Our Vacation From Our Vacation

We took a vacation from our Great Loop vacation, by staying at a very nice, small marina/resort in Marathon (mid-way down the Florida Keys) for half of January and most of February.

At our dock, were our friends Loretta and Bob, who greeted us with Champagne upon our arrival, and were one slip away from us on their boat, "Carol Anne." In addition, there were six other Loopers, and several other couples on large fishing boats, all-in-all creating a very friendly neighborhood.

Entrance to our marina/resort

My new sister, Loretta 

Sunset from our slip

"Carol Anne" and "Humbug"separated by fishing boat

In addition to our dock pals, we made friends with several of the long-term renters of the condos at the resort, some of whom joined us at the marina for docktails.

Me making friends at the pool

We also made friends with a couple of Iguanas that hung around the pool.

Our Iguana friends

At first, it was hard to slow down, but it didn't take long to fall into our almost daily routine of biking 10 miles in the morning, reading and swimming at the pool all afternoon and docktails at 5:30.

Bike trail - Grassy Key

 

Coconuts on the palms surrounding the pool

Jan and Loretta 

Our friends, Ralph and Jan, who had last cruised with us on Lake Michigan in August, joined us for a few days to thaw out from a long, cold, snowy (5') Chicago winter.                                      
One day, while they were with us, we took a launch out to Pigeon Key and took a tour. Pigeon Key is a small island part way out on the old 7 Mile Bridge. It was used by Henry Flagler, who built the railroad to Key West, as a support camp for his engineers and workers.

On the way to Pigeon Key

If you don't know the story about how Flagler built that railroad, please read "Last Train to Paradise." It's fascinating.

Old US 1 was built on top of Flagler's railroad, and was in use until 1982 when it was replaced by the new, 4-lane highway.

Old , 2-lane 7 Mile Bridge built on top of railroad

February is a big month for the Beers. Our anniversary is the 8th and my birthday is the 14th, which is also Valentines Day.

29 years and still happy

Roses that arrived on Valentines Day

My Valentine/Birthday dinner

Because we had a car, we were very popular at our dock. I was the driver for Looper ladies' trips to the Saturday Farmers Market and to Publix for food.

Foraging trip to Publix

Farmers Market

Pete was the driver of the boys to West Marine, the liquor store and the old plane exhibit.

P-51 Mustang (our dock pal, Jimmy, took a 1-hr ride for $3,200!)

We became connoisseurs of Tiki Hut restaurants and spent one particularly lovely evening at Sunset Grill, which is right at the beginning of the 7 Mile Bridge,

You can swim and drink in the Sunset Grill pool

with Loretta and Bob and their Canadian friends, Sandy and Glenn.

















In addition to our human neighbors at the dock, we had a couple of interesting other neighbors - all with incredibly high horse power.

Customs boat

One was a Customs boat that went out several times a week with brawny, gun-wielding young men on board.

Pete says this is our next boat

All good things must come to an end, so after almost 6 weeks at out wonderful, little resort/marina, we reluctantly started our journey north toward home. I'm typing this in Key Largo, which is our first stop since Marathon, and tomorrow we leave for Coconut Grove (Miami) to see my friend, from the time we were 3 years old, Mary.

My opinion of Florida has much improved