Florida Trip - June 7-14, 2003

6/7  Saturday-Fly Day S_DSCF0004.JPG (11028 bytes) - to Ft. Lauderdale S_DSCF0003.JPG (26006 bytes) S_DSCF0005.JPG (20613 bytes) S_DSCF0010.JPG (29802 bytes) S_DSCF0012.JPG (37075 bytes)

6/8  Drive Day - Stopped at Everglades Visitor Center S_DSCF0015.JPG (60647 bytes) S_DSCF0013.JPG (73516 bytes); a place called "Robert Is Here": saw tortoises, iguanas, sipped mango shakes under the warm rain of a 10 minute, sunshine-drenched thunderstorm!  Drove down the Keys (anglicized version of Cay or Island) and stopped at various beaches.  Stayed at Holiday Inn in Key West, balcony overlooking the Gulf of MexicoS_DSCF0047.JPG (38689 bytes) S_DSCF0048.JPG (42393 bytes).  Air tempature = 89 degrees, Water temp. = 85 degrees!, Humidity = 80%.  Went to Sunset Celebration on Mallory Square and ate on patio of Meson de Pepe and listened to Cuban music (Cuban food was yum). S_DSCF0029.JPG (74919 bytes) S_DSCF0024.JPG (79646 bytes)Saw torch juggler S_DSCF0020.JPG (91518 bytes) balancing on a ladder and HUGE cruise ship S_DSCF0017.JPG (55796 bytes) - walked along waterfront. S_DSCF0037.JPG (81953 bytes) S_DSCF0032.JPG (35814 bytes)

6/9  Went for a run along waterfront S_DSCF0046.JPG (34285 bytes) - mangroves make little islands all over - Del Sol Day (Jan bought out the store for some gifts that change color in the sun); explored town - wave runner tour around the island...FUN!  Got to go to an old submarine hiding place; saw a bunch of birds drying their wings on the power lines - wings all spread out - impressive!  Water is shallow on the Gulf side (4 feet) 'cuz we're inside the reef.  Went to the Butterfly conservatory S_DSCF0071.JPG (55983 bytes).  Absolutely stunning!  Would stand alone as a beautiful garden of exotic flowering plants, but also 1400 butterflies and moths from all around the world - fabulous!  Very restful and beautiful.  Some of the chrysalises were so beautiful they looked like jewelry...metallic green with gold trim, metallic yellow with what looked like diamond chips - Amazing!  Cleaned up and went to dinner at Key West Seafood Co.  Live reggae and good food - swam in pool - nice!  watched lightning  show S_DSCF0114.JPG (28527 bytes) from balcony S_DSCF0115.JPG (16134 bytes) S_DSCF0118.JPG (15836 bytes).

6/10  Dry Tortugas Day Got on boat at 7:30 a.m., breakfast aboard, 2 hour, 70 mile trip to Dry Tortugas National Park soutwest of Key West (no land in sight).  We stayed outside on the bow S_DSCF0122.JPG (50067 bytes) S_DSCF0123.JPG (44299 bytes) S_DSCF0125.JPG (39659 bytes) all the way there and back.  Tons of little islands - the one Ernest Hemingway hung out on to write.  Passed the site of the wreck of the "Atocha", discovered in 1980's.  Out to blue water - Incredible blue - saw flying fish and dolphins - S_DSCF0132.JPG (29610 bytes) went snorkeling right away - found coral heads with tons of bright fishies - saw the biggest sea urchin, got a little jellyfish sting, blue tangs, lotsa fish we don't know the names of - it was like swimming in an aquarium - fish all around us - saw 2 foot long big fish, others as big as our hands - stripey blue and yellows, tiny neons...hundreds of 'em.  Then had lunch, walked thru the civil war era fort (Jefferson)S_DSCF0138.JPG (58664 bytes) S_DSCF0129.JPG (37170 bytes) S_DSCF0130.JPG (39890 bytes), around the moat (lotsa jellyfish in there!)  Went up spiral staircases to roof, saw gun placements S_DSCF0139.JPG (52925 bytes) S_DSCF0141.JPG (24989 bytes) S_DSCF0142.JPG (47387 bytes) S_DSCF0143.JPG (43118 bytes) S_DSCF0133.JPG (50534 bytes) - It's the largest brick structure in the U.S. Went back into water for more snorkeling (I didn't throw up - Yay!)  and saw a couple of old anchors all crusted over with coral - saw fan coral, brain, finger, mushroom corals - bright purple, gold, orange - in perfectly clear water - a sparkling day - back towards the boat we saw the ONLY nesting ground in the world for the Sooty Terns - S_DSCF0136.JPG (22004 bytes) 100's of birds!  More flying fish and dolphins on the way back, thunderstorms all around the horizon S_DSCF0144.JPG (57188 bytes) S_DSCF0147.JPG (22607 bytes) S_DSCF0145.JPG (16302 bytes) S_DSCF0146.JPG (14441 bytes) S_DSCF0147.JPG (22607 bytes)- Ate at Rooftops Cafe S_DSCF0150.JPG (62024 bytes) and walked through 

Mallory Square S_DSCF0148.JPG (32168 bytes) S_DSCF0153.JPG (36028 bytes) S_DSCF0110.JPG (25848 bytes).  

Saw a one man band: played guitar, panpipe, harmonica, sang and had a bass drum on his back with hi-hat, tamborine, shakers, bell...you name it and all operated with wires on his feet and elbows S_DSCF0152.JPG (30698 bytes)...quite the show.  Saw another massively huge cruise ship.  T-storm viewage from the balcony S_DSCF0151.JPG (33400 bytes) and planned for 2morrow.

6/11  Drive Day - Stopped at Baby's Coffee after morning run and swim.  Decided against snorkeling (Jan's sunburned legs) and hard to beat yesterday - picked up a Conch Republic flag - In 1982 Key West activists declared themselves a republic, "seceded" from the US, declared war, surrendered and demanded $1 million in reparations - all just on paper, of course - but they have an office where you can buy a passport and they celebrate every February.  Went thru a downpour for maybe a minute and a half - very common here - stopped at John Pennekamp State Park in Key Largo S_DSCF0154.JPG (49381 bytes) for snorkeling after all - nice trip 3 miles out to the barrier reef - saw a big toothy barracuda and lots of other big ones - Glenn saw a nurse shark but I was glad I didn't.  this is where the "Christ of the Deep" statue is but our boat didn't go to it.  Got a hotel right on the beach in Miami Beach called "Casablanca" S_DSCF0155.JPG (36725 bytes) - view from the 10th floor S_DSCF0156.JPG (47359 bytes) - full moon - ate dinner poolside.

6/12  went for a run on the beach - nice, fine, white sand and cooler water than the Keys.  S_DSCF0157.JPG (65236 bytes) Ran barefoot in the water and got in for a swim on the way back S_DSCF0158.JPG (18766 bytes) - reheated last night's omelette for breakfast in the room - a fine, old hotel that was econo-priced for AAA - good find!  On to Orlando - checked in to All-Star Music - wow, what an environmental whiplash!  Everything (of course) Disney-hyped.  The pool is shaped like a guitar and giant characters spit water into masses of shrieking children.  Very festive!  We are in Calypso, marked by giant maracas and the stairwell is a big conga drum.  Our room is on a corner with a stand of bamboo and lotsa cover trees, so pretty nice - went to return the car, then to Downtown Disney to pick up Cirque Du Soleil tickets.  At at Wolfgang Puck's and shuttled back to hotel.

6/13  Really big day!  Ran early - went to Epcot Center - so nice to not have to stand in any lines longer that 10 minutes.  Went on all the rides - the Living Seas was my favorite place - saw manatees, dolphins and lots of the fish we saw on the reef.  The World Showcase was fun - got to play diembe drums with the Nigerian storyteller (he said we were hired-he'd play with us anytime :-)  and saw nice presentations of 11 countries - in every village were tons of gift shops - so many it seemed they all were just elaborate gift shops with small educational experiences attached.  But very high quality experiences!  Saw "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience" in 3-D, very realistic and fun (you feel mice run up your legs and dogs sneeze in your face!)  Rode the monorail, then to Cirque - AMAZING show!  Fabulous acrobatics, trapeze, bicycle, trampoline, high-wire acts.

6/14  Fly Day  Started by not finding tickets :0  Called hotel, searched stuff, thought we were sunk, then found 'em...very safe place...hero Glenn, WHEW!  When you leave home for a week and go someplace totally new, any number of things can go wrong (flight connections, reservation mess-ups, money woes, theft, etc.)  When nothing goes wrong and you have a full-time good time, it's amazing!  We were truly blessed with a great vacation!