In Key West

I did not blog yesterday because it took so long to get here!  My advice to fellow adventure seekers is to avoid driving to Key West on a Friday!  Once we were on U.S. 1 - the only road in, traffic was very slow.  Gary and Nancy were ahead of us and they got stuck at a solid speed of zero for 45 minutes because there was an accident.  By the time we got to the same spot traffic was moving but only about 5 mph.  The highway is a beautiful drive across the ocean from island to island.

Yesterday we decided to take US 27 down through the middle of the state.  We stayed off the tollroad for the most part and drove through Florida's orange groves and cattle country.  Orange trees were everywhere. Some in neatly tended rows and others just growing wild.  I really wanted to pull over and grab a few.  It seems so odd to have a crop being harvested in March.  We drove past the Florida Natural plant - it smelled like fresh squeezed orange juice for a few miles!  We also noticed the smell of orange blossoms for miles along the road.

We did wash the car, so I don't feel so bad about the way it looks.  And we took a detour out of our way looking for a gas station or rest area where we could change drivers.  Those two activities set us back about one hour!  Oh well - we are on vacation after all.  When we arrived in Key West we used the locator on our phones to find the condo.  The traffic was jammed and confusing and the roads are under construction near the condo, so it was very confusing.  The locator on the phone really saved us!

Today it is sunny and warm - no surprise - and it rains a bit each day.  When we went out for a walk this morning, we walked on the beach and felt a few rain drops as we were finishing our walk.  Since it is St. Paddy's Day we walked to the local Irish bar a couple of blocks from the condo (it was called Shanna Key) and had a couple of beers and split a corned beef sandwich (excellent).  Then we walked back to the condo, stopping at the local market for a small bag of charcoal to cook some steak.  The market was hilarious.  Someone called the owner and then hung up!  He said that he hated "drive by phoning."  I teased the person ahead of me in line about the beer being mine and he volunteered to buy me a beer.  Great attitude.

We are headed out to the pool for some lounge time.  Time has a whole different meaning here and I'm not quite with the program yet.  Everyone else seems to be with it, so I'll get there eventually.

 U.S. 1 South - we were there for a looonngg time!

 Coming into Key West.  Traffic was still heavy (but moving) and there were crowds of people everywhere.  This seems to be a very festive place!