Sunday, July 15, 2012
Florida Keys
I am posting this a week after the fact because it took us that long to recuperate. LOL
On Thursday, July 5th, 2012 Tommy, I, Vicky and JR headed south to Cudjoe Key where we rented a house for 4 days. We have formerly rented in this same community and knew we be happy with a house instead of a hotel. The name of the community is called Ventures Out on Cudjoe Key. It is located at mile marker 21, (which is how everything down there is referenced.) The mile markers are the northern distances from Key West, which is actually Mile Marker 0.
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| Ray, Tommy, JR and Sport |
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| Tommy and Judy |
Key West also is the home of The Most Southern Point of The United States. Just 90 miles from Cuba, which someday, hopefully, will be reopened to US tourism. I know I would go in a heartbeat to Havana, if permitted.
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| Aria |
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| the boys |
We left our house around 10am and on the way down south JR had us stop at bar after bar after bar. He knows a lot of bartenders. The first stop, of course, was Alabama Jacks. It is located on Card Sound Road. There are 2 different ways to enter into the keys from Homestead. You can either stay on US1 or turn left on Card Sound Road. US1 is more direct, but boring. Card Sound road has Alabama Jacks, an extremely tall bridge to cross with a wonderful view, lots of squatters homes to look at and is filled with natural, untouched, old Florida swamp. It is rare that we choose US1 the entire way. Eventually Card Sound Road will put you back on US1 in Key Largo so why not take the ‘off the beaten path’?
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| Lindsey and Lauren |
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| Awesome house |
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| Leah and Ray |
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| Leah's big catch |
After the bar hopping we finally made it to Ronnie and Judy’s. They live on Little Torch Key. We popped in for yet another beer and stayed for about an hour. Ronnie and Judy are commercial fishermen and we go down to see them several times a year. They have been friends of Tommy’s for close to 40 years. We took a boat ride with them to watch the birds roost on Bird Island and drove by Little Palm Island. It was a beautiful night to be out on the ocean.
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| Tommy Ron & Lisa |
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| Lindsey Aria and Leah |
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| Vicky and JR |
Finally, after a full day of travel we checked into our rental house. A trip that would normally take 3.5 hrs took us over 8. We had 3 other couples who arrived the previous day and rented another house. Their house was
AMAZING!!! This trip was planned several months back and all together there were close to 30 people at one point. It was so much fun. The kids had a blast.
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| No Name Pub |
The following day, Friday, we headed out for exploration. JR and Vicky often travel down to the Keys by boat so they are not so familiar with the land and the 'tourist' spots. We cured them of their ignorance and dragged them to No Name Key for the infamous pizza at the No Name Pub. Inside it houses somewhere between 60 & 70K dollar bills attached to the walls and ceilings. It was built in 1936 and the motto is; A nice place - if you can find it! We also took them to the infamous Bat-House that was built in 1929 in hopes of controlling the insect problem by having the bats eat the mosquitoes. Unfortunately as of this day, not
ONE bat has
EVER shown up. We also drove along Summerlin Key and showed them the beautiful gates on the million dollar homes. We took them to the
edge of the runway for the NAVY fighter jets hoping they were flying that day. The were not, but we did show them 'the rock man's' house. It is made from rocks and driftwood that came ashore. He, 'the rockman', used to live there as a squatter but because of the storms over the past several years it has become overrun with the tide and the beach no longer exists. We stopped in Gieger Key for a beer with the locals at Geiger Key Fish Camp. One of our favorite places to hang out. After a full day of adventure we headed back over to the ‘big’ house and had dinner with Ray, Kim, Ron, Lisa, Ron, Angie and all the kids. As usual, Ray BBQ'd and it was awesome. Vicky and I created an America Flag out of fruit and a somewhat patriot salad to celebrate the 4th of July weekend.
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| Rental House |
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| rock-mans house Summerlin Key |
Saturday morning came early and JR, Vicky, Tommy and I headed to Key West. We spent the afternoon walking around, shopping, sight seeing and drinking. We made our way over to the marina and visited with our friend Ken who was staying there for a week on his boat. Then once again we went back to the
AMAZING, big, rental house for another BBQ. This time Ray had other friends in town for the weekend and they joined us. It was so much fun. JR made Mango daiquiris that were to die for. Ray cooked ribs and everyone brought a dish. The kids had a full day of fishing. Leah caught a barracuda which was pretty exciting. I tried to a great extent to have the girls chose a pose on the dock - for a picture. The timing was not good. I am posting the best pictures I have of them. They were all good sports in endeavor. They are all extraordinary dancers.
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| Lets have a Party! |
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| Momma bird sitting on eggs |
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| Nurse Shark & Tarpon |
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| Sarah & Lindsey |
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| Aria |
After dinner Lindsey, Sara, Lauren and Brendan went kayaking. They paddled east towards Monkey Island. No one would have guessed that they would paddle out to oblivion, but they did. They soon converted into dots on the zoom in the camera within one hour. We were all getting concerned because we were aware once they hit a distinct point they would be in the channel, and the hours of daylight were diminishing. With no reflector jackets and no whistle on board Ray, Ron and Ronnie set out for their rescue. With Ronnie being a first rate angler in the keys he knew the waterways well. He helped guide Ray and his vast boat in close proximity of the kids and picked them up.
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| Captain Kenny |
Once back at the house, it was funny and a great story for the kids to remember their 2012 summer vacation with, but during the trek out there it was nerve racking. We would see people whizzing through the channel at a high rate of speed unfamiliar with the sandy and grassy grounds, and probably under experienced as captains as well. It ended well, and we were all grateful.
Sunday we stopped once again at Ronnie and Judy’s to say goodbye. We then headed to Big Pine Key for breakfast. One of my favorite places for breakfast is the The Big Pine Restaurant. It is an old Florida home converted into a restaurant. It is family run and owned and the food, along with the service, is always wonderful. We were tired from the parties so we merely stopped at 3 or 4 bars on the way home. We ran into a torrential downpour which made us stay a bit longer at Alabama Jacks only to consume yet another beer. There were no complaints about that.
We arrived back home around dinner time and had a wonderful time. We truly have the greatest friends in our lives and we are so thankful for all of them. Thanks for reading. Next trip, 1982 Class Reunion in NY. (And if you’re reading this and will be there, prepare for lots of picture taking!)
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| Endangered Key Deer |
On Thursday, July 5th, 2012 Tommy, I, Vicky and JR headed south to Cudjoe Key where we rented a house for 4 days. We have formerly rented in this same community and knew we be happy with a house instead of a hotel. The name of the community is called Ventures Out on Cudjoe Key. It is located at mile marker 21, (which is how everything down there is referenced.) The mile markers are the northern distances from Key West, which is actually Mile Marker 0. 
We left our house around 10am and on the way down south JR had us stop at bar after bar after bar. He knows a lot of bartenders. The first stop, of course, was Alabama Jacks. It is located on Card Sound Road. There are 2 different ways to enter into the keys from Homestead. You can either stay on US1 or turn left on Card Sound Road. US1 is more direct, but boring. Card Sound road has Alabama Jacks, an extremely tall bridge to cross with a wonderful view, lots of squatters homes to look at and is filled with natural, untouched, old Florida swamp. It is rare that we choose US1 the entire way. Eventually Card Sound Road will put you back on US1 in Key Largo so why not take the ‘off the beaten path’?
Finally, after a full day of travel we checked into our rental house. A trip that would normally take 3.5 hrs took us over 8. We had 3 other couples who arrived the previous day and rented another house. Their house was AMAZING!!! This trip was planned several months back and all together there were close to 30 people at one point. It was so much fun. The kids had a blast.
Saturday morning came early and JR, Vicky, Tommy and I headed to Key West. We spent the afternoon walking around, shopping, sight seeing and drinking. We made our way over to the marina and visited with our friend Ken who was staying there for a week on his boat. Then once again we went back to the AMAZING, big, rental house for another BBQ. This time Ray had other friends in town for the weekend and they joined us. It was so much fun. JR made Mango daiquiris that were to die for. Ray cooked ribs and everyone brought a dish. The kids had a full day of fishing. Leah caught a barracuda which was pretty exciting. I tried to a great extent to have the girls chose a pose on the dock - for a picture. The timing was not good. I am posting the best pictures I have of them. They were all good sports in endeavor. They are all extraordinary dancers. 
After dinner Lindsey, Sara, Lauren and Brendan went kayaking. They paddled east towards Monkey Island. No one would have guessed that they would paddle out to oblivion, but they did. They soon converted into dots on the zoom in the camera within one hour. We were all getting concerned because we were aware once they hit a distinct point they would be in the channel, and the hours of daylight were diminishing. With no reflector jackets and no whistle on board Ray, Ron and Ronnie set out for their rescue. With Ronnie being a first rate angler in the keys he knew the waterways well. He helped guide Ray and his vast boat in close proximity of the kids and picked them up.
Sunday we stopped once again at Ronnie and Judy’s to say goodbye. We then headed to Big Pine Key for breakfast. One of my favorite places for breakfast is the The Big Pine Restaurant. It is an old Florida home converted into a restaurant. It is family run and owned and the food, along with the service, is always wonderful. We were tired from the parties so we merely stopped at 3 or 4 bars on the way home. We ran into a torrential downpour which made us stay a bit longer at Alabama Jacks only to consume yet another beer. There were no complaints about that.
We arrived back home around dinner time and had a wonderful time. We truly have the greatest friends in our lives and we are so thankful for all of them. Thanks for reading. Next trip, 1982 Class Reunion in NY. (And if you’re reading this and will be there, prepare for lots of picture taking!)
