Keturah's friend, Kasey, in Ft. Lauderdale, took us out for a sea-faring excursion on his sailboat. It was an incredible time, especially when we looked at each other hanging on for dear life in front of a back-drop picturing crashing waves and asked Kasey "Huh, why aren't there any other boats out here?" Does "small craft warning" mean anything to anyone out there? Still, we are officially ruined for a life of dangerous sailing. Smooth seas will never do for us now.
After Ft. Lauderdale, we returned to wheels and drove to Key West over bridges and under sunshine! Eighty-Five Degrees New York! After a few dances of joyful abandonment on one bridge, as well as a little harmless flirting with an eighty-year-old fisherman (we made his day, by the way...hehe), we hit the Southernmost Point of the United States and decided not to cross the 90 miles to Cuba until the next trip...
Welcome to our sunset in Key West...a giant orange ball melting into the water like butter...
The people in Key West are really what's worth talking about though. Dan was the guitar-playing hippie who sold us a snorkeling trip and let us know how to get weed (we didn't even have to ask!). He backpacked around the country "with a girlfriend way back." But the real connection was made when he mentioned the homemade granola they took with them. Did we tell you that Kendra made 20 lbs of it for us?! What really stuck out was his humble generosity, offering us his houseboat to crash in and his friends to hang out with. Such is the life we wondered about. There are people who exist on the planet for the sake of enjoying the other people who are here too. Without question, they offer hospitality and help in any way they can. Thanks Dan for such a beautiful introduction to the heart of living in Key West.
On our walk back to our car that night, we walked by two scraggly guys on a bench, the kind of men your mother turns you away from when you are little and curious. They handed us roses made of palm leaves. We apologized, explaining our lack of cash..."Well, we didn't ask ya for any money, now did we? Just said Merry Christmas." We were won over instantly by their genuine smiles and happy spirits. John and John chatted with us, all the while expertly fashioning roses, sailboats and fish on a line for the kiddies who strolled by. John showed Keturah how to make a fish, but it is quite an intricate art! It turns out the bums your nice ladies in white shoes warn you about are actually a couple of intelligent guys who have travelled the country and hold humankind in their hearts. Cheesy? Maybe only if you haven't experienced it in its real form.
We actually slept in our car in a parking lot that night. Thanks Publix for the use of your bathrooms! If only they knew what occurred there...
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