Hooray for Hollywood!

Our initial experience with traffic on the Florida Keys was so traumatic that we decided to reduce the driving in our schedule. First, we spent Sunday again in Key West instead of exploring the rest of the Keys. We started by finally following the GuideAlong driving tour of Key West. As we drove around, we happened upon the Sunday Artisan Market, so we stopped to check it out. We found a fish vendor with many kinds of local fish, so we bought a pound of Black Grouper. He also sold us a tub of smoked fish spread, which turned out to be fine but not as good as what we found last summer in Alaska. At the neighboring produce stand, we bought fresh mango, a lime (regular, not a key lime) and a red onion, so that Greg could make a mango salsa. We had to drive back soon to put the fish in the RV refrigerator, but we made a quick stop at Pies and Limes for a couple of slices of their delicious key lime pie.

After the detour to put the fish in the RV refrigerator, we returned to Key West to visit the Shipwreck Museum. They had artifacts from the recovery of the Isaac Allerton, one of the richest shipwrecks in Florida history. Although we don't know the area well, we think that shipwreck was pretty close to our RV park. The museum has a tall observation tower, similar to the era of shipwreck recovery. Greg climbed the stairs to the top. Overall, Greg enjoyed the museum, though Amy found it to be too touristy.

When we returned to the RV park, we decided to go swimming in the pool around dusk. The pool was clear and refreshing. However, choosing to swim around dusk proved to be a poor choice as both of us are now covered in mosquito bites. These attack mosquitoes were far worse than the Everglades swamp. Oops.

Today, we made the drive from Key West back to the mainland. Once again, Murphy's Law is right: we left extra early to deal with traffic but there was none. We reached the RV park in Ft. Lauderdale earlier than we expected, so we spent the afternoon on the phone with friends and family. This RV park is quite unusual: it's called Yacht Haven and serves as both an RV park and a Yacht Club. The docks and RV sites are mixed together. It's very nice for a city RV park but a huge downgrade from the resort we left in the keys. And not only is it near train tracks, but it's also close to the Ft. Lauderdale Airport...

Eventually, we drove to Hollywood Beach and walked along the boardwalk. There were many bars and a few snack shops, though not the types of places we would go. We also saw a few giant cruise ships leaving Port Everglades.