Florida Keys

The Florida Keys are a long chain of keys (islands) that stretch south from Miami to Key West, a distance of 160 miles. It’s a beautiful drive with approximately 40 bridges over crystal blue water from Miami to Key West. There is even a seven mile long bridge going south from Marathon.

The upper keys of Key Largo and Islamorada are known for their sport fishing and John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. The state park consists of a living coral reef where you can snorkel, scuba dive or take a glass bottom boat ride. The abundance and variety of tropical fish is breathtaking. (John and Jeff, remember the barracuda?)

Our destination on Nov 15 was Curry Hammock State Park on Marathon Key. This park is located about half way between Key Largo and Key West. The park consists of a small campground (28 spaces) right on the ocean, a nature trail, and bike path running through it. We spent our time sitting on the beach, hiking the trail and generally kicking back. The weather was warm, (in the 80’s) and slightly humid when we arrived, but a cold front came through, and we had weather in the 70’s and very little humidity the rest of the time. Some cold front, huh?

We are finding that the Florida state campgrounds are first rate. Generally speaking, the spaces are far apart, the restrooms are very clean with free hot showers, and the campgrounds are well maintained and patrolled. Tourism is very important and they like to keep the snowbirds (Yankees and Canadians) happy.

The cooler and less humid weather made for a great visit to Key West. Key West is located about an hour’s drive south of Marathon. It is known for its unique architecture of tin roofs, gingerbread trim, colorful shutters and wraparound verandas. There is definitely a Caribbean influence in the architecture and food. There are many upscale bed and breakfasts, wonderful restaurants and typical tourist shops. Ernest Hemmingway lived here for 10 years and wrote many of his famous works here. A big attraction is visiting his home. A favorite activity in Key West is to watch the sunset at Mallory Square. The sunset is also not so bad at our campsite. There is also a much photographed spot that marks the southern most point of the U.S. that is just 90 miles from Cuba.

Alien Seen on Cocoa Beach!

On Tuesday afternoon we heard a rumbling sound and thought it was another cruise ship coming into the port. Much to our surprise, we spotted a silver object fly over our RV and descend to the beach behind us. Priscilla grabbed her camera and was able to sneak up on the “ship”, where she got the attached picture of a strange being.

We will keep you apprised of future events.

Port Canaveral, Florida (Cocoa Beach)

We left St Augustine, Florida on Wed. Nov 8 and headed south to the former hometown of both John and Pris. John was born in Long Island, NY but moved to Cocoa, Florida with his parents when he was 5 years old. He attended the local schools all twelve years of his schooling. Pris moved from Astoria, Oregon to Cocoa during the middle of her sophomore year in high school. They met in their senior English class and you’ll have to ask them about the rest of the story.

Cocoa, Cocoa Beach, Port Canaveral and surrounding areas are located on the east coast of Florida about half way between Jacksonville and Miami. This area is called the Space Coast because the Kennedy Space Center is located just north of Cocoa Beach/Port Canaveral. John spent his youth making and flying rockets in Cocoa. Perhaps that’s why the Space Center was located here. This is another story to ask him about. His Dad was a brick mason and helped to pour the first concrete pad on the Space Center. The first launch from that pad and from Cape Canaveral was a lower stage built by Von Braun’s team and an upper stage built by JPL.

Jetty Park, where we camped, is located on the south side of the inlet that runs from Port Canaveral to the Atlantic Ocean. Just across the narrow inlet is the Air Force Launch Center and the Kennedy Space Center beyond that. Our campsite was a short distance from the inlet, so we could look over and see the VAB (Vertical Assembly Building) where the space shuttle is kept, and also watch the cruise ships coming and going out of the port. It became a nightly ritual to sit by the side of the inlet with a cocktail and watch the 5:00 PM departure of the cruise ships as the sun was going down. The daytime activity was walking over to the beach to read, collect shells, and watch the abundant wildlife. This area of Florida has the largest breeding area of Loggerhead Turtles and one of the largest different species of birds anywhere in the world. Pris was in seventh heaven.

The highlight of the trip, however, was to reconnect with old high school friends. We spent a great evening with Bill W. who has lived here all of his life and shared many stories about local people and times. We met George and Lois R. for another wonderful evening and getting caught up on family and the last few years. Pris spent a lot of time with her best friend from high school Sharon F. who also happened to be visiting the area.

This area is known for its great fishing and seafood. So we had to have local crab, shrimp and oysters. They have a type of shrimp that is unique to this area that is called rock shrimp. It is smaller but tastier than regular shrimp. I had to have it twice for our son John who has scoured many seafood restaurants looking for it. We thought about you John.

St. Augustine, Florida

We departed from Hannah Park near Jacksonville Beach on Wed. Nov 1. This time our destination was Anastasia State Park located on St. Augustine Beach. It’s approximately a 40 minute drive from Jacksonville, so it was another easy day.

Anastasia Park is considered one of the nicest parks in Florida with a rating of 10 out of 10 pts. The campsites are large, spaced fairly far apart, and private with moss-draped oaks, cypress, magnolias and palm trees. The campsites are located close to the beach and the surf can be heard, particularly at night. The park also includes a slowly flowing lagoon, a marsh, and a barrier island with many birds. We haven’t seen any alligators yet but the armadillos make a nightly run through our campsite.

St. Augustine is the oldest, continuously occupied European settlement in the U. S. Ponce de Leon landed in this area in 1513 in search of the Fountain of Youth. It has been occupied at different times by the Spanish, British and U.S. The Old City has many buildings that date back to colonial times and others are being restored. Many of these buildings are made of coquina rock (a rock composed of compressed sea shells) that is mixed with oyster shells. It is an easy walk around the Old City with its quaint shops, restaurants, and bed and breakfasts. There is also a restored and reconstructed Colonial Spanish Quarter depicting daily life in 1740. There are demonstrations of blacksmithing, carpentry, leather working, coopering, and candle making by costumed interpreters.

One of the highlights of the St Augustine area is the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument. It is the oldest masonry fort in the U.S. It was built in 1672 of coquina rock and has a 12 foot thick wall with draw bridges and a moat surrounding it. You can even see indentations in the wall where it was hit by cannon balls.

This is at the top of our list of wonderful cities to visit.

USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67)

Mayport is a small fishing village on the coast, where the St. Johns River enters the ocean. It is the source of all those wonderful shrimp we have been talking about for weeks! It is also the home of a man made harbor, the Mayport Naval Station.

Our campsite at Hanna Park is about 2-3 miles from the turning basin. From the beach and from the small town of Mayport, we saw this magnificent aircraft carrier tied up at the naval docks. So near but yet so far!

Then last week, Terry W mentioned that a member of his church was going to arrange a tour of the carrier, which turned out to be the USS John F. Kennedy. Would we like to go? Are you kidding?

The church member Tom C was a naval aviator and actually flew off the Kennedy when it was first commissioned in 1968. Some of the stories he told were very interesting, not the type the Navy wants us to know about!

There were about 20 of us that took advantage of the wonderful offer. Tom was actually piped aboard as a naval captain retired. I don’t think JPL does that.

We were given a very complete tour, including the hangar deck, flight deck, the Admirals Bridge (if the fleet commander is aboard), the Captains Bridge, the galleys, wardrooms and messes (navy for cafeteria). The Captains mess is pretty nice.

The full operational compliment is 5000 sailors, 3000 to sail the ship and 2000 to service the air arm. The air arm can be up to about 70 aircraft. That is larger than most of the nations air forces around the world!

The Kennedy is slated for decommissioning and does not have an air arm on board. So there are no operational fixed wing aircraft on board. There is one gutted F 14 on the flight deck for the crew to practice.

Thanks to Tom, this tour was special.