Wanderlust

Well, it took two tries, but we made it over to Key West. The first attempt was on the bike, and a major downpour pre-empted our fun. Good thing Cujo bought a tarp and ponchos on the way - we ended up pulled over on the Overseas Highway crowded under the tarp laughing our asses off. Well.... I was at least... Out second try (in the truck) the next day was a success. Beautiful weather and not a drop of rain. Of course. Timing is everything.

On the drive over the Keys, we stopped at Cudjoe Key (how could we not?!) and saw this iguana and two of his buddies. Also, another Papa Joe restaurant - this one is for our Papa Joe!

Key West was the closest thing to a 'city' that I'd seen since we got here. The other, of course, is up north, off the Keys, but that's a good hour away as well. Key West struck me like New Orleans, except it didn't smell like puke. But we were there during the day, so maybe if you add a few hours, it'd smell the same too. Same party atmosphere, is what I was trying to get at. And a great example of American capitalism. Tons of stores with tons of shit to buy. We only went in the Duval area, though, so I could be biased.

They also have a winery there - but the 'wine' is not made of grapes. Huh? Yeah, I was curious too... It was flavored - any flavor you could imagine like mango and lime, we tasted, and went on our merry way. I will say though, Key West beer is very yummy.

During the drive, you just can't help but hear the Kokomo song in your head. Plus Cujo's constant whistling of the tune... La la la. Takes me back to the Beach Boys concert in Nevada that I was on stage with the amazing Mike Love. Where is he now dammit? Ahhh, but I digress... The Southernmost point of the 'mainland' US has a statue and and the beginning mile marker of the Keys - 0.

On the way home, we stopped at one of the 'top beaches of the USA' as quoted in brochures and paper paraphernalia - the Bahia Honda beach. The sand was different - not sure, but we thought it had to be man-made, in that the sand only went out so many yards before it turned into rocky bottom. Beautiful scenery, perfect weather, and numerous languages being spoken in this nice beach.

There is a casino boat just down the street - it's the same place there is a boat called the African Queen - apparently a famous boat from the silver screen? Anyway, we figured we'd try it out - can't go wrong with casino - free drinks, fun folks, laid back atmosphere...right? Well, for the most part. We found that most of the people are serious gamblers. Not a laughing matter, and not necessarily party animals. And get this - you get on a boat fully equiped with slots and tables and then go out into the ocean. You are stuck on that boat until another boat comes to drop off another group. Three hours. Doesn't sound like much, but oh just wait. If you aren't a big ole gambler, then it's a big ole chunk of time to fill after you lose your allotted 'waste' money. (20 minutes for me) Thankfully, they had FREE food! I was happy. And focused on that soup, obviously. We had a boat guy that told us jokes while we hung out on the deck and looked at the great view. He'd pull a Costanza and tell a joke and take off. Then come back and repeat. Repeat. I only remember one of the ten he told, of course. Go figure. It served us beautiful views and a great opportunity since we haven't been on a boat since we got here. You definitely want a boat down here - the beauty here is only intensified from that perspective.

Ahhh, the Everglades.

Take two. This was the *true* Glades. Much more user friendly than the other entrances. They had a Visitor's Center about 30 miles south of the main entrance, and it was still recovering from the last big hurricane. Used to have lodging, a restaurant, lots of charter options; now they have a store and one boat tour. The store sold food and beer, which we took on the lovely boat tour.
This osprey caught a fish and we were all in awe viewing it's dinner hour. They have two breeds of vultures that are abundant - the brown and the black - guess which this is. About an hour into it, the sky grew dark and lightning started, so we turned back around. The weather changes here on a dime, and most folks are extremely respectful of the power of Mother Nature. After we were done with the tour and docked, we walked around and saw two sunbathing alligators.

The hikes were what I was going for - they get you in the thick of it all while letting you experience the park without imminent danger. However - the bugs that do get you are MOSQUITOES! As seen by this picture, they like to fly in your face too. Now, even though they aren't West Nile carrying breed like back home in Idaho, they still bite and they still itch like a mother. Thankfully there were some dragonflies, which eat 400 mosquitoes a day. So don't be swatting any dragonflies, deal? Don't have to look hard - there are alligators EVERYWHERE! And when I heard a little boy yell to his family - TORTUGA! - of course I ran to beat them all there. hehe.

After leaving the Everglades, there is a store called Robert Is Here - like a farmer's market, but more. This place was crazy. Cats and kids running around, tourists eating key lime shakes, and any fruit or vegie you want times 10. The odd thing was that in the back, they have a zoo of sorts. In one big pen, we saw turtles, goat, geese, donkeys, birds - all cohabitating. Seemingly happy. Kinda nice. After leaving the world of panthers and alligators. Yes, of course we bought food - bunch of vegies - and it's all really good. Passed on the boiled peanuts - tried them though - a bit too meaty to still be a nut for us.

I have never spent time somewhere it lightnings so damn much. I have not gone a day without lightning. And I love it. It's really awe-some. Lights up everything. Sometimes it comes along with loud boisterous thunder that you can feel in your bones. Very, very groovy.

The poor chameleons run and hide when the rain comes down - it's short but it's hard and comes on fast. I don't know how many freaking lizards are around here. If I see them (and I'm not the most observant) as much as I do, there's gotta be at least three times what I see. And inchworms. Lotsa them. I go for a bike ride and come home with new pets on my shirt. Good thing those don't bite. Wonder if they could eat mosquitoes too. I swear, the mosquitoes are horrendous. A baby reptile seemed to like Cujo one night. Or at least tolerate him. Or maybe he just wasn't quick enough for the great escape.

Fish - these are my babies outside the back door in the waterway alley. Cujo keeps threatening to catch them, but I'm not convinced he will. So bond with them, I will. There are little tiny minnow looking ones, then bigger snappers, then there are some very colorful parrotfish. Groovy, eh? Our luck he'd catch a parrotfish - can you eat those? We have a cleaning station by the dock, but it's frequented by a fruit rat. UGH! Eww. Aaargh.

The lunar eclipse view from Florida - it dawned before it crossed over here, but I got to see the first part of it and the actual eclipse.

The Farmer’s Market in downtown SLO is great – very busy, friendly and lots to offer.

Best artichokes and strawberries I’ve seen, like the other produce for sale here. Worth the risks of riding the bike up there - we ran into a rattlesnake and high winds, but had great parking.

If you know me at all, you know that food is one of my most favorite pastimes, and we did eat at Jockos in Nipomo, CA – a local must-eat restaurant. Lucky for us, even though there was a 1.5 hour wait, a friend filled Curtis in on the breezeway seating.
We were in and out before that time was up, being willing to sit in the hallway right next to the kitchen!

This whale welcomes you to Pismo Beach, and thankfully it’s unlike the other two we’ve heard of in the past two weeks – washed up dead on a shore. Sad.

Drove down to Santa Barbara via Solvang, CA. If you saw the movie Sideways, this is the area it took place. They had ostrich farms (no, we didn’t eat it) and a (touristy commercial) Danish village to walk around.

In Santa Barbara, we wandered around the harbor and State Street areas, where I had *excellent* sushi at East.

This picture is for Pam - HAD to find this campus!

Up Mountain Road, the view of the city and ocean were spectacular, and we saw two large coyotes or wolves – not sure which. Our hike was lush and green and in the clouds.

Although neither of us have a great desire or palette for wine, we figured that a Wine Tasting was in order as we looked around at our current location. And all the wine signs and ads didn’t hurt our persuasion, either. At Robert Hall Winery in Paso Robles, Allison was a great Wine 101 instructor for us. Though most weren’t fabulous for my taste buds, we did find two that were good. Funny, they were desert wines, and one had brandy added, go figure that’s the one that tastes good. She took us down in the caverns where there were thousands of barrels of wine (or potential taiko!) that we got to taste test.
There were huge vats of in-progress concoctions and women in dresses stomping on grapes. Ok, maybe the latter was just in my mind. Either way, it prompted US to buy wine - like - *good* wine, but like I said, we are not wine drinkers... hence our cups.

We all got to Vegas from different directions, and we all made it the same day! The main reason for the trip was Samantha’s wrestling tournament, but of course we celebrated Wendy’s 50th birthday and had a blast just hanging out. As if pulling a trailer down Las Vegas Blvd wasn’t fun enough, then I was lucky enough to back down a parking structure too! The hotel Security (on bikes) were more than helpful, directing me where I *should* have gone in the first place.

One morning a bird came in the room - patio door was open – and I almost took off into the hallway. There was food in the room that must've smelled good.

Visited Margaritaville twice, apparently shopping there once just isn’t enough for some of us.

We watched the Bellagio water show twice, but this part was the best:

After Sam weighed in and could eat or drink something, we all ate dinner together at the Mirage.

At the Wrestling tournament - Samantha won her first two matches!
Cujo wears this shirt at the most opportune times – last one was at St Pats in NYC.

Finally paid the high entry to see the Star Trek Experience (totally worth it) and rode the simulations with Borg and Klingon themes. After buying a Vulcan shirt, a Klingon pointed out the Klingon shirts that I should get instead, ha! Live Long and Prosper.
The Hilton not only has a great sports book and the Star Trek Experience, but also TAIKO!
And no, I did not touch it.
That night downtown Big and Rich played a free show, and there was a motor cross exposition along with the Indy race events.

All in all, a great trip to Vegas with lots of singing (for some strange reason) and good luck on 40x1 spins! And the dealertainers (Michael Jackson, Prince, Louis Armstrong, Cher, etc) at the IP were pretty entertaining.