Florida!!

Flooded street in Key West

Barb with cousins Jim and Olga A nice sunset at Bahia Honda State Park

Roosting white ibis









With cousins Jim and Marisa Alligator!!

After we left Bill's sister Kathy and her husband Ron, we headed south to Naples on the gulf coast. My friend Ann was visiting her mother and brothers and we dropped by for a brief visit. Ann and Barb have been friends for 30 years and Barb had never met any of Ann's family - time to fix that! We had a nice visit at Mrs. Goetten's house and Ann gave us a tour of the beach and pier in Naples. Bill was blown away by the growth in the Naples area since he was there last (47 years ago). We visited the Big Cypress National Reserve and Everglades National Park. We viewed many species of wading birds never seen by Barb before - wood stork, tri-colored heron, little blue heron, great white heron, and a couple that I can't remember right now. Also saw several red-shouldered hawk and a peregrine falcon. We saw at least three dozen alligators - from the safety of the truck! They ranged in length from 6-12 feet. We also had the opportunity to watch the final game of the World Series at a neighbor's camper. He didn't have room for us inside, so we watched through the window while being bitten by mosquitoes! It was worth it - hooray for the Cardinals!!!
We visited Bill's cousin Jim and his wife Marissa in Ft. Lauderdale. These are relatives that Bill has never met, but contacted via e-mail after learning about them through a Google search. Great folks who treated us to a wonderful seafood dinner and a selection of good red wines. Now we have another reason to return to Florida - spend more time with these cousins!
We headed for John Pennecamp State Park on Sunday, October 29. Barb took a snorkeling tour of the Florida Underwater Preserve (part of it anyway). Saw many species of reef fish - just beautiful! She also did some snorkeling over the seagrass flats along one of the keys and saw a sting ray - gave it a wide berth! Bill went fishing and caught a black grouper and a jack crevalle - what a fighter! We had a great time, except for the "no-see-ums". They ate us up on our first night. Bill bought some mosquito coils and we lit one in the camper - got rid of those little devils, so we could get some sleep. Nevertheless, we both look like we have the measles!
We spent two nights at Bahia Honda state park in the lower keys - a beautiful park, but the weather was not condusive to good snorkeling. We went to Key West in the middle of a thunderstorm! Walked along Duval Street and had lunch at Sloppy Joe's - a Key West tradition. The next day, we met Bill's other cousin Jim and his wife Olga. They just happened to be in Key West for the "Meeting of the Minds", an annual Parrothead reunion. These folks are REAL Jimmy Buffett fans! They and their friends are so much fun! It poured down rain all afternoon, so what were we to do but sit on the porch of their B&B drinking beer and shark piss. Shark piss is a mix of equal parts mango, coconut, and pineapple rums - Yikes! Then we made our way through the flooded streets to a Cuban restaurant for dinner. We had never eaten Cuban food and it was very flavorful and yummy. Great time with some fun new friends! Too bad about the weather, but we had a great time anyway.
Today we made the turn and are headed north to Montana with a stop in St. Louis to see Barb's friends Paul and Isabel Allen. More later...