Tales of a Shoebox Princess

This was our last full day in Florida. We left the resort in the morning and took some time at John C Pennekamp state park, reading and relaxing. Then we drove up to Miami and checked into our last hotel. We tried watching Tenet, which I had started on the plane to Florida, but didn't get to finish it. The streaming on the TV in the room was really bad, the voices coming in a full 2 seconds before anyone's mouth moved. I did pull it up on my phone and finished watching the movie on my very small screen. It's a movie that needs a couple of watches to get what is going on, kind of like Primer (a time manipulation movie that hardly anyone has heard of, but I think of it often).  last chance to watch a sunrise. We tried a couple of times, but most of the time, there were clouds on the horizon. Finally we had a clear horizon. Getting close Just about to  pop! The birds were frolicking. And it's fully up and radiating orange. Midway cafe was recommended to us by Katie, and I ...

Just pictures and captions for you.  I like how they raked the sand daily. It made everything look well kept. I felt bad about walking on it and messing it up. the resort rented kayaks and they had a double. I really like kayaking. wouldn't it be nice to have yearly access to one of these nice beach homes?  the snoot of a manatee! We were alerted to the presence of manatees by another kayaker so we had to hang around and check them out. The only good full body photo I got of the manatees was during a Marco Polo with Katie. Luckily I could screen shot it. The manatees must have been at least 8 feet long. Sombrero beach in Marathon. tiny shells We watched the sunset from the retainer wall near Sunset Grille. It's SUPER busy around sunset because of the view, but luckily, their parking lot has ample viewing. I didn't fall in the water. looks like a fireball/meteor dunk my virgin strawberry daiquiri (aka fruit smoothie) still such pretty colors Oh yeah, one memorable vacation e...

Jim called the outfitters in the morning, and the wind was calm, so we could finally do our kayak outing. It was one of the highlights of the trip.  But first, some dock time watching the pelicans   I took many pictures of the pelicans diving for fish, and finally got one at just the right moment. It didn't take too long though, since there were many pelicans and one or two would dive like every 30 seconds. I like these huge flowers at the resort. They are about as long as my hand. The kayak adventure begins. It's wide enough in this channel But it gets narrower and over grown. It was vey cool to paddle through a tunnel. At times we didn't have room enough to paddle adequately without the paddles getting stuck in the branches. A few times I grabbed branches to pull us along. Look at all the fishies! we reached a more open area It was only a foot deep or so There were tons of Cassiopea upside down jellyfish. They are hard to tell apart from the sea plants, but they are there...

 Monday started off with a walk, then a bit of time on the dock. We had planned to kayak today but a call to the outfitters changed our plans. Outfitters said it was too windy to kayak today. So we switched up our plans and drove to Key West. It's a surprisingly long drive from Islamorada to Key West, but a better view for 2 hours is difficult to find. I love the blue of the sky and the green/blue of the water, with occasional puffy white clouds. On the way down, I saw a blimp. Who is flying blimps these days? Jim and I remembered the days of Goodyear blimps flying around open air stadiums for Monday Night Football, but that tradition has faded into old people's memories. I have not seen a blimp in decades.  7 mile bridge and the old road/railroad It's a long bridge blimp One of the Key West feral chickens. They are all over the place We relaxed at Higgs beach Judgy pigeon Someone needed to wash his sandals off On the pier looking back at the beach pigeons and posts there w...

 We spent most of Sunday relaxing on the dock at the resort. I read, Jim read, I sunburned, Jim didn't.  This hat kept my face from frying. This view is SOOOOOOOOO relaxing... So is this view. Look at that blue sky. We opted for take out dinner, and found a pavilion on Anne's Beach that had a table and scenery It also had beach access. The thing about this beach was it wasn't normal sand. To walk on it was like walking on dried clay. Guess what clay is like when it's wet (i.e. under water)? VERY SLIPPERY. I did not go in very far nor for very long. It was like trying to walk on a slippery bouncy house floor. This tree is very gothic looking and I liked it very much. It was on our little pavilion beach access. How does one manage with a beak that long? After dinner, we found a nearby bridge to hang out on and watch the sunset. I was chilly, luckily I had a beach towel to wrap up in.  I like converging images The sunsets are so nice and yellowy orange in Florida long view...