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On Your Mark, Get Set, and GO!!!!!!!

8/9/2013

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Jet-Setting on a Budget in the New Economy

By the time we had finally unwound and were settling in to camp life up in the High Sierras, it was time to go. And go we did. We took our time, sort of, to pack up camp and head south to LA.

Cindy would leave Monday for a multi-month job in NOLA. Skye and I would be leaving even earlier, as in 3 a.m. for a whirlwind orthodontist trip to Atlanta.

But before we could embark on those journeys we had to delve into our LA storage unit, which always conjures up yucky memories and misadventures into heaps of banality.

We hit the local farmer's market to get some homegrown fortitude to help endure the storage blues. I had intended to do an interesting compare and contrast blog entry about farmers markets, but have since realized that I am far too behind to tackle that, so.....

On That Note, Off to Atlanta

A Very Expensive Orthodontist Appointment
I would say we have a lot of loose ends in Atlanta, but that implies that things could and would be tied up and honestly I'm not so sure of that. In fact, it is highly likely that we will be setting roots there, so it would be jumping the gun a bit to even begin to sever ties with this second home of ours, even though Louisiana is starting to make GA a little jealous and uneasy.

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Sweet Surprise!!!

Skye got a nice little surprise on this trip.

She got her braces off. We hadn't anticipated this but boy oh boy, she was more than ready for it.

There was a bit of  scuttling around to deal with the retainers and impressions but at the end of the day it was more than worth it for a wonderful, metal-free smile.

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Trails in the City
I slipped out before Skye woke up and ran a few miles. So much easier at near sea-level elevations and hills instead of mountains.

And to be on familiar territory, so to speak.

Actually in the past decade, this may be my most familiar of runs, although the jog around the LSU lakes was certainly beginning to edge it out.



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Coming Home to the Circus

In our typical topsy-turvy take on things, the circus is the constant and we are routinely running back to it as opposed to the more common "running-away-with-the-circus" theme.

It was great to see familiar faces and get to play on equipment and apparatus that felt familiar in a funny sort of way.

There's a theme going on here.  Yes the nomadic lifestyle is begining to wear on us. This is looking to be the final leg in this particular journey I think, that said, this leg might be a stretch.

We'll see.....

We made a trip to our Atlanta mailbox, stuffed with all sorts of stuff from my local union, but no sign of the license tags for the trailer I was hoping to find there. DMV bureaucracy seems to be a constant across the country. 

As does, unemployment benefits, something I decided not to deal with on this particular trip, for better or for worse.

I got checked up at the dermatologist, something I've taken much more seriously since having a life-threatening melanoma cut out of my leg a few years back.

There was a lot we didn't get done, a lot of friends I wish we could have seen, but for being there for only a day and a half we got a lot done.

And just like that we were saying goodbye to Atlanta and drudging through TSA security and jamming ourselves into seats to fly back to LA for more obligations and adventures.



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Not So Much a Vacation, More Like a Commute

7/19/2013

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Home is Where the Hearts Are

It's kind of weird saying good-bye to a hotel room that's become more of a home than anywhere in the last year.

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On The Road Again, and Again and Again

Four years ago, Skye and I embarked on a once-in-a-lifetime, father/daughter road trip across the US. We took around three weeks to drive across from LA to Atlanta and back to visit Cindy who was working on a job there.
Since then we've gone back and forth more times than I can remember. And we've made the journey in a leisurely manner as well as like bat-out-of-hell depending on any number of things.

This time around was certainly one of the more brisk crossings and little went according to plan.

My job finished shooting on Friday July 12, Skye was starting a Shakespeare camp on Monday July 15th in Mammoth Lakes, CA, a 32 hour drive from where we were staying in Baton Rouge.

Cindy was due to start a show in New Orleans in the next few weeks, although there is as of this point no definite start date.To lighten our load we boxed up and stored a goodly amount of our "stuff" in NOLA.  So now we have some of my work stuff stored in Atlanta, a mix of personal and work stuff in New Orleans, the lion's share of our stuff in storage in the San Fernando Valley, and our day to day living stuff as well as more of my work stuff, camping supplies, circus accoutrements, and Burning Man gear jam packed in and on top of the Rav4 as well as in a little trailer we're hauling. 

We have a mailing address in Marina del Rey and Atlanta and we are currently residing in a tent in a campground in Mammoth Lakes a mile or so away from Skye's Shakespeare endeavor.

Cindy still doesn't know when she's starting her show.  But we do know that the Monday after the Friday that Skye's 2-week camp comes to an end, her and I are flying to Atlanta for an orthodontist appointment.

We also know that I am signed up to run the Spartan Beast in Monterrey CA, August 10th and that after that Skye and I will camp for a few days up at Crater Lake before I drop her off at my mom's house in Oregon so that I can drop down to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada to be part of the Burning Man experience. We also know that the three of us will all reunite in Ohio for my neice's wedding September 7.

Also I'm supposed to be finishing up my course to get certified as a personal trainer by the end of July, (I see yet another extension coming) I'm training to run my first ultra-run at Burning Man, a barely-qualifiying 50K and I have mandatory saftey training class to take in LA for my IATSE Local 44 card.

2000 Miles Three Days No Problem


I wanted to get on the road by 4:30 or 5 am.

That didn't happen. We headed out of Baton Rouge around 11:30. We did however put in our "minimum" day of 12 hours, not quite making it out of Texas, finally succumbing to exhaustion somewhere between Wichita Falls and Amarillo Texas.

The next day was our "Big Day" and I pushed our limits, landing us on a ridiculously crowded Las Vegas Strip just shy of midnight on a Saturday. Did i mention we were pulling an 8' trailer?

Somehow I navigated us through cut-throat traffic that consisted of extended cab/limo humvees, town cars, cabs out on their money night as well as newbie tourists from all over the globe with their regional driving cultures to somehow slide into a Mobile 6 just off the Strip that happened to have a cancellation for a room with two beds.

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  • Face Book Banters
    Jon Danniells July 14 near Spring Valley, NV

  • The empty light is on, the red arrow is shifting over the capital E and we are stuck in ridiculous traffic because of an accident that shut down the freeway
  • Carlos Barbosa Seems like the empty light is coming on frequently? What is going on there Jon?July 14 at 1:09pm · Like
  • Jon Danniells It's a game we play to make the road trip more interesting. The most "interesting" one yet was on the Bay Bridge. That one got pretty stressful.July 14 at 1:14pm via mobile · Like
  • Carlos Barbosa You guys are nuts!July 14 at 1:15pm · Like
  • Carlos Barbosa Have an awesome trip...July 14 at 1:15pm · Like
  • Jill Carvalho We were leaving Palm Springs and instant four hour delay lots of empty tanks... People walking with gas... You just never know.July 14 at 2:11pm via mobile · Like
  • Beth Carr Cohen ha ha ha ha... always interesting!!July 14 at 5:50pm · Like

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"They can't have a next gas sign after there hasn't been gas for the last 150 miles" Cindy Carr
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Running Out of Gas

There have been many times when the empty light has struck fear in my heart on these long journeys.

Sometimes its due to daydreaming and not paying attention and other times it happens because gas stations are closed or I believe that a decent sized town would have a gas station and for some bizarre reason doesn't.

But I have never run out of gas.

Until the Highway 168, just north of Death Valley.

We fueled up in Las Vegas and somewhere along the 95 I napped while Cindy took the wheel. When I woke up we were in the middle of nowhere (could have been the same place as when I had fallen asleep) and the gas gauge read 1/4 tank.

We didn't pass any gas stations as crossed the California-Nevada state line and turned onto Highway 168 where we were greeted with the No Gas for 58 Miles sign.

It was literally around 100 yards after that when the empty light came on.

I was concerned but knew that in the past I had driven more than 58 miles after the light came on.

I wasn't hauling a trailer which makes a huge difference particularly when going up steep hills which we would run into shortly.

Worse than the hills though was the fork in the road, that didn't have any signs indicating which direction was the aforementioned gas.

We went the way our GPS told us which ended up being the wrong way.

I did my best to not use the brakes and coast downhill even though it was ridiculously windy and narrow.  Again the trailer made things more challenging.

We finally sputtered to a stop going up hill.

Luckily there was some one driving right behind us who were kind enough to give us a lift.  Unfortunately there was only room for two, so I found a comfortable place to lie down under a pine tree while Cindy and Skye went off for help.

A couple of hours later they returned with gas and we were back in action.

We pulled into Mammoth as the sun was setting. Even though we would be camping for the next couple of weeks, we had the foresight to book a hotel for our first night, which turned out to be a wonderful thing.




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Two for Tucson

2/13/2013

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Our Tucson History
,
Cindy and I worked on Tank Girl together way back in 1994. The majority of it shot in Tucson, actually a bit south of Tucson in an old copper mine. We were working mostly on exteriors during a summer where for over 35 days it hit 105F each and every day.

It was a tough show and I saw very little of Tucson. My days would consist of waking up before the sun, driving to said copper mine, working for 13-14 hours and then heading back as the sunset to shower and fall fast asleep. Cindy was able to see a little bit more of the town and ended many a day with the art dept at the Cup, a restaurant in the old town of Tucson.

Many years later, Skye and I drove through Tucson and went to the Biosphere and checked out the Ostrich farm/tourist attraction of Rooster Cogburn. The Biosphere was educational and pretty amazing and couldn't be more PC. The Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Farm was a goofy, crazy roadside attraction guilty pleasure.

Guess which one we returned to?



Gem show

The Mountain
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Rooster Cogburn

We barely made it to our old favorite roadside attraction, pulling in a few minutes before 5pm on a cold Monday.

They were closing in half an hour so we had to be quick about it.



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Photo-Ops A Go Go

The Ostrich are certainly the main event at Rooster Cogburn, however before you get to them you have to go through a gauntlet of feedings of furry friends in some of the strangest and most contrived situations.

You start with feeding little donkeys, and then deer and goats and then some more goast and then...

I'm just gonna throw up a bunch of pictures and let the viewer sort it out, part out of laziness, part out of running out of time, and part out of the whole picture worth a thousand words.

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Ostrich
and Other Birds

It's sometimes amazing that ostrich are actually birds. They look more like dinosaurs.

Feeding them takes a bit of nerves and I got my hand nipped when I tried to hand feed one out of a cup.

After playing with the raptors for a bit, we moved into the Lorakeet house with our little cups of nectar. Cindy was their favorite and got swarmed like she was Tippi from The Birds.





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World of Rocks

We're fortunate to have a good friend who moved to Tucson to hang out with and serve as tour guide.

He took us to the 2013 Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, which is the largest of its kind in the US and the second biggest in the world.

We went to one of the many venues and was wowed with the sheer enormity of the event and blown away with how many rocks, gems and "other" related and not so related things there were.



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An Eggcelent Adventure

The last time we went to the Ostrich farm, they had egg shells, but not any eggs for eating. This time however was a different matter. They did have them.

It was oh so exciting. One big ol' ostrich egg is equal to about 2 dozen chicken eggs.



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watching the sunset from the mountains above Tucson
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Bearfoot in the Mountains

6/10/2012

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Relearning How to Run...... Again

I haven't run regularly in at least 9 months and even then it was sporadic.

I don't consider my self a "runner". I like being able to run for long distances. And when I do run, I like the effect it has on the other physical things I do.

But getting out there day after day and putting in the miles, plodding along, step after step, well it's never been one of my favorite things.

I thoroughly enjoy running on the beach or on mountain trails, but Atlanta didn't have the first and the second would always involve a goodly amount of driving and planning.

Bare Footin'

I had decided to ditch my running shoes after reading Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. It was a little strange at first and you definitely have to start off slow to strengthen all the supporting muscles that have for years been bound up and "protected" by shoes.

I had done that and the last time I had been running at all consistently, I had finally "gotten it" . When I was gliding along with my Vibram Five-Fingers, I could practically see the ground with my feet.

Agony of  deFeet

I thought it would probably be a good idea to get in at least one run at elevation before the day of the 10k.

My lungs were heaving within a minute. You'd think I was a smoker, who'd never run a day in his life. Within a hundred yards of starting up the trail, I slammed my left foot into a rock.

It felt like I had broken my toe. I hobbled onward and finally the pain subsided and my normal gait returned.  Twist went my ankle on the other foot.  I bounced forward and limped as I continued running, now on the other side.  This practice run was looking to deep six my 10k plans.

I focused on running naturally. I started to remember my mid-sole strike. My feet started to feel the trail. And I remembered how much I loved running in nature. I was going to take it easy and do around 30 minutes. I ended up being out for 45 and would have done twice that if I had water and Skye wasn't waiting for me.

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Runners Take Your Mark

It was a brisk 48F when we started the race, sunny and absolutely gorgeous.

There were a lot of serious runners and athletes out there. This was not a "fun" run.

I looked around for the slacker or walkers that usually outnumber the people looking for to win, place in there age group or best a personal record.  Not too many of those types could be found.

As we started the race, we immediately started uphill and my lungs protested like they did before. I pushed on, but people were passing me almost effortlessly. I would find out later that pretty much everyone out there was from Colorado and used to the high altitude.

I was not, so when we ran into a bottle neck as the whole race funneled onto a trail meant for one person, I was more than a little relieved.

The whole race came to a grinding halt.

When we started moving again it was uphill, almost straight up. There were more than a few times when I was practically crawling. It was that steep.

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The End Is Near

After the initial climb, the race spread out. Even so there we many places where only one person could fit on the trail. There was always a little pressure not to slow people down that were behind you.

The views were incredible, and even as winded as I was, I couldn't stop smiling.

So happy to be up in the mountains, running.

The Sound of Running
When I used to wear running shoes, you could hear me coming from a mile away. My feet literally were pounding the pavement, or whatever surface I was on. With the switch to barefoot or minimal shoes, I had to shorten my stride, increase the my foot turnover and land more softly, forcing my legs to take the impact of landing rather than my shoe.

Now my feet would fall softly onto the path, barely making a sound. Meanwhile the runners all around me sounded like a herd of galloping horses.  At one point I was sandwiched between to female runners on a narrow downhill section of the trail. I couldn't believe how much louder their footsteps were than mine.

My breathing was another matter. I was huffy and puffy like I was going to have a heart attack. I felt like Darth Vader and when things really bunched I felt like a creepy stalker breathing heavy into the phone.  I was getting self-conscious because no one else seemed to be gasping for air like I was.

I used to pass so many people on down hills. I would stride out, practically leaping down the trail, my big legs and hips acting like shock absorbers.  You can't do that when you're barefoot. Now rather than reducing the number of footfalls, I am adding to it dramatically. My feet are spinning to try to keep up with my body.

It takes more effort and is lot more tiring but much safer and better for my body. When I feel my ankle turn even the slightest, my weight transfers almost instantly to the other foot. Before I would have crumbled and had a messed up ankle.

I finished in  1:42:55 ,around 42 minutes behind the winner. I was happy to make it under the two hours I had given myself. It was a tough run. The hardest 10k I had ever done. But in the end I felt incredible.

I miss the mountains already.

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Florida Road Trip--Day 10--Miami to Atlanta

12/31/2011

1 Comment

 
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South Beach predawn, my favorite time there
Miami --MYami--MINE
Miami was never a place I had wanted to go.
Work landed me here when I was much younger. I would meet one of my dearest friends on True Lies, while I was working here. We would end up working together off and on for the next 18 years, as of now, I would imagine we will work together again. His sons, who were babes when I first met them, would end up staying in our house in LA.

On this latest venture down to Florida, we came of our own accord, not Hollywood sponsored/funded.
On this trip, I would run along South Beach, like I have done so many times over the years.
I would reunion with one of my dearest friends from high-school, who I have not seen in 25 years.

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I often say I don't like running, and that is true on so many levels, so much of the time.

But some of my best memories in life are from running.

Running has taken places physically, mentally and emotionally, literally and figuratively, places I could not walk or drive to.



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South Beach at its best, for me.

Nothing takes the sting off of a night-long, into the morning club scene fiasco, like a run on the sand before the sun comes out.

That was not the case this time around, but in my youth, on more than one occasion, I would get home from dancing at a nightclub just past 4 or so, change into running attire and take a quick jog before sunrise, shower and be at work by six.
To be young again......or..........
Been there done that, loving the wisdom of my age. And humbly I admit it there is hopefully much to be had on both accounts.


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The sun had officially come up in the picture above.
It would continue to hide and play among the clouds for the next hour or so.

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Who says youth is wasted on the young

oh yeah silly folk, like George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde

I usually agree, but sometimes.....

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I ticketed this hotel through priceline, for a steal, it was a little funky, but so perfectly central.

If I had unlimited resource, of course I would have stayed elsewhere, however ......

It was perfect for us.

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This is where I stayed when filming "2 Fast 2 Furious" literally steps from the beach.

Thank you Hollywood.

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Ignore the people in the picture, I don't know them but besides that what a great time mark.


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Before leaving Miami, we would stop and visit a friend of mine from high school. He was one of a group five friends I had back in that confusing time. I have been fortunate in keeping four of them in my life through the years. Thanks to the internet and facebook I was able to link up with the one pal who did not stay in Cali.

Our families met, and we talked about old times and new.

It was really, really cool.

And then we headed back to Atlanta.

What an amazing trip.

A great way to spend the holidays and end a more tumultuous year than most. And by my standards that means something significant.

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Florida Road Trip--Day 9--Heading Home

12/30/2011

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We didn't take out time on our trip, down.

We were in some of the most amazing places and could barely up for air to enjoy them.

It is so not how we like "vacationing".

Our return home would make the trip down look like leisurely stroll.

We would hit Miami long enough for Skye to get an inkling of what the city's about and for me to briefly see one of my best friends from high school who I haven't seen in 20+ years.

On your mark get set goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Cindy and I have ended up in Miami on so many movies.
Each time we think, it will be our last time there, so we always live it up.
It's a much easier city when Hollywood is footing the bill.

That said, we were not going to deny Skye a "South Beach" experience, which for a 13-year old foodie takes on a somewhat different experience.

What made this experience so memorable was that we ended up at a South Beach mecca that neither Cindy or myself had made it to on our many trips down.


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_Joe's Stone Crab Claws  


For 99 years, no visit to Miami has been complete without stopping in at Joe's Stone Crab. From the beginning, it has always been the love of food, family, and friends that has brought in customers and kept them coming.

Apparently we've had more than a dozen incomplete trips down here.


After our dinner, it would be hard to argue.



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Cindy and I dropped Skye off and headed towards another landmark.

This one being one that both of us had enjoyed in the past, together and on our own.

I don't know if it was a sign of getting older or us being burnt out or that the Delano no longer was "cool" but the place that was beyond hip in past years seemed behind the curve to say the least.

Still beautiful, just not as cool as we remember.

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Florida Road Trip--Day 8--Key West

12/30/2011

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No Rest for the Weary

And with this above quote, I will take the importunity to meander.

While my posts might seem spontaneous, I am constantly researching and fact-checking, even such common place phrases as the one above.

And when I do, sometimes I find interesting things. Like today, a random Google search found, Michaelann Land, an interesting diversion to say the least.

Back to Key West

Like so often, I had packed as if I was on a 6 month sabbatical  as opposed to the mad dash that we were in the midst of.
We had our yoga mats, juggling stuff, hula hoops, swim-goggles, beach towels and on and on. Most important, I had attached our bike rack with our three bikes upon it and we had yet to take them down, much less use them.

In my fantasy vacation, we would take regular bike rides, getting a bit of exercise and getting to know the lay of the land.
I was bound and determined to use the bikes at least once on our trip. As fate would have it, my wheels needed some air and the really good pump that I had lugged with us from L.A. decided to die this morning.  How does a bike pump brake anyway?

There was enough air in the tires to go for a leisure ride so off we headed of to Pepe's for breakfast. It felt like we were  running behind, even while in a laid back town like Key West.

We had a "real" breakfast, meaning not over-the-top extravagant or laced with libations and not costing an arm and a leg.

The vibe and atmosphere was good and old school Key West. 

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The day before on the way to see out ex-pat friends, we came across an organic food shop that claimed to have a farmer's market of sorts on Monday.

It wasn't anything like even the smallest of farmer's markets I'd come across.

The "organic" veggies and stuff were brought in from sources in Miami, which had been outsourced before that.  The only "local" product was sea sponges and sea salt, from Florida Keys Sea Salt.

Being a salt connoisseur, I purchased a few of there salts and listened intently as they described the process of getting the salt to its table-ready state.  I left with Summer Solstice batch, a trace mineral batch and a buttonwood smoked variety.



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We headed across the island to their beaches, which they are not known for.

The water was choppy the beaches not pretty compared to what we'd seen and would be seeing in South Beach and the water not warm enough to be inviting.

It's crazy how quickly one gets spoiled.

A week before I was dying to see any stretch of water, now I was berating Key West's beaches.

We did find a wonderful garden with sculptures and shade and quiet.

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One of the funny ironies to the trip in general is how we generally avoid peak season areas, generally having the luxury of getting there in the off-season.

This time we needed a break and wanted to see the water and sun and were willing to suffer the crowds.

I had been to the Southernmost point in the US before when there was no one there. Today however there was actually a line to take pictures.

That was something we could skip.

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We biked around the island, hitting up such things as the "Little White House"

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We ditched the bikes.

It was getting to be a pain locking them up every five minutes.

Our hotel was really walking distance to just about everything.

We headed back to the Hemingway house, which as I remembered was overly touristy and much about the famed 6-toe Hemingway cat.

Skye took lots of pictures of them, but couldn't find one with 6 toes...

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I found another "local" food item.

I was surprised by how little "water" there was in such a big container.



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And then we were back to Mallory Square to see the sunset.

Skye had yet to be part of that great Key West tradition. And as I posted on fb ....Minutes away from another brilliant sunset at Mallory Square, yes it's touristy, but there are fun street performers and mother nature puts on a pretty good show as well

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going
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going
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gone
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As Skye has gotten more and more into photography it has been great for me.
I am not a "photo" kind of person, and have for better or for worse often relied on my eyes to take in an experience as opposed to trying to capture its essence in a momentary picture.

It also has been wonderful to see another viewpoint, quite literally.

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Being the pirate and outlaw I fancy myself I had every intention on breaking this law most immediately, which I did, along with several hundred other "outlaws" and 'pirates".

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This very overdressed and fancy "pirate" had been cited earlier putting money in a parking meter, a very non-pirate sort of activity.

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Florida Road Trip--Day 6-Christmas Eve

12/29/2011

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A Very Tropical Noel

We all slept in, even me, finally rolling out to brunch just a shade south of 1 p.m.  Cindy found a place with incredible atmosphere, Blue Heaven.

This wasn't immediately evident as we went inside the building, ignoring the sign that clearly stated the entrance was around the corner.

We sat down in an almost empty room with a few guys at a bar watching football, not American football, what we in the States call soccer.


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The hostess very politely informed us that we might want to sit outside, around the corner, like the sign said.

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So much better.

Not only was the weather perfect, the shade dappled and live music in the background, but we were joined by......

chicks, chickens and roosters.

The roosters started up their own version of Dueling Banjos.

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The brunch cocktails left a little to be desired, the food was only a bit above average, but again I must reiterate about the amazing  atmosophere and vibe, and there was also the amazing desert, Key Lime pie with an over-the-top merenque.

Relaxing, No Seriously This Time

One of our favorite home-school families had relocated to Key West, so Skye would get to be with friends at Christmas after all, how crazy is that?

So she went to the movies and Cindy and I went back to just relax at The Banyan.



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 We were able to emerge from our respite in time to make it to Mallory Square and one of those magical Key West sunsets.

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going,
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Gone!
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It was funny how many people were trying to catpure the moment with their cameras and/or phone, myself obviously included.

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There were several really good street performers, working the crowds and trashing their voices, all the while doing some amazing tricks and stunts.

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And then there was this guy.



_We headed off to find some stocking stuffers on Duval Street and its tributaries.  Right about this time was when Cindy informed me that we only had 2 stockings. And just like that, I was on the hunt to find a Christmas stocking, which I thought would be easy, but was anything but.

Actually I saw a stocking in the first store I walked into, but it was a bland, just regular sort of stocking so I kept going looking for something special.

But the clock was ticking and Skye was being dropped off along and we were meeting one of my favorite park-day compadres for dinner, so I retraced my steps trying to find that first store, which convieniantly and ironically enough was right across from our dinner rendevous.

Again might be better to refer to one of my fb comments,
Jon Danniells Also the family agreed not to get each other presents and now we're off to go shopping among a bunch of drunk tourists on one of the tackiest streets in the lower 48 because of course we're not going to not give each other presents

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This photo-op was just a tip of the iceberg as to the non-traditional Christmas sightings of the night.

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Our Christmas gifts would end up being determined by what was open.

I did find a more unique stocking, one with Sloppy Joe's Key West embroidered on it.

A lot of Key Lime tasties, pirate themes and Hemingway/Papa sort of stuff would find their way into our stockings and under our "tree".



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Florida Road Trip-- Day 5 Pt 2- Key West

12/29/2011

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_Relaxing in Key West......Sort of

We pulled into Key West after dark and easily found our hotel.  It may have been over a decade since we'd been there, and while much had changed, even more remained the same, especially the geography. 

Everything revolves around Duval Street and US 1 (Truman Ave).

We were on a street that ran parallel to Duval and a block and a half from where US 1 starts, Mile Marker 0.

18 years earlier, I had been in the Keys working on True Lies for around two months. Cindy was there for around a month. I had driven up and down US 1 dozens upon dozens of times, at every time of day. I still keep in touch with several dear friends I met on that movie.



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As we were busily unloading the car, the Banyan Tree started peppering us with what exactly I did not know. 

Because it was evening and the first lobe landed with a squishy splat sound, I assumed we were under attack by some sort of  giant tropical bird roosting above.

Crazed and not wanting to suffer a humiliating blow, I barked at Cindy and Skye commands as to how to best unload the car, "safely"

And thus began our "relaxing" stay in Key West.

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beautiful and impressive by day, by night host to terror and attack from above
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A Facebook Post is Worth a Thousand Words


It may me easier and more accurate to reprint and interpret my fb posts from that evening, than try to recollect and reconstruct the night from my memory alone, several days removed.

Jon Danniells
In Key West, unwinding after 4 full days of road trip adventures
Like · · December 23 at 7:40pm via mobile

After surviving the banyan onslaught and securing parking, we grabbed Skye and strolled down Duval Street. It was still early, although the craziness that is Duval Street was already in full swing.

We showed Skye a few landmarks before returning her to the hotel room, so that Cindy and I could reminisce,

    • Jon Danniells Having a martini at the hotel we stayed at for several weeks while shooting True Lies, around 18 years agoLike · · December 23 at 9:25pm via mobile
        • Jon Danniells Actually, exactly 18 years ago, we flew home on Dec. 23
        • December 23 at 9:41pm · Like
        The hotel was a Holiday Inn when we stayed there, but the bar was pretty much the same. It was a trip to be there with Cindy, so many years later.













Jon Danniells was at Sloppy Joe's Bar Key West
.Like · · Tag Friends · December 23 at 10:50pm via mobile

We were at the less touristy, authentic Sloppy Joe's, the one where Ernest Hemingway actually did go to almost religiously.

Even though we'd been up early and several days into a pretty exhausting vacation, the memories and excitement of Key West buoyed  us on for a few more hours, but like in Vegas, "what happens in Key West, stays in Key West".

So I'll leave it with that tease, your imaginations will doubtless be much more colorful than what I might add.

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Florida Road Trip-Day 3--P.M.

12/26/2011

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Welcome to the Everglades

After doing the "scenic" route the day before with mixed results we decided to simply blast through the short 3 hour leg from Siesta Key to the Everglades so that we might actually be able to see something before the sunset.

We had lunch at a place that seemed to specialize in seafood. It was a super touristy joint where pretty much everything got fried.

We ordered frog legs. I couldn't resist. They were unlike any frog legs I'd ever seen.

Cindy couldn't eat them because she thought they looked like little human legs.

I set a really bad example by not only playing with my food, but making some horrific Dr. Moreau inspired creature of soft-shelled crab and the aforementioned frog legs. I called it Crabenfrog.

After finishing our grease-laden "meal" we were off to check in to our historic lodge.

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_The Ivey House

Making reservations at the last minute for popular vacation spots at peak season, while spontaneous and exhilarating can prove to be quite challenging.

Besides simply finding vacancies, the next task is finding one's with no minimum stay. Which is how we ended up in the Ivey House, specifically the "historic" lodge.

"The Ivey House Lodge is a remodeled boarding house built circa 1928, which was originally operated by Mr. & Mrs. Ivey to house the workers constructing the Tamiami Trail."

But I'm jumping ahead of myself.

As we were checking in, we inquired about the kayak tour, something Skye had already told me she definitely would not do. Who could blame her for not wanting to paddle around next to alligators that could make a meal of you with a flick of their nose or swipe of their tail.

If we hurried there was still one tour we could make, the "Sunset" paddle with Everglades Eco-adventures, where you end up kayaking through mangrove, alligator infested waters at night.

Skye was not so pleased. As a compromise, we got a tandem kayak which worked out great, because she was able to concentrate on her photography.



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Paddle Into the Twilight (Evenings)
We piled into a van with the kayaks in tow and were off. We had a wonderful guide who proceeded to go through the do's and don'ts, what to expect, etc. etc.

By the time we were getting ready to "put in",  we realized, intellectually at least that the gators were the least of our concerns.  Flying fish, hordes of spiders, fire ants and .....



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_Before we even stepped into our crafts, we spotted an alligator.
But like I said we had other worries.

The Everglades are not so quiet. For instance there was the loud splash sounds of the "flying" fish; the mullets that would jump out of the water. These were big fish that apparently could hit you in the head or land in you boat and basically wreak all sorts of havoc.

And they were hopping aplenty.

We would go through several of these tunnels through the mangrove stands.

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There was definitely a learning curve, and the extra big tandem, well had an extra-big learning curve.


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having a guide was more than essential
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Not for the Arachnophobe

There is no way to show the numbers of spiders we encountered. Literally hundreds, no more like thousands. I would end up wearing a web wig, getting bitten a couple of times and trying, with no avail to avoid the hordes.

This is the best shot we could get. Those little specks are all spiders and this is a very spread out grouping, imagine those dots times ten and you would have a more accurate idea of the what was waiting for us in the tunnels.

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Well worth the paddle.

The trip was less than half-way over and it had already qualified as amazing several times over.  .

Skye had gotten over her nervousness withing minutes of being on the water and was sort of wishing she was in her own kayak. 

But again, being in the tandem allowed her to focus on her photography and boy were there a lot of photo-ops.

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The Everglades at Night

Cindy heads into the tunnel on the way back.

After this one we would be completely dependent on the lights from our head-lamps. It was a new moon, so even darker than usual.

One major drawback to the headlamps, bugs are attracted to the light.

And there were a lot of bugs.  At one point it looked like fog was coming off the surface of the water.

We did turn off the lights at one point and the stars, absolutely incredible. And the sounds of the Everglade, magically.

The lights didn't stay off long. We had to keep our eyes out for gators, or rather gators eyes, which we did find. They glowed a fiery orange. The looked like dragons. It was a little unsettling. But again bigger concerns as one mullet jumped over the front of our kayak and moments later another one hit the back of our craft, hard.

And don't forget the swarms of bugs, that were making breathing difficult. I choked on more than a few as we quickened our pace home.

An unforgettable experience.



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All of that paddling and excitement stoked our appetite.

The Camellia Street Grill hit the spot; surprisingly fresh and good food and wonderful mojitos.

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Funky and fun, kind of like the place we were staying in.

Actually the Ivey House was wonderful. We just were so tired from the trip and the room was definitely small and we've gotten spoiled with always having our own bathroom. It's almost a given you'll have your own bathroom these days when you travel, but it's really a recent indulgence.

I kind of was into it, as a novelty. Luckily before that novelty could wear off we were back on the road.

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    Jon Danniells is an adventurer and traveler, a teacher and student, a husband and a father, a cook and a farmer, a "week-end warrior" (very amateur athlete) and has not earned any money on these labors of love.When I googled myself what showed up first was my IMDB listing, which is basically a resume for my 20 and then some year career in film, for which  I fortunately do get paid.

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