the Key West Vacation

- just what I needed -

my friends had made this trip before 

and kindly let me tag along on this one

we took the Key West Express from Fort Myers Beach

which is about 80 miles south of us

it was a great easy 3 hour trip

except for getting up in the dark to make the boat

it was great to have someone else do all the planning

and she did a fabulous job!

they only make one early trip a day and one coming back at night

most people go for the day

we weren't coming back for 3 days

staying on an island in the middle of nowhere

and what a beautiful island it was

I loved the hotel the minute I saw it

it had been a brothel and was over 100 years old

I had the corner room upstairs - it was perfect

I loved sitting out there at night

 the view 

around back was a lovely shaded pool

which was well used as Florida in the summer is hot

 the red ginger growing next to the pool

and these sweet epiphytes

first thing to do is walk to a restaurant on Duval Street

 it is considered off season - still some tourists

very few were from Florida

and the picture taking started

the ceiling at the restaurant

later that night we walked to the western side of town to watch the sunset

we saw the famous Key West roosters

they and their families were all over town

everywhere - wild chickens

back when Cuba was closer than the US

 cock fighting was in it's heyday on the island

 in 1860 it was the largest and richest city in Florida

mainly from salvaging ships that constantly wrecked on the reefs that surround it

I loved the old architecture - almost every house or building was old

and had charm and class

something lacking in buildings today

 here are just a few examples

 oh the potential of this one is most attractive

 adorable can be small

 like this one?  think a mill and a half - no parking

this is an old postcard - the house is still there

we saw it on the way to the gardens

the main difference is that it is surrounded by other houses now

then it towers over the landscape - now it is dwarfed

we talked to one person who had grown up there

the biggest change he said was that when he was growing up

there were plenty of empty lots

now - no empty lots

but they kept the old houses - I love that

 the trees were old too

huge trees that shaded the streets

the royal poincianas were in bloom all over town

 this is a frangipani - it has a wonderful smell

this is the largest and oldest one I have ever seen

up past the second story and thick as a tree

they are very fragrant and each color has a different scent

 there was an occasional fixer-upper

(don't get excited - we can't even afford that in Key West)

 this is the sculpture garden - the first and largest showing

the men of the town saving the life of a little boy

(he is on his back) from a sinking ship

next to it were the heads of all the important people in Key West

this is Truman, he had a winter vacation house there

(because he could)

the town had many venues for watching the sunset - 

we actually passed on watching (we live on the Gulf of Mexico)

and went and had a beer and some conch fritters

(don't say conch - say conk)

Day 2 was a visit to the botanical gardens

 where we of course saw an amazing variety of tropical plants

 I don't know the names of most of them

I just like looking at them

 it is hard to see but there is a little green lizard on that branch

they are native to Florida and I have only seen one other one

in 5 years

they are being driven out by the invasive species.....

imagine that

 the setting was very beautiful

on the Atlantic side of the island

a peace park inside the gardens - very nice

great play on the word "key"

Day 3 was the best

the day we took a seaplane to the Dry Tortugas

about 60 miles west of Key West

 it was a small sea plane that held 8 people

 plus the pilot and first mate

that's the pilot with my friends

 I was surprised that these shots

from the plane

 actually came out

 these are the Marquesas islands

about one third of the way out

 it would be so fun to have a boat and pull up on the beach 

and have your own deserted island

 these are the Dry Tortugas

tortugas for all the turtles that use these islands to nest

but the early sailors added the word - dry

no water means don't bother stopping here

 we brought our own - water that is

most of the island is a fort

(what a surprise)

the reef was all along the walls and easily accessible from the beach

the wall actually separates  the moat from the sea

 it was hard to get a good photo of just how

wonderfully turquoise and clear the water was

(this was taken from the plane)

alas I do not have any underwater photos

there was quite a bit of coral, big purple fans,

waving anemones, kinds I had never seen before

yellow fish, blue and yellow fish, parrot fish, some big fish

black spiny urchins, and lots of conch, huge conch shells

I saw one come way out of it's shell

before it saw me and snapped back - it was bright purple

there was a fish so small and so transparent 

that it looked like just the dot of it's eye

so it looked like 100 little dots floating together

until you got up real close and saw they were actually 

very very tiny fish

flying low on the way back I saw several sea turtles 

at least 2 different species of them

a few rays 

and one long black shark

we came on to Key West and headed for the airport at the far end

but we flew over it and made a huge circle of Key West

I was thinking he was giving us a tourist tour of the island

then we made another pass and still did not land

we new something was wrong - big circle and one more pass

he was trying to get the landing gear to come down and lock

this time he tried manually - pumping hard - sweat pouring off his face

nope not working

so he calmly said he was looking for water to land on

which considering that we were in a sea plane and every where you looked

was water, we weren't too concerned either

he finally decided to land in the marina at the far end of town

and he pulled up to the dock better than some people pull up their boats

(these guys fly in Alaska too - they are good)

no visit to Key West would be complete without a visit to the

Hemingway House

I opted not to take the tour, as it was just 2 blocks from our hotel

I liked to walk by at night when no one was around and stare in the front gate

imaging life then

I was reading a book called "Papa" about Mr. Hemingway's Key West years

while I was there

it was a lovely house on a huge block of land

this is an old photo

Hemingway had a 6 foot brick wall - built in his day to keep the tourists out

only the front gate was open grill work and one could look inside

that is where I stood in the dark and dreamed

and I know now that my writing will be better with having done that - right?

the boat ride home was calm

and the sunset on a wonderful few days

ps

 we did not get our photo taken at the "southern most point of the US"

as you can see the line was rather long, we were rather hot

and this photo taken from the cab - was as close as we got

(again nmp)

thank you and good night

xxoo

remembering my Dad 

8.31.1930 - 5.26.2014

that's me with my Dad somewhere in the fall of 1952

but let's go back - he had a life before me

October 1930

at the top - he's the seven year old boy peeping over his Dad's shoulder

his mom, my grandmother (and a saint by the way) is on the far right

on Dad's left is his grandmother and grandfather and his sister, Martha

to the right he is the little one with his sister and mom

he is with his parents in Florida about 1937

our family was all about fishing

they started going up to Sault Ste. Marie since before my Dad was born

top left he is with his mom, bottom right is his dad

we went up north and or to Florida every year I was growing up 

I can't tell you how many pictures I have of family members with dead fish

Dad was a handsome young man

my parent's met in high school

he was the captain of the football team and she was the queen of the prom

(and also a saint by the way....)

the Daubner luck

Dad went into the service out of high school

he was mostly stationed in Germany and he played basketball for the army

he said he loved the military

(he also won enough at poker to buy a car and a fancy set of German dishes

for my mom.....)

he always said we had the Daubner Luck

I guess I did - look at those cute parents

I can't get over how young he looked....

he had cool cars - he use to stand me up beside him in the convertible

it was Detroit the 50's it was all about the cars

Dad, as did his dad before him,

worked in the tool and die industry building cars

he was a fun dad, we always got the hotel with the pool

and he had as much fun as we did

we were a great threesome

then add my brother - 1960

 I could not imagine life without now - he is/was and incredible gift

super cute too

top left - my brother with my Dad's dad

that was out ski boat, Dad taught us all to ski

bottom right, parents, grandparents and brother about 1965

my first prom 1967

Mom and Dad look so young

1979 their first grandson

they came all the way out to northern California to the 100 acres

we lived on

Dad loved it, he went to town and bought me a new ax

first one grandson, then another in 1981

and a granddaughter in 1984

  

this is Port Townsend 1986

and in Florida April 1995 - they loved the kids and were wonderful grandparents

they LOVED Florida too and

moved down from Michigan in 1997

Dad in his classic Florida mode

sitting on the porch watching the kids swim in the pool

he was having trouble walking then but

Dad walked me down the isle in my 1995 wedding in Port Townsend

(my only wedding - yeah I know)

this is one of my most favorite photos of Dad and I

still looking good at my brother's wedding 1999

next thing you know he is a great-grandpa! in 2002

 their 60th wedding anniversary December 31, 2009

yep, married on New Year's Eve

the second great-grandbaby born on their

60th anniversary!!

  Mom's 80th birthday - May 2010

the gang May 2010

their grown up grandson came to visit 2011

grandpa was so happy

the 3rd great-grand child October 2011 and was named after my mother

mom died the next summer - 2012

there are so many stories I could tell about my Dad

that he was a really good golfer, pool player and poker player

he loved the casino and he really was lucky

check out these 2 photos

first 1999

 he is 2nd from the left 

still winning every tournament he ever entered

and then 40 years earlier

Vegas 

Dad is 2nd from the right

the man on the far left and far right are guys I have known all my life

they are still both living near where Dad lived in Florida

and

they still have something they call "the Daubner" at the country club in Detroit

he was also a very good dad, he was fun, generous and honest

 he was always there for me - always, and I knew he loved me

 in the end he went fast

one week he was in the hospital, the next the nursing home for rehab

 he wanted no rehab, he was tired

comfortable and out of pain for the first time in a long time

one week later we put him on hospice

he lived only one more week

he died the way he lived, with enthusiasm, bravery and in control

I love you Dad and I am so proud of you, oh and

give my love to mom, grandma and Thomas for me would you - thanks

xxoo