The Sun and the Sea (02-08-13)

Our stay in the Florida Keys is drawing to a close.  We have one more week before we start the (very) slow trek northward.  Our month here has had a completely different feel to it than our everyday life. It’s really felt more like a vacation than anywhere else has felt.  I am sure it has a lot to do with the ocean, the warmth, and that sense of “island time”.  I would love to come back again next winter, but odds are, that’s not going to happen- for several reasons.  First, our Jell-o plan is to head across Canada, from east to west, dipping down into the U.S. whenever we want to, or feel we need to.  That will leave us on, or near the west coast next autumn.  Although I suppose we could run all the way back here, it doesn’t make any sense to do that.  When you add to that the cost of staying in the Keys, which is more than double the highest rate (for a month stay) that we’ve paid anywhere else, now it really makes no sense.  We knew when we came here that it was a treat that wouldn’t be repeated anytime soon. Unless we win the lottery, of course.  Anyway, although it’s been great, there is much more to do when we spend the winter Arizona.

I got my new camera back from Panasonic- it works perfect now, and was covered under warranty.  I haven’t used it much because most of my pictures have been taken out on the water, and although I bring my phone, for emergency purposes, I don’t bring a camera on the ocean.  It can get pretty rough, pretty fast, and  salt water doesn’t mix too well with electronics.

     We have finally gotten to put the dinghy in, and have spent 3 days out on the water, exploring different keys.  The only snorkeling I did was “cheater” snorkeling- sticking my mask and snorkel adorned head over the side of the dinghy.  Not graceful, by any means.

On nearby Duck Key numerous multi-million dollar homes line the beautiful canals that wind their way through the island. We had ridden our bikes all through this key, so it was interesting to see the homes from the water too.

Some of the homes face the bay, instead of the canal.  Prices start at 1.9 million.  Anyone interesting in splitting a house with us? Ha!

The keys aren’t known for their beaches, which became very evident when it took us three days to discover this tiny little beach.  By the time we did, it was late in the day and getting too cool to go for a swim.  Of course, when we get hot, we can just jump in the water, but “jumping” back in the boat is not that easy for me anymore!

For the last few days we’ve been following the Nor'easter that found it’s way to Boston. Anytime there is a snow storm of this magnitude, it reminds many New Englanders of the great “Blizzard of ‘78”.  That storm was one of those “moments in time” that everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing. 

These pictures of 1978 are of Rte 128, one of the major 4 lane highways outside of Boston.  I was on this road, driving home from college, less than 2 hours before this happened. A little later, and I wouldn’t have made it home for 3 days.  Thousands of people abandoned their cars, and sadly, hundreds of people died, sitting on the highway. waiting for help.  A call went out for anyone who had a snowmobile to ride to the highway and help rescue the stranded. 

  

Strangers opened their homes to those who were stuck and had no way to make it to their own homes.  Driving was banned for 3 days, and even after that, people were urged to drive only if necessary. On the first day we could drive, I drove 4 of the neighborhood moms (including my own) to the store so they could each get a few bags of groceries.

that's me, climbing around

Once the snow stopped falling,  the massive job of shoveling began.  It probably took a long time, because it sure was more fun playing in the snow, than it was shoveling it!



my dad, brother Ray and I work on the fort



After the work was done, we built the best snow fort ever. 












my cat explores the tunnel




We had two huge “snow rooms” with a 10 foot tunnel connecting them. It was a family project!

my brother Richie helps with the fort

I have great memories of that storm, but it doesn’t mean I am sad to have missed out on the Blizzard of 2013!

Boating on Lake Yellowstone-A Once In A Lifetime Experience

 why just once?  Well, there’s a rule of thumb for survival in cold water.  It’s called the 50/50 rule. 

 You have a 50% chance of surviving in 50 degree water for 50 minutes.  The water temperature of Lake Yellowstone is in the mid 40s.  That pretty much sums it up, but there were other factors as well.

So here we have this huge lake- one of the largest high altitude lakes in the world….and then we have us, in our tiny little dinghy. The air temperature was in the 80s, which is why we decided it was a good day to spend on the water.  We knew the water was too cold to swim in, so that was no surprise. Whenever we were anchored, we were doing fine, even getting hot sometimes. All we had to do to remedy that was run the boat  for a few minutes and the frigid cold spray soaking us cooled us down very quickly.

In theory it was a perfect day, with the warm temperatures and hardly a cloud in the sky, but the wind would go from 0 to 15 mph in the span of a few minutes.  Then it would die down again, only to start back up again but from a different direction!

There is an island about 2.5 miles offshore that I wanted to check out, because it has a resident Bald Eagle, but there was no way we could get there. We only tried once, and the waves kicked up so fast when the wind picked up that we knew it was just too dangerous.





So we anchored for a while, zipped around in the protected cove for a while and repeated that sequence several times before deciding it was time to head home. We still had a good time, and if the weather gets hot again, we may make another attempt and see what the winds are like.
{That was on Sunday. Today, Tuesday, our plan was to hike a 5 mile trail, but the wind is gusting over 40 mph, and we decided we’re going to be here too many days to torture ourselves by hiking in that kind of wind.  Also, its dangerous because the trees have such shallow roots that they blow over at the drop of a hat.}