Florida Trip 2008
December 30, 2007 - February 3, 2008
Photography by John Horm
Most of our travels are in our Airstream motorhome, shown below at sunrise in the Sigsbee Navy RV Park in Key West.
This year was an excellent trip, the driving was easy with generally light traffic, the weather from start to finish was great, not too hot and not too cold, no problems with the motorhome, everything worked as advertised. We averaged 8.9mpg for the 2,535 mile trip while towing the Saturn and running the generator about 1/2 the time. Definitely not bad.
We started from Annapolis about 9:00 am on Sunday December 30th to take advantage of the light traffic on the Washington Beltway. We arrived in Mims Fl. (close to Titusville) on Monday, Jan 1, 2008 at the Seasons in the Sun Motorhome Resort. While in Titusville, we went to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and the Viera Wetlands Refuge for photography. On Monday morning, January 7 we left for Key West arriving at 3:00 that afternoon.
As we were parking the RV, some friends, Dick and Ruth Whitlock came running up to greet us and welcome us to sunny warm tropical Key West. Since we were a bit tired from the drive down, we went to the Sunset Cafe for a light evening meal after walking the dog and feeding the cats. During our ten days in KW, we toured Harry Trumans Little White House, the Key West lighthouse, the cemetery ("I told you I was sick"), the WWII Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk, the Eco Center, the Butterfly Conservatory, and of course the sunset celebration. We also took advantage of a number of local restaurants, Pepes, Bobalus (probably my current favorite), the Blonde Giraffe for Key Lime pie, and numerous others (and I thought I was going to lose some weight on this trip). Of course we went to the Dairy Queen almost every night. It seems that our time in KW is always too short. All too soon the 17th came around and it was time to leave for Miami.
This was a short drive, about 140 miles to the Larry & Penny Thompson Campground in Miami. There we also ran into a number of people we met last year. The very first question they asked was "where's the mini?". I towed a Mini Cooper last year instead of the Saturn. We had a fairly busy time in Miami, we went to the everglades, both Royal Palm (where we found a Great Horned Owl in its nest with a baby and several nests of Anhingas with babies), and Shark Valley. At Royal Palm one day a large alligator crawled out of the water and parked itself right in front of the door to the ladies restroom. Afterwards it went for a walk across the parking lot and decided to take another rest behind our car. We went for an airboat ride through the Everglades which was both educational and FUN. We went to the Miami Seaquarium, the Monkey Jungle, both of these places are highly recommended and are on our do again list. We also went to Schnebley's Winery which makes some interesting wines from various local fruits. Finally the 31st rolled around and it was time to leave. But first we reserved our time for next year at L&P and are on the waiting list for an additional two weeks.
For nostalgias sake, we stopped off for a visit at Parris Island on the way home. Compared to my time there, it now looks like a plush vacation resort.
Enough words, the photographs are below.
The first stop on our trip is Titusville so we can visit the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge
The sky was heavily overcast the first two days which is not agreeable with photography. We extended our stay and finally had some decent skies. Probably a highlight of this visit was the wild boars (top center) and an eagle nest with at least one baby but it was out of camera range.
On to the tropical paradise of Key West
After driving 1,200 miles it is nice to relax in a tropical environment and just walk around town taking in some warmth and local color. Of course we have to attend the sunset celebration - some of the street performers are pretty good.
At Truman annex we found the USS Mohawk, a Coast Guard cutter built ca 1934 and served in the Navy as a convoy escort during World War II. The galley is the lower left photo. They cooked for over 100 men in there.
Every year we stop by the Butterfly and Nature Conservatory. There are many exotic butterflies, plants, and birds. This year one landed on my head and another on my arm. Last year one landed on my camera lens - talk about close-up photography.
The West Martello Fort is another of our annual stops. This old, mid-1800's fort has been taken over by the Key West Garden Club and turned into a tropical garden. This is a peaceful and quiet oasis in the midst of the Key West hustle and bustle.
Finally we got to the Key West cemetery. Although this is the final stop for many journeys we went on to Miami. The tombstone in the center is hard to read but the man was born in Nassau in 1783 and died in Key West in 1891 at the age of 108. The inscription says he was a good man for 65 years. What about the other 43?
In the upper right is the monument to the men who lost their lives on the USS Maine.
Now it is January 17th and we leave Key West for a couple weeks in Miami
The monkey Jungle is just a few miles from where we stay and is another of our annual stops. This year a number of the monkeys had recently given birth and are carrying their babies around. They advertise that the monkeys run free and the visitors are caged. For a large part of the area that is true, there is a fence around the visitors and the monkeys run around the 30 or 40 acres outside the fence.
New to us this year was a trip to the Miami Seaquarium, not your ordinary aquarium. While you can walk around at your leisure, it is highly recommended that you take in the various shows throughout the day. There are dolphin shows, seal shows, and the killer whale show. How does she ride that killer whale? I think this has made it to our list of annual things to do.
Ahh the Everglades something different every time. At Royal Palm this alligator crawled out of the water and decided to stop for a rest just outside the door to the womens restroom. Which is worse, to be inside wanting out or to be outside wanting in? Eventually it moved on out to the parking lot where it decided to take another rest right behind our car! Finally it moved on across the parking lot and out of the way.
All is not alligators although there are a lot of them. There is a lot of other wildlife and walking trails through varied landscapes.
Anhingas, great blue herons, purple gallinules and the owl with its baby along with an alligator foot and an evil looking alligator.
A yellow-crowned night heron with a snack. Our airboat ride through the Everglades. What is sticking out of my ears? Well, the engine is so loud that they give you pieces of toilet paper to put in your ears to muffle the noise.
Now comes January 31st and it is time to head for home........until next year.
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The Key West chickens are colorful and noisy - the ones at Sigsbee started crowing at 4 in the morning! Did someone mention chicken soup?
The story goes that Hemingway's house is next to the lighthouse so that no matter how much he had to drink he could always find his way home.
