WE ARE STAYING IN A TROPICAL ZOO

Monday, October 5 – We are enjoying our down time here in Tavernier, Florida, (the Florida Keys). We've sat on the beach every morning and then go for a ride for some sightseeing in the afternoon. The temperatures are in the 90's with lows only dipping into the 80's at night. Fortunately, there is a nice breeze off the water to keep things fairly comfortable.

Some of the local produce right in our backyard.

We discovered we are in somewhat of a tropical zoo here at the Florida Keys Elks Lodge. Every afternoon the Iguanas come out to sun themselves. We've counted a half dozen on one afternoon. Thankfully, they take off if we approach them.

Besides the Iguana, we saw a rather large crab walking up the fence line near our RV. It was carrying, of all things, a claw from a friend or foe crab. It kept trying to climb the fence with that claw. It would keep falling off the fence but never did let go of that claw. We are easily entertained.

Pretty ugly looking.

Then there are the birds. A stately Blue Heron strolls by daily, fishing just a few feet from our front door.

And the buzzards circle overhead occasionally – probably looking for some delicious crab for lunch. And sea gulls, Ibis, and other ocean bird that we couldn't begin to identify.

A little friend stops by for a visit.

Bella has been enjoying the beach also, which is something new for her. In the past, the loud waves scared her. The waves haven't been pounding the shore except during the night, so she's feeling pretty brave. She has found the little lizards (maybe gecko??) and has taken to hunting them. No catches yet, but she's enjoying the hunt!

Exhausted after an unsuccessful hunt.

We stopped for lunch at the Island Grill in Key Largo. Just had to try Conch Fritters that are so famous here in the Keys. We coupled it with grilled shrimp and a couple beers. We have never had Conch Fritters before. Conch is a common name that generally applies to large sea snails whose shell has a siphonal canal. They take the meat out of the shell and serve it in many different ways. We both enjoyed the the lunch.

Conch.

We head further down the Keys on Wednesday to Key West. We will spend the day sightseeing and stay over night to enjoy the nightlife. Stop back and see what we find in the furthest Southern point in the U.S.

The End.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

AHHHHH, THE BEACH!

Friday, October 2 – We arrived at the Florida Keys Elks Lodge in Tavernier, Florida this morning after an easy drive down from Miami on FL 997. What a nice a relaxing drive after the craziness we went through after missing this same highway North of Miami.

Bella’s favorite seat when we travel.

We are the only RV in the Elks Lodge Campground. They have ten sites on grass with 50 amp electric and water. We are going to try to conserve our waste water and see if we can make it the entire seven days without dumping. We don't want to switch into the boondock stage because we have numerous places to visit in the Keys and don't want to feel grimy. If need be, we can travel 10 miles North to the State Park and dump.

Looking right.

Looking left.

What an awesome campground. We are right on the beach of the Gulf.

We've already spent several hours on the concrete patio enjoying several Mojitos. Hey, gotta enjoy the atmosphere of the Keys!

Surprisingly, even Bella is enjoying the campsite. She's been out relaxing on the patio with us all afternoon. In the past, she hasn't been too crazy about the noisy ocean.

Bella becoming very brave.

The Lodge has a tiki bar on the beach and one on the patio. We are headed up there tonight to pay the rent and enjoy the local atmosphere.

We did take a drive to check out the area. We HAD to stop at on of the tiki bars that came highly recommended. Very good special drinks.

Lorelei

We passed one of the many Roadside America Wonders that can be found in the Keys.

World’s largest lobster.

A great first day in the Keys.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

MIAMI AND SOUTH BEACH

Wednesday, September 30 – We took one of the Toll-by-Plate highways to Miami Beach, Florida, this morning. This method of toll roads has a camera that reads your license plate, and then they send you a bill for usage at the end of 30 days. The alternative here in Miami, Florida, is the Sun Pass for the toll roads, a cheaper alternative, that has a toll transponder on the inside of your windshield. You put money in your account that is then debited when you pass under the overhead reader. A typical cost is 25¢ for a length of highway on the Sun Pass verses a 50¢ charge with the Toll-by-Plate system.

Miami

The third alternative is to take surface streets with no tolls. We tried this on the way down to Miami when we were towing the trailer. The bad thing about this cheaper solution is that the streets are jammed with traffic. For example, Google Maps predicted our trip this morning at 45 minutes using the toll road. On the free surface streets the time predicted was 2 hours 15 minutes.

Upon arriving in South Beach, the next problem is finding a parking space for a dually pick-up truck. Street parking meters were not a very good solution due to narrow streets and heavy traffic. After cruising around for 20 minutes searching for a space we finally found a parking lot.

We ran up over the sand dune to see the famous Miami beach. Nice, but where do you park to enjoy this beach? We saw several people walking toward the beach on our way back to town, so I guess they park on the street at parking meters, or maybe they were coming from one of the many hotels.

The colorful and famous town of South Beach is beautiful even in the daylight. Must be something to see at night. We did part of the Art Deco walk. All the hotels were serving breakfast and lunch at tables set-up on their front sidewalks. It was really hot and humid for el fresco dining in Paul's opinion.

One of the most photographed Art Deco Hotels.

A 79-room art-deco gem.

1936 art-deco beauty.

Ocean Drive is the main drag in South Beach. One side of the Drive has a sidewalk. On the other side, pedestrians have to walk through all the outside eating areas. We must have been asked 15 times if we would like to eat breakfast.

What would Florida be without Flamingos?

After walking the streets for a couple miles and admiring the famous South Beach architecture and stopping at a couple touristy shops, we returned to the truck and headed to the Little Havana district.

We were headed to one of the famous Cuban restaurants Marsha found on the Internet. It comes highly rated on TripAdvisor. We stopped at La Carreta restaurant. Yep, we even had a waitress that spoke pretty-good English.

 

We started out with their famous Sangria Mojitos. We never had a Mojito with a sugar cane in it. Yummy!

We had “Picadillo a la Cubana” and “Ropa Vieja”. Both were recommended. We rarely take photos of our food. But since Cuban food isn’t what many of our readers eat, we thought we would show you what it looks like. The yellow items are Sweet Plantains. They are a small bananas. We had these in Mission, TX. Awesome.

After a delicious lunch, we decided to head back to the campground to beat rush-hour and to relax in the AC for the remainder of the day.

On Friday, we are headed for the Keys. We will be staying at the Elks in Tavernier, FL.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!