Travel Our Year Away: Back in the land of the living

Woohoo! We have WiFi again, finally, here in Huntsville, AL. I know it has been a while since the blog has been updated, but we have been out enjoying everything the southeastern U.S. has to offer our motley crew.

We left the Everglades and spent a glorious nine days in Key West, but nor before the kiddos got their next Junior Ranger badge at Biscayne National Park. If you've never been to Key West, I highly recommend it with a few caveats. The beaches are just okay. Because it is essentially the tip of a coral reef forming an island, the beaches are coral for the most part, although there are some places that they bring white sand in and deposit it on the shore periodically, the fact is, the beach is still mostly coral. But... it is so beautiful and there is so much to do, that nobody cares! We certainly didn't care.

The beach at Zachary Taylor Park

Didn't mind the sand over coral

Loved walking on the rocks

During our short stay (longer than we have stayed elsewhere), we went snorkeling, swimming, exploring and touring. Our list of some not-to-be-missed places to go include the EcoDiscovery Center (which is FREE!), the Conch Train or trolley, Mallory Square in the evening for sunset, and a snorkeling tour on one of the boats (we used Sunset Water Tours, purchased at the base ITT office).

The EcoDiscovery Center has a great overview of the ecosystem that envelops Key West and the rest of the Florida Keys. They have samples of the corals and anemone and even a few of the fish and crabs residing in the area. There is a great exhibit that shows what people can see if they SCUBA in the area, and different views of the reefs surrounding the Keys. There is also information on invasive species that are destroying the reefs, including the impact we humans are making. The kids would have spent the whole day there, if not for an unfortunate occurrence. We were there on a week day with very few people, until four classes of fourth graders arrived. Yikes.

The Conch Train was a great way for us to see much of the island without having to worry about parking, which is an issue in Key West. It is typical of informational tours in any town, but it was perfect for us, particularly since kids ride FREE. We got to see the southern most point in the U.S., the beginning and end of Highway 1, and were introduced to the Sunset Celebration.

Because, ice cream

End of the road

Or is it the beginning?

Mallory Square we visited the next to last night we were in town, and I was sad that we waited so long, as I'd love to go there every night, if we were to go back. Also known as the Sunset Celebration, Mallory Square is a place where jugglers, uni-cyclists, and other street performers show their stuff. You can buy a coconut, and drink the water and eat the raw coconut from the inside. And you can people watch. Oh, and there is also an unbelievable view of the sunset over the water.

This guy is famous - Will has been in this spot for YEARS

Pretty lithe for an old dude

Kind of amazing juggling while on that wire

Sunset the first time we went

Blue was also pretty cool to watch, so much so we came back a second night

Sunset

This yacht was in the harbor, complete with helicopter on board

We joked that it was our ride

Um, yes we had to have ice cream on our way out

Sunset night two

Watching the sun set and contemplating life

Not too sure about the coconut

Watching Blue again

He needed help getting back down

The highlight of our time in the Keys was a snorkeling trip with friends we met the first night we were in town. We met up early Sunday morning and took a boat out to the reefs, where I bribed, threatened and cajoled the kids into going into the water. B wasn't a fan and hightailed it back to the boat rather quickly after at least sticking her mask in the water, but C and K were off, well, like fish in water. H was a little harder, he HATED the mask and snorkel, and it wasn't until the next day swimming in the water that I realized why he hated it - when he swims, he curls his top lip up to cover the bottom of his nose, and block water from getting in. With the mask on, he couldn't do it and it cared him. I think if we were to go again, I'd bring his regular goggles and a nose plug with the snorkel or something. He loves the water and I was so sad he didn't want to try this.

Getting ready to snorkel

Loved the idea of the snorkel

Some other things that were amazing about Key West - the base pool with four small slides, a series of floating islands anchored to the ground on which to climb and a climbing wall that allows you to tap the board at the top then jump off into the pool. Also, the RV park at Sigsbee (on base) has spots called Hollywood, which are right on the water. I made the boys sleep on the folded out dinette while we were there so we didn't have to drop their bed and block our view! The front curtains were open the whole time we were there.

But, as with all good things, this too had to end, and we headed out of the Keys and back to the mainland. Patrick AFB was up next, and the Manatee Cove RV Park, where on the very first evening, the kids saw manatees! We also went to Canaveral National Seashore, and swam in the ocean the temperature of bathwater and floated in amazing waves and it was probably one of my favorite beach experiences ever. The kids and I enjoyed it so much! Another wonderful thing at Patrick AFB was free bowling for RV park patrons one of the mornings we happened to be there. It was fun to go bowl with the monkeys and not pay a dime.