The Key's - starting in Naples!

I lost my cell phone on our trip to the Key's (well Bolts and his crazy desire to see the manatees helped launch my phone into the Gulf...)  So anyway, I lost most of my photos of this trip. Fortunately Chris had a few, which I will post.   We started our trip in Naples, FL.  With Big Blue & Bolts.  Our friends had an open RV pad, which we used while we visited with them. 

Great location!

You can just see Big Blue across the pond.   The RV resort was so peaceful.  We walked everywhere.  Our friends also took us around Naples, and to a couple outdoor restaurants.  We had a really nice time - the temperature was perfect, and we were busy enough, but still had plenty of time to relax.

 

What I see through my window - mural!

 This is painted on the side of a building - I can't believe my photo turned out as well as it did :)

FBF - my 'oldest' friend

 Me & Leann at Univ of IL graduation!  We've been friends since we could walk (just barely).  So cool to have friends for that long!!

The Beach!

My neighbor & I went to the beach for a run.  She's new to running, so I introduced her to the run/walk method.  We ran for 2 minutes and walked for 30 seconds.  And we did that for 30 minutes!  She did great!

Love hearing the sound of the waves crashing.  The tide was pretty far out so we had a lot of firm sand to run on.

Some people had made some sand sculptures

Someone is building a new home that looks like a boat.  Pretty cool! 

 

Monkey Island & Cedar Key

We spent a few days with Chris' mom and husband, so one day we took a drive north.  They've mentioned this Monkey Island & Cedar Key before, so Chris & I were excited to see them.  

Bolts also came along and made himself at home on Tony's lap :)

1st stop Monkey Island!

It's a cute island in the middle of a waterway.  It has several cool buildings for their 'homes'.  A wrecked boat, and many swings.  We were there in the middle of the day, so there wasn't much activity.

Lots of boaters were milling around the island trying to get a view of one of the monkeys.  The monkey's don't swim so they don't leave the island.  They are fed a couple times a day by ??  Not sure if it's wildlife organization or just neighbors.

We did see a few moving around.  They were bigger than I thought - more like a chimp size, but with a long tail.  It was pretty cool to see!

Kayakers also taking a view :)  There were a few restaurants nearby where you can relax, have lunch or dinner, and watch the monkeys.  We're planning on going back and doing just that!

We continued our drive north to Cedar Key

It's quite a long drive/ride - way out :) 

But it's worth it once you arrive.  It's a small island with a lot of character.  The Pelican's seemed to like it - there were a lot!

Golf carts seemed to be the best mode of transportation in the business district

The buildings were old and very interesting

We stopped for an iced coffee

It's small and quaint, so easy to walk around and see everything

This cat was not afraid of Bolts at all :)

Christmas decorations were already out too!

It was a great way to spend the afternoon.  Since it was a long drive, it took pretty much the whole day!  We were all tired when we got home, but not too tired for Thanksgiving leftovers!!





 

Other fun in Brooksville

The sunrise's at Chris' mom were beautiful. We love sitting in their lanai, safe from buggies :)

Chris and I also went on some bike rides around the local neighborhoods

We saw some local wildlife - turtles!

Daily walks were also fun.

Bolts liked looking out the bedroom window :)

We made a shell windchime for Liz' collection

One morning, we tried a quick muffin recipe:  2 packets of instant oatmeal (any flavor), 1 big scoop of Peanut butter, and 1 egg.  Plus some baking powder (1/2 to 1 tsp) to help them rise. 

We still got up and did our morning strength & conditioning!  Bolts isn't impressed

He was tired, just like us!  Good times make you sleepy :)