Camping in Paradise - Key West Florida

(Key West, Florida) 85 degrees, blue sky, hot

We left Tampa and headed down the coast towards our destination, Key West. We traveled across the "alligator highway" and spent a night at the Markum Park, a county campground in Sunrise Florida.  It was a nice stop for the night.  A little expensive, but pretty much standard for the area.  ($40 per night, full hook up).  There wree two large dog parks for the big and small. 

Our site -Markum Park

Our "beach" if you don't mind being alligator bait

The next day we headed down the Keys. Being certifiable Parrotheads, this was a much anticipated visit.  During the long days leading up to full timing the thought of this special place kept us motivated.  This thin strip of highway did not disappoint.  Having turquoise water on both side of your coach - now that's certainly what heaven must be like. 

We arrived at Sigsbee Navy Base and a very welcoming camphost drove us all around.  We will be boondocking for a couple of days until a full hook site is available.  Here is our site for the first two nights.  Great views! ($12/night) The base is very close to downtown Key West.

We had dinner at a Cuban Restaurant recommended by the camphost  Our meals were delicious and I took home some very tasty Sangria. 

We settled down for the evening and watched the sunset. We made a pack to include watching more sunsets in our future.  When was the last time you watched the sun go down?  Tonight just as it was setting a group of jet skiers raced by.  It was a very pretty site.    Jimmy liked it too!

The next morning we had breakfast at Camille's.  It is located in a very pretty pink house in downtown Key West.  They are known for their Eggs Benedict and mine was delicious.

We walked around and checked out some the area.  We will spend more time downtown once our friend Debbie arrives. 

House in full bloom

Pretty purple house

Key West Finest

Skateboarder flirting with the pretty girl

Well, this is just a sneak preview.  Tomorrow we are going on a sea kayaking trip.  Stop by for more adventures. 

Retirement Has Its Advantages

nt(Tampa, FL) 66 degrees, cold, rainy

We had intended to leave for the Keys yesterday.  It may be that we were still suffering the disappointing loss of Butler in the final game of the playoffs. Or it may have been that we were tired from running around like crazy people doing errands and maintenance. Severe weather and storms were also looming over the area. Whatever the reason or reasons, we decided after breakfast to just stay put and leave the following day 

Retirement sure has its advantages.  You can certainly be a lot more flexible and not driven by a tight schedule.  It turned out to be a good decision because the rain and wind was very fierce about an hour laert and it rained most of the day.

John decided to work on our bedroom light above our bed.  A couple of days ago it just stopped working.  Our neighbor, Berkley, came over and quickly noted that transformer had blown.  He has the same make, model, and year as our coach.  Lo and behold, he had a spare light fixture and offered it to us.  Wow!  That was so nice.  Campers are the nicest people!  Thanks so much.  Within no time the light was replaced and working well. 

I treated the two hard working fellas to some homeade Snickerdoodles.  They were yummy!

In the afternoon, we went to see the movie Adjustment Bureau with Matt Damon.  It has a very interesting twist and revolves around free will versus predestination.

Today we woke up to blue skies and a beautiful morning.  We got everything ready and said good bye to Berkley and Karen.  We are heading south for Key West.  We are so excited and are looking forward to our friend Debbie coming for a visit while we are there.  Our dog Jimmy is so excited to be near his name sake Jimmy Buffet.