Lisa and Michael visit

February 20 -22

Daughter Lisa and husband Michael came to visit us at the Keys 

 before boarding their cruise ship in Miami.

Cruising Sugar Loaf Key on Bob's party yacht.

As Captain he can marry anyone on board for about a buck fifty. They don't even have to say "I do",

just "I guess so".

Thelma and Louise

at the car show.

Chillin after a hard day

At Key West's

Better Than Sex

dessert restaurant

for Lisa's birthday.

The desserts aren't really better than sex, but close.

Back to the Keys

Saturday
January 30

Back at Bob's place on Sugarloaf Key

near Key West

We take my first long ride to
 a Vintage Bike show near Miami

with his biker buddies, Moe and Harold,

retired fireman/Marine and Navy

Cat People

Bob and Tao and Moe and Missy

The guys came back to the house to lend a hand with some landscaping work

Over the next week a group of

friends all converge for some fun in the sun at the Keys


Nikki shows us old people how to do a great selfie.
It's called an usie with this many people.






hanging out at Bob's

Ursula and Gabbi

the girls do the art galleries

Ursula and Gabby are artists I learned a lot from on this fun outing

chickens everywhere
even a baby (only one)

lunch at a good French place
with Gabby and Ursula

After dinner at Turtle Krawls we took a ghost tour of Key West given by Henry for Conch Ghost Tours.
His family owns a home which has been haunted for many years. Coming past the cemetery was the scariest part for me although we didn't see anything unusual except a scary looking alley cat with more than 8 toes on each foot, even his hind legs.  An escapee from the Hemingway House?

Bob, Harold, Al

Cruising Sugarloaf  Key Canal in
Bob's party yacht

As Captain, Bob can marry anyone on board for about a buck fifty.  You don't even have to say "I do".  Just "I guess so".

looking for Iguanas

me and Captain Bob

brunch with Nikki and Harold
at Blue Heaven

Had our fortunes told while waiting for a table

I will have two great loves in my life,
 one lasting 50 years!
 Amazing!

Key West is full of wonderful art

More rides

breakfast at Al and Ursula's

a night at a female impersonator show
at
La te da Cabaret

me, Bob, Gabby, Ursula, Al, Moe, Harold

Another ride.
You'll notice we are the only ones with proper headgear.
We're old. We don't have to be cool.

A

 We wore the guys out

Al and Nikki

Everyone headed home








February 14

Valentine's Day we checked into Skivvies, a cabaret act in Key West where all the performers are in their underwear.
Randy Roberts, local transvestite star,
 made an appearance.

Wacky Key West fun!

Thomas Edison and Henry Ford homes

Monday
January 25

An interesting afternoon in Ft. Myers visiting the complex that houses
 the homes of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.  

Edison built his winter retreat here between 1885-87 and later invited his friend Henry Ford to be his neighbor.  The two good friends spent some parts of summer next door to each other for many years.

Henry Ford bought his home home next door in 1916 and enjoyed the company of the Edisons for dinners and parties  in the warm Florida sunshine.  Edison was hard of hearing and didn't particularly enjoy large gatherings because he couldn't hear the conversation.  So Henry Ford would tell him ahead of time what the joke or story was that he would be telling so Edison could laugh at the appropriate time. That's what friends do for each other.

Both homes are filled with period furnishings.  A pink and white tea service is arranged on a tiny table.  The front porches are filled with white wicker furniture made comfortable with chintz covered cushions. The reproduction Tiffany lamps are correct for the period since Ford was known for his extreme frugality and wouldn't have spent the money for real Tiffany lamps.

Also ironic the fact that Henry Ford was a terrible driver and only got behind the wheel of a car several times in his life when he scared the devil out of everyone so his son mostly drove him around.

The unlikely friendship of these two iconic geniuses ended with Edison's death in 1931. 

Ford never returned to the compound.

Later that day at the Groves RV Park I do the laundry.

Yes, it's possible to do the laundry AND
work on your tan.

Working my way down the Gulf coast I meet Bob near Everglades City and we stop at the Ochopee Post Office, the smallest in the US. Originally an irrigation pipe shed, it became the P.O. when the old one burned down in 1953.

We checked out the Smallwood Store which has been a Trading Post since 1917.

It sits high on barnacled pillars and overlooks the brackish bay at about 10 feet above sea level.

The store closed in 1982 when the owner died and most of the merchanadise stayed put until a community group reopened it as a museum.

The old stuff is all still there making us feel like antiques as well.  Wandering thru we remember using some of it and wonder what it is doing in a museum?!

More local wildlife at Big Cypress National Preserve.

Wonder if one of these alligators will show up on the road in front of me at some point.  It happens.

Neither a Snowy Egret nor an Ibis,
I'm guessing this is an Anhingas.

They swim underwater to spear their prey,
 then after resurfacing with a fish speared on its bill,
 they slide the fish to the tip its bill,
 flip the fish in the air, and swallow it head first.







Headed back down the Tamiami Trail, hwy 41, toward Key West to wait for the weather to get warmer up North before continuing my trip.  Big snow storms all over the midwest.
Mother Nature is telling me to stay put in Florida a little while longer. No prob.

Sanibel, Captiva, Siesta Key

Sunday
January 24

On my way to the coastal islands of Florida I stop off in Clearwater for lunch.  So many fishing charters, so much fish, and just as many seagulls and other birds trying to steal it as it's being cleaned.

This very persistent Pelican flew right into me as he was being chased away from the day's catch.

Had a good Grouper Cheek sandwich at this snack shack on the water.

Perfect windy day for

kite surfing off the coast.

Stopped in Ft.Meyers for a visit with

 Carol Sue's Uncle Bill at the 

Thunderbird Mobil Home Park.

It's the perfect place to be for a few months every year to get out of the cold Ohio winters.

Pretty neighborhoods driving out to Siesta Key.

The pure white sand beaches here are legendary.

I strolled around a bit looking for shells without much luck, then went into town for a lazy lunch.

A stop in the small charming art community of Venice for lunch with 

Carol Collins, a local artist.

Catching up on girl talk, I had forgotten how much I miss it.

lunch at Croissant & Co. in Venice

Continuing down the coast the drive out to Sanibel Island is crowded, making it a slow ride to the end at Captiva.

Anne Morrow Lindberg wrote 

Gifts from the Sea here.

I was tempted to make arrangements for a boat to take me to Cabbage Key where Jimmy Buffet supposedly wrote "Cheeseburger in Paradise" but decided not to as I had reservations in an RV park for the night.  

It's the season now and not that easy to get last minute anything.

The National Shell Museum 

on Sanibel Island is the only one in the country.

This giant Conch was found in Brazil in 1983 and is easily 4 ft long.

Don't remember the name of these,

but aren't they incredibly beautiful?!

The National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel has a 2 mile nature trail where I spotted this gathering of 

Snowy Egrets.

 It was Sunday night so I stayed at a Howard Johnson Motel so I could watch another episode of 

Downton Abbey.   Parts of my old life still remain the same.