Rib Fest: BBQ Hog Heaven!!

As we were driving down I-80 into Reno, we saw The Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-Off.  It literally went from one exit to the next on a side road between Casinos.  We set up camp, and were off.  This made our Memphis competition in Charlotte look like a outcast cousin.  The contestants not only submitted ribs, but all had huge booths set up and sold BBQ!  It was fairly expensive too…a 4 rib sampler for $8, on up to $24 for a full rack of ribs and fixin’s.  The whole time Dave is going around saying, “I should go into production!  Mine are better than these.  We could make some $$.  They would go ape over my wings.”  Instead of “visions of sugarplums”, he had “Visions of Carolina style Bar-B$-Qu$”….lol…. But the initial investment would be huge.  These guys had full kitchens!!  At each booth they had a wall of banners, 2 stories tall, advertising all of the awards they had won, etc.  This was BBQ on steroids!!  There were “crafts”… but few artists and after a while they became repetitive, literally, several folks selling dresses or leather handbags would have multiple booths… and not all, but a lot of it was “Made in China”.

I had a blast jotting down the different names of the BBQ entrants… this is just a sampling:

• ·       Hole in the Wall
• ·       Lick My Ribs
• ·       Desperados
• ·       Bourbon Q (official BBQ sauce of Churchill Downs, so they said!)
• ·       The Porkinator
• ·       Porky n Beans
• ·       Men Playing with Fire (actually this was for grilled corn)

And of course:  Famous Dave’s BBQ – Legendary Pit BBQ

There there were the signs:

Keith.... These 2 were for you!!

• ·       “This BB is so worth the heartburn” – sponsored by Tums!!
• ·       “We take credit cards… and we give them back”

It was a fun afternoon.

• 
  

Little RV on the Prairie

Our Little House in the Prairie

The last 4 days have been a study in differing terrains.  In Iowa and Nebraska, we encountered the prairie and America’s breadbasket.  Miles and miles of corn and soybeans, generally flat, but often rolling hills.  The contours and the lines of the rows and irrigation were very sculptural.  Somewhere between Nebraska and Wyoming, the prairie gave way to sweeping mesas, with little vegetation and dramatic rock formations.  In Utah the ragged mountains erupted to enclose the valley for Salt Lake City.  As I write this we just finished walking out on the salt flats, which butt up to I-80.  It looks like snow and a group of teenagers were actually trying to form and throw “salt balls”.  They quickly gave up, as the balls, while formable, were more like rocks.   It sounds very interesting…but driving through it can be very boring.  The prairies and mesas go on forever!!  We survived by first listening to a book on Audible and when we finished that, Deb read aloud the sequel.  (Several campsites without internet thwarted our efforts to download books.)   These helped us push on westward and gain a day on our schedule. We just started our 3^rd book, this time on Audible, the 4^th in the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series, The Girl in the Spider Web.

Deb at Salt Flat....teenagers throwing salt balls in background

We did make a few interesting stops.  In North Platte, Nebraska we enjoyed a railroad museum.  The engine was one of a kind and huge and the cars were restored.  The mail car was interesting.  Workers sorted the mail in between stops.    We skipped all of the Buffalo Bill museums as they were several of them and each looked like a tourist trap.  I’m sure one of them was probably interesting, but which one?  In Wyoming we stayed at Curt Gowdy State Park, on the shores of a granite quarried lake.  It was beautiful and the sunrise that morning was as pretty as the ones at the beach last month.

Railroad Museum in North Platte, Nebraska

Sunrise at Curt Gowdy State Park Wyoming

Since we had done the typical tourist things in earlier trips to Salt Lake City (the Mormon Temple,  “swimming” in the Salt Lake), we explored other parts of the area.  The city is very bike friendly and we were impressed with the protected bike lanes and electric light rail.  The city seems to be on an upward swing with multiple cranes sprouting up on the landscape, and many condos both new and long-standing.  However when we drank the Chamber of Commerce “kool-aid” and tried to explore the arts and shopping district our first afternoon there, we discovered they still roll up their sidewalks about 6 pm.  We did eat sushi in an interesting Japanese restaurant that was a converted Lutheran church, and we stopped at one of David’s favorite Odell projects, the Shriner’s Hospital.  At almost 25 years old, it still looks terrific.  The view of the city from the neighborhood surrounding the hospital was amazing as we were partially up on the mountain and had a sweeping view of the valley below.

Friday was a fun mix of stunning natural beauty and art galleries.  We took a day trip through the Cottonwood  Canyon in the Wasatch Mountains to Park City where we walked Main Street enjoying the shops and art galleries.  Dave even found two very whimsical signed lithographs for his elevator lobby.  We thought about Sharon and Richard and their ski trips there and their trip to the Sundance Film Festival. 

Japanese Restaurant in old Lutheran church

Shriners' Hospital

Windy Hair in Cottonwood Canyon

How does his hair stay down?

Before leaving this morning, we went to the Saturday Farmer’s and Craft Market for breakfast.  A wide variety of farmers, crafters and food vendors take over a city park.  We were fascinated with the portable wood fired pizza oven and saw more heirloom tomatoes than I thought possible.  We enjoyed empanadas for breakfast along with a decadent orange cinnamon bun, and bought peaches and tomatoes for future lunches.  It was very well done.  Why can’t Charlotte do this in Bearden Park or the new park across from Imaginon?

Boiled peanuts in Salt Lake City
They billed it as the edameme of the South!

Mobile Wood Fired Pizza Oven

Most of you know I play the license plate game on every trip.  I now have 46, with only 4 to go.  Yesterday in the RV park I got Hawaii.  This isn’t especially rare, especially as a “vanity” tag on the front of a car, but this was on a 40 ft. diesel pusher RV and tow car!  Somehow I don’t imagine huge RV’s in Hawaii!  And the thought of shipping it state-side sounds terribly expensive.

We just entered Nevada and will stop in Elko this afternoon and hopefully make it to Reno and Lake Tahoe for Labor Day.  Some folks we met at the campground had just come from there and verified our choice of a campsite in Elko.  They told us that Reno is having a Rib Festival and Dave began salivating.  Hopefully we will be able to secure a good campsite there.  We just passed a sign that said, “Do not pick up hitchhikers, prison area”.  Looking at the terrain, its easy to imagine the filming of the movie Holes… lol!

Frank Lloyd Wright 2.0

We took off from Chicago to Spring Green Wisconsin, to tour Taliesin, Frank Lloyd Wright's second home and summer “camp” for his apprentice school of architecture.  We figured we might never get this close again, so we did the jog north and bought the most comprehensive tickets we could.  Spring Green is a very small farming town.  We did see a Little Free Library there, but the only grocery was like an IGA and expensive.  There were many roadside stands, however, that sold “sweet corn”!!

After we left Taliesin, Dave and I were pretty quiet.  It was just a lot to take in.  The complex had close to a dozen buildings, with 4 main buildings available to tour.  It reminded me a little of Auldbrass in that it was a working farm.  We were only allowed to take pictures of the outside of buildings.   The tour was refreshing in that Cindi, our guide was a very plain-spoken Midwesterner, and didn’t sugarcoat Mr. Wright’s genius, or shortcomings.  For instance, she pointed out that because he used “Welch foundations” which are strip footings on top of gravel, the buildings are now settling and need major stabilization.  To create a sense of the outside coming in, he would often join widows with a miter in the corners, which are now settling, and leaking both water and air.  The entire complex closes during the winter (mid October) and for many years was only heated with fireplaces and a boiler just for the residence.  So there has been a lot of freeze/thaw damage.  We talked several times about how he would react to today’s building codes: no hand rails, no handicap accessibility, low heights and head clearance, uneven stairs, etc.  At one point Cindi quoted Mr Wright as saying, “Anyone over 6 ft. tall was a waste of building materials. (he was 5’8” – though claimed to be 5’10”)  She referred several times to his “orneriness” and how the  apprentices are still “allowed” to chose chores from a “joy list” which includes housekeeping  and cooking duties, and working in the gardens and grounds.  When interviewing apprentices, they are told about all of the extra chores (I suspect they already know about them.), and it is impressed upon them that they are entering into a year or more of a lifestyle change, as much as a school.  Yet despite all of this, his genius of manipulating space, his attention to detail, his sense of organic elements, bringing the outside in, is truly amazing. 

A tree encroaching on Taliesin

We began at the original school, which started as a boarding school for children ran by Wright’s sisters.  They were Unitarian and the school was very avant garde for its time.  When the old Victorian house burned down, Wright built them a Prairie style school, which when the school failed during the Depression (and after the murder and fire at Taliesin) became part of the architectural school.  The theatre there was amazing with a curtain designed like one of Wright’s art glass windows.  The drafting room had working architect/interns there and we saw several display boards and models of their current projects.  The use of light through skylights and clearstory windows, allowed the maximum natural light without providing distractions.  When I commented on the little use of art glass at both the school and residence, Cindi explained that art glass was just used to “cover up” an unpleasant urban view.  Here in the country all of the windows frame a view of nature. 

The school.  Outer rooms are dorm rooms, the skylights and clearstory windows bring light into the studio on the interior

From there we walked the property past the midway farm and barns and the “romeo and juliet” windmill.  The barn was pretty dilapidated and had not been restored except to keep it standing.   It had a house attached to it so that at one time there had  been people, cows, horses, chickens, and just about every farm animal except pigs living under one roof.  The house is still occupied, but the barn is just used as storage. 

The barn.  The round "turret" is a cold room for milk from the dairy cows

Disrepair at the barn.  Someone lives in the structure in the foreground!

The windmill was amazing.  His sisters asked him to build an aesthetically pleasing one out of wooda vs. metal.  All the farmers said it would fail in the wind.  He used a triangle (Romeo) butting up against a hexagon (Juliet).  The triangle was pointed in the direction of the prevailing winds and would act like the prow of a boat and airplane, pushing the triangle into the hexagon, thus surrounding the structure with wind, and using the winds to actually push the structures together and actually stabilized it.  Mr. Wright commented after his brothers in law died, that “the structure was still upright, and his critics were horizontal.”

Then we walked uphill (not the best day to “break in “ a new pair of shoes!!) to the main complex.  It consisted of 3 buildings all joined either by a common roof or breezeway.  There was another barn, which we did not go into, the studio, and the residence. When asked how many square feet there were,  Cindi  reported that Mr. Wright recorded it as 39,000sf, as he considered the outdoor space part of the structure.

The studio was used mainly by Mr. Wright and a small number of apprentices, before the main school was converted.  There were several drafting/drawing spaces and a large conference space, and several small conference rooms for meeting clients.  In this space, he often used the ceiling height to define a space and to make one feel either snug or cozy, or impressed by the openness of the large spaces, depending on their function.

The residence was used for almost 50 years by Mr. Wright and his last 2 wives.  It was built by the apprentices and  it burned twice.  Each time it was rebuilt, it was expanded plus it served as his laboratory for trying out new ideas, “most” of which worked, or if they didn’t, he would have his apprentices tear it out and try something else new.  It was a real mix of craftsmanship, and apprenticeship.  Some of the add-on’s fit and others didn’t.  And at least 2 were added at the whim of his 3^rd wife and stepdaughter.  At 8 years old, his stepdaughter voiced a desire for her own apartment, and soon there was a partial second story, just for her (with a very short, child-sized door – what happened as she grew?).  Once his 3^rd wife looked out at the view of the trees and said it was like a treehouse  and “wouldn’t it be nice to walk among the birds.”  Thus a cantilevered bridge to nowhere was added.  (The trees have since died and I was disappointed we didn’t get to walk out on it.) 

The residential wing with the bridge to nowhere

  Besides the daughter’s apartment (which we also didn’t see), there was just 3 bedrooms (tho there were servant quarters separate from the residence).  Mr. Wright didn’t believe in large bedrooms as he thought they were just for sleep.  The master bedroom was only a “master” because it had its own bath.  It was later turned into a guest room, and the two guest rooms were turned into Mr. and Mrs. Bedrooms.  Here Mr. Wright broke his own rule and created a HUGE suite for himself.  It had a small sleeping alcove with a single bed, a large “den” with a drafting table for him, and a large terrace overlooking the pond and waterfall. 

The residence at Taliesin

Electricity did not come to Taliesin until the 40’s, but Wright dammed a creek and created a waterfall for a hydro-generator and had electricity in the 20’s.  To make money during lean times, and to support as many apprentices as possible, there are “apartments” all over the property, in the barns, outbuildings and attached to the main buildings.  Once as we were walking around the barn, Cindi  pointed out a section that needed renovation and stabilization.  “We will probably start it in a few years, when the 90 yr. old architect  who lives there ‘moves out’”.  The apprentices move in October to Taliesin West in Arizona, and a skeleton staff  is there year round.

When asked, Cindi, told us that there were differing opinions among the staff about the novel written about Wright and his wives, especially the murder of his second wife Memah.  Some of the “old timers”  felt it was sensationalizing his life, but most others embraced the book, because of its historical accuracy (in historical details, if not dialogue), and for the fact that if resulted in a deluge of folks coming for tours and joining the foundation.  She said that right after the book they added a “Loving Frank” tour to accommodate all of the book clubs that descended upon them.  They tried (and she felt were successful) in converting them from sensationalism to an appreciation of architecture as practiced by Frank Lloyd Wright.

After our 4 hr. tour, we ate at the visitor’s center which started as a restaurant designed by Mr. Wright, then Deb went home to nurse her blisters! 

We then drove on into Iowa and stayed at a Palisades Kepler State Park.  We were the only campers there!  We are going to “boogie” on I-80 for the next few days,  pushing through the plains and prairie.  As I write this I am surrounded by rolling hills and more corn and soybeans than I ever thought possible.  Often we see windmills on a ridge, and the rest stop on the interstate we just passed had a windmill blade erected as a statue…. At least 4 stories tall!!  

Chicago and Frank Lloyd Wright

Note:  I published 2 blogs today... our experience with Bessie and the Pawn Star follows this since they are in reverse order.

Chicago proved to be MUCH BETTER than Indianapolis (which to be fair, we only drove around on the outer loop).  Our campground was in a County Park fairly close to the city and was brand new.  It had only been open 2-3 weeks.  After settling in we drove downtown.  The Navy Pier was a not quite as much fun as I remembered, but they had completed the big Ferris wheel (sort of like the “Eye” in London) and riding it gave us a nice overview of the city. 

  We had researched another good segway trail and got them out and rode both South and North along the Lake Side trail.  Along the North side where the “beaches” were they had buoyed off a lane for swimmers.  They all had on wet suits and when we asked one how cold the water was, she shook my hand.  It was freezing!!  We realized the swimmers were practicing for a triathlon when we rode along the South side and saw the staging and signs (wave 47, gather here in this “cattle gate”). 

Deb taking a picture of Dave with swimmer and "Eye" in background!

  We rode all the way to the Museum district and wished we had planned more time in Chicago.  We also rode through Grant Park.  The fountain there reminded us of Trevi in Rome, and we remembered it was here that Obama spoke after his first election (and Keith was there). 

  Our only disappointment was that none of the sports bars were carrying the Panther/Patriot game.  We settled in at “Harry Carey’s” on the Navy Pier and when they didn’t have it, called around to several others.  But since it was a preseason game, the NFL Network was only carrying it on its 2^nd tier.  We would have to make do, with checking for updates on our phone and on the scroll of the local game. (Finally Cam found his stride, but someone put some “stick-um” on Corey’s gloves!)

Saturday, was Frank Lloyd Wright Day.  We had tickets to tour his home and studio and to take a walking tour of Oak Park, to see some of the houses he designed (from the outside).  Our guide, Felix, was an architect and was very knowledgeable. The house was built before Wright developed his Prarie style and was his take on a Victorian.

  The children’s playroom which was huge with a rounded vaulted ceiling was the most impressive.   It had a gallery, where the children performed, and a grand piano was recessed under the gallery and over a stairwell.  The risers and a panel were hinged so that they could be opened to allow the sound to come into the room.  The art glass in this room and the dining room were amazing.

Dave in Children's room... note gallery above him, glass on ceiling, piano lower left

Piano suspended in stairwell

  His studio was octagonal shaped with more art glass and was built in the “round” (a series of twisted octagons) with an atrium in the middle (is this where Ben got the idea for the office in Greenville?).  The drafters sat on the bottom tier and the artists (including a potter – how messy must that have been!) were on the top level.  Wright’s office and library were interesting for the psychological twists.  In his office, folks sat on “black and blue” chairs so uncomfortable that they didn’t stay long!  His looked the same, but had cushions and a more comfortable “fit”.  In the library, where the “pin up” boards were and where he did most of his sketching and work, light was brought in through art glass clearstory windows above eye level, and through a skylight, so that while the area was bathed in light, the windows did not distract the clients from looking at his proposed (or dictated, in Wright’s case!) drawings.   Another example of this was the way he twisted a window 90 degrees in a bathroom, to allow light in, but to obstruct the view of the bathroom from outside.

Gallery in studio.  Felix in blue

Window twisted in bathroom

About the time we were gathering for the walking tour, the “bottom let out” and the misty rain of the morning gave way to torrents.  But Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiasts are hearty souls, and only one couple of our 10 member group gave up.  (Yes, we love FLW, plus we were already wet after the first house AND we had paid so much for the non-refundable tickets…!!)  The second house was the most amazing to me.

We decided to dry out at Revolution, a local brew pub.  It was really in “NoDa (on steroids, with a Cuban twist!)”.  The beer was interesting, and the food was amazing.  Luckily we had to wait long enough for a seat, to see how big the portions were, so we split a burger - great beef with pulled pork.  Dave was in heaven!

As I write this, Dave is reading the Observer and telling me about Steve Smith giving the crowd a bow as he left the game, being ejected for a fight.  The world must be spinning OK, for the front page is taken up by the Copal Grill sign being on Craig’s List.  We decided that Noah Lazus, the developer of the Music Factory, should buy up all the signs to go with the JFG sign, and create a “sculpture garden” there.  The paper also said that gas in SC was now $1.69… we’re paying twice that!  BUT the weather has been pleasant and cool.  I even wore a sweater one night!

On to Taliesin in Wisconsin:  Frank Lloyd Wright’s 2^nd studio.

Bessie and the Pawn Stars

Before we left Charlotte, Dave bought two “For Sale” signs to put on Bessie.  As we were rolling through the cornfields and soybean fields of Indiana, she logged her 70,000^th mile.  That’s not much for 16, but she’s at the point where things are breaking fairly regularly (see posts about brakes and gear shifts in New England!).  I taped them into the windows as we were leaving Kentucky.  Before we even turned her off at the campground near Indianapolis, we were approached by a guy who wanted to know about her.  He had just bought a used RV, and wanted a 2^nd one so that his “big family” could travel together.  “I’m a serious buyer,” he said as he peaked inside.  “We’ll go to the bank, and it’ll be a cash deal.  I’ll be back with the wife in about a ½ hour after you set up.”

 If nothing else, it got Bessie clean.  I straightened and vacuumed while David checked the internet with his mi-fi to verify his price and made a list of what we would take, and what we would leave.  We figured we would be leaving $2000-$3000 worth of furnishings and equipment (not to mention at least $200 in groceries we wouldn’t be able to pack in the cooler or use in the truck).  “This is too good to be true,” we kept telling ourselves, “less than a 50-50 chance.”  But we had sold a house once on the afternoon we put the borrowed for sale sign up, why not?

His 2nd visit with his wife, who did not say a word, and son who was 17 and going to school on the internet (we had our mi-fi, but otherwise there was no internet in the campground and they were there for a week) definitely didn’t pan out!  They inspected our unit and then it became evident that their negotiating tactic was to show us their unit and impress us with the deal they had gotten.  “Guess what I paid” he said.  And Dave did guess twice what he reported as the price.  Or did he automatically half it?  He had already blown a couple of tires and had to replace them after buying it just a few days ago, and was worried about having it up on jacks to level it (the front tires were completely off the ground).  He probably had gotten a bargain, but we made it clear that while we might have some “wiggle room,” we weren’t giving Bessie away.  It seemed he became more vague the more he talked.  Something just didn’t ring true.  There was a “off the wall” factor and the “big family” was obviously absent.  He was a pawn broker with his dad, and while not Chumly, or Big Hoss (History Channel Pawn Star reference), we weren’t sure if he was playing with a full deck.  He wanted to research it a little once he got internet and would fly out and meet us with cash.  No offer was made.  While we exchanged email addresses, we would bet the farm that we won’t hear from him again.  And we’re not sure we want to sell Bessie to him regardless (though, if you “show us the money”…sorry Bessie) Right after he left, Dave went to raise the antennae, and the handle broke.  Is Bessie mad at us?  [Dave’s note:  just before Deb posted this I reminded her that we left them our card with the blog address,  so Chumly may be reading this.  Oops!  Chumly, we apologize but know that even I occasionally get roasted by Deb’s story telling.  She takes after her dad.]

We had planned to take the segways to a “South End/NoDa” sounding neighborhood in Indianapolis that had a bike trail along an abandoned railroad (why can’t Charlotte find one of these!!?), but after wasting an hour with Mr. Pawn Star, recovering from a 4 hr. drive that turned into 6, and being disappointed in the campground  (“Spa?  What internet site were you looking at?  We turned that thing off two years ago.”), we decided to eat “get it yourself or starve” and fall into bed early.  Let’s just say this wasn’t our favorite stop.  At least we got it out of the way near the first of the trip.  It’ll only go up from here.

The Grand Circle is Finger Licking Good!

Today we set out on a grand circle of the USA.  We plan to be out about a month.  That sounds long, but we feel like we are "pushing it" even before we start.  We have a lot of what we call "stop and drops" to reach our destinations on schedule.  I thought being retired meant you didn't have a schedule...c'est la vie.

We are taking the northern route out through Chicago, Denver, Lake Tahoe "ending" near Santa Cruz for our niece's wedding.  Then we plan to hit some of our favorite wineries and discover some new ones in Paso Robles.  There we hope to find a place to store Betsy the RV, and then go by truck down to San Diego then start east going through Tuscon, where Dave has an interest in a brewery, and San Antonio, one of the larger towns in Texas we haven't visited.  Then home.  That's the plan... we also hope to find some surprises along the way, and we already have!!

We plan to do about 300 miles per day in the RV, which made our first "stop and drop" in Corbin, Kentucky.  As we were pulling off I-75, there was a sign to "The Harland Sanders Cafe and Museum, Home of KFC".  Anyone who knows Dave, knows we had to stop.  After we settled Betsy into the campground, we took the truck there.  It was pretty much a regular KFC with a little museum attached.  The dining room has the original tables and you can see the first kitchen and a motel room from the Sanders Motor Lodge which used to be next door.  The motel room was in the original cafe as a marketing tool for the motor lodge.  The Colonel realized that the women usually checked out the rooms in his motor lodge before having their husbands book the room, so he put a mock up of a room inside the cafe right across from the women's bathroom!  In the display cases there was a 50 lb. barrel of seasoned flour that he would ship to the cafes once he started the franchise.  He would strip the barrel of all markings to keep his recipe and seasonings a secret.  The food was strictly KFC, but its hard to beat greasy chicken.  We bought enough for lunch along the road the next few days!!   On to Indianapolis.

If you could make it fit our diet, we'd come more often!

So much for the diet:  lunch for several days!!

HOW TO BE WARM WHEN CHARLOTTE IS COLD

One night on a whim we booked plane tickets online to Ft. Meyer Florida on a low cost airline. We discovered "low cost" is a very relative term. The $69 tickets ended up costing $200+ by the time àll the hidden fees were added, but were still cheaper than the larger airlines. We also learned that Fort Meyer is a relative term with low cost airlines and the airport is in a suburb and definitely NOT "international". We enjoyed getting out our summer clothes but packed them tightly to avoid even more fees on the low cost airline. They charged even for carry ons and to claim a seat even in steerage! We smiled broadly as we checked the 10 day weather forecasts for Charlotte and Miami and noticed a 60 degree difference.

When we arrived in Florida, we shed all coats and sweaters, and made a bee line to Miami in our rented Mustang convertible. We enjoyed the air in our hair, especially at 75 degrees and with the heater blowing full blast on our feet! However we did discover two things about driving in Florida: Floridians like to use their horns. Except for understanding the honk in the split microsecond after a green light, we have no clue what or who they are honking at!!! Also we see multiple signs for "tolls by plate". Will we get an extra bill from the car rental company, or is it figured into the fees? Only time will tell.

Our first stop after spending the night in Naples was at the PEI vacuum elevator factory in the Miami suburbs to check out the glass pneumatic elevator we are planning to install at the townhouse. We noted that business casual at the elevator factory is Bermuda shorts. Dave was able tò get technical details and ideas for our elevator installation and we were able to actually fit comfortably in the 30" tube! We ate a Cubano sandwich at a local dive near the factory. David's are waaaaay better.

Driving around Miami is very frustrating. "Myrtle" our GPS, can't quite compensate for the massive highway construction. We found Little Havana but not it's arts district, found South Beach, and enjoyed the views, but never found the design district even the next day in the day light. We DID find the Cuban restaurant in Little Havana, oddly called Versailles, which was suggested by the guy at the elevator factory. When we arrived we discovered TV and film crews interviewing people because there was a rumor Fidel Castro had died. We later heard on the radio that this rumor surfaces weekly in Little Havana. The Cuban food is great. Deb wanted to order Key Lime pie but ate too many plantains. 

Volley ball on South Beach... you could only use your feet or hands... no feet

We retraced our steps the next day in lighter traffic and enjoyed the Wyndham Arts District, a NoDa on steroids. There were many excellent galleries but plans on the remodel are not yet far enough along to buy anything. Down in South Beach, we had mediocre seafood outside. At least South Beach provided terrific people watching views. Later near our hotel we found a bad sports bar to watch the Panther/Seahawks game. Good wings, bad selection of beer. It seems that craft brews have not yet come this far south. And the game was not much better. We left and watched the 2nd half at the hotel because we felt like we were "disturbing the peace" cheering for the Panthers. No one was much interested in the game.

The next morning we drove to Key West again with the top down all the way. We are really getting into this convertible "thing"....especially when folks comment on it, and ask to take pictures. We even looked out our hotel window, and some parents were taking a picture of their 10 year old beside it! How can 60+ year olds relate to teens and preteens?....drive convertibles and segways!!! We did realize we needed suntan lotion though, and wondered how to pronounce Islamorada. After settling in at quaint Inn, we began to explore Key West. It is a unique blend of tschotske shops and amazing art galleries. Suddenly we were finding several pieces we are considering for Dave's new room and we have only explored half of Duval St.! We joined the throngs for the nightly sunset celebration and this night the people watching was better than the sunset. We were tempted, but passed on the Drag Queen shows because the people watching just going by provided plenty of entertainment. 

The last red cent Hemingway paid for the pool! 

The 6 toed cat 

The next morning was leisurely and we decided we were on island time. We also decided that we should have a little culture, so we took the Hemingway House tour. We enjoyed the historical tour, and learned about Hemmingway, his 4 wives and his 6 toed cats who still roam the property many generations later (the cats not the wives!). The docents stories made Deb sorry she hadn't read many of his books, but isn't that what retirement is for? She might also add a biography of the 2nd wife to her list as she was portrayed as interestingly as Hemingway. 

Now it was time to go out to the marina and settle in on the Lion's Paw sailboat. Dave went out for groceries while Deb unpacked and settled down with her novel. After relaxing most of the day sunning on the boat, Dave fixed Deb her best seafood food yet from his foray to the grocery. We Skyped the granddaughters and Abbie, upon seeing the navigational charts, wants to know where the X is for the pirate's treasure!

The next morning, Captain Nancy and 1st (and only) mate Megan arrived to take us out in the bay. They hoped to use their new mainsail and jib. We donned snorkeling gear when we anchored on a reef about 2 hours out of port. The water was even warmer than we anticipated and though the dolphins only followed us part of the way out to the reef, we swam with a turtle and felt as though we are in the middle of a great salt water aquarium...I guess we were!

Unfortunately the wind died to nothing and we were unable to use the sails. We were thankful for the engines and arrived near an island just before sunset. First Mate Megan served us red snapper just as the sun began to set. Unfortunately we anchored too far from the island to swim to the beach and were discouraged from swimming at dusk by Captain Nancy as she regaled us with tales of sighting sharks in these waters near sunset. 

The stars came out and put on a magnificent show. Dave introduced Nancy and Megan to Google Sky and named the planets and constellations for them. Deb enjoyed the show and then finished her book so that she could send her comments to her book club and rub it in about being in such great weather to yet a different group of friends. We were lulled to sleep by the rocking of the boat and could see the stars from the hatch above our head.

Sunrise the next morning was obscured by dense fog. Captain Nancy luckily could navigate by GPS and though she raised the mainsail for a brief time, we were again grateful to have the engines and a good navigator!

Just as we finished packing up the next morning, and began skyping Deb's dad, Captain Nancy returned. She got a kick out of meeting the guy with the Mini Cooper Sport. We headed back to Key West and after checking back in at Còurney's Place Inn, we explored the rest of Duval St. and purchased gifts for the girls, 2 wedding gifts, beach wear for this summer, and a bambo fabric shirt for Dave and dress for Deb. We arrived at Sunset Point just as TWO cruise ships werè departing. Despite the crowd, we got a pier side table and enjoyed drinks and Key Lime pie as the sun made a spectacular splash in the bay. Better acquainted with the area, we meandered through the residential area and decide that Key West is sort of like a much larger and more commercialized Sullivan's Island. Our last seafood on the Island was at a tiny 6 table restaurant near our Inn. Our only regret was that we were not hugrier, for everything on the menu sounded great and they even had real craft beer. We couldn't belive how many places claim "craft beer" and their only selection is Bud and Shock Top! Surely there's an under served market here and in Miami for craft beer.

As we bid farewell to Key West the next day we realized that even though we had the wedding pottery shipped, we would have trouble consolidating our many bags into our suitcases, so we stopped at the post office and got a "if it fits it ships" box. Dave's master packing skills came in handy. While waiting on Dave to post the box, Deb photographed a flock of chickens roaming the post office grounds. Key West is famous for its feral chickens, and this uncharacteristically seemed to be a flock of mostly roosters.

Donning our new Key West outfits we joined the "beautiful shabby rich set" on South Beach for Art Deco Festival. We wandered the vendors and signed up for a guided tour of the architecture. Jeff, our local guide, helped us distinguish between art deco, Beauz art's, Meterrainian Revival and simply modern. We throughly enjoy the 90 minute tour, ànd completely sympathized with his inside jokes of living in a historic district with its restrictions and attempts to balance preservation and modernization. We were a little disappointed in the art at the festival booths. It was obviously not juried, and the t-shirt vendors and jewelry from China cheapened the few true artists. We especially liked one sculpture who works in screen and explore a real gallery with Dr. Seuss art.

Myrtle again had issues with the construction on our quest to find our next hotel. We got off the freeway to get out of traffic and to find a grocery store. Realizing we were once again in the middle of Little Havana, we returned to The Versailles for supper. This time we were smart and split the entre. 

Everglades City may edge out Pomaria for the most trailers and double-wides per capita...lol...We especially liked the "Plantation Village" that consisted of double-wides up on stilts to be above the surge tide. While not much there, we did have some good scollaps, gator, and shrimp at a dockside restaurant. David researched it and TripAdvisor recommended Shurr Adventures for a swamp tour with kayaks. Watching the air boats during lunch we were glad we had chosen a quieter avenue. John our guide was terrific and very interesting. He does the kayak tours here in the winter and whitewater rafting tours in Montana in the summer. He was very knowledgeable about the flora and fauna. We saw about a half dozen alligators, mostly juveniles about a yard or so long. Several great herons flew down the river right in front of us and the mangrove tunnels were incredible, if challenging to maneuver. But John was very patient with the 4 of us (we were joined by a med student from Portland, OR and her mom, also an early childhood community college teacher!) and the water was only 2-4 feet deep or less. A couple of times the hydrillia a was really thick. He told us it was an invasive species that got introduced to the river during Hurricane Andrew when the pet stores got flooded and the aquarium plants escaped. We told him about Lake Murray using carp to control it.

Now we must give up our summer clothes and convertable and don sweaters and long pants to fly home....but the temperature is rising and we should bring the area slightly warmer weather.