Month: December 2009

Yesterday we stayed in Hollywood again and went to visit our host, Dave, at Barry University where he works. It looks like a great place with about 6,000 students, I think. It made me laugh because my brother’s name is Barry and I kept seeing his name everywhere!

We had a great lunch in the cafeteria. All you can eat for $6.50. We had grilled cheese sandwiches and salad bar and then self-serve frozen yogurt for dessert.

Then we drove to Coral Gables, also a suburb of Miami. The story, as I have it, is an eccentric man in the 20’s noticed the sprawl that was growing around Miami and designed to take a mango plantation and make it into a nice community that people from the northern states would come visit. He built it with lots of spanish architecture and mediterranean touches like fountains and parks. But then the first hurricane hit and people were scared off. The great depression came and the place remained empty until the 40’s.

Today, it’s a beautiful neighbourhood with character homes from the 20’s. Our first stop was the Venetian Pool, a beautiful and functional historic site that dates from the 20’s as well. We would have loved to swim there, but it was closed for renovations. We went to the library instead.

For dinner, we’d been invited to one of my classmates’ house. Binh is in my online creative writing program. Binh and Geoff have a beautiful house full of gorgeous art and they made us feel right at home. She even gave Morgane a beautiful present – a vintage rhinestone necklace!

We also got to reminisce about other places since they both grew up in Nova Scotia and all four of us are (or soon will be) University of British Columbia alumni.

Binh and I both LOVE children’s books and she is currently editing her 400-page thesis – a children’s novel. Go, Binh! I hope we’ll get to see them again before we leave.

We won’t be leaving before tomorrow afternoon when we are picking up our brand-new cards. These are cards that we give away to people interested in the blog.

We’re back from the keys and staying at Dave and Leo’s again. This morning we left the hotel early so we could get back and pick Carmanah up at the kennel.

On the way back, we wanted to stop at a beach, but I didn’t see the turnoff for the free beach until it was too late.

The second thing I wanted to do was feed the Tarpons. These are large fish (up to 8 feet long) with very large scales. We found the spot (at Mile 77.5) and bought a bucket of fish. We had to try to keep the fish away from the pelicans who wanted to steal it. Each time we threw a fish in the water, the tarpons would snatch it up. We saw the pelicans steal one or two.

On the way back, we stopped at a state park, but the beaches were closed due to high levels of bacteria. So we came back to the beach here in Hollywood.

Tomorrow we might go into Miami and tomorrow night we are meeting Binh who lives here and is also in my distance writing program!

Today Morgane and I went for a ride on a glass-bottomed boat (Thanks, Mom, for the Christmas present!). We rode on the catamaran for about 45 minutes to the coral reef. Then we sat close so we could see the glass bottom and the boat slowed down. We saw a lot of fish. Sometimes it was hard to believe they were really underneath us.

After our boat trip, we had some more key lime pie and bought some key lime juice for my own pies. The owner of this shop explained that there aren’t many key limes on the keys. They were wiped out in a hurricane and now the real estate is too expensive to be used to grow limes.

Later on, Morgane and I visited one of Key West’s beaches. From there, we went to the park. After that, we headed to Mallory Square where there’s a sunset celebration every night.

There were tons of street entertainers and also some folks selling crafts. The crafts were nice because they only let locals sell fairly priced locally-made products. I even saw organic t-shirts.This was in sharp contrast to the rest of the area where they advertise that everything in the store is five bucks.

Morgane loved the performers and even got volunteered for one. Everyone thought she was the cutest! I liked some of it, but didn’t appreciate most of the humour. The best one was a guy who blew giant bubbles while his dog (wearing shorts) collected the money and put it in the pot. We couldn’t resist feeding the dog a dollar bill (twice!).

Now we are back home and getting ready to take off in the morning. We’ll have a little time to see more of the keys on our way back, but we want to pick Carmanah, our dog, up before closing time.

We’re staying in Key West at a great hotel with a huge pool. Morgane and I swam for a long time this morning. After we came in, it started to rain so we went for a drive around town. When it stopped raining, we checked the southernmost point in the (continental) United States. We passed by Ernest Hemmingway’s house. He spent over ten years there and wrote the bulk of his lifetime work while he was there. Currently sixty cats live there. There are still cats that have six toes like Hemingway’s famous cat.

We stopped to eat in a Cuban restaurant on Catherine Street (recommended by friends we met at the hotel pool). The meat was very salty, but I loved the side dishes: yellow rice, black beans and fried plantains.

Then we stopped at the Key Lime Pie factory and Ghis sampled a new treat – a piece of key lime pie on a stick, dipped in chocolate and frozen. It was so good I had to help him eat it. We may have to go back.

In the afternoon we napped and when we got up, Morgane and I drove to the historic district for the Christmas parade. I’d read that we should bring a bag because a lot of candy is thrown out. This is no understatement. The parade was long and she came home with a huge bag of treats and even necklaces and rings and Christmas knick-knacks.

We came home and swam in the lit pool and sat in the hot tub. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be good and we want to attend the sunset ceremony that takes place every night at Mallory Square. Morgane and I also want to take a ride out to the coral reef in a glass-bottomed boat.

Already I love it here on the keys. We drove in this morning and spent all afternoon at Bahia Honda State Park on the beach. Morgane made two little friends who only spoke Italian, but they all played together amazingly. We swam and snorkled and saw lots of little fish in the shallow water. I saw one BIG one that scared me out of the water.

We met a very nice couple from New Mexico and now they are on our list of people to visit. We also met a young couple from Niagara Falls who have a white Westfalia and have been travelling pretty much like us since September.

We all drove into Key West together. They are also treating themselves to a hotel for two nights. The pool at our hotel is amazing and Morgane and I will try it in the morning. Ghis and our friends are going to try it now (and the poolside bar, too).

Tomorrow we’ll stay in Key West and explore the historical district. There is supposed to be a Christmas parade and at sunset every night, there’s lots going on at Mallory Square.

Key West is the southernmost point in the United States and we are also only 90 miles from Cuba.

We’re staying in Hollywood, Florida, with Dave and Leo and their three dogs, one snake and many birds and fish. They offered to be our couchsurfing hosts and we are very glad.

They just happen to live near a good VW mechanic, so Ghis made an appointment and brought the van in today. Got a few repairs done and hopefully the van will run happily now.

It was really hot and humid today, apparently a record for this time of year. I spent most of the day inside, but after picking up the van, we checked out Hollywood Beach.

We are definitely in a whole new place. The beach looks different from other beaches we’ve been to. The colour is different. It’s hard to explain. It’s like looking at pictures of Miami, but now we’re here and it really is like that. Palm trees everywhere.

Morgane is intrigued by coconuts. I am amazed by the avocado tree in the backyard.

I am excited because tomorrow morning, we leave for the keys. We have a hotel booked for two nights in Key West – big splurge – and we are leaving Carmanah at a recommended kennel here. It’s hard to leave her. Ghis says he’s having separation anxiety.

The keys are about 100 miles long and I think it will all be amazing!

We drove into Orlando around ten o’clock and decided it was as good a day as any to visit Disney World. It’s really expensive, so Ghis decided to forgo it and stay with Carmanah. He got the van filled up with propane and took care of our insurance.

He dropped Morgane and I off at the entrance. We took the boat across the lake to the Magic Kingdom. Disney World is so huge that it wasn’t even easy to find the part we wanted!

Morgane was very happy to be there. We walked up to the big castle which she recognized from her Disney movies. There was a show going on outside with Mickey and Minnie and some of the princesses. She held her little camera up to her face and videotaped the whole show!

Then we went on our first rides – Cinderella’s carousel and Dumbo’s flying ride. I took her in ‘It’s a Small World’ which is one that has stuck in my head all these years. She was enchanted. I hope she didn’t break the eardrums of the people in front of us with her excited shouts.

We had some lunch and rode Peter Pan’s flying ships. Then we went in the haunted house. It was seriously scary, but she wasn’t fooled. I was proud of her for being so brave.

Against my better judgment, we decided to go down Splash Mountain. I felt sick just thinking about the big drop. I think I closed my eyes all the way down. Morgane loved it and wanted to go again, but I refused. We went on the Thunder Mountain roller coaster instead which I liked better. We rode that one twice.

Then we did the jungle safari and Aladdin’s flying carpets and climbed the Swiss Family Robinson’s tree house. Morgane thought it would be a perfect place to live.

We went to Tomorrowland and rode rockets (a bit fast for me) and then Morgane got to drive me around in a race car. It was a bit hard for her to reach the pedal, so I helped, but she steered all by herself. Let’s just say it was a steep learning curve!

Then she wanted to ride the spinning teacups which are fun, but I hate rides that make me dizzy, so we found some little friends for her to ride with. Of course, she loved that!

We also visited Ariel, her favourite princess, and played in her grotto – a little water park. We visited Mickey and Minnie’s houses and then it was time to go home.

Morgane was very sad to leave and said that she had wanted to have her hair done and wear a costume – some of the kids we saw had done this. Eventually she got over her disappointment.

We drove out of Orlando to the Wal Mart, but couldn’t park there. We followed signs to a nearby RV park and had a quiet night. In the morning, we swam outdoors in the pool. Morgane is a real fish, like her dad!

I spotted the brochure for Marineland and I knew we just had to go! I wanted to swim with the dolphins, but it was too expensive (almost $200 each). In the end, Morgane and I did the touch and feed which was great. We got to touch the dolphin (Alvin) and feed him and even give him commands to do tricks.

It wasn’t busy at all, so we stayed and watched as someone did swim with the dolphins. Plus, a trainer came on our side of the tank and entertained Morgane by getting the dolphins to do tricks. Morgane liked it when the dolphin splashed her and got her all wet. Morgane says she would really love to go to dolphin training camp in the summer. Who wouldn’t? She is a natural at it though.

Just as we were watching the dolphins, Ghislain noticed some wild dolphins swimming by close to the beach. My first glimpse of them!

The dolphins at Marineland were very friendly and loved being social. Many have lived there for a long time. Four of them are forty years old and one is 56. She is the oldest dolphin in the world – they don’t live nearly that long in the wild.

The night before the dolphin encounter, we slept at Anastasia State Park in St. Augustine. We found amazing starfish at low tide. They were purple with orange edges. Morgane also made herself a house in a sand bank.