... Off the Florida Keys, there's a place called Kokomo...

*Written 12/28/14*

Not really.

The Beach Boys made that up.

But it's a great song anyway.

Saturday morning, we left Daytona and headed even farther south.

The weather was excellent, by the way.

We were able to drive with the windows down for the bulk of our journey through southern Florida.  It was such a nice change.

Along the way, we saw beautiful orchards- untouched by the cold hands of winter's frost.
We saw amazingly gorgeous palm trees lining every small town.
We saw quaint stucco houses juxtaposed against monstrosities.
We saw golf courses full of over-heated golfers.

It was a nice drive.

Then we hit Miami.

Oh, Miami...

how your drivers lack skills

Good grief.

That began the atrocious battle that was driving from Miami to the Keys.

Please understand that this time of year is the busy season for the Keys.  We knew this going in but didn't fully grasp the magnitude of what "busy season" means in the Keys.
Normally, a trip from Miami to Key Largo will take about an hour.

Did you catch that?

An hour.

It took us three (ahem, three!!!) hours of sitting in stand-still traffic to get through the everglades to Key Largo.

Here is a shot of the traffic on one of the bridges we had to cross to get into the Keys:

But we finally made it into the Keys.

And although traffic only let up slightly after hitting Key Largo, our drive from Key Largo to Summerland Key (our last stop) was amazingly gorgeous.

And who knew that my relatives named a Key?

Shortly after dusk, we arrived in Summerland.  

Finally.

Here.

Our house is nestled among residential homes.  We are the only renters in this neighborhood.  This is a good thing.  It's nice and quiet.

The house is perfectly located on a canal which leads to the Atlantic.

Apparently, Summerland was developed in 1947.  The man who developed it created canals so that everyone who lives on Summerland Key may have waterfront property and access to both the Atlantic and the Gulf.

His wife, shortly after Summerland was developed, became an amateur pilot and planted a landing strip right in the middle of the Key. 

The couple developed a neighborhood around the landing strip.  

We are staying in that neighborhood.

I repeat, there is a freaking landing strip one row of houses over from where we are staying.

Imagine our amazement when we saw this upon our drive into the neighborhood that fine evening:

Yes.

That is a small plane resting in a hangar under someone's house.

These people live on a canal, over their planes, directly in front of the landing strip.

Some people...

It's pretty impressive.

The neighborhood is great and we feel very fortunate to have found this place.  

Check back tomorrow for boating fun and frolicking in Key West! 

Love and Best Dishes from My Kitchen to Yerrrrs

*Written 12/27/14*

Most folks relax the day after Christmas.

Most folks clean up a little.  

They enjoy the rest from work, from visiting all Christmas day, from cooking...

Most of us use the day after Christmas to recoup and reflect upon both the joys of the holiday and the triumphs of the year.

We are not most folks.

We used the day after Christmas to begin our journey south.  

I guess you can't call us "snowbirds".  That would require snow (although it was 32 degrees when we pulled out of the driveway and I'm certain we will be entertaining snow this winter).  

No.

We are "winterbirds".

On December 26th, we departed our home, bundled in wool socks and lined coats, and headed south on that famous I95.  

Apparently, we weren't the only "winterbirds" on the road.  Traffic was atrocious the day after Christmas.  Southbound:  ridiculous.  Northbound:  clear.  Ha!

Along the way, we stopped in a couple of pretty cool cities.  

For lunch, we dined in that fabulous town called Charleston (Chahhhlston, if pronounced correctly).

It was already a full 30 degrees warmer than Edenton and the sun was shining like a beacon in the sky.

Charleston, of course, was pretty busy on Market Street, where we unsuccessfully attempted to find a place to park.  

So, we parked in the first parking deck we could locate and made our way to a restaurant just across the street.

Boy, were we lucky.

The name:  Fleet Landing Restaurant

The location:  Waterfront

The back-story:  Interesting

The food:  Fantabulous

Apparently, the Fleet Landing Restaurant originally served as a supply house and unloading station for the U.S. Navy during the Second World War.  

The Navy maintained the building until retiring it in 1970.

Upon assessing the building in 1988, a young man saw a pretty awesome location.

Sixteen years later, the young man and his wife turned the awesome location into a successful restaurant.  

The food was delicious; the restaurant has even been featured in Food & Wine.  

But the food could not top the porpoises that leaped through the Charleston Harbor in front of us as we dined on the deck to the sounds of '60s era rock'n'roll.  

And...

 it's directly across the street from the United States Custom House (ca. 1853) which has been fully restored and makes the National Register of Historic Places.

So, if you're in Charleston and looking for a great place to grab some grub, we recommend Fleet Landing.

We hung out in Charleston for a while, touring the town and its lovely homes.  

Unfortunately, we did not catch a glimpse of Hootie.

Oh, well...

Next, we hopped back on the highway and headed straight for the fine city of Savannah.

We arrived in Savannah just after dusk.

But that was ok.

The nighttime only allowed us to better appreciate the amazingly strung Christmas lights which adorned the streets of downtown Savannah.

So pretty.

We even made a point to drive over the old HWY 17 so that we could cross the intimidating Talmadge Memorial Bridge.

We crossed it at least twice.

Before heading out of town, we drove past the infamous Lady and Sons restaurant.

I don't know what we were expecting but it wasn't this:

For some reason, I never pictured a giant neon sign.

Hmph

But, it was packed.  So that must be a testament to the great food.

We finally called it a night in that great city which used to be a summer stomping ground for my grandparents (and a 14 year old me):

Woo hoo!

Fancy, flamingo-pink, fun-loving, fantastic Florida 

Go east, young man!

Two coasts.

One country.

Two days.

Whew!

As I'm writing this, we are on our way from RDU to Edenton.  We've dropped off the rental car, avoided the dog hair charge, and are sitting in the old familiar Subaru.

Alas, the trip was a too short blast.

Almost a blur.

We left Seattle Saturday morning around 7:00am west coast time.

This is what we saw:

The western side of Washington state.

  

Idaho?  No, you da ho!  (Edith, we had to!)

Big Sky Montana!

Yellowstone is in the background of this picture:

Wyoming:  The cowboy state!

South Dakota:  Mount Rushmore State

Minnesota, yah.

Iowa:  The Hawkeye State (and home to super friendly gas station attendants)

We also drove through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia and Virginia but we breezed through these states during the night and we have no decent pictures.

And, of course, our last state:

You grab a line.  I'll grab a pole.

Thank you Scott (Will's brother) and Carrie (Scott's dear soon-to-be wife) for taking care of the Subaru for us while we were gone.

Thank you David (my brother) for house-sitting and ensuring mail was collected in our absence.

Thank you mom and dad for taking care of Penny as you all know how she feels about long rides.

Thank you Jean and Pop for your constant support throughout the trip.

Thank you Mac for being such a good backseat warmer.

Thank you Dr. Koen for signing Will's back and ensuring he'd be well for this trip.

Thank you hosts and hostesses:

Dave, Heather and Simon

K.C./Mom and Thom

Edith, Drew, Henry and William

Jon and Laurel 

So. Much. Fun.

Epic road trip for gettin' hitched.

Tsunamis and Space Needles

Thursday and Friday, we spent our time in the Pacific Northwest.

Gorgeous.

We chose to take a longer route up highway 101 in order to enjoy the Oregon coast.

Boy, was the extra hour worth it.

No joke.

From your car, you're able to appreciate an impressive mountain range on your direct right juxtaposed to the roaring Pacific on your left.

Portland, OR

Oregon was quite a journey from Santa Cruz; so, we stopped for the night in a lovely town called Lincoln City which sits just on the shores of the Pacific and under the watchful eye of the mountains.

Notice the sign to the left.  Tsunami?!?!  

Yikes.

It was a great choice for respite.

Early the next morning, we grabbed some delicious coffee from one of the many, many coffee-to-go booths in rural Oregon then headed north towards Seattle.

Seattle is home to many of our favorite people -both fictional and nonfictional- including folks like Frasier Crane, The Shins, and, of course, my cousin Jon and his lovely wife Laurel.

We arrived in Seattle Friday morning and, while Jon was finishing up at work, we yelped the best restaurants in Seattle to quiet our grumbling bellies.

Little did we know that one of "the top ten best restaurants in the world," according to the New York Times, is in Seattle.

Din Tai Fung

We had to be there.

Immediately.

Din Tai Fung is based in Taiwan with locations in only two US cities:  Los Angeles and Seattle.

They specialize in miniature dumplings filled with your veggies or meats of choice.

You order your food by marking on a slip your decided apps and entrees.

Will and I started off with an appetizer of seaweed and bean curd in a vinegar dressing.  

It was, dare I say, the best item we consumed during that lunch.

So good.

For our main course, we ordered one set of chicken dumplings and one set of fish dumplings.  

To accompany our meal, I ordered a jasmine tea and what did my husband order to satisfy his thirst from one of the best restaurants in the world?

A lemon-lime slushy.

Following lunch, we drove around Seattle for a bit and took in some of the city's many fantastic sites.

Including, of course, the iconic space needle:

It was a beautifully clear day and Mount Rainier was remarkably visible.  It's amazing that it's over 60 miles from the city.  You can see it on the right side of this picture.

We even took Mac to a dog park.

Cyclists love Seattle (probably because few people who live there know how to drive.  Just sayin...).

That afternoon, we headed over to Jon and Laurel's apartment and enjoyed catching up for a few hours.

For dinner, we walked a few blocks up and settled on a great Greek restaurant which was featured on tv.

Jon and Laurel

Jon enlightening us on some factoids about the neighborhood.

This morning, we said our goodbyes to Jon and Laurel then headed to one of the coffee shops in their neighborhood for some authentically awesome black Seattle coffee.

It was the perfect start to a long ride back east.

Farewell, west coast.

We hardly knew ye.