"Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her; but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.---Voltaire (quote from Les Liaisons Dangereuses playbill)

We just arrived in Key West two days ago. We drove 135 miles south of Miami, and along the very picturesque Key West Highway. We'll be here for 12 days and loving the warm weather and warm water!! Our next blog will talk about the very beautiful chain of islands rich in history and folklore

For the prior two weeks, we rejoined civilization. Miami Heat & Miami Vice pretty much sums up life around here. It was actually a bit of a shock to our constitutions. We have spent so much of the past several months in many State & Nat'l Parks in 12 states now and savoring all of their natural beauty. And now, we'll in the "thick" of Miami, South Beach, and West Palm Beach and all of their Natural Beauties (well, splash in a little Botox here and various "Nips 'n Tucks" there...).

Laura's brother and sister-in-law from Philadelphia, David and Lisa, came down to visit and we spent a few days with them in the Miami and South Beach areas. It was really great spending time with them. Including relaxing on the beautiful beaches and eating some great meals, especially Cuban. We all even attended a great and engaging Nutrition Lecture > most informative, but I won't bore everyone with the details. Well..., except eat your vegies and whole fruits, organic and non GMO's whenever possible. (That's it, for now...)

Just outside of Miami we stayed at the "Larry and Penny Thompson County RV Park" It was the closest RV Park to Miami and had space for us. At the time, all the snowbirds were down and it was crazy busy. In mid-March they start leaving and it gets lots easier getting around and finding available RV Parks. Several miles of trails, great for walking and running, even a nice lake.

After leaving Miami we headed 80 miles north to Manalapan, a few miles south of Palm Beach. For 10 days, we stayed at the beautiful home of Laura's cousin and husband, Marsha and Henry Laurfer. Even our RV enjoyed beautiful ocean views!! Their front yard leads directly out to the Atlantic Ocean and their backyard is alongside Intercoastal Waterway (a 3,000 mile inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, extending from Brownsville, Tx to New Jersey and with navigable canals and bays actually extends all the way up to Boston. Years ago, I sailed several segments and it's really beautiful and lots to see and do.

Marsha and Henry were incredibly wonderful hosts.

We don got rselves sum of that ther cull-ture, actually alot of culture in a short time. Including: the debut of a new opera, "Enemies, A Love Story" (Say it ain't so... It ain't -- they were NOT, I repeat WERE NOT singing about Laura's and my life aboard our Motorhome for 8 months now and still counting); "LANG LANG, PIANO" (a 30-something Master Pianist, "hottest artist on the classical music planet" NY Times and "world's ambassador of the keyboard, New Yorker > you gotta see this young man play --beyond amazing; "Michael Feinstein's American Songbook," America's most passionate music preservationist exploring the enduring popularity of Broadway show tunes, it was a fantastic and fun performance; "Ramsey Lewis" Jazz Quintet along with singer Philip Bailey (tenor, falsetto voice) from "Earth, Wind & Fire;" and finally on our last night we saw "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" adapted from Pierre Choderlos de Laclos' 1782 novel > one of the most scandalous and controversial novels in European Literature. Suffice it to say, it had no problem holding our attention, I could say lots more about this play but 'I dare not' for if any children are reading ...

While we're enjoy "fun in the sun," we are also thinking of our son Mitch up in Boston. In just the past 7 weeks they've been blanketed with over 100" (8 feet plus) of snow!! Can't imagine how a So. Calif. kid survives, and even goes for walks...

That's it for now our friends. Another chapter in "Life on the Road with the Gallerstein's..."

Gary and Laura