The Florida Keys--July, 201

When we left St. Lucie, we drove a bit farther than usual (almost 300 miles) to get to Curry Hammock State Park just north of Marathon. The park is relatively new, established in the early 90's, with the campground being completed in 2005. Bob and I were there for two days before Jennifer, Andy and Sydney joined us to spend a week camping.

The guys took advantage of a sunny day to take the kayaks out.

 They followed the trail around Curry Hammock through the mangroves.

While the guys were gone, the girls stayed on the beach and played in the sand. Every now and then we went out in the water to cool off.

 Grandpa and Sydney enjoyed watching the kites flying over the beach at the day use area.

 It didn't take long to figure out the kites were attached to humans on boards! The kite boarders kept us entertained most days when we were on the beach.

We took a day to drive to Key West. We stopped by the naval station and Sydney enjoyed sitting in the big chair.

The only problem was that she didn't want anyone else to sit with her!

A trip to the butterfly garden was on our agenda. We all enjoyed watching the butterflies.

Every evening we took a walk to see the crabs along the nature trail and we ended with a trip to the playground near beach in the day use area.

Any time someone was outside the RV, they were the designated iguana watcher. The iguanas loved the tree next to our picnic table.

Sydney was a big help in the RV. She helped me make desserts.

And best of all, she liked to sweep the sand off the floor.

Jennifer and Andy had to get back to work after their week. The weather was not nice the last few days--lots of rain and wind so no beach activities. Once they left, the weather cleared so Bob and I could go kayaking. I think red was the official color for anyone kayaking with Bob!

Bob and I also visited the two breweries on Islamorada. We toured Windley Fossil Key State Park which was the site of rock quarrying for the railroad that ran the length of the keys.

Bob and I enjoyed our trip to the Keys, but we needed to get home to get ready for our trip to Iowa. Since it was still summer and schools were not in session, we had reservations for the first part of our trip which would begin August 5.