The Keys - again!!!

It seems like forever, but it was only last may since we were last in the Florida Keys.  What a beautiful place, even with the crowds of the winter "Snowbirds".

Unfortunately, we are only able to be here for two weeks due to work schedules and family commitments.  Let me rephrase that as a glass half FULL statement.   Fortunately we are able to spend two wonderful weeks here in spite of work schedules and family commitments! 

As you have probably observed, I am not a daily blogger, so I will hit the highlights of this trip and post some of the better pictures and stories.

Week 1 - Miami Everglades RV Park - Homestead Florida.

We left home in NC late Friday afternoon and headed south.  Nothing special, just the usual trip southeast then on I-95 (home for the next 2 days) southbound.   We pulled into the Brunswick GA Walmart parking lot just before midnight for a very quiet night and a late 8:00 AM start Saturday morning.

I-95 was the usual trek and thankfully without any excitement we pulled into the Miami-Everglades RV Resort just north of Homestead at about 4:00 that afternoon.

The RV parked was completely full; much different from our last trip here a couple of years ago in the summer months.  Then it was almost completely empty, but this time we were in the company of many snowbirds from Jersey, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Canada eh?

Here we are parked on site #24 8 at Miami Everglades RV Resort.

This is really a nice RV park with lots of open space and plenty of activities for the snowbirds.   There was even a wedding one evening while we were there.

This GIANT Chikee Hut was the center of many of the activities during the week.

Monday Feb 20 was the Presidents Day holiday.  We toured the Everglades National Park taking the road all the way to the end at Flamingo.  This was on the "Ahinga Trail".

The RV Park is in the middle of a very large farm/agriculture area called Redland Farm area.  These fields of ferns surrounded the campground where we were.












As usual, Bobbi doesn't really care where we are as long as she gets her daily ration of chicken or tuna!

Week 2:  Sunshine Key - MM 39 Overseas Highway.

This was our view from under our RV awning for the next week.  Looking west toward Bahia Honda and No Name Key with Fat Albert watching us?

On Saturday we packed up camp from Homestead and moved 3 hours south to Sunshine Key RV Resort.  It is the first real key going south on Seven Mile Bridge out of Marathon;  just before Bahia Honda State Park, then Big PIne Key another mile or two beyond that.  The lower keys have a life and speed all their own.

Each evening brought a fabulous sunset just like this one.







Sunshine Key is a great place for a winter stay in the lower keys.  I heard mixed reviews about the place as if it had 2 personalities so to speak.  But we arrived only to find it full of snowbirds, warm breezes, and clear water.  Just what you'd want in a winter time getaway.  However we have heard that it really changes to a totally different kind of place in the summer months.

Our site was a waterfront site on the north side of the Key, as far away from the noise of US 1 as you can get and still be on this little piece of paradise.  We were backed up right to the beach






We spent our days lounging around the RV, taking day trips to the lower keys,  and to Marathon....

...and down to Key West one day.  All the way to the very end of US 1.




Ummm...where is the other end?  We'll have to take a trip the other direction someday to find out.   I'll post that picture too!














The entire week we never tired of those awesome sunsets







So.. when we went to Key West, we had to make the sunset pilgrimage to Mallory Square.  The sun was setting and the place was packed.  Pam tells me to start taking pictures.  All I could think of was all those sunsets we had seen in piece and quiet from right behind our RV.    So I took a few pictures of the sunset at Mallory Square for comparison:

What a mob scene.  Its one of those things that you say you had to do, but I was glad to get out of that crowd and get back to the quiet of Sunshine Key!