Does spending a month in Key West make us "Conchs" (the name for the locals here)? Probably not, but we are certainly Conchs in spirit.
We are having glorious weather down here at the southernmost town in the United States, unlike last December, when we had gale winds and temps in the 50s and 60s. Today was 80, mostly sunny, a light breeze -- much like yesterday and the day before and the day before that. The week ahead looks like a repeat of the previous days. Ahhhhhhh....
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Passing through Canada on the Way South??
Before making our way down to the Keys, we spent four days in Margate, FL, outside of Fort Lauderdale. The resort, named Aztec, was super upscale and beautiful -- seemingly a wonderful spot to spend the winter. Except for one thing: 99% of the inhabitants were from Quebec. Everyone spoke French and totally ignored us. It was like being in a rather unfriendly foreign country.
Nope, this place was not for us. Besides, we were really disappointed that such an elaborate (and expensive) resort did not even offer cable TV. Harrumph.
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| Entrance to the Aztec resort |
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| Our site. |
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| A rainbow in Little Quebec. |
After the Margate visit, both of us were anxious to get to Key West. And what a perfect day we had for the three-hour trip.
The various views we encountered were familiar -- and as usual, breathtakingly beautiful.
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| Check out how the edge of the water and the sky are nearly indistinguishable. No distinct horizon, just a sea of blue. It was a gorgeous day for traveling. |
We were heading to who knows what, though. Other than eyeballing a few photos on the web, we had never seen the RV park where we reserved for the month, and were a bit nervous about it. But El Mar turned out to be a pleasant surprise -- a small (10 sites) park with no amenities, really, other than clean spacious sites, half of which look out at the water. A lovely boutique RV park, I guess you could call it.
Even the daily "sorties" by numerous F/A-18 Hornets -- loud enough to burst an eardrum or two -- cannot quell our enthusiasm for the place. In fact, Beau seems to enjoy the many daily flyovers.
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| El Mar at sunset. |
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| Our site. |
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| View from our windshield. |
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| Funny photo of Ernie, the park owner. I shall say no more. |
Our second day here, we had to make our annual pilgrimage to our favorite bar downtown, Schooner Wharf, where we once again found singer Michael McCloud performing. He was in great form, as usual. And I loved his little dog, who placidly laid down in Mike's guitar case during the performance.
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| Here is sweet little Cinderella. So cute. So well behaved. |
We also walked a bit on Duval Street and stopped at a place we had never visited: Key West's oldest house -- and supposedly the oldest house in all of South Florida. The home was originally built on a different street in the 1820s by a ship's carpenter, but was moved in 1829 and expanded for another seaman, Captain Francis Watlington, and his family. The Captain's descendants lived in the house until the 1970s.
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| The oldest house in Key West. |
So life is good. Other than my having some back and neck issues...okay, pain (I am visiting a local chiropractor for some much-needed care), we are happy little Conchs. Crossing our fingers that the super weather will continue for the month.
Glad the Northeast has been having a nice run of weather, too.
Until next time,
Tanks, Panky
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