January 29, 2008

Can you say Iguana!!!!!

He happened on our deck area while we were reading in the sun. Quite a surprise.
John and Rae Jean and Kylie (dog)

Happy hour at "Kelly's"
Sunset on Key West

Well, we have had a busy day or two. First of all, the Iguana....a few days ago I was laying out in the sun and heard something move in the Mangrove tree next to me. I was quite startled when I saw a green Iguana that was at least 2' long! (John thought I was seeing things, I think.) So, Sunday night we were invited down for dinner with 2 other couples and were talking and I said I saw this huge lizard...and they said..."oh yes, there is a mom here and her babies...they are native to the island and our dogs go nuts when they see them." (Can you imagine Kate and an Iguana???) Anyway, today John was outside reading and yelling for me to get the camera...I didn't hear him, so he came in and got the camera and the above picture is what crawled up on the patio! He was a brown Iguana, not green. Look how long his tail is. Very fun to see in the wild.

So, we met 2 couples. Brian and Linda from Vermont (and their daughter Jenny joined them for a week) and John and Rae Jean from Hilton Head Island, SC. Brian is retired from IBM and John is still working as a pharmacist and also has some property he has invested in. We get together for "liquor drinks" (as John says) and end up all eating together. Today we all met at Kelly's Bar for happy hour then John and walked out to the waterfront to see the infamous "Key West Sunset". Then he and I went to dinner at a Cuban restaurant. It was a fun night. They told us to stop when we got home for more liquor drinks, but we were liquored out!

It had been pretty low key here for the most part. We have been biking everyday and walking a good bit and I have been using my exercise tape. (Anything to help loose a few pounds.) I have to say I am now reading "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follet.....it is 970 + pages and I am half way through. It is very good. I will read "World Without End" when I am through with this. We have gotten in the sun everyday about 2-3 hours. ( I say this sheepishly knowing what everyone at home is enduring.) Then today we met 3 more couples that are from places we have been and places we are going. It's fun to know what to expect when we get to the next park.

Well, this might be the last blog until we go to Ft. Myers on Friday, unless we go snorkeling on Thursday..which is still in the planning stages.

Thursday January 24, 2008

Don Kloster surprised us with a visit!
Don has his own reading light for bedtime!:)
We went to lunch at "Sloppy Joe's"
The 3 Musketeers'
Zoom in on this for a view of "no-see-ums".

We were pleasantly blessed with a visit from Don Kloster on Tuesday the 22nd. He made some comment about coming but then we never heard anything, so went to Key West to see some more sights and on the way out of town we stopped to tour this campground we thought we stayed at in 1979...while there Don called and said, "I'm at the airport, can you pick me up?". Of course, we were only 5 minutes away. We came back to the RV park, grilled out brats and got caught up on the going ons of his family and ours.

The one picture is Don in our "couch" air bed with his light on his head for reading in bed!!!!

One Wednesday, we went back into Key West. I did some shopping and John and Don trailed along. We did go back to the Kino Sandal factory and Don bought Diane some sandals! We then decided to eat lunch at "Sloppy Joe's" and listened to some good music while sipping on margaritas and beer.!@!!!! (One could become an alcoholic touring around like this!) Anyway, we came back to the RV, did a little reading etc...then went back to Key West for dinner at the Commodore Restaurant. It was very good food. After dinner we came home and watched "The Contract" and had Key Lime Pie that I had made.

Thursday am...today...we got up and drank several pots of coffee and talked until we drove Don to the airport at 1000. After we dropped him off we went to Blockbusters and got a few more movies.

Just a side note: Our satellite went out a couple days ago and I have been on the phone with King Dome for 2 days. I did all the re-calibrating they wanted me to do and the bottom line is our satellite is shot! So.....we have an appointment in Ft. Myers on the 1st of Feb at an RV dealer to get it fixed. It is under warranty but still a pain in the butt to get it fixed. Oh well, the life of RVing!!!! (Thank heaven we still have cable!)

John and I took a bike ride this afternoon and now just settling in....getting ready to make dinner.

I want you to zoom in on John's legs to see how eaten up he is from these no-see-ums! His legs look like chicken pox!

Hope all is well with all our family and friends.

Martin Luther King Holiday January 21, 2008

A beautiful sailboat

"The" Sloppy Joe's Bar

With new friends at Schooner Wharf

(a terrible picture...it was raining)

BIG cruise ship in port

The Kino sandal shop, mom wanted 2 pair!

We had lunch here and this musician played, he was also pretty funny.

We have had two cool days, even a little rainy today, so decided to go into Key West with new friends, Linda and Brian. They are from Burlington, VT and this is their 3rd or 4Thu year hear.

We walked along Duval Street, saw "Sloppy Joe's Bar", went to the Kino Sandal place and ate lunch at "The Schooner Wharf". After lunch we went down where the cruise ships and yachts are and there was this beautiful sail boat that was awesome. This picture doesn't do it justice.

(It's the first picture on the blog.)

The story on the Kino sandal shop was; 18 years ago John's sister Mickey and her husband and son went to Key West, then stopped in Captiva to visit us on their way home. They bought me a pair of Kino sandals but they were too big so I gave them to mom. She loved them and wore them about 10 or more years. So when we said we were going to Key West, mom remembered they came from here, so I had to go on a mission to find them. Low and behold after I met Linda....and we got talking....she knew exactly where the shop was and the name...I had even forgotten that~~~!!!! Linda even knew how to get to the shop!!!

Well, tomorrow is supposed to be a little cooler and possible rain also. Hard to complain when we see the temperatures at home. We have had about 1 day of rain our whole trip, but now we have had a couple days in a row. It's still nice enough to be outside.

Blue Water Key, Florida January 16, 2008

A look at our "Tiki Hut" on our site.
Our patio area
Looking into the site.
This hawk sat outside our window for 15 minutes.

We got here yesterday and on the way realized that we really weren't suppose to check in until the 17th. We were fortunate that no one was on our site so got right in. The park really packs them in, and we have heard some of these lots are for sale for 700,000-800,000.00 dollars!! John and I both decided they weren't worth it. The lots are so close to each other...ours is pretty secluded, but never would be pay that kind of money. We liked the ones in Naples better and thought they were expensive at 200,000.00! Plus, we wouldn't even do that!!!!! You are paying to be on the ocean and for the warm weather. It was in the 80's today. We took an hour bike ride this am, then spent a couple hours at the pool. Met a couple from Burlington, VT and he had just retired from IBM. He know Rochester well.! Then we spent some time reading, which has become a favorite pass time for both of us. I got caught up on laundry...took a look at some quilting, but figured it was too late in the day to start that. Fixed dinner and here I am!

The days do go by fast, but I can't say I have a lot to show for it.

Tomorrow we take another bike ride and I think we picked out a cool restaurant in Key West to go to tomorrow night.

January 15,2008 Visit to The Everglades

Sunning on the beach.

Ok, where's the camera???

Manatee...mom or dad????



I have the camera, where are the manatee's.?

Our Mission
A mom and baby!

Yes! Today I got to go animal exploring. My favorite thing to do. We drove out into the Everglades to a marina in The Collier Seminole State Park and caught a boat to go and see manatees. In all my years in Florida I have never seen a manatee in person! We saw many manatee's and their babies and even a couple alligators. They are related to the elephant. Their gestation is only about 10 months and they live in the rivers around the gulf. They like to be warm so will come to the top of the water and sun to get warm. The woman that gave our tour said that if the water dips below 70 degrees, the manatee can get pneumonia and die. They are a protected species and are growing in numbers. They are gentle giants and do get up to 2,000#. We didn't see any that big but they were awesomely large!

After we got back, Sue, the real estate lady here in the park, took John and I on a short tour of the lots that were for sale. We just aren't sure this is what we want. Anyway, then we met up with some people that we met here and viewed each other's motor homes...had a few drinks and learned about all the places each of us had been and the good places and the bad. It is really fun to meet these people because you all have a common thread.

Al and Sue are from Springfield, IL and this is there first experience with RVs. He would like to have an Allegro Bus. Anne and Larry are from Louisiana with an Allegro Bus like ours, and are building a house in Boone, NC so are full-time motor homing for 18 months. We turned Al and Sue onto Larry and Anne because Larry wants to sell their Allegro after they move into the house. Barbara and Eppie are from Ontario, Canada and own a lot here in Naples and will stay until Mar. or April. Ivan and Bonnie are newly retired from Vancouver, BC and are also new at RVing and think they will buy a house somewhere around here. Everyone has a story and an interesting life and it is fun to hear about them all.

Tomorrow we leave for Key West. We are ready to move and excited to stay at Blue Water. We have so much good about it.

Until tomorrow.

January 13th

Capri Fish House

Today I went to water aerobics again...it is pretty easy...not sure it's doing anything, but at least I am moving! Then John and I went into Naples and walked through the town and shops. We didn't buy anything. Everything was pretty high priced and really nothing I longed for :( We were going to eat at an Irish Pub but we decided to take the advise of several people to go to the Isles of Capri and eat at the Capri Fish House. I had fresh fish and it was really good....John had a burger and it was good as well.

One of our neighbors here are from Springfield, IL and they (he especially) loved our coach...so we invited them over to check it out and spent some time talking. I think he is sold! They are new to RVing and are just checking out all the areas as we are.

Well, we are settling in, fixing a light dinner and watching a little tube. One more day here and then it's on to Key West and Blue Water RV Resort!

As a side note...wish I could figure out how to link this, Jane, :) but I would like to share a couple more books we've read that we really liked. Kite Runner, Water for Elephants and Left Behind. We'll let you know the next bunch!

January 12th...Pelican Lake Motorcoach Resort, Naples, Florida

New site in Naples.

We actually got here on Thursday, today is Saturday. We haven't toured anything to take pictures of except Marco Island and that is a bunch of condos. This park is wonderful! Lots of Midwesterners, more friendly and lots of activities going on. I actually participated in the first water aerobics class in my life. It was pretty easy, but I guess it is easy on the joints. They have a low impact aerobics class on Tuesday that I will try too. We have been riding bikes and walking a lot and I am consciously trying to watch a little of what I eat. Last night they had a cocktail hour we went to and met several couples. One guy actually was from Deerwood, MN and knew MaryBeth Birkeland and her husband Glenn. (They are the ones that we bought our lake home from.) Said he has even been in our house. Small world! We left the party and went out to eat at an historic house on Marco Island. The Ole Marco Inn. It was very quaint and the floors were very uneven due to the fact that the Inn was built on a pile of shells!!! Good food too. Tonight Liberty Bus Company is having a dinner for anyone that wants to go. John and I already toured their plant in Stuart, Fl in November, but they are the cream of the coaches and decided we'd go for the free food and to see what they say. Should be interesting.
The weather is incredible...80's every day, we try to get a little sun every day but not over do it.
Tomorrow we are going to tour around Naples and see what there is to see. Hopefully we'll have a few more pictures. :)

January 8th...Clemont, Florida

We arrived in Orlando at 11:39 PM last night. Called the Amerisuites, where our car has been parked for the last month, so we could get the shuttle back to the hotel. (The driver was going to quit at 1200 but they said they would come get us! Lucky eh?) Got to the hotel...John went in to pay for the car and meanwhile I call the after-hours phone number for the man to meet us at the motor home park to get the motor home out of dry storage. (Mind you, I called these people the morning we left to set this all up and to notify them it would be almost 1 am before we got there. NO PROBLEM!!!!) I called the number and we got a response that the number was not any good. Lovely! We decided to drive out to the campground and try to see if anyone was around. Of course not! Not to mention that we already paid for the night. So, we had no choice but to check into a cheap hotel. Ho Jo's.....49.50 a night and with my AARP discount it was 44.00! So see my friends, AARP is good for something. Would never recommend the hotel to my friends, but at 1:40am...it was a bed and a shower. :) We got up at 7:30...went to breakfast and filled up the car with gas and headed back to the RV resort. They were all apologetic!!!! Said Verizon never forwarded the calls to the man who was to meet us. ANYWAY, here we are...setting up our little "home away from home".
I went grocery shopping, John is busy washing the RV. It looks like it did when we left.

January 6th The day before we return to Florida

We leave tomorrow to fly to Orlando to resume our trip. I thought I would fill you in on what we have done since Christmas at the lake. On Thursday the 27th, we had a bunch of our neighbors from the lake come over for holiday cheer and snacks and a general "catch-up". Was fun to re-connect and get excited about the spring!
On New Years Eve, we had mom and Don over and Julie and Ken. We had a fun time...listening to Ken's "Ole and Lena" jokes and solving the worlds ails. We actually did see midnight!!!
On Jan. 4th we had a good sized family dinner at mom's. Kyle, Aimee, David, Amber, Jeff, Sara, Sydnee, Jackie, Brady, Ryan, John and I, mom and Don. We had pizza and just got generally silly!!! Was fun to see everyone just in case......
Jan. 5th we had our church staff dinner/Christmas party at Wiederholts and that was a good time too. Tonight we had a family dinner for our last night at home for a while. I have so enjoyed being home and seeing everyone and doing fun things. I am excited to get back on the road and so is John.
So, until we are back in the RV we will sign off.
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Sorry no pictures.