Ferries, Forts, Fins, Fans and Fishing

It's been a jam packed 5 days since my last post. In our continuing efforts to deprive our children of sleep, we kicked off Tuesday with a 5am roll call. Off to the Yankee Freedom II ferry in Key West for our day at Garden Key to visit Fort Jefferson. After the 2.5 hour ferry ride to the Dry Tortugas (meaning no fresh water available), we were treated to an historically rich tour of the Fort worthy of praise from the likes of Don Adams (Bloomington North H.S. military history teacher). The US wanted to control entry into the Gulf of Mexico to protect many ports so they started building the Fort in 1846. Construction lasted for 30 years and was never completed. The Army abandoned the Fort in 1874.

After the tour we headed for the Fort's beach for some snorkeling. All but Dashel donned masks, snorkels and fins. Well, he wore the fins at least. This was Gibson's first go at snorkeling and he was a champ. Another first for the boys was becoming a National Park Junior Ranger. They even swore not to touch coral and pick their noses at the same time. We returned to Key West around 5:30pm for dinner and to watch street entertainment. We didn't expect that Dashel would become one of those entertainers. The "Men Who Wear Red Pants" acrobatic/juggling duo chose #3 to assist in their act. Dashel was in rare form as he danced his way to center stage capturing the hearts and laughter of the 100 plus crowd. After chants of "Dashel! Dashe! Dashel!" from his fans, his finale was jumping repeatedly to catch the $1 they were attempting to give him. I wish Dashel would work on his shyness problem.

Now in Clearwater, FL visiting Bill's sister Barb and family, we have already conquered a 15 mile bike ride from the Clearwater RV Resort to Safety Harbor where we dined at Crispers (wish we had one in Bloomington). Dashel was clocked at 16 miles per hour pedaling his once lost but then found bicycle.