Florida Keys Continued...

wading in the water after a long bike ride - it's so warm!

All of the pedestrian bridges down here are used as fishing piers. Thankfully the next guy had this net on him or he wouldn't have been able to pull this big fish up!

Christmas Eve the local Volunteer Fire Department drove around the park with their lights on and Christmas music playing

Lobster trap Christmas tree

Man o war's - aka Jelly Fish

Brew Fest in Marathon

Scott wants this trailer...

Morning yoga view...I'm going to miss this!

They offer tours on the "African Queen" in Key Largo

It's pretty hard to get pictures of lizards because they are usually running from us. This curly tail one thought he was going to get fed so he stayed in one spot.

If we lived here I would so volunteer at this place. I love turtles!

How cute is that?

These are all in big above ground swimming pools. Once they are rehabilitated from whatever issue they have they will be released back into the wild.

This pen is refreshed from the gulf. These are all the turtles that can't be let back out into the wild. Some will stay with them - others will go to zoos around the country.

Storm moving in...

I crashed into the guardrail...thankfully Scott was able to get me back on the road

I've decided that road rash and bed sores are a special kind of pain...I also had a pretty good bruise on my belly from my handlebars.

I love how they hunker down in the wind...

One of the many oddities in Key West is that there are chickens everywhere - even in the middle of Duval street.

This is never a good thing - but when you live in an RV it's even scarier. Thankfully it didn't appear...

The tornado warning came first and then this popped up - 15 minutes before the Key West 1/2 marathon was scheduled to start. They ended up delaying it by an hour - which was a great decision.

First run we've volunteered for - it was a lot of fun encouraging people on!

Barb & Oscar were great cheerleaders!

I thought this was great! This man is very comfortable with himself I guess...

Scott being a cheerleader too! He was having flashbacks of directing traffic in Skagway - and dealing with the mopeds! ;-)

These ladies were towards the end of the group so this was maybe 4 hours into the run/walk? I was impressed with their positive attitude - they were having fun!

This dude and his mate hang out at the blue hole on Big Pine Key.

Key Deer can be found on Big Pine Key and No Name Key - they are about the size of a lab. I still wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of those antlers though!

In our last blog I posted pictures of this bridge - we stopped again and it looks like they are taking part of it down.

We had a visitor!

Mom came to visit too! It was great to see her! We tried to keep her busy but the weather got in our way a bit. We did get down to Key West so she was able to see that area.

It amazes me how they can balance on the railings...

It was a pretty rough, rainy day when we left Key West.

The sailing regatta probably loved the wind!

Fishing boat out in the middle of the sailboats.

Decided to do a 5k - it was out at No Name Key

It was a windy, stormy morning for a race but very pretty views.

dark pictures - there were about 140 runners

Scott running back across the bridge

This beagle was a great cheerleader - he howled every time anybody clapped

Pretty cool to be able to say we've run a race on the North Slope of Alaska and in the Florida Keys. The paramedics were pretty cool - they thought we were crazy to work were it's cold though.

Too true! Where does your fish come from? Don't eat farmed fish!

troublemaker...

We couldn't get a picture but the folks behind us had their fries stolen by some sea gulls. This guy just walked around and made a pest of himself.

More pelicans! I guess I'm kind of obsessed... These guys were waiting for the fish to be cleaned. There was quite the battle once it was thrown to them.

This dauschund loves to go on the stand up paddleboard!

They have a towel for him to lay on and he has a life jacket on with a handle on it. I guess he likes to occasionally jump off and try to go after fish.

Next to the 7 mile bridge is the old bridge that is about 4 miles round trip. It's a great walk/run out there if you ever have the opportunity.

This is Pigeon Key - which is at the end of the walking bridge. I guess it was a stop for folks making the long drive down back in the day.

This ramp is blocked off - the only way to get to Pigeon Key now is by ferry. It says it's undergoing repairs but I didn't see any evidence of that. It's looks like it's the original wooden one.

The bridge on the left is the 7 mile driving bridge.