Day 13 The True Meaning of Cheap

Well not too much to report today. Yesterday we left Key West, took the compulsory pictures at Mile Marker 0 on Rt. 1 and the Southernmost Point do dad, and headed North. We had made reservations at an Econo Lodge in the Homestead/Florida City area. Along the way, we stopped at the T-shirt outlet again, to replace a Croc Letter I had lost. You could say, "Wes lost his S in Key West" (as opposed to those who loose their S’s in Las Vegas or Atlantic City). We Easily found our reserved motel, and then the fun started. When we walked in the front door, there was no one around. Vickie rang the bell a couple times, but no one around. Finally the phone happened to ring, and all of a sudden this 300-year-old Pakistani woman came out from the back room looking like she just rolled out of bed. She answered the phone and then tried to check us in. After banging the mouse on the counter several times she looked for help. About that time the second shift desk clerk arrived (a pretty red head in tight jeans with a stunning body) She also tried the computer, but with no luck. Then the owner came in who was apparently the 300-year old woman’s husband. After much very loud talking, it was established that the computer was locked up. They gave us keys and told us to go on to the room, we could check in later. We got to the room, which was ok, nothing special, but clean and discovered a unique set up. It had said on the board at the desk that the refrigerator and microwave were an additional charge. The way they accomplished this was totally hi tech. There was a crude wooden box affixed to the wall, and the plugs for the fridge and microwave were locked inside. After I agreed to the $1.00 per day up charge, they told me to tell the cleaning woman in the hall to turn the things on. Well I told her, and she looked at me like I was speaking Swahili. I waited for 15 or 20 minutes, and then checked again. They told me they had given the approval to another guy. He finally met me in the room and we got everything plugged in and tested. Of course to save money, the AC unit had been left off, (it was 92 outside) so it took quite a while for the room to cool down. Another interesting aside about this particular establishment: they are apparently in the middle of a large painting project (roller and tray with paint in them sitting in the hall most of the afternoon) but the person who is doing the painting is blind. All over the motel, there are large globs of paint on everything possible that isn’t supposed to have it. Since the place did have a coin laundry, we decided to do that chore because we really needed to. All that went reasonably well, and while the clothes were drying, we went just down the road to Sonny’s (Sonny Tillman who is apparently famous) Barbecue, and had "Ribs for 2" which was quick and good. We returned and forgot to look at the lunar eclipse. After a good night’s sleep (listening to the AC unit cycle on and off 745,692 times, I believe t he control logic of these particular units could use some massaging) we arose to the free Continental Breakfast. As I have espoused before, there are different levels of Continental Breakfast service. This particular one was not advertised as "Deluxe", so I figured it would be basic. What it ended up being was downright cheap. You had your choice of toast (wheat or white) margarine, grape jelly, coffee, and tea. There was instant oatmeal, but no milk. There was no fruit of any kind, and the usual weird juice machine with orange and apple. They had also taken (what looked like) Little Debby Honey Buns, and cut them in half, still in the wrappers. Of course, there was no microwave (unless you had sprung for the $1.00 one in the room—but the sign expressly forbid returning to the room with any food) so what you got was what you saw. We dined gloriously, then set about planning our Everglades adventures for the day. More later.

Wes and Vickie

p.s. Had meant to write about this sooner but it was again this morning emphasized to the greatest degree I have seen so far. As frequent travelers may already know, Holiday Inn Express started a great idea by using curved shower rods that greatly expanded the area inside the shower (a good idea which I adopted at my own house). Since then, most (even the small ones) motel chains have stolen this idea. Only problem appears to be in execution. No one seems to have told the installers that the desired end result is more space in the shower so 90 percent of the newly installed rods are installed 6-8 inches back from the old rod mounting points (which are usually visible due to patched mounting holes). End result is they actually make the shower smaller. A good idea gone sour.

Days 11 and 12 in Key West

We just returned from the ferry trip out to Dry Tortugas National Park. What a day. We got up at 06:00 to make sure we were there by the appointed check in time, so no time this morning for writing. Yesterday, we toured Key West quite a bit. We spent some time in the pool in the morning, and then wandered around Duvall St. etc for the balance of the day. We had lunch at the famous Hog’s Breath Saloon, and appeared on their web cam during lunch. We had drinks and dinner at the Roof Top Café on Front St. watching the sun go down and then joined the Sunset Celebration. At the Roof Top Cafe, we sampled 2 of their specialties. They have Blue Crab Bisque that is better than anything I’ve had in a long time, and they are famous for one of the best Key Lime Pies in town. Both were incredibly good. We wandered around town as the evening wore on taking in the redundant junk stores, and the increasingly interesting street life. This place reminds me of New Orleans before it was devastated. It sort of comes alive at night. Only difference is they don’t close Duvall like they did Bourbon St. As I said before, we had an early morning today catching the Fast Cat to Dry Tortugas. We boarded the boat and enjoyed a good continental breakfast as we left the harbor. The Fast Cat is a catamaran that can hold about 100 people. We had about 60 or so folks on today for the trip. We hadn’t quite expected how rough the trip might be. The further we got out into the Gulf, the rougher it got. Vickie and I both managed to not blow chunks, by sitting quietly, concentrating, and looking out at the horizon full time. The trip takes about 2 hr and 20 minutes. I would have loved to read my book, but was not possible. We finally arrived at the park (Ft. Jefferson) and got onto dry land. They offered a tour of the fort, but Vickie and I sort of went off on our own, and saw most everything. The history of the fort is amazing. They had to haul all the supplies to build it there by ship, along with all the supplies for the builders. There must be 10 billion bricks in the thing, and it’s 70 miles from Key West in the middle of the Gulf. They had a horrible time just keeping the garrison in food and water. The fort was constructed with 1,500,000 gallons of cistern storage for rainwater. Even today, the park rangers that man the place use stored rainwater for sanitation, and reverse osmosis for potable water. It said the rangers do 3-year tours of duty on this remote island. Must take a special breed to want to do it. Just beside the Fort Island was a bird island that is host to millions of nesting Sooty Terns. It was nesting season, and the racket from the swarming birds was incredible. After touring the Fort, we had a great lunch on the boat, and then set out to snorkel. We met some folks from Michigan that had been camping on the island for 3 nights. When I say camping, this place has no water, no ice, no showers, and no food. It is totally primitive camping. You ride t he ferry out, and bring everything you need with you. They said they’d been three days without a fresh water shower, but after all the tourists left and they were there with only a few campers, it was worth it. Like being on a desert island. We were afraid the water would bee too cold for snorkeling, but as it turned out, it was cool but not unbearable. We had a great afternoon sharing the water with coral and fish. We saw a great big Parrot Fish, a bunch of Groupers, Yellow Tails, and I saw about a 3-foot Barracuda. I’d have loved to have a wet suit and about 2 days to spend there (hence the camping). We also learned from the boat crew, that Dry Tortugas is very often the landing place for Cuban refugees. The way it works is, if they make it "feet dry" to the island, they get to go to the US. If they get intercepted prior to that, they are sent back to Cuba. Someone told Vickie that to get on a "fast boat" with some guarantee of success costs about $6,000. By the time we got on th e boat and headed back, I must have had my "sea legs" because I picked up my book and read it most of the trip back. The book and I were swaying in unison, and other than continuously having to refocus my eyes, no ill effects. We got back to the harbor, took advantage of our 10% discount at the Fast Cat’s T-shirt store, and can literally say "been there, done that, bought the T-shirt". We cruised back to the Simonton and enjoyed the early evening with a good drink, good shower, and time just sitting on our porch overlooking the bustle on Simonton Street as twilight engulfs the buildings sort of like a blue and pink fog. Will have to search out some food and drink for the evening, but then as they say, "the evening is young" Tomorrow its back on the road to the Everglades. More later. Well didn’t get this sent last night, so now it’s Saturday morning. Last night we got to experience Key West on a Friday night with a full moon. Place was wide open. Unless you were DUI or peeing in th e street, whatever you were doing was probably OK. We found out today that Kenny Chesney made an unannounced visit and 3-hr concert at the Hog’s Breath Saloon. Oops, we were out snorkeling and surviving the boat trip. Folks we talked to said it was quite a crowd however became extremely rowdy.

Wes and Vickie

Day 10 Landed in Key West

After a beautiful drive down the Keys yesterday, we landed in Key West. Our room wasn’t quite ready, but our parking space was. Parking in Key West is problematic at best. To illustrate, we walked past one parking lot that had a sign "All Day Parking $10". This was around 1pm. A couple of hours later this same lot was "All Day Parking $15" (less time for more money assuming the day ended at midnight). Our pre-reserved parking spot was one of 8 spaces owned by the inn that go for $20 a day. With the car safely disposed of we adjourned to the Conch Republic located on the waterfront for Margaritas (many) and lunch. Vickie and I split a cup of conch chowder and a Caesar salad with blackened tuna. End result was a $63 lunch but the scenery was great. After lunch we wandered around the harbor and then went back to claim our room. The room is unique and great. This whole inn is like an oasis in the middle of old town Key West. There are four small heated pools and a labyrinth of corri dors almost completely engulfed in lush tropical foliage. The structures are all tin roof and clapboard that appear to have been here for a hundred years (which may be true because the inn was created from the original Simonton cigar factory and outbuildings. Mr. Simonton was the man who originally purchased the island of Key West for $2,000 from the Spanish). In any event, it a superior establishment that warrants it’s relatively steep rates by non Key West standards. After claiming our room, some mysterious time warp happened that may be due to the Key West latitude. But somehow, there was an interaction between the room clock, Vickie, and a derelict watch (left over from the Aruba trip in a beach bag). End result, we thought it was two hours later than it really was. We went to the pool to get some relaxation prior to heading out to the sunset celebration. I should have been suspicious when we were at the pool for a long time and there was no hint of the sun going down. Finally I decided we had better get going or we would miss the sunset. Once again I should have been suspicious when we got to the room and it was 6:30 and there was still no sign of the sun going down. We changed clothes and headed for Mallory Square only to get there and realize that it was only 5pm according to the cell phone. We found a spot in the shade and watched the wild chickens run in and out of the restaurants while the Mallory Square sunset celebration slowly materialized. The performers have a unique method of establishing their turf. They lay out ropes on the ground around the perimeter of their performance area. This pseudo fence keeps the crowd at bay and establishes their territory. The performers are a motley crew of jugglers, sword swallowers, acrobats, unicycle riders, and generally all around lunatics. The stars of the "show" are first the sun and second the Cat Man. The Cat Man is indescribable but I’ll try…..He is a performer who trains common alley cats to do intere sting tricks like a mini lion tamer. However, he is a late 40’s Frenchman with long blonde hair and about three bricks shy of a load. He reminds me of a mime that talks. I understood one percent of everything he grunted. The cats, however, responded to his every command. He is a total demonstration of the saying that there is a niche for everyone. The whole sunset scene at Mallory Square has to be experienced to be totally appreciated. There were boats of all descriptions going in seemingly random directions. A pirate ship passed by in full sail. All the performers were plying their trade. The vendors were selling all manners of trinkets and outrageously overpriced food and drinks. I bought Vickie a small $4.00 bag of popcorn which she said was excellent but I thought tasted just like popcorn She questioned the vendor about the price in jest and he simply said "Hey it’s Key West….what do you expect?" From here the evening gets slightly blurry. During the Cat Man’s performance I dis covered an interesting little bartender quietly plying his trade across from the Cat Man. He made something for a man in front of me called a rum punch with a Bacardi floater. Not sure exactly what was in it but it looked big and tasty. I ordered one of the same. I suspect the Bacardi floater, which was an extra cost option, was 151 proof dark rum. All I know is that it tasted real good and had a nice hunk of pineapple on it. After cheering the Cat Man to glory, I invited Vickie to join me for another rum punch with a Bacardi floater. We got our drinks and she commented on how tasty they were. After that I remember buying a couple of over priced hotdogs from a vendor with a huge assortment of mustards and hot sauces. We at our hotdogs sitting on the curb and then attempted to trek back to the inn. What time we arrived is anybody’s guess (or for that matter how we even found the inn). The next thing I remember is the garbage truck coming in the middle of the night and sounding like it was crushing a car directly under my window. The operator cycled the mechanism on the truck numerous times at the maximum engine rpm to make sure everything was crushed. Since we were on the second floor, his exhaust stack was about even with my window. I was glad the old glass had been hurricane tested. Then he proceeded to leave with the compulsory beep, beep, beep, of the back up alarm and yelping air brakes. I went back to sleep only to be awakened by Vickie telling me we had to get up for breakfast because it was 8:30. I once again was suspicious of the time as it was still dark. She went outside to check and low and behold the sun was just coming up and it was really 6:30. We ended up down at the pool around 7:30 awaiting breakfast at 8:30 and me dictating this report to Vickie as I sip my Bloody Mary. The clock has now been assigned to the correct time zone. All is well with the world and Key West is pretty close to Paradise. As we saw yesterday on the police car "To Serv e and Protect Paradise". Send money….we love it here.

Wes & Vickie

PS More pictures

Day 9 Key Largo to Islamorada

Well today we left our cozy suite at Marina Del Mar, and relocated to Lime Tree Resort which said it was in Islamorada, but is actually on the South end of a little village called Layton. As we came further south, it really started to seem like the keys. Bridges, islands, and visible water on both sides. This is really a beautiful place. Our latest landing spot, is a very quiet, older seaside resort in a very unpopulated area. My car is parked in front of the room 50’ from the ocean. I’m writing this under a tiki hut 25’ from the ocean, with a cool onshore breeze and a glass of Martini & Rossi Asti. Vickie is in a hammock suspended between 2 trees nearby. She just said I should stop and pick her up on the way back from Key West. This once again is something I just picked out from the Internet and turned out just about the way I pictured it. It is probably little changed in the last 40 years. Had a weird experience getting here today. The GPS insisted the place was abo ut 4 miles North of here. We pulled in and it looked like some kind of flea market. Knowing it was wrong, we returned to the road, and relied on the mile markers and finally found it. We were early so we asked where the Post Office was. (we wanted to mail our sweat pants home to make more room). We did the mailing, and then asked the lady where to get lunch. She directed us to the Islamorada Fish Co., which was a restaurant and seafood store. Dining was outside and the food was great. While there the lady beside us told us to check out Robbies’ where you could feed the Tarpon from the dock. She said it had been featured on 60 minutes. I thanked her, and after lunch we proceeded to look for Robbies’. As it turns out, Robbies’ was the exact same place we had pulled into thinking it was our resort (according to the GPS). We paid the $1.00 admission out to the docks, and really did see huge Tarpon just hanging around the dock. For $2.79, you could buy a small bucket of whole dead fish to feed them. We didn’t have to, because several fathers had already dutifully bought buckets for their children. The Tarpon literally climbed over each other to get the fish. Of course you have to run the pelicans off to keep them from snatching all the fish away from the Tarpons. It was amazing, and the fish were huge. I think Vickie got some good pictures. We left Robbies’ and headed back South to our resort. The room was ready so we moved in and hit the beach. No Internet here, so this will be a day late coming. We had a relaxing afternoon, and a good dinner at the Italian Fish Restaurant next door called Little Italy Seafood. We had a thunderstorm last night, and this morning we packed up and headed down the road after both voting NO to a tour of the as yet unstarted (only thing complete is a small boat dock) NEW Lime Tree Resort Condos starting at $800,000. After an absolutely gorgeous drive with the roof down, we arrived at Key West. What a great place. Now we’re back on the WiFi again. More later.

Wes and Vickie

Day 8 Hanging at Key Largo

Good day yesterday. We lazed around in the morning, and then laid by the pool all afternoon. We went to the dockside restaurant for lunch. Had conch chowder, coconut crusted shrimp with coconut rum dipping sauce, and fried cracked conch strips. After the lunch hour, we retired to the pool and did some water exercise. (well Vickie did some then slept by the pool while I finished) Later we watched the pelicans and cranes beg for fish scraps from the fishing boat when it came in to clean fish. Then it was off to Coconut’s bar to enjoy some frosty treats and a rather amazing guy. They had a performer with a modicum of talent, and a mastery of electronic assistance. He had a keyboard, 2 speakers, an amp and a mic. He could play any song, as long as it was on one of the floppy discs he plugged into the keyboard. He did, however, have a lot of showmanship and a voice that was quite adaptable. He kept the crowd rolling long into the night. You can imagine an open-air dockside bar, and a hundred or so folks singing along and dancing to oldies through Jimmy Buffet. We met a lot of folks, and partied till it was time to stroll down the dock to bed. This resort has made it to the top of our short list. We will be back here again. Thinking of working up a lounge act and coming back "on the circuit" next winter. This morning, it’s off to Ismorelda and hopefully some new adventure.

As ever,

Wes and Vickie

Day 7 all the way to Key Largo

ay 7 all the way to Key Largo

We lazed around yesterday a.m. and then hit Rt. 1 for the short trip further South. Around Florida city, we picked up Rt. 905 which is a secondary road across a toll bridge ($1.00) to the Northernmost point in the Keys. It was a beautiful drive with little or no traffic. When it got to the Keys it made a "T", so we decided to see what was North from there. It was only about 2 miles, and we ended up at some kind of gated community called Ocean Reef Club. I checked it out on the web, and it is very interesting and appears exclusive. We turned around there and headed South to Key Largo. After all the stress and mess of Miami, just driving here was a pleasure. The roadside is dotted with fishing and diving businesses, along with local type restaurants and boat sales. We came into, and passed through Key Largo without ever seeing the place we were to stay. We got out the trusty Delorme, and Vickie guided me right to it. We were immediately pleasantly surprised. We had picked our dest ination from the Internet with little more than what the web site told us. The resort is off Rt. 1 on a nice quiet boat harbor where the fishing and diving boats come and go. It has numerous moorings that are full of beautiful boats. Our room (which for some unknown reason was upgraded to a King Suite) is on the 3rd floor with a deck overlooking the main boat channel. Across the way from us is a Lagoon 440 catamaran that we looked up on the Internet this morning. It carries a $585,000 base price, with a long available options list. The resort is old style Keys with hurricane shutters on the windows and all concrete construction. It is in very good repair, and quite comfortable. There is a large open-air restaurant and bar called Coconuts serving lunch and dinner with happy hour from 4-7 p.m. During happy hour, they have peel and eat shrimp, steamed clams, and oysters on the ½ shell. Also conveniently, the shuttle to the gambling boat leaves here several times a day. Vickie availed herself of that last night while I went to the bar for oysters and beer. I think we may have found a new home away from home. This place is idyllic, convenient, laid back, and reasonable. Might just have to buy a boat, and move to a mooring here. Today we are just vegging out enjoying the sunshine and ocean breeze. Plan to hit the restaurant for some cracked conch for lunch, and spend a little time in the pool. More later.

Wes and Vickie

PS - some pictures

Day 6 South from Vero Beach

It was the best of times and it was the worst of times. Don't remember what novel that comes from, but it truly describes our day yesterday. We got up, got moving, and stopped by a very nice coin car wash to get the crud off Mr. Vette. The car wash was one of the nicest I've been to, and had this new do dad that has a nozzle and lets you blow-dry your car. It's sort of like a captive leaf blower with a hose and hand nozzle. Using that after the spot free rinse gave an excellent result. We pulled out to a nice finish up area, and did a little detailing. We then went next door and paid the highest for gas so far on the trip. Chevron premium for $2.68. After fuel, we hooked up with our friends Neil and Andrea to visit for a while. They live in a very nice gated community in the Southern part of Vero Beach. After a nice but too brief visit with them, we headed South again on A1A. It was a 100% perfect day, with the roof down, sun shining, and about 76 degrees. As has been the norm, A1A is difficult to follow, but with Vickie on the Delorme, we persevered and kept with it. As we proceeded South, we passed through different named areas, but eventually came to West Palm and Palm Beach. WOW, this is where some of the old money must be in Florida. As we traveled A1A going South toward Ft. Lauderdale, we passed ocean front castle like houses, with landscaping that must receive daily attention. Most had walls and/or 10-ft high perfectly manicured hedges, with ornate iron gates. It impossible to describe how beautiful all of the landscaping was. The sub tropical climate here allows them to grow exotic plants, and what we consider annuals grow in unbelievable colorful abundance. Another thing I noticed was of the oncoming traffic, every third car was a Porsche, Bentley, Jaguar, Aston Martin, and occasionally a Ferrari. This is where they must sell all those exotic cars. Up until this point, we had a perfect day, but things started going a little sour. We thought we might land for the night in Pompano Beach, but we were unable to score a decently priced place. So Wes said, Ft. Lauderdale is where all the kids go for Spring Break so there must be hundreds of rooms. So we drove on South. Somehow, we never seemed to find where the hundreds of hotel rooms were in Ft. Lauderdale, and the traffic got really abominable. So Wes said, let head back toward Rt. 1 or I-95, there ought to be lots of rooms there. What we didn't know was that snowstorms up north had snarled air traffic, and everything we tried was booked solid. We found a Holiday Inn that still had 2 rooms left for only $309.95 each plus tax. The clerk cheerfully told us it was "just supply and demand" but I call it extortion. We tried a Marriott we found in downtown Miami, and it was in the $260.00 range, so Wes said, I'm heading South on I-95 until we get out of town. Don't know if anyone has ever driven I-95 from Hollywood FL South through Miami, but best I can tell you is DON'T. It is 8 lanes of dodgem car insanity. And then to really fool you, you are rolling along on I-95 and there is a sign that says Junction RT 1 and it literally does that. One moment you are barreling along I-95 with 5000 other idiots, the next you are on Rt. 1 and stopping for traffic lights. I've never seen such a mess in my life (except maybe Northern VA or Cranberry Township in PA). Well we kept on driving, finding nothing, (it's now about 9:00 p.m. with no supper) until we spotted a Best Western. About 3 turnarounds and a couple of U-turns later, I came the wrong way into the driveway. We got a room for a reasonable price and crashed. Turns out in addition to everything else 10 gazillion people were also in town for the Food Network's big deal in South Beach. (found out via the paper this morning) Today we are going to continue to head South, we'll just have to come back and see South Beach and Miami Beach another time. Since we got a little ahead of schedule due to last night's marathon drive, we called the resort in Key Largo, and they agreed to extend our stay for another day at the same rate. So, we aregoing to head for Key Largo today and check in there tonight. Looking forward to some laid back R&R. More later.

Wes and Vickie

Day 5 South to Vero Beach

What a day what a day what a day, this is long, but quite a bit to relate. Got up early this morning, and watched the sunrise. We were planning to go Kennedy Space Center or as it’s called again now Cape Canaveral. (today I actually learned the real distinction between the two) We headed out and drove Rt. 3 North into the visitor’s center. Let me preface all this with, I had a great time, but I am appalled at how poorly run/managed the Space Center Visitors Center is. Please don’t think I am negative about the Space Center experience, but given 6 months as manager, I could improve the operation by 600%. We arrived and got in line to pay for our admission. Of about 16 or 18 possible booths only about 8 were open. The lines were fairly short but extremely slow moving due to the complexity of the purchase transaction at the window. I was also not real impressed with the price--$38.00 per person general admission and $59.00 if you took one of the special tours. We decided we wanted to take the special tour, and had a coupon for $3.50 off each, so we went for it. I figured, we might not be back any time soon. As it turns out it was worth it. But then in the meantime, you had to go through a rough parody of airport security. What another circus. NASA could certainly learn a few things from TSA. Of course they are both government agencies—who would ever expect them to talk to each other. We finally got inside, and jumped on the 11:30 showing of the #1 IMAX movie. All sounds pretty good to here, but reality of it is getting everyone seated in the IMAX Theater was akin to the confusion of buying the admission tickets. They could have opened the doors on both sides, and filled the theater quickly and efficiently. But, they insisted on having an entrance and exit side, and yelling steadily at everyone to move all the way to the right to make room. Well the folks that got there early and got the good center seats were not about to move to the right, so they promptly ignored the yelling lady, and so all the late arrivals ended up crawling over seat backs to get to the seats on the right side of the theater. Finally everyone managed to struggle to a seat, and the movie was great and very inspirational. This one was made by Tom Hanks, and was so incredible. The movie finished up about 12:15 and we needed to get something to eat prior to the next 1:00 movie. We went directly across to the food court, and once again, confusion reigned. They had three lines, one for burgers and stuff, one for Italian stuff, and one for the salad and wrap carousel. (which was a pretty interesting idea, it continually rotated at they kept stocking it with salads, wraps and stuff behind the wall) Only problem with all this was 1 they didn’t have enough trays. 2. All the lines backed up and blocked the check out lines. 3. The lines crossed over and blocked each other 4. The lines blocked the drink stations 5. You could walk out past the cashiers without paying if you we re dishonest (or tired of waiting) cause they were so covered up by the intersecting lines they didn’t have any idea who paid and who didn’t. Vickie and I got 2 pretty good-looking salads (not real large) and 2 medium size drinks. The bill was $24.17. But then a hot dog was $7.99. We stuffed down our lunch (which was quite good) and then went through the same circus filling the second IMAX Theater. We got out of the second movie in time to check out the Missile Garden of old space missiles. Soon it was time and we headed over to the bus loading area. Once again we stood in line waiting on our particular bus for the special tour. Boy were we ever in luck. As it turned out the shuttle is due to launch on March 15, and was just rolled out to the launch pad this week before we got there. We got to see everything as the tour says "Up close and personal". Our guide was very knowledgeable, and the expanded tour is definitely worth the money over the standard tour. Also, since Cape Canaver al is a 250 square mile nature preserve, we got to see all kinds of water birds, wild boars, alligators, and several bald eagles. The eagles were worth the trip alone. One of them was sitting on a light pole, and when the bus came by started zooming and swooping all around the bus. Guide said it was probably just showing off. All this space stuff is unbelievable when you see it in the flesh, so huge and larger than life. Make the trip sometime if you haven’t, you won’t be disappointed. The tour concluded with dumping us off at the Saturn V building. The Saturn V building holds a full scale moon rocket that was never used, not a model or mock up—the real thing. It is so big as to be incomprehensible. They also have the real original mission control room, just as it was during the last moon flight. Looking at all this (60’s) technology, it is staggering to think that men got in that stuff, and flew to the moon. The guide said the first Apollo computers had less memory than a hand hel d calculator today. I’m a believer. The astronauts are all VERY brave people. Another interesting thing, they are in the final construction stages of a Disney World type shuttle flight simulator, which will hold 45 people at a time. They used astronauts that had actually flown on the shuttle as consultants, and the guide told me, they (the astronauts) said, they had really nailed the experience. Of course, given our experience with the whole Visitors Center thingy, you’ll have to stand in line for 3 hrs to get in, and then crawl over the seat backs to get into it. After visiting the Visitors Center, you have to wonder how NASA ever manages to launch anything. Hopefully the guy running the Visitors Center is not in charge of anything else. We were quite late getting out of Kennedy---oh yea, the distinction. Cape Canaveral Air Force Base (which still exists) was the site of all the manned launches up till Apollo 3. All manned launches after that moved to Kennedy Space Center, which i s on Cape Canaveral (the landmass). (confused yet?) Then recently the Government decided to change the name back to Cape Canaveral Space Center, but they have not changed the signage or anything else. But then it’s the Government, so who would expect anything less. As I said, we were late getting out of there, it is really a full day if you see a lot—2 if you see everything. So we jumped on I95, and I defended my turf in the fast lane at 85 mph for about 60 miles. We got to Vero Beach, crashed at a Best Western, and walked across 4-lane Rt. 60 to the IHOP for dinner. Will see our friends in Vero Beach in the morning, and then head south on A1A.

Wes & Vickie

Day 4 Daytona South to Canaveral

This morning we didn’t get a real early start, Vickie walked on the beach, and I made like the closet writer I am, sitting looking at the ocean and pounding the keys. We didn’t go very far—about 5 or 6 miles over to Daytona USA at the Daytona racetrack. On the way Vickie (having been once to the Daytona 500) was relating to me what it is like when 250-300,000 folks descend upon the place. Looking around, and knowing what race weekend is like in Martinsville, I could imagine what a circus it must be. Since our timing was perfect (between race week and bike week) Daytona USA was not mobbed, and we had a very pleasurable time. Our guidebook, which now is quite a few years old, said admission was 12 dollars. Well now it’s 24 but we had found 2, 3-dollar coupons in some Daytona coupon books, so it ended up being $44 and change for 2. (we aren’t old enough for the senior rate yet) We wandered around a little and planned our attack. Next track tour was 11:30 and next IMAX Theater show was 12:30. While waiting for the track tour, I hit the snack bar for a little booster. (Vickie hit the huge souvenir store to look around) $6 and change later I was the proud owner of a plain hotdog, and medium drink that was mostly ice. I took advantage of the generous condiment bar (mustard, ketchup, and relish, nothing else) and soon had a lovely dog. Consuming my glorious repast, we got in line, and boarded the tram for the tour. After thoroughly annoying the woman behind me by telling her to shut up so I could hear the narration, we enjoyed the tour. (I’m usually such a polite guy, but the louder the narration got the louder this woman talked) First thing that amazed us was how big the track really is. Can’t even imagine it from looking at it on TV. Second was the banking and track. The 31 degree banking is STEEP, and the track isn’t very wide at all. I have quite a respect for those guys going 2 and 3 wide @ 190 MPH on it. On the other hand, I’d kill to be on there by myself in theVette, and put my foot in it till I scared myself. (or ran out of gas) After the track tour, we went back inside and looked around till time for the IMAX Theater presentation. We got great seats, cleaned our special 3D glasses and got ready. The first feature was all about the Daytona 500, and was in normal vision. Part of it was very touching when they showed Dale Earnhardt Sr. and you realized what a real part of the sport he really was. Also, the shots of the old guys reminded you of where the sport had really come from. The second feature was the IMAX part and it was the story of NASCAR. The IMAX experience has to be experienced to understand it. It’s like the old 3D movies, but in techno spades. Literature said they had a 12,000-watt sound system. I believe it. Even Wes, who is half-deaf and likes loud music, thought it was loud. They needed to do about 87% of what they had it set at. All in all, it was a great show and quite moving when it showed the giant flag, huge cr owd, National Anthem, bald eagle, and fighter plane fly overs. After the theater, we toured the rest of the exhibits, and headed out. On the way out we caught a late lunch at the Krystal Burger. (sort of like White Castle, but not as good) Everyone will be glad to hear they have added a few things to their menu. They now have mini pups (3 bite hot dogs) mini corn dogs and mini chicken sandwiches. Every selection full of artery clogging goodness. Oh and the Krystal now has free WiFi so you can surf while eating, to take your mind off the mega calories and fat you are consuming. We left Krystal, and jumped on I95 to get South of Daytona. Cruising down the Interstate, Vickie studied the Delorme, and found something called Rt. 3 that went off Rt. 1 down through some kind of wetlands nature preserve. We jumped off and picked that up. It was scenic, and we had the road to ourselves, until. Oops, here is the security gate for Kennedy Space Center, and we have to turn around. Well we took a detour back over to Rt. 1 and headed South again. While we were driving, Vickie wanted me to consult about our route and final destination for the day. So I pulled over into an asphalt turnoff, beside some railroad tracks. We were sitting there looking at the computer and maps, and all of a sudden there was a loud knock at the window. Just about scared me to death. It was some local Sheriff dude, telling us "we were trespassing on railroad property". I told him we just stopped to look at the map and he none to politely told us to move along. Boy does he need to get a life. I’m sure he was just bored, and figured harassing some guy in a Vette was a good pass time. (I mean, it just looked like a little side road) Well we moved along, and took Rt. 528 off Rt. 1 toward Coco Beach. We came past the cruise ship terminals in Port Canaveral, and we got to see 4 big cruise boats cranking up to pull out. (it was around 4:30) We got to Coco Beach, and started looking for a place to land. We pulled up in the parking lot of a Marriott Courtyard, parked in the shade, and got on their free WiFi. (big motels are always good for free WiFi in the parking lot) Marriott guy walked by and I told him we were just borrowing his shade looking at the map. We did the Hotels.com and Orbitz thing, and found the Hampton right beside where we were sitting was a pretty good buy. We got on the cell, booked it, and cruised across the parking lot to check in. Quite painless. Room was great, 8^th floor with water and ocean views on all sides. Took a bunch of sunset pictures, and went out for dinner. On the way we stopped at one of the biggest liquor stores we’d ever been in. It was the size of a small grocery store. They had things we’d never seen before, and enough wine to fill a tank truck. I decided this is where I’d take shelter when the hurricane was coming. The nice lady at the liquor store hooked us up with a good seafood pubby kind of place, and we had a great dinner. Stuf fed flounder and oysters on the ½ shell for me, and house skirt steak for Vickie. Today it’s off to Cape Canaveral to see the shuttle and rocket stuff, then South to Vero Beach to see our friends Neil and Andrea.

More later,

Wes and Vickie

Day 3 Fernandina Beach South to Daytona

Got a good start this morning, and headed South on A1A. Sometimes this old road is easy to follow, and sometimes, it’s quite a mystery. Before we left on this trip, we bought Delorme 2007 Streets and Trips for our laptop, along with a GPS antenna that plugs into a USB port. It has proved invaluable in finding our way today. We went South for a period of time, and arrived at the St. John’s River ferry. You have to take this over the St John’s River to stay on A1A. We got on the ferry (costs $3.25 per car) and settled down for the ride. I decided to get out and take some pictures. About the time I got to the front rail, I realized we were getting ready to dock. Turned out to be about an 8-minute ferry ride. (must be pretty boring duty for the ferry captain) We continued South on A1A, and again got lost. The sign said to turn right for A1A but then the route vanished. Once again the trusty laptop navigation program (not to mention the world’s greatest navigator) found our way. We t ook a side trip off A1A on 203 which is also known as Pointe Verde Blvd. which rides along the coast through the land of the rich and famous. I’ve seen richer and famouser areas, but this one was pretty amazing. All the houses looked like an army of 4000 Mexicans were on landscape duty full time. We continued down the coast on A1A passing through a continuous strand of condos and beach houses. There is very little buildable coastline that doesn’t have something on it. The vacant lots that are left are there because someone wants 5 bazillion dollars for them. There are still some areas that look like what I imagine FLA must have looked like 20 or 30 years ago, but they are few and far between. In fact, similar to where my son lives in Manassas VA, parasitic building has started. This is when someone buys a little old 1000 sq. foot ocean front cottage for 3 or 4 hundred thousand just to get the lot. Then they tear down the still functional home and build a new 4000 or more sq. foot M cMansion. The temp got up to the 80’s, so we decided to stop early and clean up the car so we could put the bra on. (we couldn’t put it on at home cause the vinyl wouldn’t stretch much at 20 degrees) So we stopped early in Ormand Beach, and got another room at the Comfort Inn with a view overlooking the ocean. Since we are in the week between the Daytona 500 and Daytona Bike week, accommodations are readily available. We cleaned up the car, put the bra on, and then did the most amazing thing. We went driving on the beach with the roof down. They let you get on the beach just a ½ mile or so from our motel, and we drove way down the beach about 4 or 5 miles. We then turned around and came back. It was approaching sunset, so everything was beautiful. Trust me, driving on Daytona Beach in a new Corvette with the roof down, good sounds on the radio, sea birds flying all around, the waves crashing, and the sky getting rosy as sundown approaches, is pretty close to perfect. (oh yea, and a Mojito in the cupholder) After that, we had a gourmet dinner at the Waffle House (I can’t get enough of their Scattered and Smothered hash browns), and some ice cream at The Creamery just down the street. We turned in for a good night’s sleep, and then this morning, Vickie is walking on the beach with her coffee, crossword, and shell bag. I’m sitting in the sun in my shorts communing with my laptop. Today, we plan to visit Daytona USA and the Daytona track. Then we are going to head in the general direction of Cape Canaveral to see about the tour there.

Hola,

Wes and Vickie

Day 2 South from Hilton Head SC

We left Hilton Head this morning heading South, with no concrete plan in mind. Coming out of HH we cut off on a back road toward Bluffton and got out of the heavy traffic. We rejoined Rt. 17 further South. We followed 17 to Savannah and exited just after another amazing bridge toward downtown. We toured the old part of Savannah and went by Paula Dean’s restaurant. It wasn’t mealtime, so we continued on. We saw most of old Savannah and then rejoined Rt. 17 to continue South. Saw one of those classic road signs you see in the magazines leaving Savannah. It was a big official yellow road sign, and said "Street Closed When Flooded"??? as opposed to what???? Rt. 17 continued its predilection for being straight with nothing but trees and marsh to look at. We took a side trip just past Eulonia, GA out Rt.99 that parallels 17 but is even more rural. The scenery was truly undisturbed rural Georgia. We passed, uneventfully, through Brunswick, GA on our way t o Jekyll Island. Jekyll Island is quite an interesting place. In the early 20th century, it was a private resort owned by the Vanderbilts, Goodyears, Carnegies, Fords etc. It was said that at one time the owners of Jekyll Island Resort controlled a full 20% of the world’s wealth. Now days the state of Georgia has owned it for the last 40 years. Many of the old original "cottages" are still there and have been restored. The huge home of the Vanderbilts has been converted to a hotel and is run by heirs of the family. While we were touring that, we saw folks out on the front lawn in period dress playing croquet just like must have happened earlier in the 1930’s and 40’s. Our guidebook told us you could actually stay at the Vanderbilt hotel, but prices were in the $375 a night range. (but with gourmet meals) We guessed that the folks on the front lawn were regular guests and knew what dress to wear for period croquet. We toured the rest of the island, and noted there were ma ny very nice houses in the residential areas of the island. Most of them looked like brick ranchers from the 60’s, but looking at the real estate listings on the Internet, most of them went for half a million or better. Rentals were in the 2 grand a week range. All in all though it was a beautiful place—very well kept and manicured, and little or no traffic. We left there and continued South on 17 heading for the Florida border. In Woodbine, GA we saw an antique dealer with a sense of humor—had a sign out front that read "Dead People’s Things For Sale" We crossed into Florida, and finally turned onto Rt. A1A with 734 miles showing on the trip meter and 74 degrees on the vette outdoor temp. We followed A1A to Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, and decided to land for the day. Got an ocean view room at the Comfort Suites, and had a good meal down the road at Sliders. (fresh grouper was excellent). We’re camped for the night, and plan to head down A1A tomorrow morning. Should be some top down weather tomorrow, had the AC on today when it was 78.

More later........

Wes & Vickie

Southeast #1

Hello all,

Well here we are back on the road again. We left M’ville Saturday morning, and spent the weekend with some friends in Georgetown SC. Watched the Daytona 500 on Sunday, and saw some of the sights in Georgetown Saturday. Georgetown is a quite old seaport about an hour South of Myrtle Beach on Rt. 17. It is also home to a steel mill and paper plant. It has a very cool waterfront with a small boardwalk with neat pubs and oyster houses. We left Georgetown Monday morning headed South. The stretch of Rt. 17 between Georgetown and Charleston SC is nothing but a straight road through some pine trees—not too much to see but a lot of marsh and wetlands. Charleston is really old. According to the literature, many of the buildings are of the 1700’s vintage. We toured through the old Battery section of the city, and were amazed at the well-preserved old city. Many of the streets were paved with Belgian blocks, which came over as ballast in the old sailing ships. For my friends from Pittsburgh , I’m sure you remember the Belgian block streets (cobblestone) that have now mostly been replaced by soulless asphalt. Also in Charleston is a magnificent bridge called the Cooper River bridge which Vickie got some good pictures of as we crossed. We headed south from Charleston, and slipped onto some side roads that paralleled Rt. 17. We took a side trip out to some island, which dead-ended us in the parking lot of a towboat company. On the way back we took a little side trip where I had noticed a sign advertising a waterfront lot for sale. We found a 2-acre lot overlooking a beautiful marsh vista, complete with dock permit. Just for curiosity, we called the number on the sign and inquired. The lot was on sale for the bargain price of $589,000 (no house). According to the fellow we talked to, another nearby lot on the same water vista had recently sold for $985,000. Keep in mind, that this lot was a long way from anything except Rt. 17 and some marsh. Can’t believe what the influx of boomer snowbirds is doing to the price of any waterfront lot in the South. We continued South, and took a side trip out Rt. 21 to Huntington State Park, which is near Paris Island Marine Corps training base. It was a beautiful 20-mile drive to some gated community island way out on the Atlantic Ocean. There is quite a maze of off shore islands off the coast of SC and GA, some of which are accessible only by ferry. They are beautiful and remote, but look like somewhere I wouldn’t want to be during a hurricane. (or when global warming raises the water level by 10 feet) We continued south to Hilton Head Island. Hilton Head is a classic example of too many people having too much money and time on their hands. The whole island is one huge maze of condos, resorts and golf courses. (I literally felt like a Corvette rat in some giant alien’s maze) The traffic was unbelievable, and the interesting method of disguising everything (even McDonalds and KFC) to look like a plaza or resort, m ake finding anything very difficult. We decided to call it a day at Hilton Head, and started considering our landing options. Just on a whim, we called our Marriott Vacation Club to see if they had a vacancy. They didn’t, but hooked us up with another Marriott property that did. We ended up at a very nice 2-bedroom condo at the Barony Beach Club for motel prices. We got settled in, and headed to the Westin something or other next door where we had reciprocal privileges. We were told we could get a drink and eat, at something called Turtles Beach Bar. It was a short walk and we found it handily. As is typical of these resorts, they give you a cheap room and everything else is ridiculous. 2 drinks cost us like $17.50 with tax and tip, but it was cool cause the bartender was a Corvette guy, and we had a good time talking to him. We looked over the menu, and decided to pass on the $14.00 appetizers, and $36.00 grilled ribeye. We had a small mishap…. on the way back to our room, I misse d one step and took a fall. (I’m ok, just a skinned knee and a slightly sore right hip) This was due to darkness and bifocals contrary to what you might believe alcohol was not a factor (this time). We really didn’t want to head back out into "the maze" so I manned the trusty yellow pages. Found an Italian place nearby, which was on the Internet, took American Express, and delivered. We scrutinized the menu on line, ordered some choices, and while I relaxed in the giant whirlpool tub, they brought our stuff, hot and tasty, right to us. Ended up costing a fraction of what the resort was trying to screw us out of, and great food to boot. Thanks to Giuseppi’s; we had a great dinner right in our own condo, in front of the 754-inch TV. More later.

Wes and Vickie

Heading out

Well Vickie and I are on the road again for 3 weeks or so. We will be sending a journel of sorts, and we have included you on our distribution list. If you are not interested, please reply and let us know so we won't create SPAM in your Email. Otherwise, join us as 2 boomer retiree's take on the Southeast.
Hola,
Wes and Vickie

Aruba #6

Sunday morning, we set off to find the church of the folks we had met the previous week. With a lot of circling, direction asking, and backtracking, we finally found the church. We were happy to find it, only to be told by a fellow out front that the entire service was in Papiamento, the native language of Aruba. We were very disappointed, and getting ready to leave, when the beautiful alien girl appeared and was very glad to see us. She asked us to at least please stay for “the singing”. We agreed, and we offered to sit in the balcony so as not to disrupt the service. A very nice lady offered to translate for us, and we had a wonderful time singing praise songs, some with familiar tunes, in Papiamento. Quite an experience which also reminded us, that music is still the universal language. We left after the singing as it would be too difficult to follow the preaching through a translator. All our new friends were happy we came, and very surprised to see us. We also had the joy of discovering that our translator’s daughter was a World champion wind surfer at age 15. Later in the store downtown, we purchased a prominent windsurfing magazine with her on the cover. We have a picture of Corky with her. After church we returned to the Condo, had some lunch, napped, and later hit the pool. Vickie went back to the casino for a short time while we napped. She returned to join us at the pool excited to tell that she had yielded $230 this time. In any event, we stayed quite late at the pool lazing around the lazy river, so we decided to eat in this evening. Corky had stashed some fixings for just such an event, so we had penne rigatte, marinara sauce, and sangria. For dessert we all had ice cream cones. Monday morning, we worked on getting our dinner reservations organized for the rest of the week, and set out to go to the butterfly farm and find some CD’s to transfer pictures onto. The butterfly farm was very interesting. It is a small (about the size of a tennis court) ecosystem completely screened with 12 foot high mesh making a big cube of space. Inside this space, they grow and nurture butterflies. We had a tour by a very knowledgeable Frenchman who explained to us how the butterfly life cycle worked, and what we needed to help nurture butterflies in our own environment. All in all it was a wonderful time. In search of the CD’s we ended up at this giant mega mart sort of like a super Wally Mart with a True Value hardware store hitched to the back for good measure. The whole mess was in a rambling sort of mall with shoes, appliances, bakeries, internet café, etc. etc. We found the CD’s and also on our quest was some Pastecki which is the local portable food type indulgence. This consists of puff type pastry wrapped around stuff, and then either deep fried or baked. One of the primary items is a meat pie that looks something like a Hostess fruit pie, filled with a savory meat concoction. Also they have hot dog like things wrapped up in the pastry and baked. We also enjoyed some of their pastries for desert. We stopped off at Little Switzerland so Vickie and Judy could visit a particular vendor for some blouses, and another store where everything was $10 for something or other. We had an interesting sight when we returned to the resort. Somehow a person had managed to drive their rental car over the curb, through the shrubbery, and through the metal fence out to the sidewalk. We never got any details, but it was quite entertaining. I had not mentioned, but we had been under an ocean swimming prohibition for the last two days due to a highly unusual school of jelly fish that descended on the island. That was lifted today, so back in the ocean tomorrow. We rested up a little (naps) when we returned from the CD expedition, and then got ready for dinner. We had reservations for 6:30 at Madame Janette which Corky said is one of the best on the island. We were not disappointed; the food was great, ambience wonderful, cost not extraordinary, wine list great, and portions truck driver size. We were seated outside and it threatened rain a little, but held off and allowed us to enjoy our dinner. Corky and Judy split a pork tenderloin schnitzel with Cesar salad and blue crab lollypops for appetizer. Vickie had tournedos of beef, and I had coconut and almond crusted shrimp in Thai red chili sauce. For desert, Corky and Judy had chocolate soufflé with ice cream, and Vickie and I had rum marinated roasted pineapple with vanilla ice cream. We each had a glass of Chateau de la Coeur Grand Cru Classe, St. Emilion Bordeaux wine. Must mention, it has rained quite a bit off and on in the last week. This is quite unusual for Aruba, which only gets 3 or 4 inches of rain a year. The rain is quite interesting however. You can see the towering clouds and see the rain falling directly under them. You can also watch as they move across the island and out to sea. Tomorrow Vickie and I are going snorkeling, and Corky and Judy are headed back to the jewelry store. We have a reservation tomorrow evening at a restaurant they call Tango which has live tango dancers as a floor show.

Aruba #5

Friday was moving day. Corky owns two weeks and one is called Garden View, the other called Ocean View. Bottom line was we had to move from the 3rd floor to the 10th floor. “All we had to do” was pack everything back up, and leave it for the housekeeping staff. They told us they would move everything—including the food and stuff in the refrigerator. Also, we didn’t have to repack our hanging stuff—they moved it on the hangers. We were in need of some more drinks and such for the rest of the trip, so Corky and I went off to the grocery, and the girls stayed to pack. Finally with everything packed up we went to the pool. I played some water volleyball with a cool bunch of kids—I was like the grandpa of the group, but they accepted me pretty well. Later, we went to our new room and unpacked. We decided to do a repeat of the restaurant over at the Marriott Hotel, due to everyone being tired from the move, and the early rising required tomorrow to go fishing with Monty. We all turned in pretty early as we had to get up before 05:00 for the fishing trip. Also on Friday, we all installed our scopolamine patches to help prevent sea sickness, and these make you a little drowsy. But, this didn’t keep Vickie from heading for the casino. She was up another $88.00 last night.

Saturday morning, Vickie and I were up at 04:30 and ready to go fishing. I was pretty excited, cause I had never been deep sea fishing in my life. We packed some snacks and drinks, everyone had a light breakfast, and we were off to fish. Corky knew Monty from previous visits. His boat was anchored just off the beach in front of the Moomba Restaurant. We walked through the dark over to the next beach to meet out fishing guides, Monty and Junior (the first mate). We had to get loaded in a small rubber boat (with no motor) to get ferried out to the fishing boat. Monty’s boat is called the Pa Ra Dice. We managed the boarding, with a lot of grunting and help from first mate, Junior. Pa Ra Dice is a 32 foot twin Yanmar diesel fishing boat. We headed out just prior to sunrise, and got to see it rising as we made our way to the good fishing grounds. The scenery was really beautiful, because it was an unusual cloudy day. We saw the island from a good distance off shore, and we could see the towering clouds and the rain falling in Oranjestad, the sight was unbelievable. As we moved toward the fishing grounds, Junior started rigging up the various lines and out/down riggers we would use to fish. No sooner had he got everything set than we had a strike. Corky was first up in the Port fighting chair, so he got the nod. He pulled in a 60-65 # what they call Wahoo here. It is a big scaleless fish, probably first cousin to a tuna. We went on to catch 3 60-65 # Wahoo, by Vickie, Judy and Corkey. At one time, we had two fish on the hook with Corky and Judy in the fighting chairs. (quite exciting) I caught 2 small barracudas. Vickie kept Junior and Monty entertained with her squealing and non stop dialogue while hauling in her fish. After 4 plus hours of fishing, (and no sea sickness) it was time to go back. Junior cleaned our fish enroute and we had a large flock of pilot birds following us for the bait and entrail scraps. Monty stopped the boat, so we could pose for pictures with “our fish”. We wanted some fish to eat, so the mate took off 1 whole filet from a Wahoo. It turned out to be about 25# of fish. He cut it in half so we could get it in a bag to carry with us. Corky knew the drill at the Moomba Restaurant, so we took the newly caught fish there. Head guy (who looked a lot like Richard Gere) was delighted to take our fish for later preparation, (try that in the US) and we reserved a table on the beach, to eat our hand caught fish later. For $10.00 a head, they are going to serve us our fish, pan fried, with salad and french fries on the beach at an ocean side table under a palm tree. We then journeyed back to the room to rest up and do some laundry. Our fish awaits us for dinner at 7:30 this evening. Corky and Judy have gone off to do some jewelry shopping, and Vickie and I are hanging around doing some laundry. Currently sleeping is attractive as well due to the after effects of the scopolamine. Vickie slipped off to the casino and came back with $131.05 more than she left with.

Laundry is done, and our hosts are back from shopping. Corky bought Judy a really cool pearl and black pearl necklace along with some black pearl earrings. Judy brought Vickie a surprise back. It’s a red island type decorated gauze dress, and she bought a blue one for herself. They are going to wear them to dinner tonight. With everyone clean and dressed, it was off to the Moomba for dinner. They had one of the best tables reserved for us, in the sand, right on the beach—front row toward the water. The ambience at the Moomba is just out of sight with Christmas type colored lights strung between the palms and indigenous trees, white sand, nice music, and waves lapping the shore. It was a clear night, allowing us vistas of the moon and stars. Off in the distance you could see lights of boats out on the water, and occasionally a late returning catamaran would motor by. We got right to it and ordered our dinner course of freshly caught (by us) Wahoo. We picked out a good bottle of Chilean Chardonnay to accompany the fish, and settled back to suck up the surroundings. The two man combo kept the music coming (even if slightly off key) with a little Jimmie Buffet, Elvis, and the ubiquitous Caribbean music that makes you want to dance and rock you shoulders. Dinner arrived, and it was more than expected. There is something primal for us hunter/gatherers when it involves eating what you caught today. Of course we didn’t catch the salad stuff, rice or french fries, but the feeling was there. And I forgot to mention—the fish was superb, pan fried, served with a garlic lemon cream sauce on the side. All in all it was one lovely evening. Tomorrow we are planning to try and find the Church where our new friends from last weekend invited us. Directions go something like left at the first roundabout then straight ahead for 5 more roundabouts. Hopefully we’ll get lucky and find it.

Aruba #4

Most of the day yesterday, we spent either at the pool or the beach. We watched the Bush live news conference from the Rose Garden, at lunch, and then back to the outdoor activities. Everyone played poolside bingo, and then Vickie entered the beer drinking contest. She has a method which is guaranteed to never win. First, she doesn’t really even like beer, and second, when they say go she sips the cup and talks about how southern ladies don’t gulp anything. Later Vickie and I walked up the beach to see them pulling in the activity boats for the day. She met a new friend Angel who works on a parasailing boat, and is going to personally look after her when she goes Friday (we think). On the way back, we heard some great music from the vicinity of the beach bar, so investigated. Well it was happy hour(s) and they had a small band playing Caribbean music along with other stuff. The rum punch was 2 for 1 and pretty good, so we stayed. The band later played Under the Boardwalk and Vickie and I shagged in the area in front of the band. You would have thought we were the king and queen of shag, not a Myrtle Beach original and a Yankee gimp. We had quite an appreciative audience. Things progressed from there, and we ended up getting a little “partied up”. On the way back from the beach, they had a fellow cutting up fresh coconuts. He would remove the top with a machete and stick a straw in the top. It was tasty and quite refreshing. I have the coconut in the refrigerator now, and intend to see if I can get to the meat. With Vickie and I well partied, and 2 cruise ships were in town, so we opted to stay up on this end of the island for dinner. We went to the strip down near the other hotels toward Oranjestad (not very far) to a Brick Oven Pizza place Corky knew about. Had beer and some of the best pizza I have tasted in a while. We like our pizza extra thin and crispy, and that’s how they fixed it here. Cooked in a brick oven, it was toasty and good. For dessert we had a most interesting plate of cream puffs (but ice cream was substituted for the cream) drizzled with what else….chocolate. It was delicious. After dinner we wandered around the little shops that are in this strip, and found an Aruba ornament for our Christmas tree. One of the shops had a most magical do dad. It looked like a 3 inch diameter piece of bamboo, sealed on both ends, and about 18 inches long. When you turned it over it made a sound like a rain storm. Too big to get in luggage to carry home, but amazing. Later we watched a little tube and crashed. Needed sleep to prepare for our trip with Vader tomorrow. (Little did we know how much we did need to rest up)

Thursday AM, Corky and I were off to the More 4 Less rental place to get a Jeep. This is the place Vader had recommended and was supposed to have good Jeeps. While standing in the office, discovered the other couple that was there was also going with Vader, and had in the past. Meanwhile, the girls were back at the condo getting things ready. Judy and Vickie made some great sandwiches. We got back to the place, and picked them up with 10 minutes to spare. We headed to the Occidental Hotel where we were supposed to meet Vader and the other couple. Things started to appear a little curious when we got to the hotel and no one was there and no one knew anything about Vader and a Jeep trip. We were just beginning to wonder what was up when he appeared and soon after the other couple. Guess this is the time to say, Vader is this quite an interesting (Dutch lunatic with dog named Cheech) tour guide. Apparently he does many of his operations under the radar of the syndicate that controls much of the tour activity in Aruba. We understood this when he said “if we get stopped, you are just some folks I met on the beach who asked me to show you around”. Meanwhile Cheech had jumped in Judy’s lap, and appeared if he was going to make the trip right there. Vader has been in Aruba for 32 years and has seen the evolution of the tourism industry here. He makes a living doing water sports, snorkeling catamaran trips, and the occasional jeep tour. (he seems to really care about the island, but is also about 50% full of BS) First stop on the tour was the grocery store. Vader gave us each a cooler, and suggested we fix it up with water food and drinks. We got all packed up with some good stuff, and got on the road again. Then it was off to the Texaco station to gas up the Jeeps. I had already done ours. Worth mentioning was how Vader made an appearance at each of the establishments we stopped at. We were guessing he got kick backs from them all for bringing us. After that we were off to the lighthouse end of the island. We did the typical tourist tour stuff at that end of the island, and then skipped on, on paved road, further down the island. Vader said the lighthouse end of the island was nothing but red dust, and nothing to see. We turned off and went to the top of a hill with a big water tower and great view. Then we went on to the little chapel and more great views. Then it was on to the natural bridge (which has fallen down—rumor was it fell from all the traffic vibration during the Natalie Holloway mess). So far we had been on pavement and dirt roads, didn’t even need 4 wheel drive. All the attractions so far were typical tourist stuff. But then when we left the “Thirst Aid Station” (Corky treated us to ice cream bars), instead of going back the road we came on (with the giant tour busses) we turned left. I had noticed some 4 wheelers coming down the side of the big hill across from us on what appeared to be a goat path. That’s where we headed. We were soon in 4 wheel low crawling up the rocks. I soon understood why Vader had hollered “the trip starts here” when we left Thirst Aid. I had seen rock crawling, and the Rubicon type stuff on TV, but I wasn’t sure if I could do it, especially in a basically stock Jeep Wrangler. I was really glad I opted for the manual transmission, because it gives you much better control on the accents and descents. The women were somewhat panic strickened, but after we didn’t rollover on the long rocky side hill accent (Vader congratulated me on my performance), they settled down and were just scared. Of course, they were continually fighting cooler burn (from having the cooler between them in the back seat of a CJ), and trying to juggle drinks, cameras and flying out of the truck. I couldn’t let on to them, but using a Jeep for it’s intended purpose, and actually tackling obstacles that required some driving skill, brains and _alls, was me serving my intended purpose. From that point on, we didn’t see anything but rocky trails and incredible scenery for the rest of the day. I’m sure we saw sights that 90% of the tourists to Aruba never see. We stopped for lunch and a swim at the natural pool. It was quite a hike, down 72 “stairs” from the Jeeps to the pool. Vickie was the only one who thought they could make the climb over the rocks to get in the natural pool. She made it, with the help of one of the young girls in the other Jeep. Coming out, she had to climb, and Vader got behind her and pushed. We climbed back up the “stairs” and remounted our trusty steed. We continued onward for the balance of the afternoon, and ended up at the other end of the island near Baby Beach. At one point Corky commented he thought he had lost at least 20 pounds from all the jigging (like one of those old belt exercise machines). Another time he said all he needed was some milk and ice cream in his stomach, and he could have a milkshake. By that point, we were all covered in dust, and worn slap out. Vader took us on a quick trip through the red light district in San Nicolas. (San Nicolas is a town on the end of the island near the refinery, which consists mostly of bars and brothels). We made our way back to our end of the island, bid Vader farewell, hit the Wendy’s for grub, and back to the condo. Everyone was beat, hungry and dirty. After some showers and grub, the beds looked pretty good. Watched some tube and crashed.

Aruba #3

We went fishing yesterday. Here is a picture. More later.
Wes

Aruba #2

Aruba trip #2
First document ended up with our trip to the Dutch Pancake House and meeting the cool bunch of kids. Monday morning, we headed out to the grocery store, but on the way made a side trip to the tip of the island. (it is very close to us) We saw the area quite near us where we can go snorkeling and all kinds of wild goats near the lighthouse on the tip of the island. Also saw some beautiful Aruban residences, overlooking the water, big $$$$. We went off to the local IGA (via a stop at McDonalds for breakfast) to shop for some “stuff” for our 2 week stay here. The grocery store called XXXXX was quite interesting. Was a large store, but was slam full of folks shopping. Also, it seems like Monday is the day they stock every shelf in the store. So in addition to the 38 million shoppers, every isle was clogged with carts of material waiting to be restocked. Seems like the Aruban grocery store clerks union has negotiated some interesting work rules for them. Most of the restockers were standing around dividing their time between chatting vigorously in the native language, and restocking the shelves. (about 70-30% 70 chatting, and 30 restocking) Some of those who didn’t have someone close by to chat with were talking on their cell phones with one hand while restocking with the other. All the prices in the store were in Aruban Florins. Conversion involves dividing by 2 and adding 10% so 2 Florins comes out to be about $1.10 US. Still the prices are quite high on many items. This is due to the fact that everything in Aruba must be imported. Only thing they grow much of here are Aloe Vera plants and Iguanas, neither of which is immediately edible. It was, however, great fun looking through the very different offerings in the store. Because Aruba was in the past a Dutch colony, they still have very close ties with Holland. Because of that, this is cheese heaven. The deli section had a great selection of meats and cheeses with a Dutch flair. Bought some incredible Edam, goat cheese, and unfamiliar, but interesting lunch meats. Also had fun substituting European products for our normal brands. Bought mustard, mayo, and other condiments, passing up the standard American products, and going for the stuff I couldn’t read the labels on. After checkout, we loaded everything in the Suzuki something or other we have for a rental car, and carried back to the resort. One of the bell guys was more than glad (for a fiver) to help us upstairs with our purchases. After stowing stuff, it was off to the pool and lazy river for an afternoon of exquisite indolence. For dinner, we got reservations at La Fondue D'Aruba. Corky and Judy had been there before and also were familiar with fondue in general. Enroute to La Fondue, we once again saw all sorts of back street sights in Orangestad (lost again but having a big time). I hate to say it, but I sold my 6 or 8 fondue sets received for wedding gifts back in the 80’s. Fondue has been making a big comeback of late. Vickie and I just have not been on the cutting edge of this gastronomic experience (never had fondue). With the able tutelage of our food mentors, we sailed through our first fondue experience, and enjoyed the trip. Of special note is the desert fondue (which it seems is why folks eat fondue in the first place) that was wonderful. We ordered the large desert for four, and the 50/50% dark and white chocolate. The owner offered us serving the white and dark separately (usually swirled in one pot), and each couple got a plate of fruit, pound cake, brownies, marshmallows, etc for dipping. Suffice it to say that it was some of the best chocolate we’d ever tasted. (hum Dutch chocolate—just made the connection, duh) Tuesday morning, Vickie and I had an appointment with the Marriott dude, to talk about joining the “Marriott Family”. Guy was very interesting, before working for Marriott, was a photographer for Wind Surfing Magazine and spent his time shuttling around the world in the windsurfing scene. (he was pretty cute—I think Vickie wanted to have his children) In any event, to make a long story short, we realized the merits of joining the Marriott family, and are now the proud owners of a week at a two bedroom condo in Aruba every year. It has a lot of advantages for Vickie and I planning to travel a lot. Also, as one of the perks, we essentially got a trip, including airfare and lodging, to anywhere in the world. After our morning with the Marriott folks, we adjourned to the beach this time instead of the pool, and parked ourselves under a palapa (Vickie and I call it a tiki hut--one of those ubiquitous thatched thingies you see at most tropical resorts). Spent some time swimming in the ocean, and watching the sun go down into the water. Corky struck up a conversation with some local fishermen looking for a past acquaintance that had taken him fishing quite successfully. (I believe he and Vickie were cut from similar cloth in the “they never met a stranger department”) Spent some idyllic time on the dock watching the local guy throw fish guts to the birds, and chatting. As we departed the dock, I struck up a conversation with a couple who had a late 70’s Toyota land cruiser (when it comes to vehicles, even I can meet folks). Turns out the guy’s name is Vader (not Darth), and he runs a jeep outing on Thursdays. (among other offerings like deep sea fishing and iguana wrestling) This sounds like it is not your run of the mill structured tour. Told us to contact this specific Jeep rental place and “tell them you are going with Vader so give you one with good tires”. He supplies the coolers and does the guiding. You supply your own supplies and the rental jeep. We think this might be in our future. For dinner we went just down the road to the Radisson that has a dinner buffet. This night was Italian night, and the food was great. There was a musician performing guitar with a drum machine. I sensed there might be more to him than what he was doing to pay the bills. Corky struck up a conversation with him, and as it turns out, he was a heavy metal rock n roller who did what he had to do to pay the bills. Also turned out his father was an Italian violin maker, and he had recently constructed his own electric guitar that as he said, was just right. Such an interesting assortment of people on this island. Finally off to bed and Vickie to the casino.

Aruba #1

Aruba trip so far:
Plane travel was exactly as it always is with the exception of being lucky enough to be on 2 COMPLETELY FULL planes. Flight from Charlotte to Aruba is 4 plus hrs, and boy were we ready to get off that plane. Aruba immigration was easy as they wheeled me right through in my chair. Caught a cab right away to the Marriott and driver was very nice and interesting. Marriott is very deluxe. Corky was waiting on us in the lobby, and after we were settled a little, he and Judy showed us around. After our tour we spent some time unpacking, and went to dinner at one of the restaurants here at the Marriott complex. (There are three separate Marriott entities all in one giant complex) We had one of the best plates of Mahi Mahi I had ever tasted. It was situated on a bed of roasted vegetables with mashed potatoes, and some type of sauce. (and cream brûlé for desert) Washed it down with a couple of Balashi beers, which is the only beer brewed here in Aruba. Probably one of the only beers in the world brewed with de-salinated sea water. (95% of the water in Aruba comes from the world’s second largest desalinization plant) Saturday, it was up early and stake out four good chairs around the pool. Can’t reserve your chairs until 07:30, but then you put your big towels on them and claim them for the day. After I claimed the chairs, I shared my granola bar with a pretty little blue lizard then got in the pool and started walking laps. Bet I walked 20 or 30 laps around this pretty good sized pool. Then I found a cool water seat under a palm tree and it allowed me to work my legs against water resistance and work on the range of motion. Alternated between reading a book and cooling off in the water for a large part of the day while Vickie was off at the Casino playing bingo. Later Vickie bought us some tube type blow up things and we spent some time floating around the big lazy river they have in the huge wandering pool here. Went to dinner Saturday night at Hostaria Da Vittorio and had some really great authentic Italian food (Vickie had some amazing vegetable and wild mushroom risotto and I had some veal medallions in a killer butter sauce with wild mushrooms) and shared a bottle of GOOD Italian wine. Corky and Judy have been coming here for quite a while, so they know a lot about the places to dine. Also, Corky is quite an aficionado of both food and wine, so we have our own gastronomic guide to the island. Vickie and I don’t often go out to eat, let alone at restaurants of this caliber. Sunday morning was pretty much a repeat of Saturday, except Vickie and I took some bagels and coffee out by the pool and had a morning picnic. Tried something new, and walked laps against the current in the lazy river. Vickie walked with me and we went and explored another part of the pool that has a water fall, spray jets on a wall, and a water slide. Then we walked back through the other side of the lazy river against the current. Read a book again for a while, (Vickie went to the casino) then grabbed a snack and went to the room to watch the Talladega race. Tonight we went to dinner down in Oranjestead at the Dutch Pancake House and in the process, we got to se a lot of the little back streets etc of the city. The pancakes were totally different than what we were accustomed to. Corky and Judy suggested we order 1 savory pancake and one desert pancake and share. So Vickie and I ordered a Dutch which had ham, cheese, and leeks in it, and a Pear Flambé. (with rum) The food was once again wonderful, unlike anything we had ever tasted. All the while we were eating, we were in an open air café overlooking a park. It was cool and a breeze was blowing in off the ocean. Just across from us some musicians were set up on a little open air stand, and kept us entertained with all types of music. Meanwhile Corky kept us enthralled with stories of his past adventures. It is totally amazing, if you didn’t know him, you would think he was trying to impress someone with name dropping. But the truth of the matter is, he’s not. He really did perform for all those Presidents, and really did work with and spend time with many famous people. And of course my personal favorite he really did perform a duet of God Bless America at a Presidential reception with Kate Smith. After dinner, once again the “Vickie never met a stranger” show was on the air. A tall young boy was sitting on a bench listening to the musicians. He waved to Vickie, and somehow pretty soon they were dancing (the only ones dancing) on the sidewalk in front of the band. Turns out the guy, was a young (23 tomorrow) evangelist from Holland. He came to Aruba with just a suitcase, and has since become somewhat of a phenomenon. He was totally amazed by how things had just happened in a good way, that he never planned. We had an interesting time talking to him and his entourage. (All young kids but good kids) In the fiction can’t be this strange department: one of his group was a beautiful young girl with strange gifts. She was a twin whose twin died in the first trimester (before birth) and somehow, she ended up with some extra bones and sort of a dual circuited nervous system. She was able to move parts of her body independent of others, especially appendages of the hands and feet. She also had some strange bone structure in her hips that allowed her to dislocate them at will without any pain. She said her friends thought she was an alien. All I know was she was the prettiest young alien I had ever seen. Well finally it was back to the Marriott and I’m writing this while Vickie has gone back to the casino. She says there is a dolphin machine she really loves from past experiences at Vegas. Can’t fault her though, she plays for hours, and usually ends up money ahead. Bye for now.

Welcome, Why these writings?

This Blog conveys the travels and adventures of Wes and Vickie George (et-al). It will also present periodic musings that seem to have a habit of flowing from my avid curiosity and often fertile imagination. I hope you will find these writings informative, entertaining, and perhaps even mentally stimulating. There may be opinions as things proceed, but as I age, my opinions seem to be tempered with knowledge and wisdom.

My actual writings started several years ago, as I introduced Vickie to the art of "The Road Trip". Over the recent years we have visited a bunch of great places with great friends utilizing all manner of transportation. My wonderful son promises to round up all the old writings and archive them to this blog. As they appear and you have the time look back, I've really tried to communicate the flavor of the people we met and places we visited.
More later,
Wes