Wildlife Abounds in Key Largo

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Wildlife abounds in Key Largo

Key Largo seems to be a pretty urban setting for wildlife. There are souvenir shops all along RT 1. Mixed in with the Denny’s, Wendy’s and McDonalds are local restaurants , resorts, marinas and fish places. Not exactly what you’d expect for a wildlife nature reserve. Still when I pulled into Ocean Point the first thing I spotted was a feral cat. Definitely feral it was shy and very scruffy looking. The next thing I saw was a sign saying “Don’t feed the Raccoons.” OK both are urban wildlife but wait till I tell you what happened Monday Morning.

Wildlife aboundsMonday Monday

As I was pulling out from my overnight parking something dark slipped into the brush. I froze and watched but didn’t get another glimpse of it. Raccoon, feral cat or something else, I couldn’t tell you. Back in my car I headed for the local Publix (Grocery store) to pick up some breakfast items.  When I came out of the store there was a chicken on my front bumper. Now chickens roam wild in the Keys. Key West is known for them so I wasn’t too surprised to see it there. What did surprise me was when a big huge hawk came swooping down right in front of me trying to grab that chicken! Feathers flew and that chicken started squawking but in the end she avoided becoming the hawks breakfast. I admit I was flabbergasted. I’ve never been that close to the action so to speak. (Unless you count being chased by Buffalo in Yellowstone.)

Wildlife abounds in Key Largo

 

 

 

Wildlife in Key LargoLittle lizards and all

In the afternoon I stopped into John Pennecamp Coral Reef State Park to check out the snorkeling, scuba diving and glass bottom boat trips. It’s been windy so they’ve been canceled so far. They told me to check back on Wednesday. This happened when I was in Key West too. They do have shore snorkeling at Cannon Beach for free.  You just need to rent or buy gear. But watch out for crocodiles.  The Keys and the southern tip of the Everglades are the only place in the US where we have crocodiles and alligators.  I didn’t see any today but I did spot a couple of iguanas and a little anole.

 

Wildlife abounds in Key Largo

Ocean Point Resort

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Ocean Point Resort

Building 5 Ocean Point Resort

I’m here! Ocean Point Resort on the Island of Key Largo in the town of Tavernier, FLA. My GPS took me right to the door. First stop is at the gate house. Once the attendant opened the gate and gave me directions to check in I knew I was on the last leg of the journey. 

Check in

Check in was on the 2nd floor of the administration building. That’s also where the Cafe is located. I trudged up the outside stairs, my knees screaming all the way. Check in was surprisingly quick and easy. Much faster than some places I’ve stayed. Before I knew it I had keys in hand and directions to my room.  The room number is all coded to help you remember where you are. I’m in 5406. That stands for building 5, 4th floor room 6.  As I was leaving reception I spotted an elevator.  My knees weren’t done protesting so I took the elevator down.

Exterior Stairs Ocean PointBuilding 5

Building 5 is the first building when you leave the Cafe. As I parked another guest started up the stairs. With fingers crossed I went in search of an elevator. I didn’t think I could drag my bags up 4 flights of steps. I even wondered if I could drag myself up that many stairs! My knees were letting me know that I have really overdone it today. I was on my last energy reserves.

YES! There is an elevator

Thank you, thank you,  thank you Elevator Gods! There is an  elevator and its only 3 rooms down from my suite. To my surprise I have a 2 bedroom suite for just little old me. I checked my reservation to make sure there wasn’t some mistake and I did reserve a 1 bedroom. Maybe all the one bedroom Ocean Views were taken? This one is lovely even if it is bigger than I need.

I have 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. There are 2 little decks, one that opens from the main suite and one that opens from the Master Bedroom. I am going to enjoy sitting out there in the evening.ocean point deck

On The Road- Let the Vacation Begin!

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On The Road to Key LargoSouthernmost point Key West

I’m finally on the road to Key Largo. Let the Vacation begin! I’ve escaped the never ending circles of the rental car garage, navigated my way through the road construction in Miami, passed Homestead and Florida City and reached the end of the Florida Turnpike. Whew! My GPS says only 66 more miles to Key Largo. I’m on US 1 aka the Overseas Highway. I’ll follow this until I reach my destination at Ocean Point Resort. If I keep on to the end I’ll end up in Key West. The road ends near the Southernmost Point. But I’ve been there so I don’t think I’ll do that this trip.

US 1 Overseas HighwayIt’s just 1 Lane

US 1 is just one lane each way in most places. There are a few designated passing section that quickly merge back down to a single lane again. The speed is between 45 and 50 mph. In some places the water seems to be at road level, only held back by a little strip of shoulder. Today is nice and sunny but I’d hate to be on this road in a storm! I’m making good time until I see a helicopter heading south. I wondered if it was a traffic copter or maybe a sightseeing tour.

Life Flight

Suddenly the copter swung over the highway. It swooped right over my car with a woop woop woop of the rotors. My heart nearly stopped as I grabbed for the cell phone. I wanted a picture to show how low that thing was but before I could do that I had to stop. Everyone was pulling over and getting out of their cars. The chopper set down in the southbound lane of US 1. As we watched we could just barely make out emergency lights on the northbound side. It didn’t take long before the copter was in the air again heading back toward Miami. It was now apparent that this was a Medical Life Flight copter taking injured away from a crash.

On the Road Again

The southbound side was opened up very quickly after the helicopter took off. As we passed the crash site it was clear that it was a nasty accident. Northbound the traffic was stopped for miles but at least those of us heading into the Keys were on our way again. I’ve had enough excitement for one day. I’m ready to get to the resort.

Back to Real World Weight Struggles

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Back to Real World Weight Struggles

Vacation is over so it’s back to the real world. For me that’s not just work and daily routine That’s the real struggle with weight. As the saying goes in for a penny in for a pound so I’m going to continue to bring you along with me for now. I hadn’t been near a scale all vacation and I didn’t check when I got home on Monday night. I need all the help I can get so I always weigh in first thing in the morning.

 

Real World Weight struggles - lunchTruth or Consequences

Tuesday morning I took a deep breath and stepped on my frenemy, the scale. Wonder of wonders it was only up .5 lbs! That’s amazing and I’ll take it. Like most people on vacation I didn’t exactly restrain myself. I had Florida Lobster 4 times, yes 4 Times! I just couldn’t get enough. Don’t forget the famous “Pink Shrimp”.  Fried , cooked and chilled, and in seafood scampi, I ate them any way I could get them. If I had been in heaven I’d have been thrown out for seafood gluttony. Yet the scale was only up 1/2 lb! I was so happy! I didn’t share the news because it wasn’t a Saturday, my “real” weigh in day. It was just a check in .

 

Real World Weight Struggles

8 Hours of Shut Eye?Back to Real World Weight Struggles

So I’m back to my regular routine and the real world weight struggles. I’m logging my steps and watching what I eat but I am not getting a lot of sleep. A good part of that is because I have an hour plus commute every morning and afternoon.  I’m up at 5:30 am to go to work and get home between 6:30 -7 pm.  If I went to bed in time to get 8 hours I’d be going to bed at 8 pm. Usually I’m just finishing up the dinner dishes at that point so I don’t see 8 hours in my near future.

Why am I talking about sleep? Since I’ve been back my weight has been creeping up and I couldn’t figure out why. Were all the calories from vacation just catching up now? Apparently it’s more to do with sleep deprivation. I just found out that if you get less than 7 – 8 hours sleep your metabolism slows, you burn less calories and your cravings for sweet, dense foods increase. Weight goes up! I’m doomed!

This time it’s for real

According to my Fitbit I’m averaging only 5 hours and 15 minutes a night since I returned from vacation. My step count has gone up but not enough to offset the lack of shut eye. The scale has crept up 1.8 lbs since my last Saturday  weigh in before vacation.  I’m going to try to get some more sleep this week and see if I can reverse that trend. I’ve got my meals pretty trimmed down, 1 egg for breakfast, salad with cold cuts for lunch and dinner can vary from chicken broth  to fish to a mini hamburger (no roll). I hit my calorie budget consistently. The wild card is the sleep. 

Back to Real World Weight Struggles

Deb 10/25/ 2019

My co workers think I’m getting thinner and I started wearing jeans a size smaller but the scale isn’t reflecting these changes. Guess I’ll just have to say I lost that battle but its only the beginning of the war. 

Good Bye Hertz or How to lose a Customer

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Bye Bye HertzGood Bye Hertz

Do you want to know how to lose a customer in less than an hour? Hertz lost me and as I stood at the counter waiting my turn I watched and listened as another customer was left stranded. It did not give me a good feeling. I should have listened to my gut. By now I’d been up and awake for 12 hours. I’d just done a marathon through the Miami Airport and was rapidly melting from the exertion. And now I was standing in line while the Hertz rep turned away the customer in front of me.

So Why Hertz This Time?

Hertz has never been my favorite car rental agency. I usually only use them as a last resort. They always seem to be overpriced. You can get a better deal with another rental agency and I have. I use Enterprise regularly and I’ve used Thrifty and Dollar. I used Payless once. Bad experience and won’t use them again. Hertz has worked deals with my Timeshare so they encourage us owners to use them. It still didn’t save me any money. So why did I reserve a car with them this time? I booked the car when I reserved my flight and Hertz was the only option on the Delta website.

It’s My Turn

The customer service rep motioned me forward and I dragged my wilting , dripping body to the counter. I handed over my reservation form, license and credit card. My experience was totally different from the poor guy ahead of me. My rep was super nice and got me through the verification process in minutes. She passed me my contract and a map and directed me to the 3rd level. Once on level 3 I was told to pick any car in Zone 2. Sounds good. I breathed a sign of relief, boarded the elevator and headed to level 3.

So what went wrong?Bye Bye Hertz

On level 3  I was looking at all those lovely cars in Zone 1 and Zone 3 but Zone 2 only had 2 cars. Big choice. One was a humongous combination of SUV and minivan, certainly not a compact. I didn’t even recognize the make. The other car was a little red number. Cute but written in soap across the windshield was ” no inspection sticker”.  So no cars and no attendant to help. Its all self serve. By now I was very much afraid I was going to have to drag my luggage back to the counter again when I spotted a Hertz employee.

No Speak English

Turns out that the friendly and willing employee had one problem with me. He did not speak English and I did not speak Spanish. What we had here was a failure to communicate. Finally another customer stopped and acted as translator. After much back and forth I was told to wait there. The other customer left, the employee left and I was left to stew. I was just about to give up when Mr. employee returned with a Nissan Sentra.

Bye Bye Hertz

Getting on the road I needed was easier than escaping the Hertz section of the parking garage. Once on the road I breathed a sign of relief. Only 70 miles to my destination. Note to self: Put Hertz on the bottom of the list of  rental car agencies. This rental is costing me close to $900 for a week. That seems a little excessive to me. A nice RAV 4 or Chevy Equinox would be more in line. I’ve rented both from other agencies for less than $500.00 with less aggravation. And that’s how Hertz lost me as a customer in less than 1 hour.