and she quickly withdrew – the sunglasses are gone, but she still has her hand!

We saw this beautiful gleaming blue gallinule
 hopping along on top of the lily pads!
    

An exciting adventure I know we'll never forget!!

Lindy had a little excitement (?) too.  Despite gobs of sunscreen, both girls suffered nasty sunburns!  The night before leaving, Lindy ended up with such bad leg swelling that I was afraid to let her get on a plane.  Doctor said to be safe she should get checked out before flying, so at 11:30pm, off we went (Maren, too) to the ER.  After lab and ultrasound doctor concluded she was having an uncommon reaction to sunburn, but that it was okay for her to fly.  Back to the RV and bed by 3:30am, then up at 5am to get them to their flight.

Heading for home . . .

Well, that was one fast, fabulous week!  All-in-all it was THE BEST!!!  A great time making memories with two really terrific, fun and funny, entertaining, lively, young ladies.  It’s going to be very very quiet (boring?) without them!!

 

Now Harold and I are on the road again, moving north.  We'll mosey on up through Georgia and then hopefully see some of the Appalachians before our next planned stop - hopefully Washington D.C. by the 11th!