Florida – North to South (Waaay South)

From St. Augustine, in the northeast corner of the state on the Atlantic coast, we headed southwest to the Tampa Bay area on the Gulf of Mexico.

Our first stop was at the celebrated new golf resort, Streamsong, in the middle of nowhere east of Tampa. It’s built on the same if-you-build-it-they-will-come concept as Bandon Dunes. Except for the clubhouse and lodge, which seem to have been designed by someone who likes the looks of minimum-security prisons, the place is beautiful and first-class in every way.

We had a delightful visit with Ginny’s aunt, Mary Vishney, who lives in the gulf coast town of Dunedin. She is vibrant, warm, wise and loving, and it’s no wonder that Ginny and her husband are crazy about her.

During this leg of the trip, Ginny and I were both able to re-connect with special friends.

Bob Best and I met 39(!) years ago when he worked for the Buccaneers and I was with the NFL.

Barry Mazer and I go back ever further – we sat next to each other in Miz Stutts’s second grade class at Crestline, and have been arguing about Alabama and Auburn football ever since (Best and I used to do the same thing about Alabama and Notre Dame, but there hasn’t been much room for debate in recent years).

En route to Naples, we stopped at Sanibel Island to have lunch with Ginny’s long-time work colleague, Bill Hotchkiss.

When we got to Naples, we got to visit with a lifelong friend of Ginny’s father, Tom Lofgran.

Naples is a short hop down the gulf coast from Tampa. Speaking of which, when we arrived there, the weather was warm enough for us to wear shorts for the first time since Labor Day weekend (there’s no sense in showing a picture confirming that, since my legs would be indistinguishable from the white background on this page)!

We had dinner and played golf with Karen and Dan Bennewitz and got to spend an evening with some other Weston pals, Rick and Lori Allen, Barb Seymour and Kathy Meighan.

Golf at Royal Poiciana with Karen and Dan also involved playing through a foursome of iguanas and birds.

From Naples, we kept heading south until there was no more south to go.

We drove through the edge of the Everglades and picked up Greg at the Ft. Lauderdale airport (what a trooper – after spending a week taking finals at WSU, he celebrated by getting on a red-eye!), then headed to Key West, the southernmost place in the continental U.S.

Happily, the 150-mile drive from Miami was not stressful. U.S. Highway 1, a.k.a. The Overseas Highway, used to be narrow and lethal (it was originally built on top of an old railroad bridge), but most of the road and its 42 bridges have been replaced in recent years. Now it’s as scenic as any drive we’ve had on the entire trip, and not just because RV drivers find special beauty in roads with wide shoulders. The road traverses more than 30 keys, starting with Key Largo just south of Homestead, FL, en route to Key West.

Key West is a combo of New Orleans, Vegas and Disney World. It has an historic, old-town feel, it’s full of street vendors, bars, restaurants, live music, kitschy shops, roosters (they’re everywhere) and quirky characters, plus there are plenty of sites and activities to check out. Fun fact: Key West was one of the five largest cities in Florida as recently as the 1930s (when Florida was the least-populated state in the South) – now it’s #142.

Our busiest day included both jet-skiing and a sunset cruise. Otherwise, we enjoyed plenty of local seafood, rum-based hydration and sightseeing.

On the sailboat, Ginny and I reprised our favorite wedding photo for our 7th anniversary two days later!

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From Key West, it was back to the Miami area to put Greg on a plane to Connecticut, see our dear friends the O’Connors and get ready for Christmas with the Rosensweigs!