Vacation Week (01-25-13)

Not our vacation week- my brother Ray and sister-in-law Dawn’s vacation week. They flew down from Boston to spend a week with us here in the Keys.  As I flipped through my pictures from the last week, I realized that they will definitely need to recover from their  “vacation”.  Oops. We certainly packed a lot of activities in a 6 day period. 

We started by eating lunch outside, at a restaurant on the water- It’s one of the things I like best about the Keys, eating outside whenever we want.  With the temperatures in Boston this week plunging into the single digits, they sure were happy to shed their jackets!

When Paul and I realized we wouldn’t have reliable TV reception, we scouted out sports bars to find one appropriate for watching the Patriots play in the AFC Championship.  We ended up back at the Sunset Bar in Marathon, where the beautiful view didn’t do much to take the sting away from watching the Patriots lose to the Ravens.

We took the glass bottom boat tour from John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.  I enjoyed the trip out to the reef- I just love the water down here- the colors are so vibrant, especially when the sun is shining.

It was an easy way to see some underwater wildlife on a beautiful day, although the actual method of viewing left a little to be desired. We were some of the last to arrive at the glass windows, so the view we had mostly consisted of other peoples’ heads, and we had to shuffle around quite a bit to be able to see anything. 

We took a day trip up to the “mainland” to Everglades National Park, and walked the Anhinga Trail, where we saw tons of alligators, and many species of birds, including the Anhinga, after which the trail is named.

  I have always heard that this trail is great for wildlife viewing, so I’ve wanted to walk it for a long time.  It did live up to it’s hype!

After seeing wildlife in the wild, our visit to Alligator Farm was a bit ho-hum,  but we did learn more about alligators and crocodiles, got to take a ride on an airboat.



movie of our airboat ride



resident Panther at Alligator Farm

We also got to visit with the resident Panther.  Apparently panthers are common in this area.  The first time I saw the “Beware of Panthers” sign, I thought it was referring to a local football team or something, but nope, there are Panther Crossing signs all around the Everglades. It turns out that the Florida Panther is a sub-species of the cougar, and is the State Mammal of Florida. Their numbers are dwindling, which is creating genetic issues due to inbreeding.

In keeping with the wildlife theme, we stopped in at the nearby Florida Keys Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center. This center is run completely on donations and works to rehabilitate birds that have been injured.  If the bird cannot be reintroduced into the wild, it can  live out it’s days at this sanctuary. I enjoy seeing the owls, hawks and shorebirds up close and personal.

No visit to the Keys is complete without a visit to Key West (so says me), so off we went.  We elected to spend the night there because it’s a 2 hour drive from Key Largo. Our first stop was the Truman Little White House on Key West. The house was originally constructed as housing for Naval Officers.  It has been used by 6 presidents, but more by President Truman than any other. After only three months as Vice President,  Truman was thrust into the presidency by the sudden death of President Roosevelt. The stress of handling the added responsibilities took a tremendous toll on his health and he was told by his doctors to spend time someplace warm and sunny, to regain his composure.  He chose Key West, and over time spent 175 days of his presidency at
“the Little White House”.



sunset at Mallory Square



Sunset at Mallory Square is pretty much a required outing on Key West.  Watching the sun go down over the water is a relaxing way to end the day.  Except, of course, the day doesn’t end at sunset on Key West. 

After sunset we ate dinner at Margaritaville before hitting the  bars.   Drinks at Sloppy Joe’s was followed by more drinks at Hogs breath Saloon.  I love wandering the streets of Key West.  Everywhere you turn, there’s music!

Back home after our adventure, we spent a quiet night relaxing with some frozen Mudslides. I love Mudslides but I can’t drink the whole bottle myself,so having Ray and Dawn here was a good excuse to make some!

On our last day together we rented kayaks at Robbie’s on Islamorada and paddled our way out to Indian Key. I have no pictures of the kayaking, since I didn’t want to risk bringing my camera.  Ray and I snorkeled for a little bit, but with the wind blowing, it was a bit rough, and we didn’t last long. It was Ray and Dawn’s first time kayaking, and by the time we were headed back from the island, they were paddling (not rowing!) like a well oiled machine!

We ended our visit as it began- eating a meal outside. The weather was perfect so we headed to Snapper’s Seafood Restaurant.

After an awesome dinner we sat and listened to some great music for an hour or so before heading home. 

We had a great visit!

The Lazy Days of Winter (01-16-13)

Life’s a beach.  Our toughest decision for the last two weeks has been a) which beach should we go to and b) should we bike or walk today? 


The weather here in the Keys has been nice and warm- in the mid 80s for the most part (sorry all you friends out there in Q who are freezing your butts off!)

Stop and think a minute about the Keys.  They are essentially a bunch of small islands, connected by a highway. Over time, the old roads are replaced by newer roads, allowing for better traffic flow.

We walked the 2.5 mile stretch of the Old 7 mile bridge that is walk able. The view was amazing. The water here is so beautiful to me.  I could stare at it all day long.

We drove up to Bahia Honda State Park, intending to snorkel for the afternoon, but the wind was blowing so hard, we just lazed on the beach for the afternoon. Bahia Honda is one of the best beaches on the Keys. Of course, because of the coral etc.  the Keys are not really known for their beaches at all.

We discovered our new favorite restaurant in the Keys. It’s called Sunset Grille and Raw Bar.  It has a pool and is one of the nicer places to see a sunset in the middle keys.  But it also had something else we were very interested in…..

… Multiple big screen TVs to watch the Patriots beat the Texans.  Sadly, after installing the Sensar Pro to boost our TV reception, we only went from not being able to see the channel much at all, to being able to see the channel sporadically.  Definitely not good enough to watch a playoff game. This restaurant worked out perfectly for us.  We told the hostess we were there to see the game and she seated us right in front of a TV.  We told the waitress we were there to eat dinner and see the game, so she paced the evening accordingly.  Great service- which is awesome, because I think we’ll be back on Sunday to watch the Patriots play against the Ravens.

Sombrero Beach is about 8 miles from the campground we were staying at- a perfect distance for getting there by bike.  We rode the 8 miles, lazed on the beach for a couple of hours, then biked back home again.

We haven’t done any snorkeling or boating since we’ve been on the Keys, but we still have a few weeks to do that.  This coming week however, we’ll be quite busy.  Tomorrow afternoon my brother and sister-in-law arrive, and will stay with us on Key Largo for a week. I already have a list of things we can do but it’s their vacation, so I’ll let them choose. They may just want to lay on a beach all day!  They live in MA and got 5 inches of snow the other day.  Yesterday it was 18 degrees up there, so Dawn is ready to head south!

the view from our window that we never wanted to see...

I guess the good news is that apparently West Virginia, our original destination for last week, got even more snow than we did.  We were originally going to leave MA this morning, but we had decided to stay 2 more days so we could spend tomorrow with Stephen since he has the day off.
Looking out the window this morning, and watching the trees bend in the breeze, I am sure glad we did!
   Its always bittersweet to come home.  I love being here and we have spent a lot of time with friends and family, but the time always feels too short, I never want to leave, and its so crammed with activity, that we are officially exhausted and heartily sick of eating out!  I am thinking that the next time we come, we should try to stay for a month, so we can spend more quality time with everyone.
    We spent some time this week getting Stephen moved into his new apartment, taking advantage of the truck to pick up a new bed and some furniture for him.  Its been a lot of driving for Paul, since Foxboro, the town we are staying in is not all that close to where my friends and family live.  In fact the other night we went out with friends and ended up spending the night at their house rather than drive the hour back to the trailer.
   Yesterday we played tourist and headed to Patriot Place- home of the New England Patriots.  We picked up Stephen and his friend Al and first headed to a restaurant in the complex, to eat lunch and watch the Patriots play.  Unfortunately we watched them lose, but it was still fun to be at Patriot Place to see the game.



View from the CBS Bar- we could see the game on the jumbotron as well as all the TVs.



    After lunch we headed to the "Hall"- a museum full of Patriots memorabilia and interactive exhibits.  It was pretty fun, and informative.



A special Dome dedicated to the "Snow Bowl". (January 19, 2002)- a game that no Patriots fans will ever forget. Although the screen appears white due to a snowstorm, you can see the football flying through the air as Adam Vinatieri kicked a 45 yard field goal. 



Stephen huddling with Tom Brady and the Patriots.  You can hear Brady talking to his teammates.



the footballs from the 21 consecutive games won by the Patriots.