Month: February 2012
Next time you’re watching PanAm the series…..
……think of Key West
Ahhh this is the real deal. Now where's my margarita? 
This sums up the Key West attitude
What a wonderful world it would be. The drinking age would be lowered and it would be 5:00 o’clock everywhere. Did you know that Warren Buffet is Jimmy Buffet’s uncle? It’s true.
Key West is an island at the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys and home to the southernmost point in the Continental United States. The island is about 90 miles (140 km) from Cuba.
Here are some photos taken yesterday around the city.
Duval St. is Key West’s equivalent to Boubon St. in New Orleans.
Until later……………………..gotta go have lunch (maybe a conch salad?) and another margarita. This time at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville – the gold standard for margarita’s but i’ll let you know in tomorrow’s post.
Photos: d. king
There we were having a nice breakfast on the terrace and watching the parade go by. Visiting with my cousin who lives right in between an inner coastal waterway and the ocean in Hollywood, Fla. Miles of boardwalk with great restaurants and all kinds of fun shops.
Sorry buddy but you’re just not big enough.
The little 30 ft. attachment is so cute 
Hello 100 ft.+ lover - I think we could live together. Who says size doesn't matter? 
Everyone loves a parade - this is the life! 
Found the white trash sister to the one from my earlier post on Ft. Lauderdale beach. Maybe not so rare afterall.
Our first night camping in a somewhat desolate campground in the Everglades. Good thing we kept JiaJia on a short leash.
I guess with about two million alligators living in the Florida Everglades the chances of seeing at least one are pretty high. Did you know that Florida is the only place in the world where both alligators and crocodiles co-habit in the wild.
Tried to take a photo of a baby gator but just as I was about to snap there was a loud splash. The mama made her presence known and I made mine disappear in a flash so sorry; no photo. Damn…it would have been so good too.
Heron & Gator – still can’t believe the amount of wildlife we’ve seen here
After we left the campsite on route to Miami we saw a big turtle crossing the highway and shortly after a whole bunch of buzzards tearing apart what looked to be a very large dead python. I’ll spare you those photos.
What do you get when you cross a hummer and a stretch limo? One ugly motherhummer!
Photos: d. king
Woke up real early this morning so decided to take a walk around the block in my leopard print pajamas. Nobody knows me here but I did make these two new friends:
Until now the only Burrowing Owl I was familiar with was the winery in the Okanagan, British Columbia (which by the way is very good)….….but the real thing does exist and it is a lovely sight to behold. They’re a tiny but long-legged owl found throughout open landscapes of North and South America. They nest and roost in burrows – hence the name.
The Burrowing Owl is currently on British Columbia’s Red List meaning that as of 2006 they are Endangered. They’re endangered for a variety of reasons (too numerous to mention here) but for starters the reproduction rate of Burrowing Owls is limited by the availability of suitable habitat. The last breeding record for Burrowing Owls in BC was in 1970.
The outlook for Burrowing Owls in British Columbia is reasonably good. Although habitat loss continues, many other impacts have been minimized, thanks in part to public awareness and support. To become more aware please refer to this link:
http://www.naturecanada.ca/endangered_know_our_species_burrowingowl…
p.s. The sun was starting to rise as I walked back just in time to see a man wearing a bathrobe walk out to get his morning paper – didn’t feel too bad wearing p.j’s.
Sanibel Island, Florida is Frommer’s Top Tourist Destination
Yesterday we went to Sanibel Island which is not too far from my uncle’s house. What a gorgeous stretch of beach! They have 250 different kinds of shells so naturally I picked some since I collect hard to find shells. We took JiaJia for his birthday to the Island Cow restaurant where he had the child’s portion cheeseburger (since he’s under 10) with the cheese on the side. Then we let him run wild on the beach. Every now and again he manages to break loose from his leash. See photos.
Arther Frommer (from Frommer’s series of travel guide books) ranked Sanibel Island, Florida as his #1 favorite travel destination. Hard to believe but here’s what ranked second and third:
#2 is Bali, Indonesia
#3 is Paris, France
This is what he wrote in his 2011 travel guide:
Off the west coast of the Sunshine State, a few miles from Ft. Myers, is an idyllic haven of white-sand beaches, condos where seafront apartments are available for weekly rentals, excellent restaurants, good shopping – and the most important, the Ding Darling Nature Preserve, visited by thousands of birds of every species, who bask in the sun after diving for fish, and are one of the great natural sights of wildlife in America.
He never mentioned the traffic and the other kind of wildlife called “snowbirds”.
On our way
Photos: d. king
How was your day?
Also a very “happy birthday” to one special dog (see below).
Knew that would get your attention but I really meant Manatees, those loveable, large, docile aquatic sea creatures found mostly in Florida. Did you know that they are related to the Elephant? Other than size there’s nothing elephantine about them other than they’re mammals and also vegetarian.
We were so lucky to see six of them this morning in their natural habitat on the Suwannee River. Several years ago in Jamaica by chance I had the opportunity of swimming with one again in its natural habitat. I heard that a Manatee saved someone from drowning so I pretended to drown but I guess it didn’t consider me save worthy because it ignored me. Nonetheless it was a moving experience.
I still want to adopt one. Well not to have at home – where would I put it? Not even room in the bathtub. But for as little as $25 you can help protect this endangered species with the Adopt-A-Manatee program. Funds will go toward efforts to help protect them and their habitat. And unlike a child adoption program here you can even choose a manatee from a selection to match your personality. After reviewing several I’m having difficulty deciding between the following choices:
Elaine – she’s been known to get into her fair share of mischief (so opposite of me)
Floyd – he is a “ham” who has been in films & magazines (the glamour appeals to me)
Lenny – who prefers rest to all other activities. (well lazy can be okay…..sometimes)
Crazy Nick – his behaviour is known to be erratic such as going north, rather than south in midwinter; hence the name. (I’ve never been good with directions either). He’s being tracked by radio telemetry that produces information on behaviour.
Margarito – he can be identified by a number of scars from boat hits and a missing right flipper. I’m leaning towards choosing this guy.
Go to: http://savethemanatee.org/
Girl Who Would be KING on Life, Style and INSPIRATION. 
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