End of The Road (Key West, FL)

We cut our stay in Central Florida short by two weeks.  We were ready to be in Key West despite being in the middle of hurricane season.  So far, the weather has been cooperating - up to now.  We kept an eye on T.S. Danny.  That one has been down graded, but on its heels comes Erika and this one is a lot stronger and heading towards southern Florida.  We are waiting to see if the base evacuates everyone. 

We have been leaving our large awning out and strapped down for better shade, but that turned out to be a mistake with the unpredictable weather.  We had one bad storm take us by surprise around 11:30 pm one night.  It ripped the canvas hinge that attaches the awning to the roof of our large awning on one end before we could wrestle it away from the wind and get it rolled up.  We were one of the lucky ones.  Several rigs had their awnings ripped off the upright arms and over their roofs.  Awning repair parts for a new hinge $90, so not too bad.  The original was weathered and replacement was due.

While we wait to hear more from T.S. Erika, here are a few photos of our travels to and of Key West.  Who can resist this invite to sit under the palm tree for a relaxing afternoon?

We spent one night in Midway State Park near Big Cypress and Everglades National Park.  We arrived early in the day and decided to visited Big Cypress NP visitor's center.

There were plenty of alligators to view while they swam around in lazy circles.  They certainly give off a lazy carefree attitude with only their tail moving and legs hanging limp.  Just gliding across the water barely making a ripple in the water...sneaking up on an unsuspected meal.  Most of the alligators ignored the people except for this one.  He swam straight up to us and stopped.  Three young Eastern Europeans stood beside us as the alligator stared up at us.  One of them turned to Sandy and said it all - "Frightening!".  Agree!  Not something we would want to run into in a small kayak.

This guy was our only neighbor at the state park.  The cats loved having all that open space to explore.  It's too bad we could not spend more time outside, but the mosquitoes were vicious even with bug spray!

A sight we have been looking forward to for almost two years - the 7 Mile Bridge.  Good-bye Mainland!  Hello Key West!

We are happy to say that Key West looks about the same.  Beautiful views, iguanas,

different sea/water birds to watch and of course...

many feral chickens running around entertaining tourists while annoying the locals.

We found out that during the off-season some of the museums offer discounts or free entrances to the military and retired military.  We took advantage of the offers and visited several places.  The Audubon House was actually owned by the Greiger family.  Captain John Greiger made his family fortune in wrecking/salvation.  A business that made many locals wealthy before the US government came along.

Audubon House 

It turns out that Audubon did not stay in this house during his six week visit with the Greiger family.  He had visited the family in their first house.  This house was built after a hurricane took out the old family home, but he did write about his stay with them along with Key West foliage and wild life.   The house and the gardens were quite interesting.

As you can see, we had to do all the tourist-type things like get our photos at the SouthernMost Point.

Here comes another cruise behind the Conch Blower.  A welcome for everyone.

So, our fingers are crossed that we do not have to evacuate, but we are ready to head north if the base decides it is not safe to stay,

Until then we will keep enjoying the views and the lovely sunsets...

Happy Trails!