Month: February 2010

Top 10 of the Florida Keys #5

February 24, 2010March 8, 2010 Diana B.1 Comment

Our Florida Keys Top 10 continues at the home of the sunset.

Number Five: Key West

Relax. Pull up a beach chair.

Forget life in the fast lane. This is were the highway ends.

This is the southernmost point in the continental U.S.A. — Key West, FL.

Go any further south, and you’ll be swimming to Cuba!

The perfect spot for lunch was Jimmy Buffet’s Original Margaritaville Cafe.

Michael enjoyed a “Cheeseburger in Paradise.” And as the menu put it, I “sailed off to the Virgin Islands” with a yummy pina colada. In retrospect, I should have ordered a margarita in honor of my grandma’s upcoming 90th birthday. She secretly loves margaritas, but please don’t tell her I told you that!

After our meal, we strolled along the colorful and historic Key West Seaport boardwalk.

Michael admired this schooner as it took on the high seas.

And Linnea admired this giant conch shell. Too bad it wouldn’t fit in her little blue bucket. We did find and purchase several smaller seashell treasures at a delightful shell shop nearby. Another notable find during our shopping excursion was dessert! Michael delved into the best-ever key lime pie, and I devoured a dreamy ice cream cone with a scoop of fresh toasted coconut ice cream and a scoop of dark chocolate ice cream. Yum! It was so good, I don’t even remember what the girls ordered.

As we continued sight-seeing on foot, we paused at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum. As you can see, Laurel has a slightly eccentric obsession with cannons. (I have no other theory than perhaps it’s related to her much more understandable Nutcracker obsession.) This particular English cannon — a four pounder long gun and carriage — was a replica. The original was recovered from the wreck of the Henrietta Marie and was typical of the smaller guns carried on merchant ships and pirate ships during the 18th century.

We didn’t tour the museum this time because just visiting the gift shop was fascinating enough for our crew. The man behind the counter gave us a mini-tour of all the shipwreck treasures for sale. He actually let the girls hold a gold Spanish coin from the 1600s. I nearly fainted when he told us it was worth $22,000! Whoah! What was he thinking?

Later we swung by Harry S. Truman’s Little White House. Though it appeared to be a quaint little piece of history, the admission was pretty steep, so we simply admired it from outside.

Random question: Does anyone know why there are chickens everywhere in Key West? This one was on a grassy spot at the Post Office!

The sun wasn’t yet setting when we left Key West, but I promise to deliver some stunning sunset pictures before our Top 10 concludes. We’re halfway through, so stay tuned for #6!

Florida Keys Top 10 Series

Top 10 of the Florida Keys #4

February 22, 2010March 8, 2010 Diana B.2 Comments

Our Florida Keys Top 10 continues today with Linnea’s favorite.

Number Four: Seashells

She searches. And she searches.

For seashells. By the seashore.

Slightly satisfied.

Still she needs to search for more.

So she searches.

And she searches.

She scurries to.

She scurries fro.

Will she ever stop? I don’t think so.

Florida Keys Top 10 Series

Top 10 of the Florida Keys #3

February 20, 2010March 8, 2010 Diana B.Leave a comment

Our family’s Top 10 of the Florida Keys continues with Michael’s favorite mode of transportation.

Number Three: Sailing

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” -Proverbs 3:5-6

I’d be remiss if I led you to believe everything about our vacation — or about our family in general — is all blue skies and sunshine. It’s rarely ever smooth sailing. And it certainly wasn’t smooth sailing the morning Michael set off for Keys Fisheries.

There he rented Chiquita, a 24-foot banana yellow sailboat. He was so excited.

The sailing itself wasn’t bad. We had no stormy seas to fret about. No high winds. Instead it was my attitude that was rocking the boat.

First, I must disclose that I’m married to a sailor, a boat lover, a former dock hand for the marina in our hometown. Michael loves anything remotely nautical. Me? Well, not as much. I do like to sail on picture perfect summer days with a gentle breeze. But other times I go along — often way out of my comfort zone — because I love him dearly and because I’m really good at hiding my fears of being shipwrecked or eaten by a shark.

By Florida standards, the weather was chilly that morning, especially on the water. Maybe that’s why I was grumpy. I had envisioned sailing in warm, summer-like weather when I agreed to this outing! If I wanted to be cold, I would have stayed in Minnesota.

I should also mention that I literally started off on the wrong foot. Three adult men loudly instructed me how to climb off the dock, climb up to another larger sailboat, and then very carefully climb down to the Chiquita, which sat several feet lower in the water. Turn around. They called. Hang on to that cable. No, not that one. No, don’t try to go under that rope. You’ve got to turn around. See, your legs are long enough after all. All the while I was trying not to drop my camera bag into the murky water, trying not to trip on my flip flops, and trying to oversee the safety of my two small children who were already aboard the Chiquita and way out of arm’s reach.

No. That was not a good way to start our voyage.

To make matters worse, deep down I didn’t fully trust my husband on this endeavour. Sailing with him on the lake on our very own boat is one thing. Sailing with him on the ocean in someone else’s boat is quite another. What if the boat capsizes? What if one of the girls falls overboard? Even worse, what if he falls overboard? Sharks live in these waters. And I know sharks live in these waters because I’ve just seen firsthand what their nibbling has done to the sea turtles nearby. Plus the boat’s owner just instructed us to watch for dolphins and sea turtles in our path as though we were watching for deer in the road up north. So many things could possibly go wrong.

Why does he look so calm? My husband wasn’t just asking me to trust him to keep my camera dry. He was asking me to trust him with my life. And, more importantly, he was asking me to trust him with my children’s lives, too!

Or was he?

Looking back, I see I was being a little melodramatic. I was leaning on my own understanding. Looking back, it’s easier to realize that risk is how you perceive it. Whether we travel in a sailboat or an airplane or a rental car or our own minivan, we take risks every day. We don’t really have control in what happens to us. We can’t really trust each other fully. And we can’t be calm when we lean on our own understanding.

But we can control how we respond to what happens to us. And there is Someone we can trust fully. Someone who cares about what happens to us. Someone who does have control in every circumstance, even shipwrecks.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

Eventually, Michael set the sails back toward land. The wind was at our backs, and the sun was higher. We felt warmer.

The girls relaxed. And Michael was already relaxed because this was his favorite part of the Florida Keys.

So I let go. I relaxed, too. And don’t tell Michael, but I did have a little bit of fun after all.

Florida Keys Top 10 Series

Top 10 of the Florida Keys: #2

February 18, 2010March 8, 2010 Diana B.1 Comment

Our family’s Top 10 of the Florida Keys continues with another favorite sea creature!

Number 2: Dolphins

“Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths…” – Psalm 148:7

You can easily see why dolphins are Laurel’s favorite animal. They are quite lovable, especially as they leap out of the water smiling! Our visit to the Dolphin Research Center on Grassy Key was certainly worthwhile. The DRC is home to a pod of 20 Atlantic bottlenose dolphins and three California sea lions. The animals live in ninety thousand square feet of seawater lagoons with low fences separating them from the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The sea lions exhibit is under construction right now, so we didn’t get to see them. But we saw many dolphins, and two of them were babies. One was just a week old! The babies and mothers were too elusive for me to catch on camera.

This happy dolphin was chatty and awaiting a treat during one of two performances we watched.

Besides the shows, the DRC also offers, for an extra price, “dolphin encounters” such as swimming with the dolphins or having a dolphin paint a souvenir T-shirt for you. Since it was pretty chilly that morning, no one signed up for a swim, but a few folks sprung for the T-shirts. Here’s a trainer handing over the paintbrush.

The dolphins were busy little artists but not exactly talented in T-shirt design!

Did I mention it was chilly that morning? Under-dressed for the weather, we were eager to follow the masses inside the Dolphin Theatre to watch a short presentation. We learned that the DRC is on the site where the classic old movie Flipper was filmed in 1963. Many of the dolphins living there now are descendants of Mitzi, the dolphin who starred as Flipper.

After the presentation, the speaker took questions from the audience. Linnea wanted to know how deep dolphins can swim. The Navy has trained dolphins to swim several hundred feet deep, but dolphins typically say within 50 or so feet of the surface.

Next Laurel raised her hand. I always get nervous when my 4-year-old asks questions in public. When the speaker finally called on her, Laurel loudly and clearly asked, “Did you know that dolphins are my favorite animal?” The crowd thought that was pretty funny. At least she stated it in the form of a question!

Back outside, everyone cheered as this dolphin waved good-bye at the end of the show.

That’s all for now, but we’re not even close to the end of our Top 10 of the Florida Keys! Can you guess what was Michael’s favorite part of the trip? Stay tuned because you won’t want to miss this ride!

Florida Keys Top 10 Series

Top 10 of the Florida Keys

February 17, 2010March 8, 2010 Diana B.2 Comments

Don’t re-freeze if thawed. These instructions are important to heed if you are a frozen chicken breast, but they are hard to follow if you are a Minnesotan returning from a week-long Florida vacation in February. Frozen since sometime in November, we did indeed thaw while on vacation. Seasoned in sea salt and sand, we warmed up well in the Florida sunshine and Atlantic water. But now we are back home in the Frozen Tundra and diligently trying not to re-freeze because that would be so distasteful.

While I still feel thawed and still have a little sand between my toes, I am eager to bask with you in the warm memories! I plan to serve up our family’s Top 10 of the Florida Keys. Of course, I don’t want to over-stuff this post with all the photos and stories from a week-long trip. That’d be too messy. A trip like this calls for several small courses! So do enjoy this one, and please come back often so you don’t miss anything!

Number One: Sea Turtles

“So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems… And God saw that it was good.”

— Genesis 1:21

Of the top 10 things we love about the Florida Keys, the sea turtles rank pretty high. The first full day we spent in the Keys, we devoted a large chunk of time to the Turtle Hospital in Marathon, FL.

Sea turtles happen to be my favorite animal — I fell in love with them while Michael and I were vacationing in the Cayman Islands several years ago. Anyway, sea turtles are Linnea’s favorite, too, which made the Turtle Hospital a must-see.

Touring the hospital and learning about sea turtle injuries was quite intriguing. I never knew sea turtles had so many health challenges! Shark bites, boat propeller incidents and entanglement in fishing line are a few primary causes of injury for these captivating creatures. The hospital’s emergency room and operating room offer pretty impressive care, and the folks who work at the hospital are clearly devoted to helping these amazing creatures recover from whatever ails them.

During a recent cold snap in the area, the water temperature dropped into the 50s and many sea turtles suffered from “cold stunning.” As a result, the hospital took in more than 170 turtles in January — that’s more patients than the hospital typically gets in a full year! Most of those turtles had already been released when we were there, but 20 or so were still there recovering in outside tanks like this.

The girls adored seeing the sea turtles up close! We saw Loggerheads, Hawks Bills, Green Turtles, and the rare Kemp’s Ridleys.

Without a doubt, everyone’s favorite turtle was Scooter, an adorable 1-year-old Loggerhead who is perfectly healthy.

Scooter goes with the hospital biologists when they visit schools, and he helps educate students about sea turtles and what the hospital does. While the tour guide was holding him, Scooter waved his fin at Laurel.

Toward the end of the tour, our guide passed around some catfish food for us to feed to the turtles. The turtles were anticipating this, so they followed us closely — they swam and we walked alongside the water.

After the tour, we visited the gift shop. Having saved up her allowance for weeks in hopes of buying a stuffed sea turtle, Laurel delighted in finally wrapping her arms around this one.

Notice it has an orange bandage — the tour guide/reptile biologist carefully treated Laurel’s little turtle before releasing it to her. So cute! Linnea had to have one, too.

Its fin needed a white bandage, as you can see.

I think these turtles are going to be well cared for, don’t you?

Thanks for joining us at the Turtle Hospital. Stay tuned for the next post, when we learn more about another favorite sea creature as our Top 10 of the Florida Keys continues!

Florida Keys Top 10 Series