Naples to Marathon to Naples...we're heading the wrong direction!

From Naples we drove to Marathon, FL alittle over 200 miles. Marathon is located in the Keys, between Key Largo and Key West. Took one day and drove into Key West. A place I have always wanted to see...thanks to Jimmy Buffet. I was somewhat disappointed. The majority of the shops along famous Duval Street were too touristy, selling T-shirts and souvenirs. But if you wanted to eat and drink you did not have to walk far. We walked Duval Street and Mallory Square and ate lunch at Louies Backyard. Also visited the site of the southernmost point of the Continental USA only 90 miles from Cuba. It is such a popular site that you have to wait in line for your turn to take a picture.




Pretty Pelican. It's fun to view different birds than what
we are use to seeing. We've seen blue herons, egrets,
ospreys, seagulls and others we can't identify.





Around Marathon the Christmas decorations are dolphins and lighthouse. Still can't believe its only 2 weeks away.






We also spent a day in Key Largo and another day in Florida City. Everyone we told in Florida that we were coming to the Keys would ask....

so you fish...NO....
so you boat....NO.....
so you like to eat and drink YES.

And they were right. There aren't very many beaches & they are very shallow. There are only a few golf courses and most are private.

The prices in Florida are high but extremely high in the Keys. Gas is $3.12, restaurant are outlandish. Ron got a small bowl of lobster chowder that cost $17.50 not to mention the cost of the campgrounds. It's alittle better as you move
further north.

Our campground (RV resort which they call them, I guess so they can charge more) was great. It was small with only 36 sites but from our spot you could see the ocean. They had a nice area along the water with lounge chairs and a tiki hut. The drive through the keys is beautiful. There is only one highway in and out bordered on one side by the ocean and the other side the gulf.

We also met a vary nice couple - Tom & Barb from Michigan who introduced us to a new game - Sequence. We had a couple of "game" nights then went to dinner together our last night in Marathon. We really enjoyed their company.


Tom, Barb, Ron and me at Castaways.



Our original plans when we left Marathon was to drive to Jupiter and spend the next
7 weeks there. Instead we are heading back to Seffner to the dealer to have the satellite worked on again. Hopefully, we'll be out of there by the end of next week. I want to put some holiday decorations up but don't want to until we are settled.

Had a 2 night stop over in Naples and will hit the road again tomorrow.

Hope all is well!

Joan & Ron