Key West with the kids!

Am currently writing this blog in Key West with my kid & grandkids, creating memories. We drove down here in what I call the VM (vacation mobile), a recently purchased van, & that has turned out to be a really good move. Bought it to do just what we are doing & to spend more time going on my own solo short adventures. Plenty of room for the g-kids to hop back & forth between the 2nd row of seats & the back area where they can sprawl out to sleep. Or for my own trips, lotsa room to crash in with some gear. Kids have been travelling very well, especially considering it took us about 5 days to get here! But I should start at the beginning....

We headed out on a Monday morn & stopped in Mammoth Springs which is on the

border of MO & AR. Had to pay homage to the springs, which is just some silly routine I do almost every time I go thru here & have done for quite a few years. (Used to be stationed in Memphis so have run this route wayyyy too many times!)

Anyway got the kids out to walk about & stretch a bit & check out this incredible spring!

Mammoth Falls 

Next stop was Memphis, TN. Home away from home, due to 3 tours there. Had to stop at my fav restaurant in town, Houston's! Had the best prime rib

Best prime rib anywhere I've
ever been!!

Easy or Lonely

that I know of there! Great place still after all these years! Also took a pic of a drawing there that has had some past significance to me.

Made it to Pensacola, FL the next night. Amazing how even the colors look Floridian! We ate at some waterfront restaurant & dinked around on the beach, looking for unoccupied shells. This was a challenge for many sand crabs take residence in the shells. Being the tree hugger that I am, have never kept any shells that had something in them. Am glad to impart this mindset to the kids.

So many fantastic colors....

Gotta love Pensacola beaches!

Boardwalk to National Seashore
beach near Pensacola

Perry, FL was the next stop. I always try to stop in Perry when passing thru FL for this hotel has not only a free continental breakfast but free adult drinks & now freshly made chocolate chip cookies!!! Oh yea!! It just don't get better than this!

Then Homestead, FL was our next destination. Last jumping off spot on the mainland before embarking onto the chain of keys. Only took us about 2 hours to get to Key West from Homestead, at about 105 miles.

Key West isn't that large or wide so it doesn't take one very long to get a lay of the land, so to speak. Our goals were to do some beach time, so the kids could swim, get in a bit of fishing, & to eat some freshly caught seafood & Cuban food. Kids of course were only interested in cheeseburgers & fries but that was ok too. We tried to stay out of the touristy stuff. But there were ALOT of people milling about here, from numerous countries. This town also rents mopeds & electric cars to tourists, probably to cut down on the vehicular traffic. The streets just aren't wide enough to accomidate parked cars & two way traffic. Very harrowing!! Anyway we survived & didn't hit anyone or were hit by anyone, altho it was quite obvious that many moped drivers were not used to driving these machines....or maybe they were just loaded. No worries, we had no probs so let the good times roll! Really like some of the architecture!

Would love to know the story behind this place!

We are currently on our last eve here before we head back up north. Have had a good time, despite the reservation being screwed up. We were originally supposed to be here 7 days. Somehow a mistake was made but fortunately they found us a suite for 3 days. If we had arrived, then had NO room, that would have been a major problem. Am actually not too upset about this for 3 days has been adequate. How much can one do anywhere & a week would most likely be too long.
We've been staying the majority of the time on military bases to save some $$ on hotels. I am very grateful to have this benefit!

View from room! Sweet at 5th floor! 

Sponge Bob no-square pants!

My fishin' buddy

Am kinda bummed that we didn't have a kitchen however. Had lugged some beautiful homegrown peaches, green beans, carrots, tomatoes, garlic & potatoes all the way from MO, in hopes of enjoying not only the better flavor, but saving some $, avoiding restaurants when possible. But ended up pitching all but the potatoes & garlic. These should survive the return trip.

Today took my g-son fishing & turned him on to cast netting. Haven't done this myself in many a moon. Last time was in the late 80s in SC so quite a bit of water has passed under the bridge since!

Tomorrow we hit the road again, destination Tampa & McDill AFB. Came down on mostly secondary roads but think we will hit some interstates on the return. Generally try to avoid them but do use em when one needs to get on it! Stay tuned for further adventures! Kids keep me runnin' but will catch up as we go. Not looking forward to another few days, welded to the seat of a car but that's the price one pays!