Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.......

8:06 am - Tuesday - January 1st - Cedar Key, FL - 66º F, 82% humidity, wind 2 mph out of the east by southeast.....sunny today with a forecast high of 70º F.

It hardly seems as if another year has some and gone, but I look at our calendar and it absolutely declares it is New Years Eve, 2018.  A year ago I was recovering from my stroke (December 28th), and grateful to have no lasting after effects except that now I am on blood pressure medication.  My doctor said "Clarke, you just won the lottery!"....I could have had paralysis, or been dead, but just got a warning instead, and got to go on about my life.  In March of 2018 we finished our gig at the Grand Canyon, and headed home to SoCal for about a month to spend time with kids, and their kids before we headed to Maine for the summer.  We took a month to make the 3,000+ mile drive to Southwest Harbor adding many wonderful memories along the way.  We worked for about 3 months at Smuggler's Den, and then spent the next 5 weeks hiking and enjoying Acadia National Park.  Then we took another 5 weeks to travel to Campbellsville, KY to work at Amazon.  During that interval we spent time in New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York City, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Connecticut before landing at Amazon for 8 weeks.  In the process we ticked off 6 more states we had not previously visited and can now claim to have visited the lower 48 states in our Newell.....only Alaska remains.

After Amazon we flew home to visit our children once again, and then made our way to Cedar Key, FL for New Years.....we last spent New Years day here in January of 2013, and now it is January of 2019.  In just 31 days we will celebrate the end of our 7th nomadic year, and the beginning of our 8th year on the road.  It sincerely does not feel as if it has been 7 years since we began our journey.  I think it can now be said we have officially earned our nomadic credentials after 7 years.

To begin our 3rd day in Cedar Key we headed out for the obligatory 1.5 mile walk into town to have some coffee and pastry at the 1842 Daily Grind, and then walk around downtown Cedar Key, and here are some of the sights we saw along the way.......

 Yes, it does feel like home

 The 1.5 mile walk into Cedar Key 

 A random manger scene

 The old, now defunct, Kona Joe's

Google photos stitched together this cool little slide show 

of our day in Cedar Key

 Al fresco dining at 1842 Daily Grind

Looking down Dock Street

Our beloved Blue Desert Cafe.....now just a memory

....we stopped off at a local gift shop on Dock Street, and found this little sign that perfectly sums up Cedar Key for us......

This little sign really says all there is to say about Cedar Key

.....there truly is NO wasted time here in Cedar Key....there is just 'being'.......

By the time we returned home we had covered some 4.5 miles walking, and it was getting warm.....well, warm for us.....72º F (also a tad humid), so we turned on the A/C and settled in to 'wasting' a little time relaxing.  We had talked about walking over to the Tiki Bar for sunset, but decided to just view it from the waterfront here at Sunset Isle.......the sunsets here are just breathtaking....

....we had also planned to return to the Cedar Key downtown area (2nd Street) to watch the 3rd annual 9 pm 'ball drop' at Bonish Studio, but we opted to spend a quiet evening together seeing in the New Year....with a few naps thrown in along the way we both managed to be awake at 12:01 am, and officially wished each other 'Happy New Year', then headed off to dreamland one more time......yup, there is no wasted time in Cedar Key!

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which helps defray our travel expenses to a small degree.

Cedar Key vibe.......

7:51 am - Monday - December 31st - Cedar Key, FL - 66º F, 88% humidity, wind 5 mph out of the east by southeast......partly cloudy, but that means mostly sunny today!  Forecast high is 70º F.

We slept in Sunday, and deservedly so.  After 3 hard days of driving, and then a very full schedule our first day in Cedar Key we were exhausted.....I guess we're not 19 anymore.  We lazed around until well after 11 am when we finally got our act together to make the 1.5 mile walk into downtown Cedar Key for some coffee and pastry at the 1842 Daily Grind & Mercantile.  The walk into town revealed how much had changed in 6 years.  Our favorite coffee place then was Kona Joe's (sold 4-5 years ago, but the new owners never really got it going again), as well as our favorite dinner place, Blue Desert Cafe (owner retired after 21 years), were no longer in business, and another favorite breakfast place, Pat's, was also out of business.  The 1842 Daily Grind has come along in that intervening time, and has filled in the coffee/breakfast place hole.  On the other hand most of our other hangouts are still there.....Big Deck Raw Bar, Tony's Seafood, and Steamers.  Cedar Key looks a little the worse for wear after two direct hits by hurricanes, and another near miss this past fall.  Nonetheless, the spirit of Cedar Key still survives, and it is still a magical place that is near and dear to our hearts.

 An interesting combo....

It was still heavily overcast, and quite foggy at times as we walked slowly along the sidewalk into town.  As we passed by the Marathon gas station we noted the wonderful farmers market was no longer there, either....

 There used to be a farmer's market there in the left corner of the Marathon parking lot

......within 30 minutes we had arrived at the 1842 Daily Grind (where we enjoyed our gourmet meal the night before).  This is a very funky place, and we have already fallen in love with it, as well as the owners, Martin and Terry......

.....TLE ordered a cup of their 'Red Eye' coffee (one expresso shot) and a folded egg and cheese croissant sandwich, and I a large 'Red Eye' accompanied by a bagel with cream cheese.  We found our friends Krash and Karen had been there since 10:30 am.  We lingered and talked for about 40 minutes before continuing our walk down 2nd Street....

 Bonish Studio......owned by Pat Bonish who used to own Low Key Hideaway/Tiki Bar.  

......a couple of doors down from the 1842 is the home of Bonish Studio/Bar.  Pat has been a professional photographer for many years, but had little time for his passion while he and his wife Cindy owned and operated Low Key Hideway Motel and RV Resort (a couple of 'doors' down from Sunset Isle).  It is composed of a 5, or 6 unit motel, about 10 RV sites, and a wonderful Tiki Bar where we enjoyed dozens of wonderful sunsets, and made many friends.  It took all of their time, so they sold it about 3 years ago (it is still flourishing under the new owners) and bought a building in town to open a new business, which is really kind of three businesses in one......a very cool bar, a thrift shop section, and a studio to display Pat's photography.  In the past few weeks they have moved the 'Thrift/Gift Store' down the street a few more doors to a new location where it has room to expand

A very eclectic place

....after stopping in to talk to Pat at the 'studio', we walked down to say 'HI' to Cindy before making the 1.5 mile walk home.  We spent the afternoon relaxing, but around 5 pm we made our walk over to Low Key Hideaway/Tiki bar to watch the sunset, and have a couple of drinks....

 Out on the dock sipping a couple of vanilla porters....

 The famous Low Key Hideaway Tiki Bar

.....and there it is, the famous Cedar Key sunset....when we were here 6 years ago we spent 5 weeks and never saw a bad sunset......even with very few clouds you still get that amazingly long, beautiful sunset every night.....

.....so our first full day in Cedar Key is now in the books.  We are beginning to settle into the Cedar Key vibe once again.....life is good!

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which helps defray our travel expenses to a small degree.