Fisherman Nick

We went up to the mountains of eastern Arizona with some family friends and Nick finally got to go fishing.

Korean War Memorial

One of the "better" memorials on the DC mall of one of the lesser known wars as the United States began to feel its way around as a world superpower.

--Rob

Nick conquers the Natural History Museum

Nick celebrating his trip through the Natural History Museum ...day one, hour one of the Smithsonian.

--Rob

A different side of South Beach

I don't know why this shot of a fence on South Beach appeals to me, but then again, I'm a sucker for well formed curves.

--Rob

Day one in the Keys

We spent Thursday and Friday exploring the Florida Keys, a chain of islands off of Florida's southern coast. Originally we planned to stay on the Keys, but changed our minds and opted for Miami Beach because it's a better swimming beach. The Keys are an amazing ecological treasure, and they are fabulous for water sports, but they are not known for sandy swimming beaches.

They did make for a fantastic side trip, however. The Keys are full of funky, kitschy places like a set of gift shops on Key Largo with a giant crustacean out front.



We stopped for lunch at a little place along route 1, also known as the only real road in the Keys. There are a lot of parts of the Keys where you are driving down the road, and there is just enough room for a house or a business on each side of the street--behind which is ocean on either side.

Anyway, for lunch I tried the conch fritters. Conch (pronounced "conk") is a big deal in the Keys, also known as the "Conch Republic." You know those giant, spirally seashells you can put up to your ear to hear the ocean? Yeah, that's conch, and it's a rather big deal in the Keys, as evidenced by businesses named "Conch Cottages" or "Konch Kuts" (a hair salon).

Sadly, I was unmoved by this particular shellfish, as it was quite chewy. Kind of like octopus.



Of course I also had to sample some authentic Key lime pie. By the way, Key lime pie is NOT supposed to be green.

We had planned to spend the afternoon snorkeling off of Key Largo, but we missed the noon tour and didn't want to wait around until the 3:00 outing, so we decided to flip things around and explore the Keys on Thursday, snorkeling on Friday. This meant we needed to get down to Key West in time to catch the Hemingway House before it closed (it's open from 9-5, seven days a week) and to see the sunset, which is celebrated nightly there.

Here is a shot of Bunny in a mangrove swamp:



Driving the Keys is a pretty amazing experience. You can see ocean on both sides of you for a large percentage of the journey. You can also see little islands all along the way.





We stopped to see the beach at Bahia Honda State Park on the way to Key West. I had read that it has been rated one of the best beaches in the U.S. Although it was one of the better beaches on the Keys, we were not overly impressed. Miami Beach is much better in terms of swimming beaches. Still, we stopped for a dip before moving on.

I think that's enough for one post. I will write about Key West another day.

P.S. Happy anniversary Rob! The past 13 years have been the journey of a lifetime!

Miami Beach day 1

I am lying in bed in a room that overlooks Miami Beach. Life is good.

We spent most of today traveling. We left Phoenix at 8 this morning and flew first to Austin. On the flight, I pondered the irony of traveling from a hot desert to a hot tropical region, but having to bring a sweatshirt just to survive the freezing cold airplane. We flew Southwest because we got a good deal, but we did shell out an extra $60 ($10 per person per flight) to get the early-bird check-in. We didn't want to risk not getting seats together.

In Austin we had lunch at the exact same BBQ place (The Salt Lick) where I ate with Conrad on the way back from the URMA conference last year.

From Austin we flew into Ft. Lauderdale, picked up our rental car, and drove down to the condo we are renting. I've heard some horror stories about condo rentals, but Rob had a good gut feeling about this landlady and he was not led astray. This place is beautiful--two bedrooms, two baths, full kitchen, and right smack dab on the beach. After getting into the apartment and wolfing down some KFC we picked up on the way in, we raced down to the beach to get in our first swim before dark. The water was warm and the sunset lit up the sky in fiery orange.

Bliss.

We went out tonight to get groceries for the week. Sadly, the Publix doesn't carry hard alcohol and the liquor store was closed for the night. Luckily, a former guest at our condo left about half a bottle of tequila in the freezer, so Rob can still have margaritas tonight. I'm sure Coronas will be enough for me. Despite it only being 8 p.m. our time, I'm exhuasted.

We lugged our groceries up to the 8th floor in a bellhop cart that was sitting by the elevator in the garage. I'm so glad we didn't have to make multiple trips, although I did lose the rock-paper-scissors contest to see who had to bring it back downstairs.


Tomorrow morning I think I'll jump in the ocean again while my coffee brews.

--Diane (photos, of course, by Rob)

Florida Here We Come

This was shot years ago at my home beach in Northwest Florida (which soon will see balls of oil :-().

We however, are headed for the East Coast and Miami Beach in just 48 hours. And I cannot wait!