My friend, Jo, told me I'd cry a lot on this journey. Having travelled alone for six months at nineteen (!), she said there would be these emotional times. "Crying" she wrote in her mail. "Thank God for crying." As usual, she took me by surprise. Although I'm a Buddhist and know life is suffering, know I should sit with my feelings in order to transform them, tears have been too much a part of my life over the past year or so for me to embrace them - I mean, no sane person wants pain, right? Even if denying it [View Full Entry]

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After packing up in Orlando, we made good time East and travelled down the coast. Our first pitstop was at Sebastian Inlet State Park, where we were lucky enough to see a wild manatee. We were on a bridge with some fishermen and it slowly swam under us and came up for air at the other side. It was about twice the size of the rescued ones at Seaworld. We realised how privileged were were when the fishermen said they had never seen one at that spot. Definately a highlight! We stayed the night at Boca Raton when we grew tired [View Full Entry]

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Again I got up around 7:00 and got going by 8:00. Started running into tolls around Miami. This brought back bad memories of the northeast. Stopped and got a few supplies before heading to the Keys, where I expected everything to be expensive. Arrived at Leo’s campground around 7:00 PM. I had called in advance so they expected me. It kind of sucked in that I was paying $43/night to essentially park my truck. Well it would do for the night, because I didn’t have any other ideas. 1/16/07 Got up at 6:00 and headed to the Regatta to try and [View Full Entry]

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We love Key West, from the moment we pulled into the Conch Harbor Marina and stepped off the boat and into the party. It certainly is a wild and crazy town. And we stayed at a great marina, with a big swimming pool and Monty’s bar and restaurant. Across the street was Pepe’s, one of the oldest and best restaurants in town with amazing food (which we enjoyed on many occasions). And it was a short walk along the docks, thru the historic seaport village, to get to the heart of town- Duval Street. Duval Street is amazing, what a concept. [View Full Entry]

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Many of you asked “What do you do for an encore after last year’s spectacular World Cruise adventure?” The answer…Take another World Cruise but go in the opposite direction and visit as many new destinations as possible. It all started when we reviewed the Voyagers ‘07 passenger inspired itinerary and realized how it complimented the ‘06s. To our dismay, it was sold out, so we enlisted our travel agency “Cruise Professionals” to help. By autumn, we had our suite booked and decided that it would be a lot of fun to tell no one that we were c [View Full Entry]

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We were able to get out of the Lloyd's channel around 1930 tonight. we anchored in the Pen, 10 foot dept. we leave in am for No Name Harbor, in Key Biscayne. Lot's of music and parties around us, we thought about crashing a couple. people were waving as we came around the key. We have a full tummy, courtesy of deb and Steve, and will have a drink and off to bed. [View Full Entry]

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It's Christmas time here in Key West- like none other. [View Full Entry]

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Key West Florida is the Southernmost City in the Continental United States. In this little tropical paradise a common man, tourist, can walk in the footsteps of some of most celebrated of celebrities this country has ever produced This little place was one of the favorite haunts of Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, Robert Frost and President Harry Truman. More about these celebrities in a later blog. It was also the hometown of George Mira, the great All American quarterback for the Miami University Hurricanes. Key West is closer to Havana Cuba than Miami. It is about a three-hour [View Full Entry]

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I think any high school student who had the privilege of taking the tour through Hemingway’s home and museum in Key West would surely take their studies of Hemingway’s literature more seriously. Here, through an outstanding guide, Hemingway comes alive. Here you hear the stories and see the articles of Hemingway’s life that inspired the stories he wrote. The house itself is an interesting story. Built in 1851 by Asa Tift, a marine architect and salvage wrecker. Tift found out what is true throughout Florida. When the topsoil is removed you hit shale or limestone. T [View Full Entry]

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President Harry S. Truman brought some notoriety to Key West when his doctor advised him to get some rest and sun. Truman was advised the Base Commanders house was empty at Key West Naval Base. Truman visited the base, like the climate and surrounding so much he made 11 visits totaling 175 days during his administration. It became known as Harry S. Truman Little White House. Franklin D. Roosevelt visited the base in 1939. Thomas Edison lived-in the house during World War I while donating his services to the Navy. In 1948-49 General Dwight D. Eisenhower held a series of meeting [View Full Entry]

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