Big Pine Key, FL - Sat., Sun.

Getting through the traffic in Key Largo which was at a crawl because of the Stone Crab and Seafood Festival there was the only glitch getting to Big Pine Key Saturday. Mike, Helen, and Renaee were about an hour behind us, so we set up and then helped them set up. We went out to eat - too tired to cook! We sat around and talked until between 9:30 and 10:00.

Sunday - We loaded the bikes and headed to Bahia Honda State Park, about six miles from our campground. What a glorious day!!!! We camped there with the children 27 years ago. It is in my top five places I have ever visited. It is still just as beautiful! We hope to come back next winter and camp there. We picnicked, biked all over, visited the nature museum there, and gift shop. It is a wonderful place! If you ever get down here for anything, do NOT pass Bahia Honda State Park without a look-see!

Monday - We are taking the bikes to Key West and will eat lunch at a restaurant where Renaee and her husband ate many years ago. Renaee's husband was killed on a New Year's Eve by a drunk driver about six years ago. A few weeks ago, the home her husband built her burned to the ground. Sadly she had no insurance. We are so happy she is with us and able to get away from it all for just a bit. Have a wonderful day!

Florida Trip, Jan. 24-28

sunrise Fri., Jan. 28

to the left is Phil in the world's smallest police station

Bald eagle

photo taken from Bill and Barbara's dock

Jan. 27 sunrise

To the left is the hawk that just sat on a limb and let me take a bunch of photos of him!

We actually left town before the snow started this trip! We had a rather long ride down to Perry, GA. Carrabelle, FL, was our destination for Tues., Jan. 25, but the heavy rain caused us to stay put another night. Wednesday afternoon, we finally made it to Carrabelle, FL, to visit our dear friends, Bill and Barbara Inkelbarger, who live part of the year in East Tennessee and part of the year in Florida. We went to Wed. night church service at River of Life. What a wonderful church and church family they have! It was wonderful to meet some of the people Barbara and Bill had told us about. We had a wonderful chicken soup for supper the first night. We talked and talked and finally went to bed. They live right on the sea front, and about seven o'clock the next morning, I peeped one eye open. WOW!!!! Right in front of me was a window that had the most spectacular sunrise. I even woke Phil up to look at it! I took a few photos with my phone camera and then threw on my clothes and went downstairs to take some with my camera. Barbara cooked a big breakfast for us. Then we went to the golf course for a nice walk. After walking, we rode into Carrabelle and saw the world's smallest police station. When we got back to their house, we went out on their dock and watched an eagle fishing for lunch. Their view is wonderul. They even have a black bear that comes around every night. He left a nice pile of evidence! I also got some great photos of a hawk that sat on a branch near the house. Sevearl times we saw a group of porpoises swim by. In the afternoon, Bill cooked some from-scratch cinnamon buns for our breakfast before we left. We had to sample one as soon as they came out of the oven. YUM! Barbara, Phil, and I started a jigsaw puzzle while Bill fixed the cinnamon buns. For supper, we had one of Bill's red fish with a wine sauce, rice, slaw, and garlic bread. Bill's red fish is always wonderful! He is quite the fisherman! They treated us like royalty! All too soon, it was time to leave and head to Ft. Pierce (an 8 hour drive) for the night. We had a good supper at a Touch of Brooklyn. Tomorrow we head for Big Pine Key for a week. Mike and Helen and Renaee will join us there. We look forward to a wonderful week there!