That's A Wrap! (NOT)

So we've been drifting in The Doldrums of Ft. Myers ever since we arrived at North Trail RV exactly one week ago for what was expected to be a one day in/out service call to attend to a few trivial matters before getting back on the road toward Georgia and Loud Mine Camp. The problem? An extended warranty program that is worse and even more dysfunctional than a federal government health care program...a couple of tires that should be in stock but can't be located....and securing parts that shouldn't (but sadly do) have to come from California on the Left Coast. I swear it's a conspiracy.

So here we sit heading into yet another weekend, chomping at the bit to get going, but fighting to resign ourselves to circumstances we are powerless to control. Disgusting. No wonder the wrist monitor for my blood pressure keeps registering inappropriate levels! I used to be mildly happy about being on extended stay in Florida this time of year, but last year's freezing temperatures and this year's needless delays have taken their toll. Other than our daily walks, which were on the beach for a while and totally enjoyable but are now a giant loop around the park models and big rigs of the RV park- not much happening of any consequence.

Marilyn has some cool plans shaping up for summer at least and we can do some prep towards that- but those plans- to be released later- can't by their very nature include me in anything other than the prep. That's good but it's bad; it's hot but it's cold; it's not here but it's there.

I NEED A PLAN! at a time when planning refuses to be accommodated. Marching in the band was and is a good thing...but "marking time" (marching in place) has never been anything other than boring. The engine is running but no forward gear is selected. If timing is everything---I think I need a new time zone.

Beach Turkey II

Just about time to say good-bye to another round of Thanksgiving On The Beach. We first joined our friends and former neighbors last year to join in celebrating Thanksgiving On The Beach here at Ft. Myers Beach. Click here to see last year's report. And here's a little more from last year: Try This.

The weather this year was sensational; maybe even perfect. 80's every day. No rain. Few clouds. If it gets any better, I couldn't tell you how. We took minimum 1 hour walks on the beach- thus beginning our new "non-mining fitness program." That felt good and no one on the beach seemed to object to me in beach-ware. Ha!

So here are some slides of things we saw and did this year- look for the captions where necessary:

Paddling Alligator Creek

From panning....to paddling. We are back in Florida- Punta Gorda above Ft. Myers on the Gulf Coast side. This is one of our favorite stopping points when we are back "home." The creek has excellent paddling, fishing and site seeing. As you would expect from the name- it's not too good for swimming. We routinely see alligators from 2 feet to closer to 10. I don't mind some daytime wading to throw the cast net, but ain't nobody gonna get me in any deeper than that- and even then I keep an eye on my surroundings.

Once again, the pictures pretty much tell the story. I put a few captions to watch for in the slide show so you can see what we're trying to point out along the way:

Look! Cows, By Cracker!

A winter in Florida that really was a winter in Florida is drawing its last breath as Spring arrives and we make our last "event run" before starting the trek north for the summer months. From our base in Thousand Trails, Clermont, in the Orlando and Kissimmee area, we decided to step back into the days of old Florida, to the days when the state was free range cattle land, when cowhands were cow hunters who cracked whips to drive cattle from the scrub brush of the state to the market run by the Spaniards at Fort Myers. Character actors tell the tale of the Crackers as though time had not progressed to the present. And in the shade and shadows of the giant live oaks draped by Spanish Moss, Old Florida lives again in the time machine that exists in The Cow Camp at Kissimmee State Park. Very enjoyable.

The Easter Chick?

Ever wonder if those of us blogging from Florida this winter were telling the truth about the extreme (for Florida) cold temperatures and bitingly raw winds? Well as March ends and April begins... the weather begins to yield to warmer temperatures and southern comfort is restored to the sunshine state. But the evidence of the cold is still with us. Here in the sandy camp of Thousand Trails, Orlando (actually in Clermont, Florida), the Easter Chicks are not the typical little peeps that you find huddled under a warming lamp in the feed store. Nope. They are the rather large chicks of the Sand Hill Cranes. Why would this be proof of anything? Because the normal reproductive cycle of the cranes usually sees them flying way north before breeding. Flocks by the thousands actually fly from the deep south all the way to Alaska to have their young. That Florida in winter felt anything like early spring in Alaska speaks volumes about the weather this winter. But strange as it may seem, this year at least, Florida is the breeding ground of the Sand Hill Cranes. Yet another piece in the puzzle of Global Cooling?

But while the chicks are not yet ready to take to flight, the hot air balloons are. And a fleet of eight of them (they were low enough that the heat blasts to warm the air inside the balloons seemed to be right outside our open windows) drifted over this morning fairly early, while the morning was still gray and the wind still. I caught a picture of the last of them as it drifted off over the trees on the horizon. It seems that getting out of bed this morning just didn't feel like all that great of an idea. Oh, well!

The Tortoise And The Hair

There is no moral to this story - just in case you thought from the title that you should expect one. Then again, maybe you're sitting there saying, "WOW, he actually spelled it "hair," not hare.

What? You think I can't spell "rabbit"?

So there I was bending over a short warm water hose at the side of the coach, breaking my back, while Marilyn and I gave Abby a bath. It's Saturday! She kept barking- thought it was dogs going by but it just didn't stop...and this is not her normal behavior. The older she gets, the more laid back she gets.

Bath wrapped up, we went to the front of the coach for the fluff dry cycle. That done, I got out the clipper and trimmed up some of that too long HAIR. Now she was looking good but still had that barking thing going on. Only this time we couldn't begin to see what she was barking at. Her look was intently focused across the street in an empty space, a sand lot behind the row of rv slips across the way. Marilyn saw something move. I went to investigate and what we found was a gigantic (by Florida terms) tortoise. 15 inches or more in length with a high shell that looked almost armor plated. I went to get the camera but what I thought would be a slow tortoise turned out to run faster than a hare, and down the hole he went. Later near evening he stuck his head out and I circled around behind him and quietly advanced to get my picture.

So now, the moral of the story:............oh wait; there isn't one.

City Seafood A Joke

I try my level best never to write anything negative about a business that we encounter along the way. There's so much negativity in the world to begin with that we don't need to create any more. And let me say at the onset that I'm no gourmet diner, nor do I feel special or privileged in any way in life. But Marilyn and I went out for a dinner to celebrate our anniversary tonight. THAT is special to me. We had stone crab claws and a fried oyster basket at City Seafood in Everglades City. The stone crabs were stone cold and the butter was luke warm. We asked to have the claws warmed up and though "we don't do that..." they relented and put them in the microwave for 60 seconds. Big deal. We also had two (plastic cup) glasses of wine. No biggie. I'll drink boxed wine, so again, no special palette at work here. RV Guy! What can I say?

The stone crab platter had about 6 claws on it. Doesn't take long to eat that, so we went back to the window and asked for another 1/2 pound. The time was 6:05 on a Sunday evening.

"I'm sorry we're closed."

What? We just came to dinner.

"We're closed and that's that!

"Right in the middle of dinner service you close?"

"This is what we do to people like you, the greasy waitress said as she slammed the window closed in our face. (Nice style, babe; good people skills for sure)

So there was not another 60 seconds worth of crab claws at 20 bucks a pound, and there was not another fine plastic of Merlot by the side of the river. Dinner was done. Celebration was over. Go home! We're done!

If I ever had such a bad experience dining out I don't remember it. If I can stop one other person from going here for a festive evening I'm happy reporting this. It literally would have taken 60 seconds to get us what we wanted and we could have been OK with things. We were NOT the only diners who wished to add to their meal and were refused. And the tone of the refusal was down right ugly. Stopping service in the middle of service is just downright stupid. Having been in retail and sales most of our lives we know a business lives and dies on its service. Businesses are hurting not so much because of the economy but because they don't give a care for their customers. That ALWAYS comes back to haunt you in the end!

City Seafood: kiss your claws good-bye!

The Long And The Short Of It

If you looked at all the alligator shots in the last several posts, the fish in this post is gonna look familiar to you. No. It's not an alligator. It's an alligator Gar. A throwback to the dinosaur age like the reptiles that also inhabit the Glades. Fascinating to look at. Some might say "ugly." But we came across a roadside pool that had thousands of them schooling in much the same fashion as minnows might do. We caught (and released) a boatload of them (but without the boat). Why? Well the story goes that the recipe for cooking gar is as follows: Bake the fish on a cedar plank in the oven for three hours having seasoned it to taste before baking. When it's cooked, take it out of the oven, remove the fish and throw it away...then eat the plank, because it is considerably tastier and easier to eat then the fish is!

We were actually in the glades again this time looking to catch Oscars. Yes. It is the same as the aquarium fish by the same name. Your pet shop probably got them from the Everglades too. Sure, they make good (and big) aquarium fish, but they are mighty tasty too. In the pet shop, 15 bucks a piece. Out here, only the price of a dozen worms or so. But there were none to be found at the first stop so up the road we went to try another of the many bridges where the sheet flow of the glades passes under the roadway and back into the grasslands on the other side of the road. At first no bites. Then it started. But only small fish- sun fish and bass. Throw them back. All of a sudden, Marilyn's bobber went under and she set the hook. This one was not so little. After an awesome display of fighting skill on the part of the fish (ah, I mean Marilyn) I pulled the big guy up on the bank for her. Nearly 26 inches in length (long) and I'm guessing between 5 and 6 pounds, the Bowfin was an unusual catch for us (a first for either) and we had to get out the Florida Game Fish book for the ID. It didn't match the color patterns of the illustration exactly, but the fin positioning left no doubt. Turns out it has both gills and fins and can breathe even out of the water but we returned it to its pool without undue delay. A day later now, Marilyn is still bragging on her big fish and asking when we can get back out there and catch some more. Beginners luck has always been more important than skill---or so I am telling myself in consolation. And I could probably make that work for me had I not been the one to catch the shortest (and I do mean shortest) catch of the day right before we decided we needed to head back to the rig. Watch for the last shot in the slide show. Humiliating, but document-able! Oh, and no Oscars on this day.

Cape Coral Karl's Drive By

I was working away at wrapping up the post before this one. Had only a few clicks to go. The phone rang.

"Greg, where are you?"

It was our friend from the old "hood", Cape Coral Karl. (see more pics of Karl and the gang on the preceding post link) Seems he brought some of his visiting family down to Everglades City to take them for an air boat ride, and when he realized the boat launch was across from an RV park, albeit a beautiful but mostly empty one, he got to thinking that he'd seen on the blog that we had been in the area- somewhere.

"Where are you?"

A few questions told me he was pretty close by. I stepped outside.

"Hey, are you standing outside the rig?"

Yep. Across the river and a hundred yards down. A wave. They were here in minutes. A quick "house tour"- the kids wanted to see the "basement" and the slides go in and out- then off to grab a bite for lunch. The Camellia Street Grill is close by too.

Here's a picture of where we had hoped to sit and eat outside by the water taken from inside. Within minutes, the storm watch we were under decided to deliver on its promise and the downpour began. So we sat inside to eat and the flash on the camera wasn't behaving so we took a parting shot outside in the bar area to try, however hopelessly, to stay dry. We did get the shot. But to be sure- we did get wet. Still it was an unexpected surprise (aren't all surprises unexpected???) and it was a lot of fun. Always glad to have visitors!

Getting Our Gator On

Ever since we saw General Larry Platt do his original version of "Pants On The Ground" as an American Idol audition, we've been following "suit" and launching into the catchy tune every time we see some teeny or tweeny walking around with low riders extreme. Somehow that evolved into a Florida version on one of our many Everglades outings. Passing one of the yellow light flashing "Panther Crossing" area warning signs one day, it struck me a bit humorous so I began singing "Panther On The Ground, panther on the ground, looking like a fool with your panther on the ground." I wish I could stop, but it's one of those things you have a hard time getting out of your head. I was making good progress putting it behind me when i saw this:

at the Skunk Ape Headquarters. For those of you who are saying WHAT?- a skunk ape is the Everglades version of the Sasquatch or maybe even the Loch Ness Monster.... just not as well known, and perhaps for good reason. Just saying!



At the time of the panther sighting and the skunk ape sighting, we were enroute to meet Stonewall Gene and Jules to take in the Miccosukee Village, the gator wrestling show, and the native American Museum of the tribe located on site. And the sightings not withstanding that is what we continued on to see. We stopped and took some plant and wildlife shots on the way, and then a lot more on our way back to Everglades City afterwords. Lots of birds. Turtles. Plants. And about a million, gazillion alligators. No lie! It was one of the first warm days this entire winter and the gators were out and about trying desperately to get their cold blooded bodies back up to temp. You could see them getting more active throughout the day, but I didn't want to miss the opportunity so I took as many shots as I though I could deal with and I got as close as I though I could get away with. At 30 miles an hour they can outrun me over a short distance. Marilyn of course reminded me that at my age they could probably outrun me at any speed and over any distance. Smart Alec. At least we didn't have to test her theory, even though that alligator wrestling stuff didn't scare me one little bit! (liar, liar, pants on the ground on fire)

Another stop I will mention, we stopped off at the Big Cypress Gallery to see some work of iconic American photographer Clyde Butcher ("where-ever you go, there you are" - his line, my motto). We met some of the other photographers who show at the gallery and had a wonderful conversation, centered around the displayed photographs of the mysterious ghost orchid. While I am always on the look for them, I have never seen one in the wild. A leafless orchid that seldom blooms and then only briefly is still out of my league I suppose, but I keep my eyes open, and after seeing all the photographs of them in the gallery my odds seem a bit improved.

Any post cards from the gallery can be mailed at the Ochopee Post Office- the verified smallest post office in the United States (even though its one and only postal carrier has a route of 135 miles covering the glades between Naples and Miami).

The slide shows today are broken into two parts. First a look at the Indian village, the gator "wrestling" show and the contained wildlife in their park. There are also some shots (like the one of the snake) that we scored on the little nature board walk that goes out from the back of the village into the glades. It was a nice time. A bit predictable, but fun, and as it wasn't busy there was plenty of time for questions and answers and we felt like we learned a lot- which is pretty much why you would want to go in the first place.

Then second is a collection of the shots I took going and coming. Nothing but wild. Nothing staged. Shots taken where you had to be constantly aware of where your hands and feet were at all times, and had to have at least a good idea that the water before you was free and clear of any lurking (and hungry or annoyed) critters.

A Drag, A Dredge And A Strand

I've got a slide show and a short write for ya today. Not bad considering the computer decided enough was enough on Thursday and refused to (Go To) work! Stuff like this always happens when you are geographically far away from you daily Help Menu- that being the Geeks On Tour and or the Best Buy. But close is a relative thing and the hour to Best Buy in Naples seemed the better alternative for this go around. Off we went. New computer? Sure, no problem. Have money, will sell. But connectivity. Big problem! Since I wanted to now connect two computers, the old fixer-upper and the new big daddy- on one air card. Doesn't sound like it would be an insurmountable task, but computer technology being what it is- forever on the go- there are now NO computers left that use the type air card I possessed. Which, come to think of it, made me feel a bit possessed! Computer sale on hold- traipse off to The Verizon Wireless Store to see what we shall see. A solution. Change (on a grandfathered no-limit data plan) to a MIFI card. That reads like this: My Fi, as in wifi only it's all mine and the hot spot is where-ever I go. Runs several computers and is lightening fast even compared to my previous broadband access air card. Same price for unlimited data.... Problem solved? Are you kidding me? Nothing is that simple. I get everything back in house (that would be "bus") and the computers are working fine, running almost like I know what I'm doing (luck accounts for a great deal in life) and I'm starting not to sweat so much all of a sudden. Only, when I go to print something... You guessed it, there are no drivers to support the old printer with the new Windows 7 program. Arrrgghh! So for now I'm computing and updating and refiling and reading and loading and doing all matters of important computing on the new computer.... Then finding a way to print what simply must be printed on the old computer...until we can make the journey back to the Best Buy to see about a printer that will work with both units. I love using technology. I just hate dealing with it when it won't do what I think it should when I think it should and the way I think it should. Still, to be back in business three days after the great crash of 2010? Not too shabby in my humble opinion. And as I've had about three hours sleep between "then" and "now," I think I should just be getting on with this post. That was a drag!

We took some "personal" time and ventured out to go see the walking dredge that was used to build the Tamiami Trail through what at the time was nothing but Everglades Swampland. People often have trouble with that word. Funny name for a road. But not really. It was road carved through the swamp from Fort Myers, don't ya see, To Miami. So ya get a little lazy with your pronunciation and now you have a road that just goes from one spot on one side of the great swamp "ta Miami" - hence the name! Tamiami Trail. The dredge is the little brother of the massive bucket line dredges that we explored when we were in the Yukon Territory and in Alaska. And if you want a look at them all you need to do is look back on the summer posts from last season in Chicken, Alaska where we camped all summer in the shadow of the Pedro Dredge, perhaps one of the best preserved of its species in existence today.

Following the visit to the dredge (at the nearby state park) we took what we expected would be a quick and short (11 mile) drive through a trail that goes through the nothingness of the Fakahatchee Strand. Good thing we were fueled up before entering the "scenic trail" because we went on and on for some three hours...only to realize that it was not really a "loop" as it was described by the visitor center who said the road "isn't too bad" - only that there was a tiny place to turn around at the end of it without dipping your tires in and sinking into the swamp. Turned out not to be a rugged challenge for the Quigley, but a surprise for all, and we booked it hard to get back out by dark. Bad things happen in Sleepy Hollow at night.

So there you have it , my friends, a drag, a dredge and a drive through the strand. The slide show, out of basic lack of energy on my part at the moment, will be first of the dredge, and then images from the everglades on the strand trail. Eerily beautiful, it is easy to lose track of time and all else in the outside world. It took way longer than we planned, but was probably just the thing we needed to Hit The Refresh Button:

Just A Fluke?

Manatees don't give a hoot if they're in fresh water or salt water- so long as they can access a nice freshwater drink when they need it. They can range from the rivers to the sea no problem. With one big IF. They can move around like this IF they can locate water temperatures that stay within their rather small bracket of temps they can actually survive in. So when they're in the right temps, they can lolly-gag around and take their time. This winter has been very hard on them. Hundreds have perished because of the overly chilled waters of southern Florida and The Florida Keys.

We have seen the gentle giants here in the Everglades, but when we do, so far at least, they have been on the move. And there has been no time for photo ops- at least for us. Yesterday, three cruised on by our waterfront campsite. Actually, cruising is probably not the right word at all. They were dashing by. Riding the swift current in the river as fast as they could book it to get out of the colder river temps and back out to sea. I took a bunch of pictures as they went by: they were swimming seemingly as fast as they could go, and I was running down the dock like a rail mounted sports cam at the Olympic cross country events. No nostril shots. No profile shots. No full body studies. Nothing but tail! So I guess you could say, it was "just a fluke..."

And speaking of tails, a member of the stone crab boat crew that docks daily right across the river from us had to go overboard for a propellor adjustment of some sort. He got his "fluke" out of that cold water just as fast as he could too. Maybe some day before we leave, it will actually be warm here in the "warm south." But not yet!

Prospecting The Everglades

Your best chance for finding gold in the Everglades is in the color of the sunset, not in your pan. But we managed to strike gold today when our friends Stonewall Gene and Jules dropped by unexpectedly for a visit. We'd been trying to hook up with them down here for months now- ever since we parted company after working the creek at Vein Mountain, North Carolina. Rain, wind, cold, snow, and business obligations have been keeping us from getting together for months now. You'll note from the picture that the girls are wrapped in their blankets, so no heat wave happening here today. Mountain Man Stonewall? Well, it was "shorts" weather for him, rugged outdoors prospector that he is! A full moon rose high above the highest palms across the sky as if to join us sitting on the seawall to watch the sunset....which of course, was mostly gold.

Pontooning 10,000 Islands

I'm not going to try to count the number of islands downriver from camp here at Everglades Isle, but they are called The Ten Thousand islands, so let's just go with that. Our hosts at Everglades Isle offered a bunch of us a complimentary tour on the company pontoon boat. Sure! We left the dock on a Sunday afternoon around 2 PM. We were expecting the usual jaunt down river and back and we would have been pleased with that. But instead Captain Mark took us down river, out to the islands for some bird watching, some beach combing, some scenic cruising- and we didn't even get back to the dock until something approaching dinner time. It was a great trip and we had good company and an excellent time. The sun was shining and warm when we left the dock, but that yellow orb disappeared behind the dark clouds pretty soon after we launched. That fact did nothing at all to put a damper on the float, and even though we hit a few patches of sprinkles, the experience was totally delightful.

Worth mentioning, Ospreys, Great Horned Owl on a perch and in flight, an Anhinga (a cormorant-like water bird) eating a fish half his size, beaches loaded not only with shells but lots of sponge material. The passing dark clouds made for some beautiful color variations which hopefully you'll note on the slide show.

Olympic Everglading

It's time for the Winter Olympics of 2010 and we are in the central Everglades at Everglades City- so what else was I gonna call it? Everglades Isle RV is a beautiful campground resort which is still largely undiscovered. We pretty much have the place to ourselves. There are a few others here but not enough so that the club house facilities can be fully open- but that's OK with us as we, for the most part, don't need them anyway.

The cold that we have been writing about pretty much non stop for the two months that we spent in the Keys persisted for much but not all of our first week here. For the moment, things have warmed up and hopefully they will hold but I'm not gonna bet on that all things considered. The camp hosts apologized for the look of the place (something out of their control) because many of the trees, even the usually lush green coconut trees are entirely brown from the extended periods of cold, frost, even freeze. Looks like most of them will come back, but surely not all, as Florida and its inhabitants, human and other wise- are not used to this kind of rude treatment from Mother Nature.

The coco below is a good example of what I'm talking about:


Still, the place is very pretty. The view of life along a waterway is always fascinating and intriguing and always offers something new to see- if only how differently things look as the light changes throughout the day.


But this is the time of the Olympics. Of pushing capabilities to the extreme so off we went deep into the Glades looking for the Fakahatchee Strand. If you're an avid reader and you want to get an excellent word picture of the Glades, may I suggest a book called The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean. You'll find it in the true crimes section of your book store or library. An excellent read, it is a look at the Glades at a time when Florida developers were carving up the swamp to make way for houses and people, especially in the SW of Florida around Fort Myers, Cape Coral, where we lived for a number of years. The pressures Man puts on Nature is a theme that runs through the text and I think you'll find it of interest without feeling like anyone is lecturing you. Passions for orchids, which we quite understand, is a primary theme as well. The book is set largely in The Fakahatchee Strand of the Everglades.


The Fakahatchee Strand has several places where you can access the Glades through its portals. We will surely enter elsewhere, but for our first foray we entered beside The Miccosukee Indian Village on Rt 41. This venue is more easily accessible to travelers who don't want to go to deep into the Glades to start out. The Everglades are at the same time tempting and scary. Beautiful in a raw sort of way but with the caviat of gators and snakes and spiders and things that go bump not only in the night but just maybe also during the daylight. We walked about a half mile in ...and back, staying dry on a path and a boardwalk. There is a guided tour where you walk THROUGH the swamp in waist deep water with a thrasher walking stick, with low to no water visibility. Not sure I'm up for that just yet, but I'm thinking on it!

You never know where to look in the Glades so you just walk slowly and watch for movement of any kind. We saw big gators in the think brush. Red Shoulder Hawks. A squirrel who boldly dared to frolic below the hawk in the thicket below the hawk- thought I would get a once in a lifetime shot of a hawk taking a squirrel but that little guy knew darn well that the hawk could not get at him in the thick vegetation and he chattered and nagged the hawk until he flew away in disgust. We saw some white-tail deer that were smaller than the Key Deer we showed you a while back. In the thick brush they were very hard to see and nigh on impossible to photograph but I did what I could. Fish. Birds. Terrestrial plants and Epiphytes. Cypress trees and cypress knees and Strangler Figs that won some and lost some in the battle with their host trees. Mosses and ferns, lichens and fungi, orchids and hollow logs that could be hiding everything and anything.

Some of these but not all will appear in this post's slide show. It starts with our view around the old campsite, travels through the Strand, then finishes with sunset and nightfall back "home." Enjoy:

Key West Food Fest

Key West Food Fest. I don't know if there really is such a thing. Fantasy Fest, yes. Fat Tuesday and Mardi Gras Wanna Be, yes. But Food Fest? Well, I just couldn't come up with much else to call it as we wrapped things up in the lowest of the Keys where food and The Cosmics converged to eat their way through the cold of this year's weirdest weather of all time. Cold? Gotta have calories to stay warm. So an evening visit to Benihanas Japanese Steak and Seafood House got things started with tableside preparation on the super hot Hibachi Grill. Breakfast at Tiffany's? Nope. Pepe's on Caroline is maybe the best breakfast in the world. Fresh squeezed orange juice starts everything else off just right. I caught a bunch of crabs in my trap off the end of our dock, so into the pot they went. Table for two seaside as Marilyn and Cosmic Bob ate the Blue Crabs and the Stone Crab Claws I was lucky enough to score on the last day I fished the trap. And if that wasn't enough, Bob made up a super batch of his outrageously delicious ribs on the grill. As you'll see in the slide show, the pelicans got into the act, as did the giant tarpon down at the Ships Wharf. Final farewells for now hugged out after dinner at the Stromboli Capitol of the World, the New York Pasta Garden off of Duval Square. I'm feeling full just recounting the feeding frenzy. Mighty tasty though, and not nearly as extreme as it sounds. In fact, it was pretty darn good!

What's A Body To Do?

Our buddy Gene isn't buying it! If he hears (or sees) anything else that makes it look warm and cozy here in the Florida Keys he's threatening to ....well, he say's "Don't look up; I don't want you to see it coming." He's in the Virginia Mountains under 4 feet of snow and has taken of late to building snowmen on a bench under a tree and placing a noose around its neck. Touchy, touchy.

And our friend Joan in Pennsylvania is back at her old game of blaming US for HER bad weather. Snow, Cold, Wind, Storms - once you're over the early on magnificence of the physical world- get real old real fast for many. Me among them. So while I hate to taunt these two intrepid talents, we do have some deep sand here but we don't have any snow- let alone deep snow. And it's cold. Still! I mean, ...you gotta put on a jacket just to walk the dog. In February! How ridiculous is that???

And as I've been trying to put into perspective the experiences of our friends, who are, thanks to our present gypsy life style- now all across this great land, I've begun to realize what I probably have always known but didn't think much about. Pictures don't show cold. Pictures don't show wind. And even snow looks pretty much harmless in a photograph. When was the last time you actually gasped aloud as some Weather Channel on-air personality had his or her hat blow off in a raging blizzard or even a hurricane. The hazard hides behind the image. Weather was never intended to be portrayed. No. It was intended to be felt. So when each of us sends the other a photo, we pretty much all think: "Yeah. So!" We have probably all experienced what our friends and family elsewhere are feeling. We might even have some fleeting recollection of their pain. No doubt we do care! But this is not a matter of "absence makes the heart grow fonder..." it's more a matter of telling someone else what you are challenged to endure (weather-wise) at this point in time.

For a blogger, the problem looms large (he said tongue in cheek). My friends want me to stop the painful onslaught of more and more pictures of seemingly magnificent and warm weather, bright sunshine, blue skies, birds flying carelessly (getting ticked yet?) Girls on the beach, dining on the sidewalk, a cocktail as the sun sets. Now? A paddle on flat salt water, hanging a fishing line over the side of the dock. Cry uncle?

OK. OK. I have more such photos today. Can't be helped. The story's gotta be told before it gets old. BUT! For what it's worth- if you watch the entire slide show, you will also see that even we get our comeuppance like all the rest. Look back a post or two first. See that still life shot of the conch horn, beer and plastic shot glass with tiny fish in the bottom, and the yaks and the bay in the background? Well, we went to bed at the end of the day...and in the morning came out to a deck that was covered with a million small fragments and slivers of glass- the wind I have been telling you about- the one you didn't believe me about- the one I told you was so cold- yes that one- well during the night it picked up the whole table, turned it upside down and slammed it into the pavers- making for trouble in paradise. Like you care! C'mon.

Here's what's in the show today. Our trip into Key West to see for the first time the new Florida Keys Eco Discovery Center. It was an excellent new facility, has potential for sure and I'm sure it will continue to develop. Touring on a budget? Admission is free. And the center features a 20 minute movie in its own theater that follows a young girl's introduction to the environment of the Keys. I must say it was one of the finest educational and top quality videos I have seen in a long time. That alone is WELL worth the visit.



The Eco Center is directly adjacent to the parking lot for Fort Zachery Taylor Park, which also is worth a visit. State Park rates apply unless you have a membership (we do) in which case it is free as well. The park also has one of Key West's most interesting beaches. Shelling and sponging are excellent here. Surf. Rock pier fishing. Out of the wind sun bathing. Water sports. Cafe. But quiet and almost private compared to the other more public and larger beaches.





Then off to the New York Pasta Garden at Duval Square. Lunch? Magnifico. The meat lovers' Stromboli was THE Best! And huge. Made several meals...



Don't forget to watch for the glass table that "Fall down, go boom."

Wonderdog Pirates of Key West

Once again, Abby The Wonderdog suits up for a super photo shoot. Not to be left out of the Florida Keys fun, Abby donned her pirate costume in the hopes that the dockside session might qualify her for this year's swimsuit issue of Dog Sports Illustrated. While she was most enthusiastic about the new hat and scarf at the onset, she was, by the end of a long day in the stiff breeze and warm sunshine, exhausted by the outlay of energy required to produce such a professional shoot. Who ever said modeling was easy! It's really hard for a dog to smile all day long! But I think you will agree it was worth all the effort. If you don't think so, then apparently- you don't know Jack!

Sunrise To Sunset

In order to fully appreciate life in the Keys, you need to put in a long day- from sunrise to sunset and then on into the night. The subtle then brilliant colors of the morning sky, the changing colors of the waters throughout the day, then the night time falling colors of sunset over the ocean and night lights as they come up on the strip of Duval Street are a constantly changing source of fascination. There are strolls to take along shady and historical streets. Seafood to be caught and dined upon. Conch shells to blow and cold beer to relax with seaside on a hot day in February. Parrots in the trees and sometimes even riding along on a golf cart. Friends gathered around the table at Margaritaville. Palm frons bowls and hats to weave, escape artists and high wire acts, bag pipers and looking glass lookers. And just maybe a green flash for the very lucky on just the perfect end of day. That and much more...in Key West.

Lower Keys Kayaking

Here's a look at some of the limited time we have been able to spend kayaking here in the lower Florida Keys. These images are in large part from Sunshine Key and the area surrounding Blue Water Key about 14 miles outside of Key West. Plenty of bird life and fish. Natural sea sponges. Jellyfish. Picturesque bridges over turquoise blue and even green, often crystal clear waters.