Fiesta Key, FL

Obviously we aren't the only ones who are bitten with the Disney bug. Whatever power company there is in Florida must be too! We passed this transformer on the way down to Lake Okeechobee. We didn't see the Lake since the campground wasn't close to it, but the campground was nice though nothing special. It's located in Clewiston, FL, which is the corporate home of U.S. Sugar, so has earned the name of "America's Sweetest Town". Unfortunately, Russ learned from some construction workers staying at the site that they were there to automate the sugar factory, which will take the staff from a couple hundred down to a couple dozen.

The next morning we headed for Fiesta Key, located about 70 miles north of Key West, and just on the other side of this 2 mile bridge between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. We arrived about mid-day and the registrar said the campground was really slow so he was going to move us to a site where we'd have a great view of the sunsets. When we arrived at the site, the view was already incredible and we couldn't wait to see the sun set over the Gulf. We went out about 7pm and were not disappointed!

Once we got settled we decided that we would just take it easy for a couple days as it seems that we have been constantly on the go since we left over three months ago. We spent a lot of the day just sitting in our home and looking out the front window while enjoying the view of water as far as the eye can see. It is such an incredible blue-green color, in many spots more green than blue.

There's a pet walk area and at the end of it is an spot where the dogs can swim right in the Gulf. We took them down there, and Abby especially seemed to enjoy it. Later we headed to the pool for a relaxing swim and even spent some time in the Gulf. We spent Thursday evening knocking down two bottles of wine while sitting under the thatched hut listening to the waves lap at the sea wall, enjoying another sunset, and marveling at the number of stars we were able to see in the sky. Neither of us can remember ever seeing so many lights in the sky. It was so clear that we could even see the Milky Way as it spread all the way across the sky. Maybe we'll pull our telescope out if the skies remain clear.

On Friday we headed further down the Keys just enjoying the view. We decided not to go all the way to Key West as we had spent a day there while on a cruise a couple years ago and have no real interest in spending time in that tourist trap. On the way back to our campground, we stopped and had lunch at a little seafood restaurant dining on conch soup and fried dolphin fish sandwiches. Now we have read and been told that this is not the mammal dolphin but rather a gamefish that in the Pacific is known as Mahi-Mahi. Why they don't call it that here, we have no idea, but after we finished eating Russ kept singing the theme song to Flipper!

We decided to head to the pub here at the campground for happy hour and have a couple beers. With only 3 other rigs in the campground, it was not surprising to find it empty except for a couple campground workers, but the beer was cold and we had a couple appetizers in lieu of dinner finishing just in time for another spectacular sunset. Each one seems to be different. We didn't pull out the telescope because there were too many clouds. Perhaps another time.

On the way back to our site, we stopped at another camper's site who we had befriended. Andy and his girlfriend, Theresa, were doing some night fishing, and suddenly she snagged a small shark! (Though it was still about 3 foot!) Andy released it, but what a site to see!

We leave tomorrow morning and head for Ft. Myers, but both of us have said we wish we could stay longer. It's so peaceful, beautiful, and relaxing here. Even Mikey doesn't want to leave! He had walked over to the hut with Russ earlier and was just lying down looking out at the Gulf, and when Russ said "Come on, let's go", he said Mikey just looked at him as if to say, "Do I have to?" Mikey finally got up but reluctantly. :-)