Margaritas and Maggie!

Our dock at dusk

Maggie meets Ouzo, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel at Happy Hour on the water

We’re here in the Keys!  Our last day of travel was great—sunny and 79 degrees. We rolled up to our rental home for the next month right on time. Checking the speedometer, we found that MapQuest figured the distance within 1 mile—amazing. Gasbuddy.com also figured our fill-up stops right to the town.  Other helpful travel aids: the GPS which always let us know distance to and time of arrival for each stop and Bud’s iPod, which kept us amused with audio books. We finished Hiasson’s Skinny Dip and moved on to Stephen King’s Duma Key.

The rental is fabulous. The driveway is looong and feels like you’re entering the scene in Duma Key where the main character stumbles into a strangler fig grove—other-worldly!  Our private beach is sandy, the water is clear and the new dock is snazzier than some we’ve seen at yacht clubs. The house is on stilts (hurricane design) and clearly is someone’s home—not just a rental. The kitchen is big enough for several cooks.  There’s a ton of storage and lots of indoor/outdoor “hanging out” space.

Once we got settled and made a grocery run, we found a dog-friendly (true!) Happy Hour at a local waterfront bar down the way a bit. Maggie made instant friends with a Cavalier King Charles spaniel named Ouzo while we had margaritas and peel-and-eat shrimp. By the time we had supper (great lobster reuben and fried tilapia sandwiches) and got home, it was dusk and the dock lights were on.

This morning we are off to find the dog-friendly beach for a good run. It’s our first full day of faux retirement!