Thursday, April 15, 2010

Key West

Time sure flies, it has been over a month since my last blog.  Hopefully I can make this one interesting.

Brent and I went to Key West for a week.  So ready to go back.  We had a great low keyed time.

We left Jacksonville about 4:40 on Friday, April 2.  We drove to just north of Ft Pierce.  We stopped at a rest stop for the night. 

Up the next morning and on our way.  We wanted to do all the keys in day light.  What a nice drive.  Good thing we were in no hurry.  Slow going down Route 1.

 

Those pictures are some of the bridges including the 7 mile bridge. 

We stopped in Marathon for a quick lunch in the rig.  We arrived at Sigsbee RV park around 2.  We were assigned to a dry camp site, and assured we would get to move in a bout 4 days.  We were assigned to Site 248, this picture is taken standing at the front of the 5th wheel.

Key West April 2010 010 The Gulf of Mexico.

I think i can do this with no hookups.  Before we got to the site we filled up with water.  There always has to be a glitch…the pump wouldn’t work..great.  Brent emptied out the belly and located the pump, took it apart checked it out and it started working.  So thankful for his ability to fix things.  We now had water.  There is such a breeze we didn’t have to run the AC.

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While Brent was working on the pump, something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye.  At first i thought a raccoon.  Wrong…I ran to get my camera..but didn’t get too close.

Mama and her babies. Iguanas

We met our neighbors, Dave and Kathy from Finger Lakes New York area.

We just hung out at the campground that night.  We did walk a bit.  We left the dogs at home with our son, we sure missed them.  Will never leave them again.  Sorry Kona and Lilly.

Sunday we get up and Brent unloaded the motorcycles so we can go site seeing.  We rode off base and went towards downtown.  That was a short lived ride…lots of traffic and pretty warm  So back to the campground we go..  We parked the motorcycles, threw the bicycles in the back of the truck and headed out.  We were able to park near Trumbo, which is another military facility.  Once we were parked and took off on the bikes…we were in the heart of Duval Street within minutes.  Bicycles are the way to see Key West!  We had a sandwich at Hogs Breathe saloon.

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Seems the pigeons come right in the restaurants looking for food. 

We also stopped in Sloppy Joes.

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After riding bicycles all day in the sun and walking around we were pretty tired.  Showered in the shower house and called it a night.

Monday back at it.  We drove the truck to Trumbo and parked and got on the bicycles.  We had purchased tickets to ride the Conch Train.  http://www.conchtourtrain.com/   I like to take those tours..you get to see lots and learn the history of the city you are in.  Also see what sites you want to go back too.

Tuesday back on the bikes and headed to the southern most point of the United States.

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We did a lot of shopping in all the shops.  We are not the best tourist…we like to walk around and people watch.  I did get a nice fruity drink.

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I like the roosters too…didn’t see as many chickens.

Key West April 2010 015 Key West April 2010 018

Some girls i know from jax..had recently up and moved to Key West…they are working at Guys Harvey’s bar and grill…so we stopped in and had lunch with them.

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Tuesday when we arrived back at the RV we had a note on the door from the RV office we could move on Wednesday to full hookups. 

Tuesday was also our 25th anniversary…the reason for our trip.

More pics of another Iguana…I think it was the dad.

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Another early night…guess we are getting old.

On Wednesday we got the rig ready to move, it was sad to leave the beautiful view, but would be nice to have full hook ups.  Off to site 90 we went.  It was right across the street from the bathrooms and laundry.

After we were set up, Brent started chatting with another camper that was filling his water jugs to put in his tanks, he had chose to stay in dry camping.  Long story short…he and his wife have a house in Jacksonville also.  They are here long term…they also have a boat in storage near the rv park.  You guessed it…he took Brent and I on a ride that afternoon…so we got a nice tour of the area via water.

Key West April 2010 028 Key West April 2010 031 This big boat had run aground and was abandoned.

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To the left of the motor home is the dry site we were in for 4 nights.

We walked over to the sunset lounge that is located on the base for dinner.  We ran into our neighbors from dry camp there (they had already moved to full hook-ups)….had a nice time.  Took these pics..wonder if that is why it is called sunset lounge?

 

Thursday…we rode the motorcycles back up Rt 1 to Marathon Key.  had a nice lunch, did some shopping & took some pics from the other end of the 7 mile bridge

Friday was our last full day..back downtown on the bicycles…we had a bit of shopping to do.  The high light of our trip was Peppers of Key West.  http://www.peppersofkeywest.com/  We love sauces…especially hot ones.  This place has a bar around it..serves no drinks, you can bring your own.  You sit down and you get to try all the sauces you want.  So much fun.

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That was our server Angie…she was the best.

Back to the camper for dinner…had to get ready to be out by 10 am.  We pulled out around 9:30, so sad our week was over.

We drove to Ft Pierce again…we opted for a RV park vs rest stop.  Sure glad we did…nice and relaxing.

http://www.treasurecoastrv.com/

We had a nice pull thru.  Good thing we stopped at an RV park, the pump quit working again.  At least it worked when we needed it.

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So now we are home…next camping plans are for Memorial Day Weekend.

Something we learned from this trip…while in Key West make sure you know where you lock your bikes up…some of the restaurants/bars have doors on 2 streets.  We searched 2 different times for our bikes.

Next time I will try and update the blog daily from a trip…too hard to remember each day.

This trip just made us want to full time more….some day…sigh!!!!!!!!!!!

Until next time…………

Julie