Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf, FL:  What a difference a day makes.  Yesterday it hit 82.  Today was in the low 60s.  With a high wind.  Everyone kinda laid low.  We did our usual grocery shopping and laundry routine.  Then to Pizza Works.  Back home and hung out.  Our Netflix movie arrived today which we watched.  “Intolerable Cruelty” with George Clooney, Kathryn Zeta Jones, and Billy Bob Thornton.  Pretty funny.

~20 Cubans came over on this boat.  No sail or motor--just oars.
Boat is sitting on the boat ramp across Hwy 1 from Shark Key
Picture by Howard Livingston

Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf, FL:  This will be the last warm day for a while.  We hung around our site all day.  I sat outside reading and watching the buzzards making lazy circles up in the sky.  Our neighbor, Sandy, told us that sometimes eagles will fly around with the buzzards, and, sure enough, there was an eagle up there making big lazy circles along with the buzzards.  And even a couple of pelicans!  Later in the late afternoon we headed to Key West to have dinner at Michael’s. As we headed out, we noticed a mist or smoke in the flats.  Turns out a heavy fog bank was rolling in.  Really weird.  Like driving into the abyss of a Steven King novel.  While waiting outside for the restaurant to open we were talking to a couple who live on their boat.  He’s retired Navy, and they are docked at the Naval Air Station marina on Boca Chica.  He was stationed here years ago when he attended an Officer’s Training School.  I’m sure he retired at a very high rank.  They live on their 42-foot trawler.  After spending a few weeks here in the Keys, they’re heading to the Bahamas for a few weeks and then up to the St. Lawrence, Montreal and Quebec.  I’m sure they live very well.  We had a great dinner at Michael’s.  After a seafood crepe appetizer, I had grouper Oscar and Mike had veal saltimbocca.  Excellent!  Walked back to our parking spot and drove back home through the fog.  82 today. 

Bay side shrouded in fog

Radar dome at the Boca Chica Naval Air Station shrouded in fog

Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf, FL:  Donuts started up for the first time this morning at the clubhouse.  So I went along with Mike for the first time in several years.  Didn’t stay long.  Back to our site and started the cleaning.  Pretty warm out today so I worked up a pretty good sweat. Actually had the air conditioning on for a little while. Finished up and sat outside in the shade reading for a while.  Mike went over for shoes at 1:00 and I had some lunch and enjoyed the solitude.  Over to the KOA for happy hour and then Boondocks.  Upper 70s today.

Former Admiral's Home--Truman Annex
Key West

Doors of Key West

Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf, FL:  Mostly sunny today, but cool.  Johanne stopped over with their dog, Maple, for a while.  We just hung out at our site most of the day.  The Sunday party started at 4:00.  We watched a movie, “American Pastime”, a movie about Japanese interred in a camp in Utah during WWII and the baseball game between the Japanese internees and a team from the nearby town.  The Japanese team won.


Johanne found these pictures in her camera of the Christmas eve party.  We DID have a good time!

Mike is hiding behind me, Charlie & Johanne

Johanne and I

No alcohol involved here

What a group!

Party Animal--Johanne

Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf, FL:  Enjoyed a beautiful day today under a cloudless blue sky.  Started out with a sumptuous breakfast at Azur.  After breakfast we walked around for a while—venturing down some of the little side streets, which are more like little alleys.  Then we drove over to the Eco Center and toured the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter INGHAM.  Commissioned in 1936, the INGHAM saw a lot of action and was the most decorated vessel in U.S. Service with 18 ribbons.  She was in service for 52 years.  There is a young guy on duty that lives on board because he’s on call 24/7.  He tells people he lives on a 327-foot ship and they don’t believe him.  I asked him if he ever takes a girl on board.  Yeah, why not he replied.  The only lights at night are these red battle lanterns. I can only imagine what that would be like.  Spooky.  While we were there Fiona, the Irish singer, and her husband, Walter, rode by on their bikes and told us to stop over when we finished our tour.  They’re house and dog sitting for friends of theirs that live in Truman Annex—one of their three homes.  So, after our tour we walked over there.  What a beautiful home!  Three levels if you count the widow’s walk on top.  Beautifully furnished and decorated with lots of original art work.  They’re in Argentina right now.  Hung out with them until about 4:30 and then headed home.  There was a big run going on today and the terminus was at the southernmost point at the end of Duval.  What a congested mess!  Managed to work our way through that area, going by Smathers Beach and then finally back home. Football watching tonight—Saints and Seahawks.  Go Saints!.

Breakfast at Azur

Ingham

This guy lives on board this huge ship--all alone

Key West's favorite mode of transport

Bunch of lobster trap buoys on someone's porch

Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf, FL:  A nice, sunny day, but chilly.  We left for Key West about 12:30, parked near the Eco Center, and walked over to the Eaton Cinema.  Saw “The King’s Speech”, a really good movie about King George VI’s stuttering problem.  After the movie we walked down to the Key West Speedway so Mike could race, but they were having a private party—actually the owner and his now wife were married across the street at the Audubon House today and were having a little private party.  So, we walked back to where we parked and headed home. It was 70 in Key West.

The Newlyweds at the Key West Speedway

Former Marine hospital--circa 1845

Now condominiums--Truman Annex

Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf, FL:  This morning dawned warm and humid.  All night long there was a very strong smell of the sea—I guess wafting in from the flats around us.  We watched “Painted Veil” last night with Natalie Portman.  What a really, really good movie.  It’s about a British couple who move to China in 1925 or so.  The cinematography was fantastic.  Around 10:30 we put the bikes on the back of the truck and headed to Big Pine.  Parked in the Winn Dixie parking lot and biked down the road towards the Blue Hole.  We usually bike to the end of the road and then go back, stopping at the Blue Hole.  Because the weather was turning ugly, we biked a little ways past the Blue Hole and then turned around.  Stopped at the Blue Hole for a little bit and then biked back.  Stopped at QVC and Walgreens and bought a couple of sand chairs and umbrellas to use at a couple of unofficial beaches in the area.  Met our new neighbors—Shelia and Damon from Montana.  They both work at Boondocks.  A nice 20-something couple. Dinner tonight at the clubhouse.  Mexican theme.  78 today. 

The Blue Hole under a leaden sky

Pair of American Coots

Grebe