Day 120. December 4, 2013. Glass-bottomed boat

Another night in the same state park here in the Keys.  We will be here total of 5 nights.  We had a raccoon visitor in the night....walking all over the picnic table with my dishes that were air-drying.  Paw prints all over. I had to clean everything up.

We went on a glass-bottomed boat trip of the state park's coral reef.  It was very nice.  We saw a lot of fish and turtles.  They warned us over and over about seasickness.  It is worse when you are watching the glass and the boat bounces up and down.  They talked so much about it that I started to feel a bit squeamish.   This is jelly fish season which the turtles love.  We learned a sad thing....the turtles mistake white plastic bags for jelly fish and eat them.  Then they get really sick.  They get taken by turtle ambulance to a turtle hospital to get it removed.  We want to visit there later if we can.  

We fished and swam.  We had bought a beautiful, huge avocado about a week ago, and it is now ripe.  We made some delicious guacamole for an appetizer.  

Day 119. December 3, 2013. Snorkeling!

We are at the state park campground.  It is famous for its coral reefs.  Our campsites are small, and most people are in tents or pop-ups, resulting in people talking more with each other.  On one side of us is a couple from Nova Scotia and another from France on the other side.  See friendly ibis pecking around George.

In the afternoon we went snorkeling at the park's beach.  I saw lots of pretty fish.  I could snorkel all day!

We went to a bar on the Atlantic Ocean side to watch the sunset.  We are really in paradise!

Day 118. December 2, 2013. Tarpon feeding frenzy

We packed up and headed for our second Keys campground.  This one is John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.  It is about 60 miles east.  On our way, we stopped for lunch at a tourist, but fun, restaurant on the water.  There are hundreds of huge tarpon in the water that you can feed.  This also attracts the seagulls.  We had a seafood burrito while watching the fish jump.  

It is really tropical here.  Coconut palms, papaya, and mango.  See photo of banana tree.

This state park is really nice.  They have lots of activities that we want to check out, such as glass-bottomed boat and snorkeling trips.  

For dinner, we had the remaining paella mix, sautéed with onion and garlic, over with a cheese/wine sauce.  If we don't catch a fish tomorrow, I need to go shopping!

Day 117. December 1, 2013. Swimming in December!

Another day in the same campground.  We went fishing (nothing again) although we could see fish in the clear blue water.  We checked out some other campgrounds as we still have 2 nights unconfirmed.  The commercial ones here in the Keys are expensive...one was $117 per night!  And the state parks are filled up.  

We had lunch in a tiki-hut type restaurant.  We had lemon-pepper grilled yellow snapper sandwich.  Very good!

Then we came back to the campground and lounged at the pool.  Strange to be swimming in December!

We watched the sun set from the marina. For dinner, I sautéed seafood (had bought a paella mix at the store with octopus, squid, shrimp and clams) and served with pasta in wine sauce.  Tasty!

Day 116. November 30, 2013. Crazy Key West

We are staying at a campground about midway in the Keys. Perfect weather....in the 70s with a nice breeze.   We fished for awhile (no luck), then drove into Key West.  We followed a walking tour map, and saw interesting historical places.  We looked at some of the places my brother used to work

 We also saw Hemingway's original favorite watering hole and then had a beer in a popular dive

A huge cruise ship was in the harbor.  Lots of international tourists.  Came back to the campground for dinner....Thanksgiving leftovers.  

Day 115. November 29, 2013. Margaritaville, here we come!

Before leaving our nice hotel in Homestead, FL, we popped over to Key Biscayne National Park.   It was nice, but the glass-bottomed boat was not operating, so we didn't see too much.  Then on to the Keys!  We stopped in a dive shack for some smoked fish.  It was party-time already.

Our first three nights are at a commercial campground, as that is all we could find for these dates.  It is  a "resort" with pool, beach, marina.  Quite nice.  Most campers are here for the season.  We talked with this RV owner.  See pic.  He bought this bus from a rock band.  It pulls another huge storage truck with his car and motorcycle.  It is 75 feet long.  He converted it from a 14-bed "dorm" to a house with full bedroom, bath, kitchen and laundry.  That compares to our car plus camper @ 32.  We are dwarfed by everything around us.  It is at mile marker 39, so not far from Key West.  

There are lots of parasail surfers on our beach.

For dinner, we grilled red snapper, and served with rice and peas.  A nice welcome to the Keys. During the night, we heard a noise and our camper started shaking.  George went to look.  It was a big raccoon jumping on our bike rack, like a seesaw!

Day 114. November 28, 2013. Happy Thansgiving!

TWe are staying at a Courtyard bt Marriott for 2nights.  Really nice hotel, but no kitchenette, so I 'me having to improvise.  

I did about 5 loads of laundry so the room is strewn with clean clothes.

We listened to MN Public Radiio to "Turkey Confidential" by Lynne Rosetta Kasper.  It is a call show with people calling in for advice. Some are hysterical. We were streaming the show on the laptop do heard local news, including the cold weather.  All this while we had oysters on the half shell on the hotel patio

I cooked mashed potatoes in the microwave, and then George grilled a Cornish hen.  We didn't want anything too big as we don't have space for a lot of leftovers.  I made dressing on a skillet on the grill.

 Then cranberry sauce, cold pea salad, and key  lime pie.  Very enjoyable day.  We have so much for which yo be thankful!