I saw this video and did have a laugh- remember that people need to decide when they are ready for adaptive aids and presenting a wheelchair as a surprise/gift may not go over. On the other hand, let’s all work together to get rid of the stigma behind mobility aids!

Granny wasn’t a fan of her gift
by u/elly20123 in Unexpected

Here’s a great product that I highly recommend. Today after a long day doing a garden walk all over Key Largo, i was in real need of a good, strong heat pack. I find that often heating pads are not hot enough but these heat up instantly and so, so hot and nice. The large ones are fantastic for low back, shoulders and more. The small ones are discreet and can be placed onto sore spots anywhere.

The price on these is awesome, only $9 for 2 large and 4 small. They are activated by flexing a small metal disc and heat up instantly and are refreshed simply by placing them in boiling water.

I personally use these and endorse them and have not been paid to do so or provided free items.

https://amzn.to/3KkgpNM

So I’m a 50 mumble lady young at heart, however due to my crazy spine I have chronic pain and mobility issues. My experiments in mobility are your gain, however, so check out these items which have made my life so much easier wether it’s at home doing my house chores or on vacation (I’m a cruise addict) enjoying my time away.

Well, ready with a trip report. Make some coffee, it’s a long one!

Bit of backstory: I’m a divorced 40 something woman living in the FL Keys with my roommate and my dog Foster (the best dog in the world). My boyfriend owns an eco-tour company so is always off on an adventure somewhere and leaves me to my pup camping, which is much more my thing than his. This week he is off in Alaska so I was really on my own on this trip. Also pertinent: i have had significant back surgery which really limits a lot of what I do, but I can pop up and down my pup on my own about 30 minutes each way. Unfortunately I dislocated a shoulder a few weeks ago so that REALLY limits things and I had to rely on my roomie for set up, and she is new to pop up set up. I used to work on robotic systems doing repair so I’m pretty comfortable troubleshooting and fixing most things, which comes in handy with a used pup.

OK, so we arrived at the park to get set up and even though I’d practiced (not much though) I had a bear of a time backing in. Note to self: Spend some GOOD time practicing, not just quick like before the next trip. Luckily an angel named Marci came along and helped direct me. It’s not so much the backing that’s the issue its that I can’t see at all, I’m thinking a set of trailer mirrors is in order.

Got in the spot finally and she got to setting up while I supervised (directed). Did the bunk ends but unfortunately the poles didn’t fit in correctly and snugly- This comes into play much later in the trip. I was double checking as we went but underestimated the significance of that.

Got the rest set up, slow but sure. Once again had a terrible time with the door, I’m not even sure what to do about that. I forgot my BAL leveler so we were leveling a touch with the stabilizers (I KNOW but I didn’t have any choice!!) and it threw the door off of course. Used a bungee to get through but vow to get this all worked out before the next outing because the unlevel door makes me insane.

Camping was fun!! Beautiful days but VERY stormy nights- this is the first time I was in a pop up with the wind really blowing and it was unnerving. It held up just fine though, I reminded myself that we weren’t broadside in it and despite the shaking/vibrating that you could feel, we weren’t in danger. LOADS of rain though and happily everything stayed dry. The best part of sleeping was that my bunk faced the ocean (Long Key State Park has all of their sites directly on the water so it’s outstanding) and we had a HUGE full moon, so the light just reflected off the water so nicely. I could hear the waves lapping the shore and wow, talk about lovely. My roomie likes the AC cranked at night for sleeping but I couldn’t bear not to have the window unzipped so we compromised and ran the AC and put a fan on her as well. Worked out great. Below was my first morning view from my bunk. WOW.

Days were spent sitting in the water in our chairs drinking cocktails and evenings we had campfires and toasted marshmallows. The park was so empty it was great, NO neighbors at all, so total peace and quiet.  Below is the new crab friend I made (SO cute) and Foster enjoying a nap on the sand at my site. No dogs allowed on the grass OR beach/water so that worked out perfectly- Foster hates the water with a passion, no worries there.

Unfortunately the second night during one of the storms, mary leaned over to her window to look out and the misplaced poles shifted- the bunk went dangerously down and we knew we had a problem. It was the middle of the night and pouring, so we made the bed by my bunk and she slept there. You want weather? We got weather.  From pouring rain and wind all night to a HUGE waterspout during the day. We nearly took shelter from that one, it was the biggest I’ve ever seen!

The next day we could survey the damage and it wasn’t good- the rail piece (male) attached to the bunk had hopped the bolt that is supposed to be a stopper and slid all the way out. I removed the bolt and with some SERIOUS shoving, we and a neighbor guy got the bunk in past that point and I thought all was going to be well. I could see that the piece was actually twisted a bit though, so I should have anticipated that there would be more problems later. She continued to use the bunk next to mind instead of the end bunk.

We continued the trip, headed down to Key West for the day and had a great time- Another friend came down and spent the night (my first “house guest” and my doggie (Foster) was so happy I couldn’t get over it. No running out the door when we opened it, just very mellow and relaxed this trip- it helped that I had him in it most of the time I was working on it at home and he just thinks of it as his fort too. He was a delight to have along as a camping buddy.

Below: Funny sign at the bar we went to (Krawl off Duval, very fun) and a Key Deer that we saw on No Name Key where we stopped for lunch at the No Name Pub (of course). Their shrimp pizza is to die for.

I was able to use my new grill multiple times and it worked great- I am the grill MASTER!! Also if the thought of dealing with firewood drives you nuts (it’s very hard to find down here in the Keys, all of the trees are protected so it’s very hit or miss or crazy expensive) do yourself a favor and order a case of these:
http://www.duraflame.com/products/roasting-logs
They are fantastic- each “bundle” has 4 sticks, you stack them like a teepee, light the paper and 5 minutes later you have a great fire that you can even cook on. No muss, no fuss- burns itself out in about 2 hours.

Critter count: Yellow crowned night heron that lived nearby, loads of gulls, terns, heron, egrets, GIANT land crabs, hermit crabs, black racer snake, and fire ants (which I found on day one. With my foot.) And I swear to all that’s holy I think we saw a croc swimming by our last evening there. I’ve seen my fair share of gators and crocs swimming and they are hard to mistake.  I cannot imagine what else it could be if it wasn’t that because DAMN it sure moved like a croc.  Crazy. Decided against midnight skinny dipping after that.

So came time to pack it in yesterday and we realized we still had a problem. That bunk was NOT going in no matter how much I tweaked, cajoled, cursed or sweated. I have no power in my arm to pull or push and Mary couldn’t really get any leverage on it.   We were able to flag down a couple of rangers (which I loathe doing but you gotta do what you gotta do) who busted out some tools and the one (Built like a BEAR) managed to finally get it in. Wow it was looking bad for a while there! Got everything else done and packed and pulled out not 5 minutes before it started to downpour for the rest of the day.

So an exhausting day yesterday but a fantastic trip- Long Key is such a great place to camp- lots of privacy, clean bathrooms, convenient to stores and stuff to do and not many kids because there’s no pool/playground- just NATURE all around. Highly recommended!

So next week’s to-do list- have my handy buddy take a look at the camper and decide if I need to order a whole new rail for it or if it can be fixed as is- I can’t have it any more difficult to put up than it already is, so we shall see. Also I had a leak over the winter and need some ceiling repair so he will do that as well and I will finish painting inside and hanging my new curtains.

OH, side note: I did have one morning where we were sitting around having our Bailey’s and coffee (as is tradition when glamping) and all of a sudden: No power. Nada. Checked the main box, all is well, found the power panel inside, no tripped breakers (there are only 2) and yanked the fuses- one blown. A trip to the nearby store got me 2 new fuses, I replaced them both and voila, perfect power! So before you head out, take 5 minutes and locate your power panel, see what kind of fuses you have (I had a 15 and a 7.5) and grab a few before you go. Tape them right inside the panel. Also, HOLY cow I must have said 10,000 times that week how much I needed pliers. I had a leatherman but I really needed a set of good needle nose pliers. I’m picking some up this week. I am woman, hear me roar.

Well, it’s been an eventful summer- unfortunately I dislocated my shoulder a few weeks ago, which put my renovation plans on hold. I am up and at it again, though, and with just 1 week to go before I head to Long Key (for a week!) I did some work today.

While I still have to have some ceiling repairs done from the water damage I sustained over the winter, I used my old pal duct tape to put a temporary fix on it until I can get it looked at. I joined the Good Sam club through Camping World so I plan to drop it off there soon and have it gone over good.

So I’m on a smaller project scale for now and today accomplished a few things. I bought some fabric to have curtains custom made, but haven’t gotten around to having someone do it or sewing them myself. I knew I needed some kind of coverage for the windows because you can see into them at night, and that’s no good- I can’t believe what I found at Family Dollar- $4 per panel, they are a thick paper and you can cut them to whatever size you need! Unbelievable and they stick on. Simple and took 1 minute to hang up. When you are done you just fold them up and clip them until next time.

 

Perfect!  Then I got the extra bed set- We haven’t used it yet but my friend Maureen is coming for some of this trip so I wanted to make sure I had the extra bed all set.  Turns out that with the cushions in place it’s a Twin XL, so I went out and got a Twin XL egg crate mattress topper for it as well as sheets.  It’s ready to sleep now and Foster approved!

I also added an inexpensive rug runner inside to brighten it up a bit and make it a little more homey while walking around, check it out:

That’s it for today, it was TOO hot to do much more.  Oh, and on a personal note, I ordered a “Go Girl” to bring along.  I’m thinking for the once in a while I have to pee and am already in bed, this is the ideal solution:

No messy porta-potty to deal with or wandering to the bathroom in the middle of the night, just the unit and a Gatorade bottle to throw out in the AM.  Will report back!

More pics as things get further completed.

I love to go to beautiful places where I can sit in peace and snap some photos, and Fairchild Gardens is among my favorite places.  I first went here about 9 years ago with a good friend who had a guest pass (which is good because I was broke and it’s a bit spendy).  I have been so many times that now I can’t recall if there was a Chihuly exhibit going on at the time or not.  Over the years I returned several times (twice for a Chihuly exhibit) and last year I bought a season pass finally.

This place is an oasis of incredible sights- from waterfalls to delicate orchids, the landscape is a feast for the senses.  It’s hard to describe the experience of wandering through the acres of lush gardens, but hopefully the photos below will help paint a picture of how peaceful and lovely it is.

First I’ll talk about Dale Chihuly-

http://www.chihuly.com

He was there several times with HUGE pieces of his glass work (he is famous for his ceiling at the Bellagio in Las Vegas) that were simply breathtaking.  Cleverly interspersed through the flowers and plants of the gardens, the colors and textures blended beautifully among them, complimenting them perfectly.  After the main shows were done, he left several pieces behind to decorate the gardens and they are permanently installed throughout.  One notable multicolored glass piece is just outside of the butterfly area and was one of my favorite pieces during the show- I was so happy to see it still on display to be enjoyed!

Another cool part of Fairchild is that there are critters all over- little lizards, egrets, herons, ibis- you never know what you’ll see- I even saw a cayman once! Color me surprised! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectacled_caiman

Of course you can’t even talk about Fairchild without seeing a representative example of the plant life.  It’s impossible to scratch the surface of how many incredible varieties of plants there are.  HUGE tropicals, bizarre looking plants from other continents, fruit trees, many varieties of plam, orchids of all types and much more.  Here are some that I took photos of on my last visit:

So in summary, Fairchild Gardens ranks up there as one of my very favorite places to go in South Florida. If you are lucky enough to go on a weekday, do so- it’s very quiet and peaceful. Weekends tend to be bustling about (although you’re more likely to catch things like free small concerts- I once happened upon a woodwind quartet that was delightful!) and a bit noisier.  I could wander here for days and days, I think.

 

So last September or so I got a real itch to get another camper- I had one when I lived in NY many moons ago, but I primarily kept it popped up in the backyard for parties and as a personal fort; we really didn’t take it traveling around much- I honestly don’t remember bringing it anywhere because I don’t think we had a vehicle with a hitch.  Anyway, that’s when I fell in love with campers- they are one of those things- you’re either the kind of kid who loves to build blanket forts and spend hours in them or you aren’t, and I’m that kind of kid. Campers are forts for big people that you can take wherever you want and have adventures.

So I’m a single (dating but no longer married) girl and I wondered if it was too big a task to take on by myself.  Not much intimidates me but I have some physical limitations that make things that are easy for most people a bit harder for me so I wondered.  Still I kept browsing around Craigslist and then I saw this camper and fell in love.  I already had a hitch on my truck because I tow a kayak trailer and by god it was ready to roll.  I went an looked at it and the owners had taken really good care of it.  They used it when their kids were doing some motocross racing in FL and they assured me that the AC blew cold, the heat worked (if needed!) and the tires were good.  All turned out to be true, which is great!  Despite my health issues, I really had little trouble popping it up myself or doing any of the routine tasks on it.

So November rolled around and I decided it was time to put on my big girl pants and take it on a journey.  Now since I live in the amazing and gorgeous FL Keys, it’s not hard to find a great destination very close by- all the better to test things out!  My roommate and I headed to Long Key State Park for a 3 night trip to get away and see how everything worked.

Hooking up the camper was an adventure and lucky for us the mailman was delivering just as I was struggling to get the coupler onto the trailer ball- he jumped out and helped and got us on our way, and while I was frustrated at not having done it “myself”, I was glad my camper didn’t end up careening down US 1 on its own.  We headed to Winn-Dixie where we loaded up on camp necessities; Baileys liquor, champagne for mimosas, beer…oh, and some food too.

Checked in to Long Key and discovered the first challenge of the day; backing in the camper.  I’d like to say that I’d spent an hour before leaving for this trip practicing backing my camper in but I sure didn’t.  In fact, I’d never backed a trailer at all, come to think of it.  So of course I immediately jackknifed it in the road, attracting the gawking eyes of absolutely everyone nearby and prompting me to yell ‘WHADDYA LOOKIN AT?? MOVE ALONG!!” to the curious onlookers.  Thankfully the canadians next to us took mercy and the guy talked me through backing in- didn’t do it FOR me, but talked me through doing it so I’d get a feel for it.  What an nice guy!  Later my friend Marsha, a veteran pop upper asked “Why didn’t you just unhook it and walk it in?” and I realized that duh, you really can do that. They aren’t particularly heavy and they are balanced pretty well. Lesson learned.

We got pulled in and I popped her up- no small feat since I’d only done it once and didn’t make any notes.  It wasn’t perfectly level, which meant the door didn’t shut great but it was pretty darned good.  The dog and the roomie were happy so we went about camping, which means drinking beer outside at the picnic table and admiring the view.  And OH what a view….

Long Key Campground

Long Key Campground is located at MM 67, so only about 30 miles south of where I live.  I had scoped it out a few weeks prior with another friend and fell in love with it- every single site is on the ocean, as in directly on the ocean.  This is the view you get from your bunk end:

Not too shabby, I have to say.  When I got to my site (39 I think) I was disappointed though- the tide had gone out and there was no water to play in, just jagged rocks!  But lo and behold, how amazing.  LOADS of gorgeous wading birds every time the tide went out!  And I had my camera so I was thrilled!  I could just sit right there at my campsite and snap away and enjoy the nature show, it was truly amazing.  Then when the tide came back in it was deep enough to frolic around on floaties and drift the time away, no problem at all.  I got some great nature shots on this trip.  Here are a few from low tide:

As if that wasn’t enough, how about the sunrises? If you stay at this campground and don’t set the alarm to get up for sunrise, you are out of your mind. You can go back to bed after, but get up in the dark and make your coffee then get the camera out for sunrise; you might end up with a few shots like these:

and the shoreline was just gorgeous to walk up and down; here’s what it looks like when you walk a few steps from your site down to the ocean front:

OK one more photo set because this was awesome. Right after an afternoon rain, we spotted this Osprey, which we had seen flying above hunting for its chicks and he had quite a catch.  This fish was simply too big to fly with (he was soaking wet and couldn’t get off the ground) but by god he was NOT letting it go.  He ended up having his lunch on the beach and I was lucky enough to photograph it.

OK one last set of photos because I think Foster loved this trip best of all. My Foster, BTW is the love of my life, my faithful dog of 10 years that I found on the street and rescued.  He adored camping, he loved the camper and he gave Long Key 2 thumbs up (if he had thumbs).  He didn’t love that there were a lot of little pickers on the ground, though, so next time he told me to bring a broom and really give the site a good sweep so we weren’t picking them out of his feet every few hours.  Here’s Foster thinking that life is pretty good with his mama.

So as to the actual campground: I don’t have kids and I saw some reviews of this place complaining that there’s “nothing for kids to do”, which I disagree with. You could easily bring a kayak or paddle board, snorkel gear, fishing equipment; there was a lot to do, in my opinion. No actual playground though or swimming pool, but really- you’re in the middle of one of the most beautiful, pristine areas of the earth.  Enjoy it and don’t worry about the lack of plastic playground equipment!

There are fire pits there but when I went (early Nov) there was NO FIREWOOD to be found and I mean anywhere.  The FL Keys do not have spare trees to just chop down for wood so the state park relies on local places that do tree removal to donate wood that they can sell.  I  could not beg, borrow or steal firewood and had to make s’mores over wood charcoal.  I had duraflame logs for my regular fire but you cannot cook over them.  I ordered some Duraflame Roasting Logs for next time so I won’t run into that situation.

Of course a week later there was wood in every single store so it was just bad timing on my part.

There is a small store just outside the park that sells everything from nuts/bolts to hair weaves (yes really) to ice and bathing suits. If you forgot it, don’t worry- they have it (or at least one of whatever it is).  We went there each morning to get ice for the cooler.

There is also a Publix grocery not far (south) as well as Walgreens, a liquor store and everything else- this camping is hardly “roughing it”; while the sites feel pretty far removed, it is super easy to get what you want/need so don’t over pack.  There’s even a Kmart about 15 minutes south if you need some emergency fix it stuff.

The campground itself was only $40 a night which is a steal (we had a water/electric site). I had good cell service so I used that to make a wi-fi hotspot and had internet access when I wanted it.  Oh and I thought the sites had plenty of privacy- VERY high trees between each site and I didn’t have any noise issues at all. Additionally, the restrooms were very conveniently located and SPOTLESS.  The showers were clean as can be and it wasn’t scary to go there yourself at night.  I left a glow stick in a jar of water at my site so it would be easy to spot walking back.

So this was my first camping outing with this camper but not my first campground and I have to say I give it a 9.5 out of 10- the only deductions are that it’s pretty close to the main road and there aren’t pull through sites.  It’s going to be hard to beat it, but I’ve already seen a few down that way that I’m going to try out and see how they compare! By the way, on the way out I popped the camper down and my roomie took notes and now we have a step by step assembly/disassembly which is SO nice.  Also I hooked the camper up on my own just fine (no need for the mailman to step in).  I think we are going to have a great relationship, me and this camper!

Behold the adventures of a FL Keys lady, her camper and her camera.  I will use this blog to post camping tips, camper renovation photos, recipes, fun things to do in the FL Keys and other fun stuff. Follow me, it’s always a fun time!