October 16, 2013
Low Key Hideaway, Cedar Key, Florida
This week’s stop was probably the most interesting place we
stayed this year. Similar to the Red Coconut last week, I found it via Internet
searches. Essentially, I was looking for a place to “drop anchor” for a week
somewhere between Fort Myers and Destin/Fort Walton Beach in the Florida
Panhandle.
Looking at the map, I noticed a little peninsula with a town
called Cedar Key that seemed right where we needed to be. In researching RV
Parks, I found that a lot of people mentioned heading for the local Tiki Bar
for sunsets. A little more looking and I found that the Tiki was at a place
called the “Low Key Hideaway Motel, RV & Tiki”. Wait a minute. “RV”? Let’s
check this out.
A little more poking around and a quick phone call, and we
were booked into one of the 4 RV spots that sit adjacent to the 5-room motel.
Yes, this is a small place in a small town. We ended up being glad we found it!
Our travel day was easy and uneventful. Because of our
mastery of night-before preparations, we pulled the coach out of our tight
little spot around 8:45 and were on the road before 9:00 AM. Our route retraced
our steps back to I-75 where we headed north. This marked the beginning of our
trek back to our winter place in Arizona.
After a fuel break at the smallest truck stop we’ve ever
seen and a rest stop for the pups, and us, we stayed on I-75 through the Tampa
area. Near Ocala, we broke off onto US-27/US-27A, and then turned left on
FL-24, which took us right to Cedar Key. We were soon parked and ready to begin
our low key adventure.
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| This is the view out the windshield |
Although Cedar Key is located on the Gulf, the Low Key
Hideaway is actually on a back bay or bayou facing west. The RV spots are
positioned so you can get the best view out the windshield.
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| Maya says "I like it here"! |
Once again, our week consisted of, well, not much. Funny how
it went by so quickly, though! The owners of the place, Pat and Cindy, were
full-time RVers for several years before buying the motel and “settling down”.
It’s “eclectic” to the max, with much of the activity centering on evenings at
the Tiki and sunsets. During the day, we were able to watch a pair of osprey
build a nest on a platform out in the water.
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| "Hey! We've seen that sign at The Rez Bar & Grill, too!" |
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| Sounds like a plan to me! |
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| It only took a couple of days for a pair of osprey to start nesting on this platform. |
During the week, we made a couple of trips into town,
sampling local (OK, “Florida”) beer and getting Geri a seafood fix. It wasn’t
far, or crowded. The local “entertainment district” is essentially built on an
old pier, right on the water.
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| Decent, but not awesome... |
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| Ditto... |
Sunsets were the highlight of the evenings. We only had one
night where there weren’t enough clouds to make for nice color. We took
advantage of the deck right outside the coach, and spent part of most evenings
over at the Tiki.
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| Doesn't get much better... |
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| ...unless it's this! |
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| Mmmm! |
It’s an obvious place for motel/RV guests to go, but also a
hangout for quite a few locals. One of the “regulars” works at the local marina
and has access to fresh seafood (a lot of commerce is done via the barter
system locally), and when he heard how much Geri likes clams, he brought a bag
of (over) 100 for steaming on the grill. Another night, he brought Spanish Mackerel
(even I enjoyed that!) and Red Snapper for the bar to share. Awesome!
We’ll end with a couple of sunset views, taken from roughly
the same place but with different tides…
As always, please feel free to click on any picture to
enlarge it.
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