FLORIDA KEYS

Jules’ Journal:

By: Julianne Lillie

11/18/22 – Curve Ball in Key West:

Our crew woke up at 5am sharp, were out the door by 6am, and were parked and in line by 7am at the dock to check-in for our Day trip Ferry to Dry Tortugas National Park. As soon as we got in line, the lady said the seas are very rough with 6 feet swells so the trip was cancelled.

We got our full refund and all walked away really bummed. And especially the girls who are NOT morning people who forced themselves to wake up for…. Nothing!

So here we are at 7:15am in Key West – a city that doesn’t wake up until noon! We paid for all day parking in Key West and we were 35 minutes from our camper in Sugarloaf Key. So, we decided to just start walking! We came to a beautiful old church that happened to be open. We walked in and marveled at its gorgeous stained-glass windows. We also prayed for Grandma and Jett even lit a prayer candle… he loves lighting the candles!

After that we just kept on walking. We couldn’t believe all the wild chickens and roosters just roaming around like they just own the town! We even saw some baby chicks. And there was 1 rooster who used the crosswalk to cross the street and the car stopped for him…. We all laughed about that!

Then we came upon this super unusual tree, the Kapok Tree, and had to take some pics!

We then stopped into a little donut shop and had the BEST fresh squeezed Florida Orange juice!

By this time, it was about 8:30am and still nothing was opened yet. So, we just kept on walking and walked by a cinema with this Marilyn Monroe statue and a beautiful lighthouse.

And by the time we reached the Hemingway House it was 9am and they had just opened. We were planning to tour it, however after learning there were 58 cats on the property and some were indoor cats, we decided against it. I am highly allergic to cats and didn’t want to suffer the rest of the day. So, I just snapped a pic of the front of the house.

We then headed to the Southern Most Point to get a photo. We watched the large pelicans that were fishing there, too.

Then we headed to the Eco Discovery Center. This place was so awesome and best of all - FREE! The facility and all exhibits had just been redone (2 years during COVID) and just opened up a few weeks ago.

We watched a video on the Florida Keys and its diverse ecosystem: from the bottomlands to the Mangrove wetlands to the underwater coral reefs.

There was also a whole room on the life cycle of coral, why its endangered, and what the Florida conservationists are doing to restore its population. I never knew coral could get sick and/or sunburned! The slime on the coral acts as a protective layer from bacteria and bleaching. Who knew!?

The volunteer working the front desk was a past Park Ranger for the NPS and knew about the Jr Ranger programs. We told her about our sad story about our day trip to Dry Tortugas being cancelled and she said, “hold on!” She then went in the back and brought back 2 Dry Tortugas Jr Ranger badges! Turns out the NPS stores a lot of their stuff in this building and she knew were some were. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find any booklets. So instead, she made them learn about corals and then gave them the oath to earn in their badge! We were so thrilled!

After that, we headed to Truman Waterfront Park and saw the NPS boat as well as a large Coast Guard ship. This is the closes to Dry Tortugas we'll get on this trip! :(

We then ended up at “Mile 0” where Highway 1 ends. So, of course, we went in that gift shop and bought some souvenirs.

YES! All of this was BEFORE LUNCH and all on FOOT! At this point we began to get hungry and headed to the Waterfront Brewery for lunch on the water with a nice view of the Marina and fresh breeze. The wind was finally starting to calm down a bit.

After lunch, we checked in with our water activities company that we booked for tomorrow. They said chances are both will be cancelled due to a storm that was coming in. So, we went ahead and cancelled our Dolphin/Snorkel/Sunset cruise for tomorrow for a full refund. And then we booked with a different company for tonight since they had opening and said it will be calmer waters tonight. So, we did a bit more shopping then drove home to the camper to unload and refresh for the sunset tour that night.

After 1 hour at the RV, we drove back to Key West & boarded the Catamaran for our 4:45 Sunset Cruise.

This cruise had no dolphins or snorkeling, which Jaycie was pretty sad about. Just sunset and live music. Our kids were the only ones on the cruise with about 50 people total. And the majority was Gen X and Boomers… so it was fairly family friendly. The view was absolutely beautiful… God’s masterpiece for sure!

We had live music and met several new friends! One couple from Connecticut, Al & Marie, we enjoyed chatting with and even got group photos! Here's us with Al & Marie:

And a selfie with one of the crew members:

The other nice couple was from Pennsylvania. They said they would be praying for safe travels for us. And at one point the lady’s sunglasses blew off & somehow Jett’s super-fast reflexes caught them and saved them from going overboard! One minute Jett was standing beside me and the other minute he was on the ground. I had no clue what happened… but he was saving sunglasses! He spilled some of Sprite, but not all of it! And the lady’s husband even tipped him $1 for his good deed! Between that heroic feat, many sprite

refills at the bar, and his many music requests…. The whole boat pretty much knew Jett! LOL!

It was a super fun way to end a curve ball kinda day!

11/20/22 – Down Day:

We hadn’t had a down day since Hurricane Nicole before 4 Orlando theme park days in a row! And we have been really needing one just to catch up on sleep… let alone laundry & cleaning! Today’s forecast was supposed to be high winds with showers of rain on and off, so we thought today would be a good day to stay inside! So, we slept in and Jason made pancakes, eggs, & bacon for breakfast. We tuned in to Cedarpoint Church online, then we all worked on cleaning the camper.

Jett’s jobs are trash & dusting. Jaycie’s jobs are cleaning mirrors and all the counter top surfaces. Jason worked on cleaning the outside and I cleaned the 2 bathrooms and kitchen.

Once the camper was cleaned, we decorated a bit for Christmas while listening to Christmas music! That was fun!

The Christmas lights are little campers!

And it inspired Jaycie to craft, so she worked on making Christmas presents all afternoon – and my clean RV turned into this!

But it was fine… she was in her happy place! I used that time to get caught up on laundry and prepare for tomorrow’s school day. Jett was able to play Fortnite online with some of his friends back home. And Jason made a grocery run for us & filled up his truck on fuel.

We thawed some of Marla’s stew for dinner and it was yummy paired with grilled cheese sandwiches. And then at 6:30pm we “facetimed” into our last Life Group meeting of the semester to finish our book study on C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity. It was a tougher study but we all stuck it out and finished strong! Excited for the next time we meet which will all be in person after we’re home!

And I did the math… 22 days & counting! Tomorrow (21st) we drive back to the mainland & start making our way slowly home. Here’s what we have left as far as base campgrounds go:

- 4 more base camps in Florida (Naples, Tampa, Marianna, & Pensacola)

- 2 base camps in Alabama (Mobile & Childersburg)

- 1 base camp on the Alabama/Mississippi border

- 1 base camp in Memphis, TN (Graceland)

- 1 base camp in Baton Rouge, LA (day tripping to New Orleans too)

- 1 base camp in Hot Springs, AR

- Then HOME for the Holidays!

As you can see, we still have a LOT to do in just 22 days! We’ll be booking it! We are all getting a little road weary and are looking forward to being home for the Holidays and especially spending time with Great Gram! We’re coming Grandma!!!!

Jett’s Wild Flight: Butterflies!

By: Jett Lillie, 11/19/22

My Mom, Dad, and I went to the parasailing boat and signed some waivers. Once we got on the boat, we rode out to the spot to parasail.

The wind speed had to be under 20 mph, so the captain checked. It was 22 mph! So, we sadly couldn’t go parasailing! We went back to the car and went home. We picked up Jaycie and went back to Key West to look around at an art, craft, garden place. There were lots of plant vendors and other vendors. I got Bamboo socks, but nothing else. We walked out on a long pier and saw some needle fish. But sadly, no dolphins or turtles.

We moved our truck and walked inside the Butterfly Conservatory place.

There were two flamingos, 2 turtles, and of course thousands of butterflies!

One blue butterfly (Blue Morpho) landed on me and hitched a ride on me for a while.

The flamingos looked like they were flexing their muscles when they spread their wings!

When we got home my dad and I got haircuts and then we swam in the pool!

Jaycie’s Bunny Hoppin’ News: Butterflies!

By: Jaycie Lillie, 11/19/22

I got to stay home to do art while the other 3 Js went parasailing. Sadly for them, it was too windy so it got cancelled. They came back for me and we all went to a craft/art/garden fair. It was fun! After that we walked on the beach a bit. Then we all went to a Butterfly garden! The butterflies were SO beautiful! I loved taking photos of them.

One landed on Jett!

They were all so pretty!

There were birds and turtles, too!

They had some preserved butterflies for sale.

The butterflies die after 10 days, so they are able to preserve their beauty as art that lasts forever! So pretty! Most of the butterflies were from other countries. They raise them here on site.

We then went home and rested.