Key West, Florida:

Monday: Key West

We got off the boat and walked the port area until it was time to meet for our white knuckle speed boat ride.

Crowded little streets in the bar/shopping district.  Kelly bought some sandals at a little shop [Kino Sandals] where 50 years ago a Cuban couple escaped Castro’s Cuba and started a little shop where they hand make leather sandals right there.  Supporting American made products!!!!  I got some shades for my glasses because the sunlight here is nearly blinding.  This place is wall to wall shops and booths, trolleys, tours, rent a this and rent a that.  Every house has been turned into a museum to something or another to the point that some don’t even seem to have a Florida connection.

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There’s this little island that visible from the pier where Oprah and other millionaires have a house.  I’ve seen this referred to as Tank Island, Sunset Island and Sunset Key. They aren't allowed boats and the only way to get to the island is by a specific ferry that stops running at 10pm and if they don’t make it their out of luck.  Why live on an island if you aren't allowed a boat?  Can’t figure out where their waste goes, water and electricity comes from?  The island is man made.

These three pictures are from the first 360 spin near the docks. We were still dry here but when we got out into open water we got soaked good!

The boat ride was wild, we got soaked!  Saw two sharks resting on the bottom.  The boat goes at full speed [about 50 mph] then makes a sharp turn while killing the motor which results in a 360 degree spin and the boat ends up going backward to a stop.  The boat also does fish tails and side way slides.  We were the only ones on the boat because everyone else booked through the cruise lines and went earlier, as usual by booking ourselves online previous to the cruise we got a better deal and more personal service.  Normally the ride is 30 minutes but we were out about 45-60 minutes.  The business is owned and operated by a Michigan family that migrated to Key West to open it a few years ago.
If your ever in Key West, it doesn’t matter if your on a cruise or not, the kids will love this.

Kelly’s down at the crap table and I haven’t even come close at bingo. Tomorrow I’m trying the Slot Tournament.  Still haven’t stopped eating, got a sunburned nose and forearms and feet but not too bad.

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Saturday: Ft. Lauderdale
2009 Cruise

We got into Ft. Lauderdale about eleven AM, checked into the hotel and walked around the area for a little.  We then caught city busses and made our way to the beach where we caught the Jungle Queen for a three hour tour [no professor or Mary Ann, just Kelly Ann].  The river boat took us up the New River past million dollar mansions and million dollar boats.  We saw Al Pacino, Hyzengar, Nick Saban, Bruce Willis and Demi Moore’s and David Sterns mansion, also the Vanderbilt mansion.  David Sterns mansion and boat cost over $50 million dollars!  I don’t want to here anything from these people about excessive taxes or whining about troubled franchises when they waste fortunes on ‘second homes and boats that are idle and vacant for months out of the year!

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The riverboat dropped us off at an island for dinner, entertainment and animal exhibits.  The food was great: the ribs and chicken just fell off the meat and the coleslaw was the best I every had [I need to get that recipe].  A huge Peacock got on top of one of the huts and was crowing all over the place.

Orlando, Fl.: Gator Land:

Pictures from my day assisting the trainers at Gator Land, Kissamee FL. in 2007

Pictures from Kelly’s day the previous year [2006]

Kelly's trip to Florida 2006
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