After leaving Vero Beach, we headed to Key Largo. We spent one night with Joni’s parents and then went on to Key Largo.
The Mulaski’s (Dave and Mary Jane) arrived the night before we did.We didn’t get to park next to each other this time, but we were in the same RV park.
Pictured is our spot. Also pictured is our view of the canal seen from the corner of our spot.
The park is located on the Gulf of Mexico. The Keys are very narrow islands connected by lots of bridges and you can usually see both the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico at the same time. We stayed in Key Largo, the first island of the Keys.
We have enjoyed our time with Mary Jane and Dave and were glad we could be together again in the Keys. We didn’t meet a lot of people here like we did in Vero Beach until it was almost time to leave, so we were glad to have each other to do things with. We have played a lot of tennis and bridge and biked around the island quite a bit.
We were in Key Largo during the Super Bowl and we were invited to an RV SuperBowl Party. Pictured are Mary Jane and Dave with their backs to the camera.
On one of our bike rides, the four of us were traveling along Route 1, stopping at beach shops and seeing other camp grounds. We came across a “Kayak Shop”! Of coarse, Joni wanted to go in and look around. Mary Jane and Dave love kayaking so they also wanted to look around. Well guess what????? JONI FINALLY GOT HER “REAL” KAYAK!!! Delton reluctantly agreed to get her one. His main concern was that we would be traveling around the country with a kayak on the roof of the car and it wouldn’t get used in a lot of places we would visit. After finding out how easy it was to put on the car and take off the car, he said OK. Joni was sure she wouldn’t tire of it and it would be used whenever there was water around.
We also went to the "Kayak Race and Show" the following week.Mary Jane and Joni went right into the water when they got back. They’ve had lots of fun in the water, especially “stalking” manatee.
While walking past the canal in the park, we spotted 2 manatee.
We got a hose and gave the manatee some fresh water to drink. They love fresh water.
They let us pat their heads and rub their bellies while they drank. What an experience!
Then one day while Joni was paddling around in her new kayak, the same 2 manatee appeared again. This time they came right up to the kayak and Joni was able to reach them a lot better. She was fasinated. Also that same afternoon, she spotted some dolphin who were playfully swimming about 40 feet from her kayak. Neat!
Eating in restauants on the water makes everything taste great, especially when it's a BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION for a special friend named Mary Jane and there is a beautiful sunset to watch as you eat. That's just what we did one evening. Great food, great company and great atmosphere. What could be better!
We took a day to drive down to Key West, the last Key in the chain. It was about 100 miles and took us 2 hours and 15 minutes to get their. It was a beautiful drive on Route 1 and we could see both the Ocean and Gulf most of the way there. One bridge was 7 miles long. We brought our bikes and rode around the entire island. It is 2 miles wide and 4 miles long. Places we saw are:
beautiful beaches, 
Truman’s Little White House, Earnest Hemingway’s house,
Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville,
the Southernmost spot in the United States and
Zachery Taylor National Park and Fort.
While riding along the beach, we spotted a beach restaurant, so after riding a while we went back to the restaurant and had a late lunch. Joni loved eating in a place, right on the beach with a beautiful view of the ocean.
One afternoon, Delton and Dave Mulaski went out on a fishing boat with the hopes of catching dinner. Unfortunately, only 3 fish were caught from the boat that morning and they weren't caught by Delton or Dave. They will try again in Fort Myers, our next stop. Pictured is Dave on the boat.
The boat from the movie, "The African Queen" is on display at a pier in Key Largo. Kathryn Hepburn and Humphry Bogart were the stars in the movie. There was no motor on the boat when it was used in the movie.
You can see both the sun rise and the sun set in the keys. We saw some beautiful sunsets. What a great way to end each day. Pictured is the sunset from our RV park.
