Lazy Lakes RV Resort, Sugarloaf Key, FL: A cold, cloudy, and windy day today. Stayed in all day reading, watching TV and playing on the computer. Made chili for dinner. The people in the motor home across the lake from us took down their Christmas lights today. Wish they’d left them up—they were so pretty. Not too many people out and about today. And, it’s supposed to be like this all week. Ugh! Wonder if it’s ever snowed in the Keys?

New Year's Eve

Picture by Gerald

Esther and I on New Year's Eve

Picture by Gerald

Lazy Lakes RV Resort, Sugarloaf Key, FL: A beautiful, sunny morning. But in the 50s. So we drove into Big Pine and did the laundry and grocery shopping. Had lunch at Coco’s Kitchen. I had the fried shrimp dinner with black beans and rice and Mike had a Cuban sandwich. The food there is so good and very reasonable. After coming back and putting everything away we sat outside for a while. The sun was really warm, but the wind made it feel pretty chilly. Ray stopped by with his new dog. Around 4:00 we headed to Key West and saw “It’s Complicated”. A really funny, laugh-out-loud movie. We’ll have to rent it later because we missed a lot of the dialog we were laughing so much. Think the high was 63 today.

Key West Home and Garden Tour

12-29 & 30

This walled Casa Marina estate of white brick sits on a large lot with a large pool and lush green gardens. A beautiful contemporary home, with its black and white interior, it beautifully shows off the owner's eclectic art collection.

Pool and Gazebo. The gazebo houses the outside living and dining area

Moon rise over the palms

Lazy Lakes RV Resort, Sugarloaf Key, FL: Pretty quiet this morning. The lake is like glass and the only noise is the dripping of moisture off of everything outside. Very dewy this morning. Everyone had a great time last night. We ran into Richard while on our way out to dinner and he was heading for dinner too, so we invited him to join us. The meal was great and the sunset was beautiful. After dinner we were able to park pretty close to the KOA and then walked the rest of the way. A pretty large group there. We all had a great time. And it was a blue moon, which is a second full moon to occur in a month. Usually there are only 12 full moons in any given year. I think that’s a good omen.

Howard and the band

The group

Floyd and Richard

Sandy, Esther and Mike

Lazy Lakes RV Resort, Sugarloaf Key, FL: Another beautiful, warm day today. Donned my shorts and tube top and sat outside in the sun reading my latest book. The warm sun felt so good on my skin. It’s going to cool off for a week or so, so I figured I’d make the best of the ability to sit outside in shorts. Going to Lazy Days restaurant in Marathon tonight for dinner. They just opened a second restaurant on Marathon. The original is on Islamorada but it’s kind of a long drive. They feature dishes with this Lazy Days sauce made with crème and key lime juice which is really good. So we’re looking forward to our meal tonight. And, it’s right on the water with beautiful sunset vistas. After that we’re going to the KOA. Howard Livingston and the MM24 band is playing there tonight. We’ll probably never get a table. Some people are heading over there at 5:00 just to get a table. He doesn’t start playing until 8:30. Hopefully we’ll be able to find a place to park. If not, we’ll go back and ride our bikes over there. Oh, and our Canadian friends, Esther and Gerald, arrived today. Will be fun to get together with them. And, as we reflect on 2009, we feel it’s been a pretty good year for us and we’re looking forward to 2010.

The last sunset of 2009

Lazy Days Restaurant--Marathon

Key West Home and Garden Tour

416 Margaret Street

This cute little Victorian is over 100 years old! It features tumbled stone tile baths (not sure what that means, but they were beautiful). It has a tropical spa pool out back with lush landscaping and lots of privacy. There's also guest quarters upstairs with its own private entrance and features a living/bedroom area, beautiful bath, a small kitchen, and even a little deck. I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside, but pictures wouldn't do this interior justice. The decorating and artwork was phenomenal.

Lazy Lakes RV Resort, Sugarloaf Key, Fl: Just kicked back today. Mike slept in and I took care of some computer stuff. Early afternoon I put a pork roast in the oven and went outside and sat in the sun reading my latest book. I’m reading the Borne Sanction right now, but it’s not written by Ludlum…some other author. So far it’s pretty good though. A nice day—high of 73. Had pork roast, mashed sweet potatoes, and sugar snap peas for dinner.

Key West Home Tour

12-29 & 12-30

Southard Street Cottage

This cute little cottage with the gingerbread trim is all high tech inside with beautiful artwork, marble baths and beautiful tile work.

Pool and waterfall in their private side yard

Cute little spot

Private place to relax

Lazy Lakes RV Resort, Sugarloaf Key, Fl: This morning dawned a sparkling, sunny day. But cool. Headed to Key West and parked at the Old Town garage and walked down Eaton Street to the Tropic Cinema. Saw “Up In The Air” with George Clooney. Of the four movies we've seen since we’ve been in the Keys, this was our least favorite. There were some great one-liners, but it was very poignant in a way. After the movie we had a couple of hours to kill before the home tour so we walked down Whitehead to the Key West Speedway and Mike did a couple of races. Came in first on one of them. Then we headed off to the home tour which started at 5:00. Armed with the GPS, warm jackets, and the headlight from my bike, we started out walking. On the tour there were three homes in old town and two homes around the Flagler area. Five wonderful homes. My favorite was a one bedroom one bath next to the cemetery tucked down at the end of a neat little walking path. The owners of this cute little bungalow used to live in NYC near the World Trade Center. We did a lot of walking which felt good. And we discovered a new little restaurant on Margaret St. which we’re going to make a reservation for a New Year's Eve dinner. Back home and crashed.

Tucked back at the end of this beautiful walking path lies a well kept secret--an old 1918 cottage that has been transformed into a Manhattan apartment combining Asian, urban, and Key West motifs.

Lazy Lakes RV Resort, Sugarloaf Key, FL: Started out cool and drizzly this morning which kept us inside most of the day. Nice and relaxing until Mike was moving the candle we had burning and spilled wax all over the carpet, walls, and the recliner. I got on the Internet right away and Googled hot wax removal and the two methods recommended was a warm iron or a blow dryer. For what it's worth, the blow dryer worked much better. We got the wax up but there were stains. Got the stains out of the carpet, but the chair and pillows still have residual stains. Hopefully we’ll get those out eventually. Went over to the KOA for happy hour and we were both ready for a drink. Linda and Joe were there and Ted came over also. They had a pretty good band and we all got on the dance floor and had a great time.

Ted at happy hour