Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf Key, FL:  Can’t believe it’s February already.  We’ve only got 5 weeks left here (sigh).  Marcos came and installed our new blinds today.  He did a great job.  Decided to nix the dinner tonight at the clubhouse.  Esther and Gerald are having dinner in Key West tonight and asked us to join them.  We’re going to the Roof Top Café.  Will be fun.

They don't look that different in the picture.  But they sure do in person.

Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf Key, FL:  Another windy, blustery day today.  We did our laundry and grocery shopping today instead of Wednesday because we’re getting our new blinds installed tomorrow.  After our chores we went to the Square Grouper for lunch.  I love this little restaurant.  Besides the excellent food, the décor is really nice.  I don’t know who did the decorating, but I love it.  Came back, put everything away and sat outside reading for a while.  The wind made it feel chilly, so I took it inside.  Esther stopped over with some pea soup she made yesterday.  We’ll have that for dinner tonight.  Thanks, Esther, mon ami!

Square Grouper--Cudjoe Key

Love the decor in this place.

Nice, simple lines

Here's a shot of the endangered "square grouper".  Also known as dopus and cannabis.  The drug smugglers bundled their "product" in these square bundles.  If they were being pursued, they'd throw them overboard and then the officials would snare them--hence the expression "fishing for square grouper".  So the story goes anyway.  

Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf, FL:  Cloudy and windy today.  The wind blew up the lake into these salt water frothy things that blew around like little tumbleweeds.  I got up late.  Mike had already gone over for donuts.  I showered and then started the cleaning.  Finished up in time for lunch and then Mike headed over for shoes.  Happy hour tonight.  Even though it’s cloudy and windy, it’s still warm.  Somewhere in the 70s I would guess.

Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf Key, FL:  An iffy day today.  Threatening rain, but really warm and humid.  Decided to drive to Key West and see Red Tails.  A good movie about the Tuskegee airmen.  They were such good fighter pilots that the bomber groups requested they escort them on bombing missions.  And they were all black.  A very highly decorated and respected group of airmen that started integration in the military.  After the movie we stopped to see Esther and Gerald who were outside.  Their site has been all closed up the past few days so we thought they were off doing something.  We didn’t stay long.  I was miserable because I stuffed myself with popcorn.  No dinner for me tonight.  Upper 70s today with about 80% humidity.

Key West historic seaport.
Picture by Sandy

Sunset Key
Picture by Sandy

Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf Key, FL:  Forecast was for rain today.  But it was clear, warm, and humid.  We sat around reading and relaxing outside for a while.  Then I got antsy so we drove into Key West for the Arts and Crafts Festival on Whitehead St.  The gal that cuts my hair had a booth there.  She makes purses out of canvas and then paints them—and they are beautiful!  She is so creative.  After walking around the various booths we had a late lunch at the Rooftop Café and then headed home.  On our way out we did a little exploring around Old Town.  Stopped at the St. Mary Star of the Sea catholic church on Truman.  A beautiful church and grounds built in 1904.  Back home and said hi to Ralph and Sharon who just arrived today.  82 today.

St. Mary Star of the Sea catholic church
Key West

Beautiful manicured grounds of the Star of the Sea catholic church.
Key West

St. Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church
Key West

Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf Key, FL:  Around noon we drove over to Geiger Key, parked at the end of the road and walked down to the end of the Boca Chica air strip and watched planes taking off.  Very active today.  Walked down the path to the “castle” some enterprising individuals built out of rocks and hurricane detritus. The boat the Cubans came over on was gone. Drove back and had lunch at the Geiger Smoke House and Grill.  It’s also a marina.  There’s a place for boats to tie up and you can also rent kayaks.  A beautiful day to be eating right on the water.  Back home and relaxed the rest of the day.  A nice 82 degree day.

Mikey on a rock wall at the end of the runway.

Sailboat way out in the Atlantic.

Some enterprising person/s built this cairn which is precariously balanced on a rock just below the surface.

They took off four at a time--one had just peeled away.
WOO HOO!!!!!

Like our own private air show!

Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf Key, FL:  We had a great time at our dinner last night. A few of us hung around to about midnight.  I was going to throw the remainder of the rolls we brought to the dinner away but Esther said she’d use them to make French toast and invited all of us over this morning.   So we headed over at 11:00 and enjoyed delicious French toast.  I was thinking of taking the fixings for mimosas, but figured we’d all done enough drinking.  Came back to our site and relaxed reading and dozing.  Another great day.  Low 80s today.

Picture by Gerald