We drove I-275 South to I-75 South out of Tampa but instead of staying on I-75 heading toward Miami and US 1, we took 41 South through the Everglades instead of the boring interstate. It was more picturesque and we stopped at one of the National Parks to see one of the small alligator's sunning himself. The foliage was just beautiful too!
Once we got onto US 1 in between the islands of the Keys, the water was just so aqua blue and beautiful. If it weren't for the hurricanes, I could live here! NOT! We discovered that there are just too many people down here now. It's just stop and go traffic every where we went. Definitely not fun at all.
After we checked into Captain Pip's Marina & Hideaway, we made our way down to Big Pine Key Fishing Lodge to hook up with Frank & Diane Giorlando. We hadn't seen them since 2009 when we met them on the Australia to Hawaii cruise! They live outside of Detroit and winter down here where it's warm but let me tell you - they are rustic rats (their words, not mine)! They have their camp set up just the way they like it!
What you can't see is inside that little enclosure is a kitchen (2 burner propane stove, sink with running water, shelves for dishes and food, table & chairs, etc.). They've really thought of everything!
As Diane was making dinner, two "key" deer (get it - they live in the Key's so they're called "key" deer) walked right into their camp looking for something to eat. They are so cute but it's illegal to feed them.
After dinner, we went with them to their resort's annual "auction" (all the stuff nobody wants so it's auctioned off and the funds are put back into the camp for something fun and/or useful). It was quite comical watching the "auctioneers" - I promise they weren't drinking either! LOL
