Anniversary Trip to PEURTO RICO's Secluded Island VIEQUES...

AFTER AN UNUSUAL LONG DRYSPELL OF NO TRAVEL... WE TREATED OURSELVES TO A 30 YR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY TO A LITTLE KNOWN ISLAND OFF THE COAST OF PEURTO RICO....VIEQUES. THIS HAD BEEN USED FOR BOMBING PRACTICE BY US NAVY FOR MANY DECADES- UNTIL THEY GOOFED AND ACCIDENTALLY KILLED A RESIDENT. FOLLOWING THE EXPECTED OUTRAGE FROM LOCALS, THEY STOPPED AROUND THE YEAR 2000 AND SINCE THEN IT IS SLOWLY EVOLVING INTO A ROMANTIC GETAWAY DESTINATION. THERE ARE SPECTACULAR BEACHES EVERYWHERE ON THIS ISLAND SITUATED ABOUT 10 MILES OFF MAINLAND PR (A 20 MINUTE PLANE RIDE.) IN THE PICTURES, NOTICE THE WILD HORSES THAT ROAM FREELY AT THE BEACHES AND RIGHT ALONGSIDE THE ROADS. THE PICTURE WITH THE JEEP SHOWS SOME OF THE 100'S OF ABANDONED MILITARY BUNKERS WHICH HOUSED THE NAVY FOR OVER HALF A DECADE. THE PICTURE OF THE TWO BATS WHICH WE FOUND HANGING INSIDE ONE OF THE BUNKERS... STILL JUST HANGING OUT AFTER ALL THESE YEARS (SORT OF LIKE ILEA & BILL!!) THE PHOTO OF THE BILLBOARD CLEARLY INDICATES THE NOTION THAT THE BOMBINGS WERE NOT APPRECIATED BY THE LOCALS. THE SHOT OF THE PIECE OF WOOD ON THE ROCK IS SYMBOLIC FOR US.... WE FOUND THIS VERY WELL WEATHERED WOODEN BLOCK WHICH HAD JUST WASHED UP ON THE SHORE AND WITHIN IT WERE TWO RUSTED NAILS. THE NAILS, DESPITE SHOWING THE SIGNS OF ITS JOURNEYS - STILL CLUNG STEADFAST TO THE WOOD WHICH ITSELF HAD BEEN SMOOTHED OVER IMPRESSIVELY FROM THE MANY MILES OF RIDING THE BIG OCEAN. (AGAIN... KIND OF SAW IT AS WE OURSELVES WERE THOSE NAILS HOLDING ON FOR LIFE'S UPS AND DOWNS VENTURES.) OUR OCEAN FRONT ROOM WAS AWESOME AT THE "W" RESORT WHERE WE ENJOYED EVERY MINUTE!

Adventure ONGOING @ 30 Years Anniversary Celebration Trip to VIEQUES, PR!!!

Our Trip through life continues... with a long awaited extended visit from Jeff! Shown is 2012 trips to the Keys & Universal Studios...

NYC Trip 2010.... We try out for new Broadway shows.....

Summer of '10 during our NY trip, we did the touristy double-decker bus site seeing trip around Manhattan ..... it was terrific!!

Our "Gran-dog-ter" Vivian

Here is our Gran-dog-ter, Vivian lounging in her pool in Cape Coral. She goes into the pool by herself on hot days, and climbs aboard her flotation device to take naps.

Over one year now in ONE STATE... the STABILIZATION of BILL and ILEA!

Bill posing at the Coast Guard Station in West Palm.


Moon hanging with Venus over John Prince County Park in W. Palm. Plans to head back to Orlando for part of the summer to determine what to do with the house ('home') we have there…………


A genuine leatherback turtle track where it has made a nest! Their track actually looks like a huge truck tire's track.



The green 'gator' we utilized to do our beach patrols.

This is the tranquil path to the ocean at John MacArthur.

One of our neighbors, an armadillo , just outside our RV at Wekiwa Springs State Park.

Entrance sign to the park … note the turtle!

One of our neighbors, a momma gator, just outside our RV at Savanna Preserve State Park.

It has been about 10 months since the last post! Since that last post, we finished our volunteer time at Bahia Honda in the Keys, moved on to Savanna State Preserve near Port St. Lucie where we worked for a short period before moving up to Wekiwa Springs State Park near Orlando in September of 2008. While volunteering there, Bill secured a teaching position down in Palm Beach County at Boca Raton's Omni Middle School teaching 6th grade Science. After commuting for a month and a half, we again moved the rig down to Palm Beach county's only state park, John MacArthur State Park (November 2008) , where we literally were neighbors with Jack Nicklaus off of PGA Blvd. Across the bay we could see Tiger Woods's yacht. While there, Ilea worked in the nature center store, while Bill continued teaching and on weekends, we both would clean up the beach and watch for turtle nestings. In April, 2009, we relocated to John Prince County Park in W. Palm so that Bill would be able to cut his commute time to Boca in half.

3000 miles back to the Keys, Alamo, San Antonio, Golden Anniversary!

The extraordinary view from our RV site of the historical Bahia Honda Bridge.

Sometimes, the park rangers let us play with the "Big Toys"..

One of our neighbors, a 6 foot iguana.

This is a top of the line, electric GEM cart provided by the park.

Ilea strikes a tantalizing pose with her trash pick up equipment, putting the squeeze on enemy #1.

"Getting a bit crazy, we enjoy zig-zagging thru the park paths on our cart, impressing the campers.

Stopped off at West Palm to celebrate the awesome 50th Golden Wedding Anniversay of Mom and Dad!

On the 5 day 3000 mile trek from San Diego to the Keys, the only place we really stopped was Texas... here is an 'exciting' rv park in the Lone Star State...

The only tourist spot we took in was the ALAMO... Did you know that back when Mexico owned this area in 1830, the MEXICANS were gravely concerned about the uncontrolled influx of AMERICAN immigrants into their territory! This is one of the reasons which led to the ALAMO being a part of history (when we stole the area from them!)

Downtown San Antonio is quite interesting, being somewhat like Venice Italy! There are numerous canals that connect restaurants and shops.

Back in the Keys... we meet up with an old friend, the Great White Heron.

This is the view from most of the roads we ride on daily through the Bahia Honda State Park where we are now volunteering till Sept 1st.

DAY AT DISNEY .... planes buzzin around.... and Spicing up our anniversary #25!

Did the Tower of Terror and lived to tell about it ......

Ilea, Bill, Jess and Gary at Disney Day.... note cool custom shirts Jessica made for us all!

For our 25th anniversary, decided to spice things up a bit and went to a herbal garden! After that we went to a nudist colony - REALLY no joking!!!


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Saw a very unusual plane race at San Diego Bay. What you see are four blow up cones on the water. The planes in the competition had to run a real obstacle course which consisted of them flying their planes in between the cones, SIDEWAYS, just a few feet above the water! C R A Z Y !!!!!!
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Ilea, Caylan, and her bud Loren getting freaky in Beverly Hills....

April 26 Trip to Catalina Island.....

Ventured out to Catalina Island on a gorgeous spring day.....


Along the way, we saw many birds and sailing ships....


Stayed at very quaint Casa Mariquita (similar to the brothel we visited in Baja.


This is a CRAZY 'sphinx moth' which flies and hovers like a hummingbird!!! They are HUGE, and quite numerous around the island. Carefully look at its eye, and you can see that it REALLY has its eye ON ME, cautiously watching my every move, as I took the picture!


Sadly, most of the restaurants we visited did not allow animals.


Along out walk to Mt. Ada, this was one of many great views. We actually walked about 10 miles up and down the streets of Avalon (only city of Catalina Island.)


Another view slightly higher up.


At the very top of Mt. Ada, this view shows the circular building known as the 'Casino' which, by the way is NOT a real casino! This also shows the Avalon Harbor. On the boat trip back to the mainland, we had the extraordinary experience of seeing literally 100's of dolphins in every direction! Just when we thought it could not get any better, we saw some humpback whales breaching - all the while we were still seeing all these dolphins...... W O W !!!!

"Grunion Lovin"

WOW- Went to a "Grunion Run" ..... Grunion are small fish (about 6 inches) that actually catch a Pacific Ocean wave, and wiggle UP ON TO THE SAND as far as they can, to REPRODUCE! This happens on a strict biological clock: it only happens during a few spring months, only for a few nights AFTER a full or new moon, and only during a specific few hours! You can see a lot (HUNDREDS)of the shiny critters in one photo. Note in that photo, at the bottom right, you can see a female starting to bury itself tail first into the sand to lay its eggs.




In this close up shot, you see the female grunion half buried, with the males around her lying on the sand - after the wave and water has LEFT the area! Male wiggles around female and deposits sperm to 'complete the deed.'



We have all heard of 'a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush....' BUT what is a FISH IN THE HAND WORTH?? Well, after it seemed one particularly LARGE female had apparently done its egg laying and popped out of her hole to catch the next wave back into the ocean, Bill decided to pick her up for a closer inspection. As is evidenced in the photo- he got 'egged' ! It is all over his hand. Ewwww.