Back on the Road to Florida (Daytona Beach and Key West)

 January 2022

Daytona Beach and Key West 

Well our house is still not finished, but we definitely have progress on it  Pavers are down, insulation is blown up into the rafters, pool fence is done, and kitchen cabinetry is in .  I actually think we are going to make rapid progress now.  Since we have a little time left, I planned a 6-week trip to Florida.  It is the cooler part of the year, but we are going to make the best of it.  First stop Daytona Beach to visit my cousin and his wife.  We spent our first day near this city on Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, which is just across the bridge from Daytona Beach.  The volunteer staff at the Refuge recommended that we drive the 7-mile loop around Black Point Trail.  I did realize how spectacular the bird diversity was on this island.  Holy tamale, we saw every Heron and Egret species they had on that trail including: Reddish, Green, Little Blue, Big Blue, Great White, and Snowy Egrets, and Anhinga, White Ibis, Wood Storks, Roseate Spoonbills...the  list goes on and on.  

After spending an afternoon at the Refuge, we had a meeting of the cousins in this area.  It was really nice to meet up with cousins I have not seen for a decade.  We met at a local favorite-Milly's that specializes in ocean and farm to table.  I had golden tilefish.  This was the first time tasting it.  I had to look up if it was sustainable--and apparently it does have a season and #caught here in Florida.  

Our time was short here, but we were able to tour around the Ponce (point) where the lighthouse and a Marine Rehab Station were located.  My partner hiked up the lighthouse, but I have been out of commission for about 2 weeks, as I fell and torqued my back.  It has not been pretty.  Back spasms have been my companion for the last 2 weeks.  I should have gone to a back doctor, but I just did not have time while I was in Tucson.  I am slowly healing from a micro-tear in the back region.  

We are now down in Florida City on the SW tip of main Florida.  We just hung around the hotel today, as there was a serious storm and tornado warning which proved eventful for Fort Myers, which happens to be the next city we will be staying in, but we had lots of plans for the National Parks here.  Our first visit was going to be Dry Tortugas National Park, but the day we were supposed to take off on the Park catamaran, it was so windy, I cancelled until the end of the week.  Since we drove down to Key West (3 hours) from Florida City, we decided to spend the day in Key West...and had so much fun.  

We started off at the City Bakery for coffee and a pastry.  This local bakery is where many people in town end up in the morning.  After waking up, we started for the Key West Cemetery.  It was a study in diversity.  This cemetery was established in 1847 after a hurricane destroyed several burial grounds.  This cemetery reflects art, culture, and history of the eras the graves were built in. I learned that the symbols on the gravestones reflect the residents lives. For example; rose-love, eye-divine vision, lily of the valley-bride, shell-man's journey through life, oak leaves-strength.  The graves reflect the diversity of Key West; including Cuban, Bahamian, and soldiers who died during the Spanish-American war.  The town welcomes strolls through this peaceful place.  One of my favorite gravesites was a super big conch shell.  Took a lot of cement to make that one. I think someone loved conch.  

One of the places I wanted to see was Hemingway's home in Key West. It is actually the largest property in Key West.  We all know that this is where Ernest Hemingway wrote some of his key novels that were made into movies in the 50s and 60s.  His writing in Key West was prolific. He would go to his study and spend 6-8 hours everyday before he did anything else.  He was a pretty colorful character himself and spent time with  other local characters such as "Sloppy Joe" who owned a bar down the street.  The house and pool were very modern for the time including indoor plumbing and a huge pool (story goes that his wife Pauline (at the time) found out he was fooling around and spent almost every penny he had on the pool).  I also did not know that Hemingway loved cats.  He was given a 6-toed (polydactyl) pure white cat named Snow White, which has multiplied over generations to over 60 cats on the property.  They are everywhere inside and outside the property, and there is a group that takes care of them, books and art that have been written about them...it is over the top.  The cool green tropical feel of the property makes one want to sit down for hours with pencils and paint.....

We ended our day at a small market called Eaton Street Seafood Market with a lobster roll that was pretty fantastic.  So far, my partner says "this is the best seafood bite of the trip. 

You Don't Have to Gamble in Las Vegas, Nevada

Dec. 2021

I have never been much of a gambler.  I once gambled a roll of nickels away in Las Vegas. Nevada and I was a nervous wreck the whole time.  I ended up .03 cents ahead, but realized that I was never going to be a good gambler.   So why would we be going to Las Vegas for the holidays this year?  Well barring the fact that I had no lights to hang cause they are all packed away, I have a Godson and his partner who live in Las Vegas and I wanted to go visit them and there are certainly enough lights in Vegas to celebrate Christmas.  So we drove to Las Vegas this year from Tucson, AZ.  It takes about 5.5 hours to get there.  

The weather was cold and clear.  Initially, we stayed at our timeshare for a few days right in the middle of downtown, because I had researched what you could do for free in the middle of downtown.  First, I want to give you a surprising fact:  The Las Vegas Strip is not in Las Vegas...it is outside the jurisdiction of the City of Las Vegas.  I did not know that.  We were lucky though to go to the official Las Vegas downtown later on in our trip.

We stayed at the Polo Towers in downtown Las Vegas.  This hotel (which is going to be a Holiday Hilton soon) is right down the street from the Bellagio Hotel.  The Bellagio took billions to build and is really extravagant.  (Yes it has a gambling casino, but we did not visit).  We walked down to see the "dancing fountain" which is really a huge lake of water that is controlled by computer.  It was really cool to watch the water dance with holiday music.  We also walked inside to their famous flower conservatory, which is a huge (and free) area dressed differently with cool flower displays every 3-4 weeks.  Of course the holiday display was spectacular so I got my share of Christmas decorations.  The most important place in the Bellagio though, according to my partner was the 2-story high chocolate fountain that holds over 2000 lbs of white, milk, and dark chocolate!  So fun to see it streaming from glass dish to glass dish.  It really was my partner's dream come true.  So far all free. 

We wandered back to the hotel where a free holiday dinner and music were featured.  We of course participated in this dinner.  Okay, so far, everything free.  The next day, on Christmas Eve the timeshare company gave us a gift certificate of $49 dollars so we decided to splurge and went down the street to the Paris Hotel Restaurant Mon Ami Gabi.  I love the way this hotel emphasizes everything "French."  I ordered a martini with St. Germain cordial.  It was delightful.   It paired nicely (see I know that fancy talk) with a chicken and  brie sandwich.  It transported me to Paris.  I am missing Europe these days.  This made me feel just a little closer to the Motherland.  

On Christmas Eve, I usually crave the feeling of peacefulness, but we were invited to a "beer tasting" party at my Godson's house.  There were over 50 beers and many types of alcohol.  I only tasted a few as we had to make it back down to the strip on Christmas Eve, but it was a spectacular display of the beer diversity we have here in the USA.

It was a little weird waking up Christmas morning in a hotel on the Vegas strip, but we made the best of it.  We checked out and went over to my Godson and his partner's home for a couple of days.  He put together the best surf and turf dinner for Christmas and then we took off to the Valley of Fire State Park (45 minute drive) to take a short hike.  We not only saw Bighorn Sheep but some really cool petroglyphs.  It was a wonderful Christmas in my opinion.  

On the final day in the Las Vegas Area, we got up and were treated to French toast made with salt caramel whiskey.  I highly recommend this combination if you get a chance to combine it with your egg mixture.  We had to work that yumminess off so we took a 15-minute drive and went up to do a short but cold and windy hike in Red Rock State Park.  Another beautiful afternoon.

The last night in Las Vegas, our Godson took us out to Frankies Tiki Room and we imbibed some really great Tiki drinks.  They were colorful and very delicious.  Mine was the Fink Bomb (it was the bomb). It is so funny--it tasted and looked pink to me, but when I looked at the pictures, it was actually green. We ended the night in a British Pub along the main street of the real downtown.  It tell you British food is so good if it is made right, and this pub sported all the right stuff including shepard's pie and fish and chips.  

We drove home the next day through the Hoover Dam area.  That is such a cool area.  I have been through there several times, and am always amazed at how much area it takes to conserve water for this region.  It is pretty low right now and many of the scientists that run this facility area are worried about global climate change and how it is affecting the water supply in this area.  This proved to be a very memorable holiday in Las Vegas.  So much to explore in this area.  We will be back.  We ended our holiday with a magnificent sunset in Tucson, the gift that keeps giving forever.  

Lost Dutchman State Park, AZ

 Early December, 2021

After leaving SW Arizona, we made a final stop at Lost Dutchman State Park, AZ before returning home to Tucson.  This State Park sits on the east periphery of Phoenix and is much beloved by the city residents. The story goes that a German prospector named Jacob Waltz found gold in the Superstition mountains in the 1800s in this area.  He left lots of clues on where he hid the gold, and people still look for that gold with the clues.

We got a spot on a very busy weekend.  There were almost more dogs than campers.  Also, this State Park is very popular with photographers. At sunset, on the way back from a short hike up the Treasure Trail (Trail #56), we encountered engagement couples and large families taking pictures against the sunset.  The night was quiet though after we got back to the RV and after a glass of wine and a beautiful sunset, we slept very well.

In the morning, we got up early enough to hike the complete Treasure Trail (2.4 miles), across the Prospector Trail, and down the lower part of the Siphon Trail totaling about 5 miles.  It was perfect weather for a hike (75 degrees).  These are the Superstition Mountains and they are quite magnificent.  They rise straight out of the Sonoran Desert.  They are truly photogenic.  I know why those photographers were there at sunset.  We rose up from the desert into the mountains and could see the whole desert in front of us.  I asked everyone coming down, if they had found the gold, but no one had any luck:-)

I felt really good taking that hike.  That knee of mine did not bother me as much as it usually does, but I think it is because we were hiking in the morning.  Next year, when I have a knee replacement...and I will, I will remember how lovely that hike was.  The colors of the rock mirrored every color from bright orange to soft pink.

After finishing the hike, we decided to head over to the Goldfield Ghost Town, a reconstructed ghost town left from the 1890s that is about 3 miles outside the State campground.  It was fun to walk around and I am sure if I had grandchildren it would have been great, but the best I can  offer here was a good coffee and pastry.