Saturday, April 11, 2015

Exploring the Lower Keys

Hi All,

First stop today was the Key Deer Wildlife Refuge on Big Pine Key. We hiked a couple of nature trails and ultimately spotted two of the cute little critters. They are the smallest cousin to the white tail deer standing only 24" at the shoulders.

For lunch we returned to the No Name Pub. Great pizza and walls covered with money (it's a long story, Google it if you like). Latest estimate is $130,000 stapled to the walls!


Full of pizza, we drove back to Key West and Fort Zachary Taylor State Park. This is another coastal defense fort built in the mid 1800's. Times have changed though. The ships that invade now do not get shot at and they disgorge thousands of tourists. See cruise ship in distance.

Still within the state park is one of the nicest beaches in the area. Cute signpost.

Beautiful beach

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone
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Friday, April 10, 2015

Dry Tortugas

Hi All,

Today we took the 2 1/2 hour ferry to Fort Jefferson  in the Dry Tortugas National Park, 70 miles west of Key West.

Here our Captain maneuvers us to the park dock. 


Welcome to Fort Jefferson.

The fort is huge. The perimeter moat is over a half mile long. Eight foot thick walls, 16 million bricks!

The enclosed parade ground is immense. The fort was used as a civil war prison. The most famous prisoner was Dr. Samuel Mudd who treated James Wilkes Booth.

How about firing a 450 pound projectile over two miles. That's what this 15" smoothbore cannon could do. When the Army abandoned the fort they sold all of the metal for scrap. Lucky for us, these 49,000 pound cannons were too much trouble to move.

The lagoon area is a thousand shades of blue. In the distant center is Bush Key with 80,000 nesting sooty terns and 4,000 brown noddys.

There are also hundreds of these magnificent frigate birds. Not our adjective, magnificent is part of their name.

The birding, history and scenery made for a very full day but soon we were headed back to Key West.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone
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Shark Valley

Hi All,

Along US41, the Tamiami Trail, there is a small access to the northern section of Everglades National Park. 

We took a tram ride out to the observation tower.



Along the way we saw numerous alligators

Quite the view from the tower with sawgrass prairie stretching to the horizon.

Not too many birds but this great blue heron posed by the roadside.

A couple of weeks ago this gator was found dead about 50 yards from the road. The carcass and skeleton was a big hit with the young boys!

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone
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Monday, April 6, 2015

Chihuly Glass Sculptures

Hi All,

Sunday afternoon we drove to Coral Gables, south of Miami, to visit the Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden with Roberta & Elliot. In addition to magnificent trees and plants, the gardens are displaying extraordinary glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly.

We arrived about 3PM and stayed until after dark.

This boat full of spikey glass spears was our favorite.


The Yellow Sun was neat.

So was this!

and this!

In addition to the outdoor sculptures, there is an indoor gallery with stuff like this

Not everything is glass. These orchids were stunning.

especially backlit by the sun.

The Amethyst Icicle
A wonderful day at a beautiful garden.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone
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Friday, April 3, 2015

Waiting for Windows

Hi All,

When the seals on the dual pane windows fail, moisture and dust get between the panes, fogging the window. Suncoast Designs in Hudson, FL removes the windows, cleans and reseals them. They are so busy that their parking lot (with water & electric hookups) has more RVs than some campgrounds we have been in.

When they remove the window, they tape a big piece of cardboard in place to keep the bugs and rain out. 

They obviously reuse the cardboard since many RVers have shared their sentiment on the cardboard.



Looks like they will finish our job later this afternoon!

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Honeymoon Island

Hi All,

Prior to going to Tarpon Springs yesterday, we drove to Honeymoon Island State Park. This place was highly recommended by Jim & Evalyn Campbell years ago. Since we were close, we went to check it out.

This great egret greeted us as we entered the parking lot.

The two mile hiking loop is called the osprey trail for obvious reasons. We saw between ten and 15 nests. Here's a pair checking us out.


Near the far end of the trail we spotted the eagle's nest with two young birds hopping around the adjacent tree. Not a very good photo but a great sight. The area within 300 yards of the nest is fenced off to keep people from disturbing the birds.

Before we left the park we planned to hike along the beach but there was no room. It is spring break and the beach was packed.
Last night we had a wonderful visit with our niece Elissa who was visiting friends in the Tampa area. We discovered we would all be within 30 miles of each other, where else but on Facebook.

Today we are stuck in Hudson, FL waiting for our motorhome windows to be repaired. We thought it would be done in a day but not yet; hopefully two days. Looks like we will get to Lake Worth a day later than planned.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Thursday, April 2, 2015

Tarpon Springs

Hi All,

The waterfront in Tarpon Springs combines the history of sponge diving with classic American tourist trap.

This bronze statue commemorates what has been described as the most dangerous job in the country.


This classic sponge boat shows visitors how it's done.

All for this!

Nice tile mural

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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