... 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!