Lazy Lakes RV Resort, Sugarloaf Key, FL:  Pretty nice today.  Mid-70s.  Drove over to Key West to join Sandy and Dan at the Galleon.  They had walked all over the place and were pretty tired.  We just hung out, sat on the balcony and people watched for a while.  Then around 4:30 we walked over to Mangia Mangia, an Italian restaurant on Southard, and had a wonderful dinner.  Walked back along the historic seaport and schooner wharf.  Still pretty warm.  Played one game of Spades and then we headed home.  Everyone was pretty tired.  Supposed to be pretty cool the rest of the week.

Sat, 12/4/10:

Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf Key, FL:  A little warmer this morning.  Up sort of early and after our showers we headed to the Galley Grill for breakfast.  I had Blackstone eggs Benedict and Mike had scrapple and eggs.  With a really good breakfast in us we headed for the flea market on Big Pine.  Half of the vendors weren’t there yet which was disappointing.  We ended up buying more books which we surely didn’t need.  On the way back home we stopped at the Sugarloaf Bakery and bought some of their wonderful cookies.  Got talking to the owner, Annie.  Wondered what happened to her German shepherd, Daisy, since we hadn’t seen her in her yard.  She’s getting old, she said.  Doesn’t go out much any more.  Jeeze, it won’t be any fun to walk Johnson Road without seeing Daisy.  Left there and hit the craft fair at the Sugarloaf School.  Back to our park and stopped at Charlie and Johanne’s to see their site.  They have put up bamboo privacy fencing, a really nice screen room with a couch, couple of chairs, tables, rugs, and a TV.  Really gives them a lot of privacy.  They also built a little tiki bar and have lights strung everywhere.  They have a lot of plants around.  Very homey.  They brought a lot of this down with them.  Don’t know how they do it.  It’ll probably take them a week to pack up. Back to our site and sat outside reading for a while.  Headed down to Key West at around 4:00.  We were going to stop at the Doubletree Resort to see a model train exhibit before we headed to the Holiday Parade on Duval; we thought it was on Roosevelt but we should have turned left instead of right where Hwy 1 meets Roosevelt.  So, we just went into old town, parked the truck near The Galleon where Sandy and Dan are staying and walked up Duval to find a place to sit inside and watch the parade.  We ended up a Willie T’s, right next to Walgreens which is the old Strand Theater.  Sandy and Dan showed up just before the parade started.  It was much longer than I thought with several floats and lots of vintage cars.  Left there and walked back to The Galleon, which is really nice.  Their suite looks out over the marina.  Perfect location at the end of 

Front Street

.  Sat out on their balcony for a while and then played one game of Spades.  We were all pretty tired.

Holiday Parade--Duval St., Key West

One of the floats--Holiday Parade, Duval St., Key West

Parade Watchers, Sandy & Dan

Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf Key, FL:  Brrrr!  Cold this morning!  Not liking this at all!  At least it was sunny.  Mike was busy trimming the palm trees in our site and some of the mangroves.  The mangroves grew so much that we can’t see the other side of the lake.  Not too many people venturing out this morning.  This afternoon I sat outside reading for a while.  It wasn’t too bad as long as you were in the sun.  We drove to Key West in the afternoon for a movie.  We saw “Unstoppable” with Denzel Washington.  A pretty good action flick.  However, the movie was supposed to start at 4:09 and we sat there watching commercials for 20 minutes before Mike went up and asked the manager what was going on.  Then they came in and told us the movie we wanted to see was in the theater across the hall.  So we all got up (only 4 of us in the theater) to move across the hall and then they told us they’d play it in the theater we were already in.  What a joke.  We noticed on our drive home that our favorite Christmas decoration (HO  HO  HO) only had one HO lit up.  They have to get the other two HOs going.  One HO just doesn’t cut it.

Trees are obscuring the middle "HO" a little

Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf Key, FL:  This morning was really sunny, but windy and cool.  We headed to Big Pine to do the laundry, hit the drug store, and do some grocery shopping.  After that we went to Pizza Works for their lunch special.  Back home and put everything away.  Richard stopped by to say hello.  Also Ray and Jo.  And Sandy and John.  The same cast of characters is here again this year.  The couple in the motor home across the lake from us with the parrots is still here.  We have new people on each side of us.  They’re quiet.  One keeps their site up, one doesn’t.  Dave, the guy that manages the park is across from us two sites down.   I’m sure it’ll be fine.  Think tomorrow we’ll drive into Key West.  Not supposed to be very warm though.

Here's what it looked like at home over Thanksgiving.  Pretty, but looks cold.

Picture by Ted Shumpert

  Koreshan State Historic Site, Ft. Myers, FL, to Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf Key:   Left Koreshan this morning at 8:30.  Took I75 south over Alligator Alley, then took Rt. 27 south to Florida’s Turnpike.  Stopped at the Snapper Creek service area, topped off the tank, and Mike took over driving.  It was 85 when we hit Miami, but by the time we hit the 7-mile bridge in the Keys the temperature had plummeted 11 degrees.  And the wind had whipped up the bay side into a cauldron of frothy white caps and large rollers.  Got to the park in one piece, but we had to basically back up the road to our loop because we didn’t think there was a place to turn around.  But we got in okay.  We arrived at 2:00 and set up by 4:00.  However, when Mike backed the truck up to the front of the fifth wheel he was too close to the king pin and scratched up part of the fender.  Then when we pulled out to go to dinner it caught the tail light and tore it off.  We were able to put it back on—temporarily anyway.  Went out to Boondocks for a couple of stiff drinks and some dinner.  Chilly and windy.  Hope it’s not a harbinger of things to come.  A bunch of people stopped by to say hello.  Tomorrow hopefully will be a better day.

  Koreshan State Historic Site, Ft. Myers, FL:  Went out for breakfast this morning and then drove down to check out Lover’s Key State Park just south of Bonita Springs.  Stopped at a pretty little dog beach and walked around watching the dogs having a great time.  There was a woman in there with two Chihuahuas.  The other dogs started chasing one of the little ones and it got so scared it ran and hid in the mangroves.  She still hadn’t found it before we left.  Poor little thing. Drove back through Ft. Myers Beach.  Another beautiful day.  Upper 80s and mostly sunny.  Came back and relaxed reading for a while.  We met everyone at Pastabilities for dinner.  Ron, of course, wouldn’t let us pay anything (sigh).  Headed back to our park and topped off the tank on the way.  We leave tomorrow morning early for the Keys.   

Bamboo Landing--Koreshan State Historic Site

Before the Tamiami Trail was built, they received supplies via the Estero River on this dock.  They also used it as a stage for performances before they built Art Hall.

Art Hall

Anyone know what these snaky looking plants are?

They're covering the trunk of this tree.  Reminds me of Medusa.

  Koreshan State Historic Site, Ft. Myers, FL:  Rained last night, but this morning dawned sunny and warm.  After our morning ablutions we took the riverside trail over to the historic Koreshan settlement.  The trail itself was a beautiful, primeval jungle of pines, palms, palmettos, and lots of huge bamboo right along the Estero River.  This group moved here from its beginnings in Moravia, NY, with its leader, Dr. Cyrus Teed.  They had some weird beliefs—like the entire universe existed within a giant, hollow sphere.  Although they were a commune, they practiced celibacy and the only children were ones brought in by existing and new members.  The entire community was run by 7 women, but they had to have a male spokesperson to represent the community in the surrounding settlements because at that time women didn’t even have the right to vote.  The industrious Koreshans built and operated a printing facility, boat works, cement works, sawmill, bakery, store and hostelry.  Their store was the only one on the Tamiami Trail between Ft. Myers and Naples for a long time. They also produced plays and musicals which were attended by a lot of the surrounding communities. Edison, Ford, and Firestone were frequent visitors.

 Estero River

Huge bamboo along the trail.  Seedlings or clippings were

brought here as a gift from Thomas Edison

Rustic Bridge

Victorian Bridge

Planetary Court--where the 7 women who ran the place lived.  Their male

"spokesperson" lived up in the cupola.  The womens' families lived in

the dormitories with the rest of the members 

Gopher Tortoise who lives in a burrow nearby.  I've read that wherever

there are these tortoises, there will be rattlesnakes and other critters cohabitating in his burrow.

I couldn't get Mike to stick his hand down into it to find out.

One of the little cabins in the community.  Just about everyone lived dormitory-style.

Only the more important members had their own cabins.

 Conrad Schlender Cottage--he lived here until his death in 1965--the last of the Koreshans