Revisiting America

No, we haven't cancelled the trip and headed home; we've just been without WIFI while traveling.  It's been another adventure just leaving New Orleans and driving to the Keys.  So different!  New Orleans is a city with tall buildings, traffic, crowds (still wonderful), and the Keys are so open, so much blue sky and sunshine.  I happen to love both venues.
The drive was uneventful and very pleasant, just long.  Visited with some of Lou's family near Mobile and had a great time.  So good to see family that I hadn't seen in a long time.  Thanks for coming to see us.  Stopped for a couple of nights on the road, then reached Sugarloaf Key and our cottage.  Such a neat place - one bedroom with a king-size bed, a living/kitchen area and a bathroom with a large closet area.  Melinda Escalante and Frank Madiedo were our landlords and such great people.  We also met Mel's son Alexander, but he left the next day going to New Orleans for a job.
After we settled in the cottage, we realized that we have two different sets of people coming to visit, and we had no room for them.  So we went into Key West and, after lunch (of course), we walked to a couple of properties.  Soon found out that actually staying in Key West would be much too expensive for our year-long travel budget.  By the way, lunch was at the Southernmost Beach Cafe and Bar.  Great shrimp quesadilla and good key lime pie.
On the way back to the cottage, we stopped at a realtor's office on Sugarloaf.  She had pictures she had just taken of a house for rent.  She had not even had time to list it yet.  We immediately came to see it, fell in love, and went back to her office and signed the papers.  Two bedrooms (one for our company), large kitchen/dining/living area, all outside walls are glass, balcony with screening to keep out the bugs on three sides of the house.  Also, parking and extra storage downstairs.  We packed and moved the next day, which was yesterday.  We're on a canal but can look through the foliage to see Sugarloaf Bay.  Just beautiful.
Of course, we have palm trees (several varieties), ficus trees, flowering shrubs, hibiscus, etc.
If the rest of the trip is anything like our experiences so far, this will be the trip of a lifetime.  The Keys are so laid-back, we have already discussed just staying here and visiting the rest of the agenda by phone.
More later, if we have time left after lounging in the sun.
Janie