Turn-Around Point

Key West, Florida

For those of you who may not have figured it out yet, we are in Key West - basically as far south as you can drive in the Continental USA.
Here is the proof.

Notice, if you will, that Susanne is holding on to our pet SPOT. This is a personal satellite tracker - sort of a combination of a GPS and a one-way Sat-data-phone - a Christmas present from Sue`s brother.
Periodically we press the OK button on SPOT and he responds by taking a GPS position and sending an email, via another satellite, to a select list of recipients, detailing our exact lat-long position, complete with a link to Google maps. At this point it is really just a test as we are still able to send and receive normal emails and even update this blog pretty much any time we wish. But someday, when we are presumably at sea, this will no longer be possible and SPOT will be our only way to let people know we are still alive.

Meanwhile, this landmark also marks our personal evaluation point. I think this trip has now established some basic facts about ourselves:

- We do not do well sitting in one place for any length of time.
- We do not seem to be capable of planning ahead for more than a week at a time.
- We really miss Sine Timore and are more and more concerned about her well-being.
- We are absolutely incapable of sticking to a budget, no matter how liberal we think it is.

In addition, the fates are ganging up on us. Wherever we go, we find nice weather and then our presence seems to turn it to crap. Right now, our beautiful tropical island is threatening to turn into a cold, rainy bog, possibly going down as low as 20C tonight. And it would have been a perfect day for watching the scheduled yacht race. As it was, we still watched for a while, before being forced to seek shelter (and Key Lime pie of course).
Our dollar is on a downward slide making it more and more expensive to continue to travel in the US, and really, we cannot go any further in this direction anyway.
We have a commitment to be back in Edmonton for various appointments at the start of March and we would really like to check on the boat before then. Ideally we would have liked to stick around in Florida until the boat show in Ft. Lauderdale in mid-February, but it just would not give us a good enough driving window for making it all the way back to Canada afterwards.
All of these factors have combined to make this our turn-around point.

So, tomorrow, the 1st of February, we will turn our car around and start back into the frigid north. Just how long could that take us? Well, while SPOT was busy sending our position home at the above-pictured buoy, we also asked Heidi (our trusty Garmin navigation system) to plot us a course home. According to her (and she is rarely wrong about these things) we are exactly 6413 kms from our beloved Sine Timore, using the quickest possible route. Of course this would take us through the heart of a winter-bound continent, so our actual route is bound to be a little longer, as we attempt to avoid the bad weather until we arrive in Nanaimo, where we have no choice in the matter.
In all likelihood, we will be following a very similar route to that which brought us here. Hopefully we can drop in on a few places that we skipped by on the way down but generally it should be a much quicker trip this time.

Stay tuned for what promises to be the gumball rally for 2010.

In Search of Warmer Weather

While Daytona Beach was nice, it was still cooling off a little too much at night for our comfort. So, we decided that for our last fling in Florida, we would seek out as much warmth as possible. Headed due south till the road runs out.

Any guesses as to where we ended up? Here are some pictures that should supply all the clues you need...

ICW - East Coast

Ponce Inlet

After another great day yesterday a the Kennedy Space Center, we spent today much closer to our home in Daytona Beach, at Ponce Inlet.

Here is where you will find the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse. This is the 2nd lighthouse we have visited on this trip, the first being the Arena Lighthouse on the west coast back in November. Unlike the California lighthouse, this one is still in operation although it is really a private aid to navigation now. This one is also built entirely of bricks, back in 1887 - the walls are 8 feet thick at the bottom and 2-1/2 feet thick at the top which is 175 feet (or 203 steps if your interested) up. Quite a view from up there. Susanne even made it a full 20 feet up before she opted out.

I got some good pictures of the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) from the lighthouse, which just confirms how treacherous it could be for any boat with a deep draft. Just look at those shifting sandbars. Not that everyone pays attention, as per this poor fellow at anchor out in the middle of the channel.

We found a quaint little restaurant on the ICW and, for the first time in a long time, almost felt like we were back in the gulf islands of BC (during the summer that is). Made us a little homesick.

We keep looking for marinas like we have back home, but so far most of them have been very small and dedicated to fishing boats - not many sailboats to be seen.

Here is another one of the boat condos that are so popular down here.

Spaced Out!

NASA

OK, we got bored.

The weather was a bit stormy overnight and the day was not shaping up to be a good one for lying around the pool. So we drove down to Kennedy Space Center to see if they needed a hand.

Apparently they have everything under control (next launch Feb 7th earliest) and were not too interested in our opinions. But they did let us wander about and poke at stuff.

This is another place that has changed a lot since the last time we were here. Much more to see and much more like Disneyland, complete with rides and such. Still, we did find it very interesting and will be going back again tomorrow - the ticket is good for two days and you need at least that to see everything.

Note: This is as close as they let us get to the actual shuttle, Endeavor, on the launch pad.

Mountain Climbing, Florida Style

Mount Dora

Drive about an hour north of Orlando and you find yourself in Mount Dora, a town on a plateau with an elevation of 174 feet, making it a pretty high spot in otherwise flat Florida. Full of boutiques, antique stores and restaurants, it is a surprisingly busy little spot considering it can be toured in about 15 minutes from end to end. We managed to spent the best part of an hour there, including having lunch. We did check out the yacht club at the lakefront at the end of Main street (on Lake Dora of course). For yacht, think flat-bottomed bass-fishing boat and you have the general idea.

Daytona Beach

Afterwords, we continued east till we hit the east coast at Daytona beach.

This place seems to define the term "off-season" at it's best. Or possibly "past it's prime". Check out the world famous Daytona Beach pier and boardwalk as an example.

But it is a place full of cheap hotels on the beach, the weather is warm and it fits our lifestyle just fine. So here we will be for at least the next week.

One disconcerting thing is all of the cars that drive down the beach - just something we have not seen before. Being the weekend, it is probably busier than it would be otherwise.

Disney Interlude

Epcot

We spent a perfect day at Epcot, probably the best choice of theme parks here for older adults like us. There were quite a few people there but not nearly as many as there could have been. The recent cold weather seems to have thinned out the crowds somewhat.

So we had a warm sunny day in which we were able to see absolutely every attraction without, for the most part, waiting in long lines.

Since we were here 20 years ago there have been a lot of upgrades. Technology has definitely moved on during that time and it has been used to good effect throughout the park, from the rides to the fireworks and light show in the evening. If you have never been here, or it has been a long time since you were, we would recommend a visit now.

Having said that, we did not really feel it was necessary to see any more of the theme parks on this trip. We would have liked to stick around the Orlando area for a few more days, especially as the weather is so good here, but suddenly the hotels are getting busy and they want a lot more money for us to extent our stay. So it is with some regret that we are forced to move on.

Overnight we had a bit of the thunderstorm and we noticed that the storm cells are moving in a southeasterly direction. Therefor we are setting our sites in a northeasterly direction, towards what we hope will be more nice weather and cheap hotels.

Orlando

It turns out one of the least expensive places to stay in Florida is in Orlando. Lots of hotels and lots of vacancies.

So we climbed into the car and, after a brief stop en route at the Florida Air Museum, we arrived in sunny Orlando, at the Residence Inn Orlando Seaworld/International Center. This overly complicated name is needed in order to differentiate it from any of the other 50 or so Marriott properties here. The rest of the hotels are apparently owned by Hilton.

Indeed, it is beautiful weather here - warm with clear skies.
Some surprisingly odd architecture though.

Now, when I say that Orlando is inexpensive, that is only if you avoid going to any of the tourist-trap theme parks that abound. With this in mind, we have purchased a cheap bus pass so we can cruise around the area and just do our usual window shopping and touring on foot. This is how we ended up at the Prime Outlets mall, upon seeing which Sue remarked "This is the best mall ever!" Needless to say we did not leave unscathed and Sue now has a new wardrobe (admittedly not a terribly expensive one).

So the way we figure it, we may as well go to some of the theme parks if we are going to be in the poorhouse anyway. Thus tomorrow we will venture to Epcot...

Sun and Sand

Siesta Key, Florida

After a couple of full days driving, we find ourselves in sunny Florida.

Now that we have finally found the warm weather, we are having some trouble acclimatizing. Each time we leave the room we automatically assume it will be cooler outside only to find that it is quite warm (and a bit humid). This usually hits us after we have walked a long distance from the hotel and have to face the long walk back.

Siesta Key is just off the coast in Sarasota, just south of Tampa. Based on the people crowding the nearest breakfast eatery, the average age of the residents must be over 70. I never thought I would feel like such a kid at this point in my life. Fortunately, when we do visit the Siesta Key Village itself, there are a few youngster like ourselves there, usually with their entire families, spending their vacation in condos on the beach.

Lots of cars honking their horns at every opportunity - if you hesitate a moment when the light changes or slow down to make a turn, they are very impatient. Probably due to the fact that cars are always slowing down to make turns in random directions and, due to the average age of the drivers, are most likely asleep at the lights as well. Just something we have observed.

Couple this with the fact that there are lots of motorcycles (no helmets here), mopeds, bicycles and pedestrians vying for road space, everyone is yakking on cell phones in their cars, and Stop signs are treated more or less as Yields, this could be a very scary place to spend much time on the streets.

Still, it is quite pretty and, best of all, there are lots of boats. Of course, they are not sailboats and they have some pretty different ways of finding moorage for them here.

The passage between the mainland and the keys is the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) and all of the islands are connected via draw-bridges. Only observed them being used once so far as most of the boats are short enough not to need them.

We have been pretty lazy here and fully intend to continue in this vain for the foreseeable future. Now, we are just looking for the best deal we can find on some luxury accommodation where we can do just that - location really does not matter much to us.

Pause

Austin, Texas

We have stopped here for a few days to catch our breath and wait out the cold weather in the Southeast. Not a lot of excitement here - mostly just hanging around.

We walked around downtown (university party town) and toured the State Capital and LBJ Museum, both of which are quite interesting, if a bit over the top - Rah Rah Texas (and the good old USA).

I think Austin would be a pretty cool place to be if you are into late night blues and country clubs and general partying - just wander down 6th street at night.

Just so you don't think we have completely forgotten our roots, we did manage to spot this boating related building, in the middle of land-locked Austin.

Now, with the weather warming up and the rain threatening to move in, we have high-tailed it east, as far as somewhere in Louisiana so far. Florida tomorrow...

Carlsbad Rocks!

After a look at the Goddard exhibit in Roswell, we continued on to the Carlsbad Caverns.

These caverns are truly incredible. If you are interested in caves at all, you owe it to yourself to pay a visit. Nothing can really capture the scale of these caves - you have to see it to believe it.

We had visited here almost 20 years ago and almost forgotten just how great it is. While these caves are not as active and colorful as the Kartchner Caverns we saw a couple of days ago, they make up for this with just sheer volume. And you actually allowed to take pictures.

Now, in order to get warm again, we are continuing south on into Texas...

Reality Check

We are in Tombstone, the town that would not die!

We mosey on down the mostly deserted main street, heading for the OK Corral, trying not to make eye contact with the shady characters that are loitering about. We pass the Sheriff, a tall, rangy, mean-looking fellow who obviously is just looking for an excuse to gun down someone who looks out of place. He mumbles a nearly inaudible "howdy" as we come near, while eyeing the suspicious-looking hombre leaning on the hitching post across the street. Could be trouble brewing!

As we quietly walk away, behind us we hear him call out to the outlaw, "I'm out of here in another 30 minutes. How about you?".
"I have to stay until 4:30" he replies.

Thus ends the Tombstone illusion. Or possibly it could have been the dusty, grizzled old-timer standing on the corner handing out menus for the family restaurant just off the main street. "There's a gunfight scheduled for 5 o'clock" he informs us.

Oh well, 30 minutes was about all we could take of the old west before hopping back on our horse and riding out of town.

By contrast, our visit to the Kartchner Caverns was a real hi-lite. These caves have only been opened in the last decade and are probably the best example we have ever seen of an active wet cave - and it has been preserved in a very pristine state. Quite an accomplishment when you see the amount of effort it took to create the man-made access tunnels, complete with air-locks and misting stations, and the beautiful paved wheelchair accessible tourist trails. Definitely worth a visit if you are ever in the area.

Having seen this cavern, we started to wonder how they compared to the Carlsbad Caverns, which we had visited many years ago. So after an overnight in downtown Benson, we drove into New Mexico and are spending a night in Roswell (to check out the UFOs), before we head back south for Carlsbad tomorrow. We would have stopped to see the White Sands Monument when we drove through except that the dunes were extra-white just now with a fresh fall of snow.

Very annoying - it is below zero in Roswell right now!