Key West!

We went all the way to the southern most point in the continental United States - Key West. Every night in Mallory Square, there is a sunset celebration.

There was some great people (and pet) watching in the square. Lots of vendors selling food, drink, and crafts. There were also several street performers and musicians who did magic, fire eating, and gymnastics.

Mojitos!

A dog in shorts!

Andrea giving a musician's dog a dollar.

That's right folks. A cat wearing a hat. Riding in a stroller pushed by his owners. Yikes!

Gymnist antics.

We spent Super Bowl Sunday on a charter fishing with our good friends Karl and Shoshana.

Everyone caught fish...except Andrea! :(

Here is the photo montage of our catch (plus a shark that someone else on the boat caught)

The pelicans were eagerly anticipating our return. They really wanted to eat our catch of the day.

After fishing we cheered for the Green Bay Packers! Good times.

Vacation - South Florida Sampler Continued!

Adventures continued as we ended our stay at Everglades National Park!

Dan and I went canoeing. Here is a picture of Dan sporting his lifejacket and polarized shades.

We paddled down a channel....

And saw a bunch of mangroves.

We drove south to Key Largo and saw a spectacular sunset.

On Saturday we went snorkeling. We went out to sea on Keys Diver II. We traveled with a pack of Scandanavian ladies who chained smoked on our way out to the reef.

We saw some beautiful fish and the only downside is that we were surrounded by jelly fish! I was stung on my way back to the boat. Yikes! It felt like my hand was on fire. I couldn't wear my wedding ring for a few days.

After snorkeling we went to a glass bottom bar, we fed the fish though a hole in the bar. The "glass" was really scuffed from all of hte chairs and barstools so we couldn't really see any of the fish that we were feeding.

Florida Vacation - The Everglades!

Dan and I went to Florida last week --We had a great vacation! The weather was perfect. We left the Wisconsin tundra, broke out the sunglasses and flipflops, and embraced the 75/80 degree weather of South Florida. Our trip included what Dan termed the "South Florida Sampler": The Everglades and Florida Keys. We ate great seafood, drank mojitos and fruity drinks, and feasted on key lime pie more than once. We did not have any celebrity sightings but we did see lots of wildlife including lots of alligators, crocodiles, and birds.




After we left Miami, our first stop was a fruit stand. Delicious! I have never seen such gi-normous avocados in my life! They were awesome.















We entered Everglades National Park and walked the Anhinga and Gumbo Limbo trails. Here are some photos of the wildlife we encoutered:

Alligators and Heron!










Some exotic wildlife: Andrea :)











Also an anhinga and heron.

GATORS!!

A cormonant & a palm tree!

This is a photo of Dan setting up camp for the night. We were right on the ocean. We saw thousands of shorebirds that evening. The stars were spectauclar!

Return to the Tundra

Dan and I just returned from a sunny and wonderful vacation to Florida. We survived the 100 degree temperature swing from Miami to Madison. :) There are lots of great photos and stories to share - I promise to update the blog soon.

But, just to keep you in the mood and add to the anticipation, here are the lyrics from the Beach Boys hit Kokomo! Classic from 1988. I dare you to read these lyrics out loud without laughing. Impossible.

Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take you
Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego baby why don't we go

Off the Florida Keys
There's a place called Kokomo
That's where you wanna go to get away from it all
Bodies in the sand
Tropical drink melting in your hand
We'll be falling in love
To the rhythm of a steel drum band
Down in Kokomo

Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take you
To Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego baby why don't we go

Ooo I wanna take you down to Kokomo
We'll get there fast
And then we'll take it slow
That's where we wanna go
Way down to Kokomo
To Martinique, that Monserrat mystique

We'll put out to sea
And we'll perfect our chemistry
By and by we'll defy a little bit of gravity
Afternoon delight
Cocktails and moonlit nights
That dreamy look in your eye
Give me a tropical contact high
Way down in Kokomo

Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take you
To Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego baby why don't we go

Ooo I wanna take you down to Kokomo
We'll get there fast
And then we'll take it slow
That's where we wanna go
Way down to Kokomo
Port Au Prince I wanna catch a glimpse

Everybody knows
A little place like Kokomo
Now if you wanna go
And get away from it all
Go down to Kokomo

Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take you
To Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego baby why don't we go

Ooo I wanna take you down to Kokomo
We'll get there fast
And then we'll take it slow
That's where we wanna go
Way down to Kokomo

Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take you
To Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego baby why don't we go
Ooo I wanna take you down to Kokomo

Blizzard!

We got a lot of snow in Madison today!

We were supposed to fly to Miami today for vacation but Mother Nature had other plans for us. We felt like we were back in the Dakotas. :)

Dan needed to dig out his truck.

Icicles!

We still managed to get our newspaper today.

Chief and Scout love the snow.

Raise a glass

Last weekend Dan and I went to the Wisconsin Beer & Cheese Fest!

It was great; there were breweries from all over the state providing short glasses of their brews and artisan cheese vendors with delicious samples. Good stuff! And the people watching was hilarious. When we arrived at the event, we realized that the Beer and Cheese fest was right down the hall from a healthy living festival. hahaha!












Here are our sample glasses from the big event!


Speaking of glasses...check out this awesome find from St. Vincent de Paul. I was dropping off some old clothes last weekend and I found these Smurfs glasses! I couldn't NOT buy them, right? They're antiques. :)

Love them!