Murder Mystery on the Train

Howard and Jan Miller from San Diego, CA and John Chlupsa from New London, CT came down for a visit in the sunshine of Florida. One night we went on a train ride for a Murder Mystery and a dinner.

It was run by the Florida Railroad Museum which has several old passenger cars which were filled with participants and actors.

As the train chugged along through the Florida backwoods, the actors played out a murder mystery in which they included all the clues to who killed Veezel (a spy from Solobolonia who had stolen the national treasure - the Green Flem), how and why.

Before they gave all the clues they stopped the train for dinner. Catered by Sonny's BB, a noted barbecue chain - it was OK. They prohibited us from bringing any wine to have with dinner but luckily we found two coke bottle that were filled (or we filled) with something that looked like coke but tasted much better.

So as the murder mystery unfolded the actors went from car to car and performed some unconnected scenes which to me didn't mean anything.

At the beginning one of the actors came to me, had me stand up and threatened we with the "pinkie tae kwan toe" move which could bring instant death. I ignored it but Polly filed it away and when they asked us to identify the killer, mode of death and reason put it all together and said Etta did it with a "pinkie tae kwan toe" move because she wanted the valuable gem named the Green Flem. For her astuteness she won the top prize for our car. And the booby prize was awarded to Jan for the most absurd answer (I think it was for the best set of boobies.)

Twinkle Toe

Well we had a big dinner dance for Valentines Day. Of course the dinner started at 2 PM and the dance was over by 4 PM - didn't want to interfere with anyone's bedtime. Since this was a Valentines Day party, what would be better than to bring in a professional western line dance group.















They were tremendous and knew all the new dances (or at least the steps they remembered).
















And that wasn't all - as a special treat they brought on the Sexy Old Ladies to perform.













This woman was gorgeous - she had a 46" bust - and could really move it.


















OK your test is to pick out which one was me - didn't get any pictures of Polly - and can you spot Paul Curry (picture 2 and 3).

Curry Hamock

Our favorite park in the Florida Keys was Curry Hammock (Paul and Carol Curry have never been there so it's not named after them). One day we went on a Ranger guided walk along the beach where he describes all the weeds, snails, crabs and jelly fish he sees. These snails are eating algae at the waterline.

While we were there we saw a bunch of sail surfers spreading their gear out. Figuring they were getting ready to sail we hung around to watch them. After sunning ourselves for a couple of hours, I went over and talked with them. They were waiting for the wind to pick up. So we left and came back in the afternoon for another Ranger guided tour - this one was a Kayak tour through the mangrove swamp. Now it's getting late in the day and the kite surfers had no choice but to try it with the existing winds.

The first guy must have tried a dozen times before he finally made it up.

Then they all took off - neat sport.

Seeing I had brought our kayaks with us, we thought we would try to row out to Lignumvitae Island - It's a state park with another Ranger guided tour. We drove about 20 miles toward the mainland to where the island was located and was a little surprised to see how far off shore the island was - a little daunting for us amateur kayakers.

But we put in anyway and in a 1/2 hour were out on the island. The Island is named for the Lignum Vitae tree which is a very hard wood used for medicinal purposes, axe handles and, at one time, for drive shaft bearing on ships. The island had a nice old house on it and three champion trees - a Lignum Vitae, a Ficus and a Poison Wood.

You ask - what is a Champion tree? They measure the diameter at a height of 4.5 ft and add it to the height of the tree to determine which tree is the biggest of that species in the world. You can see how the Ficus tree won - the circumference is measured all the way around all the roots that have come down from the tree. The Ficus is a relative of the fig family.

The Poison Wood isn't as dramatic to look at but the ranger says it is similar to poison ivy only twice a potent. Once you get it, the oils get into your blood stream and keep popping out all over the body for the next few months. If it gets in the lungs they have to hospitalize you as your windpipe swells up.

During the walk, the ranger showed us a broken Liguus Snail shell and told us that some of these were worth over $100. So for the rest of the walk I kept looking for an undamaged shells and thanks to my super vision, I spotted one, discretely picked it up and put it in my pocket. Any one interested?

The Rest of the Park

Polly like the heated pool and I liked the thatched hut down by the gulf shore. The huts in the photo are actually the ones on the expensive R/V park next to us but ours was similar.

A glass of wine and a paperback was my relaxation as the sun went down.

The locals kept their boats at the dock and would come in from fishing. The filleting would attract quite a crowd of birds.

They swallowed the fish whole after they fought off their buddies. The sea gulls ocassionly were the fastest especially on the smaller chunks.

The Egrets just stood around and watched.

Pelican R/V Campground

Back to our Key West trip, we picked a campground that was half way out on the Keys just below the town of Marathon. The other requirement was that it was reasonably priced which for the Keys is hard to find but the Pelican R/V campground fit the bill. It only charged $35 a day and then gave a 10% discount for a week stay.


























This was our first trip in our new mini camper - 14 ft long - and a little snug inside. If we can do this without fighting too much, we have a good relationship. The bed converts into the dining table but we never put it up - only ate breakfast in.


















Molly came along and was our watch cat as she checked things out that happened around the camper. Just to show how well we all got along, her litter box was under the bed we slept in.



































One thing Polly loved about the campground was the heated pool - she didn't go into it much but it was the fact that she could take in the sun poolside that she liked.







































We ate all our meals out. I googled the restaurants before we went and found one that was what you would expect in the Keys. It was named Porky's, I don't know if it was associated with the movie series of the same name. The atmosphere was great - I had two draft beers both times we went there and they cost less than Polly's Lemonade.

























They always had a meal on special. The first time it was "beer can" chicken. They put a beer can inside the chicken when the bake it and it evaporates as the chicken is cooked. The second time was barbecue prime rib - they smoke the outside of the prime rib to give it a little taste of barbecue. The prime rib filled my plate. Great place!

Spring Has Arrived

I'll hold off on more Florida Keys photos for a brief look at spring arriving in central Florida. We had some nice 70's weather accompanied with some rain and all of a sudden things started blooming. Most of these flowers we didn't even know we had. They were planted by the previous owners. Look at this beautiful crop of Azalea.





Here is a Pink Azalea that is growing under a Palm tree.














In the front yard is a Camellia, it has loads of buds so we are expecting a lot more from it.














For my birthday a few months ago I got a some Hyacinth bulbs which we planted in the front garden and, walla, two months later look what comes up.














This according to the flower book is an Allamanda, it's a real native flower. It coming up through the dead leaves of a Saw Palmetto.














And another native blossom which I haven't been able to identify yet.
















This last one doesn't have a blossom but does have an interesting story. We parked besides a dumpster and I happen to notice that the store must have pulled out some plants and threw them away. So I sorted through them and picked out two - took them home and planted them. After planting them we realized a couple more would fit in nice so back in the car and back to the dumpster. I sorted through all the new trash, looking for the rest of the plants but somebody beat me to it - they were all gone. Checking my gardening books shows that they are Dwarf Variegated Century Plant.








Well that's the end of the spring flowers. I hope this helps the people up North - Spring will come eventually - the snow and ice will melt - so every morning go outside and check if any new plant has broken through the snow. Guess that's enough gloating for this blog, see you in sunshine.

Coconuts

There seems to be coconuts laying all over the Keys so we picked some up. You can just write an address on the side of the coconuts and take them to the post office and mail them. The grand kids love to get them.

So I put them down near our stuff on the beach and they just disappeared. Some body must have taken them. Well if they needed them that much they can have them.

Boy, since we joined the YMCA, Polly is sure shaping up.