Estes Park in October

Estes Park (Colorado) is one of my favorite places and it's especially beautiful in October. This post provides a brief summary and some photographs from our day trip to Estes Park in October 2020 (October 9).

The blog post "6 Reasons Why Fall is the Best Time to Visit Estes Park" lists the first reason as "It's Easy to See Wildlife." The article states, "Chances are high that you’ll see deer, elk, or even moose just about any time you visit Estes Park, but during the fall seasons, it’s practically a guarantee." This has been true in our experience; we see wildlife anytime we visit Estes Park, but it's particularly easy to see wildlife in the fall.

The photographs above and below this sentence were taken in Estes Park near its Visitors Center.

Elk and other wildlife reguarly walk through the downtown and the cause of the one type of traffic jam that most people don't seem to mind.

Fall in Estes Park is fabulous, but October is especially beautiful with the changing leaves' colors.

"Fall Colors are Everywhere" is the #3 reason listed in the previously mentioned blog post to visit Estes Park in the fall.

The combination of easy wildlife viewing and falls colors is a spectacular combination.

Arguably Estes Park's most recognized landmarks is the historic Stanley Hotel.

We typically go into the highly popular Rocky Mountain National Park whenever we visit Estes Park, but did not this time because there was (at that time) a requirement to register in advance for a 2-hour window of time in which to enter the park. Because it was just a day trip and because one didn't need to leave the town of Estes Park to see fantastic views, we spent our day in town. The downtown area was busier than I expected in October during COVID-19, but there were parking spots easily found, which means it wasn't as busy as some summer days can get. We ordered some take-out appetizers from local restaurant Penelope's Old Time Burgers.

Although anytime is a good time to visit Estes Park, October is an especially good time to visit this great town.

Avoiding Browser Notifications

Recently, it seems that many of the web sites that I go to want to push notifications to me. My browser is set up to ask me if I want to allow or block these notifications, but there have been times when I've selected "Allow" but later want to stop those notifications. This can occur when I'm in the middle of typing during a notification and something I type is interpreted as selecting "Allow" on the notification. It can also occur when I initially opt to allow notifcations from a particular site, but then change my mind later (typically because the site is far too pushy in the frequency of notifications).

The article "How to stop those annoying website notification prompts" describes how to disable / turn-off / block notifications from various web sites in popular web browsers Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. The PCWorld article "How to turn off web notifications in Chrome, Edge, and Firefox" describes blocking these website notifications from popular browsers Chrome, Firefox, and Edge and, at the time of this writing, demonstrates an example of a site that asks if I'm interested in notifications from their site.

Additional References

• How to stop those annoying website notification prompts
• How to turn off web notifications in Chrome, Edge, and Firefox
• Chrome: Turn notifications on or off
• Web Push notifications in Firefox
• Turn ON-OFF Microsoft Edge pop-up notifications
• Customize website notifications in Safari on Mac

Turtle Hospital (Marathon)

We had an afternoon flight out of Miami International Airport and so had time to squeeze in some final activities in the Florida Keys before heading to the airport. We reserved a morning appointment to visit the Turtle Hospital in Marathon.

The tour starts in the Turtle Hospital's Education Center and Gift Shop.

The "guided educational tour" of the Turtle Hospital begins with an overview of the work done there and why it's important. The tour guide uses slides and artifacts to demonstrate conditions that can lead turtles to the Turtle Hospital. It was particularly interesting to learn about their turtle rescue efforts. After the introductory overview, the tour moves onto see the patients. It was interesting to see the surgical center in action while on our way to see the other patients.

There are multiple pools for different turtles in different conditions.

One of the highlights if feeding a large number of turtles in a large pool.

It was also interesting to see turtles of different species and different sizes.

The Turtle Hospital is a facility that used to be a hotel. Obvious advantages of this include having rooms for visiting scientists and others interested in turtle research to use when working at the Turtle Hospital.

The Turtle Hospital also enjoys a beautiful setting right on the water.

The Turtle Hospital provided a nice final "major" activity in the Florida Keys. It was a nice mix of education with learning about a nice cause and spending time with interesting animals.

We also made a quick stop at the Rain Barrel Village as we headed back to Miami.

Sailing in Key West on the Blue Ice

We drove from our rented house in Islamorada to Key West on the Friday of our week in the Florida Keys to sail and snorkel on the chartered Blue Ice sailing yacht.

When we reached Key West, we drove to and parked in the Key West Bight Parking Lot to access the Blue Ice in Land's End Marina at the Key West Historic Seaport. The parking is pricey for a smaller city, but convenient for access to the Key West Historic Seaport.

The Blue Ice holds up to six passengers in addition to the captain and crew member, so our party of six had the sailing yacht to ourselves for this half-day excursion.

It had mostly been a windy week in the Florida Keys and this day was not an exception.

After sailing out a mile or two, it became apparent that the waves were only getting worse and that snorkeling at the reef would be difficult and likely not very rewarding. We discussed the situation with Captain Ron and decided to return closer to land to a snorkeling area he described that would have significantly calmer conditions.

We stopped near Wisteria Island and Sunset Key to snorkel in an area that included a small artificial reef created by a sunken boat in the relatively shallow water.

The sunken boat made for more interesting snorkeling than I expected for this area.

The boat was interesting and there were several different species of fish swimming and hiding amidst its ruins.

After we finished snorkeling and while sailing back to the marina, we were provided with a nice tray of cheese, crackers, and fruit that was especially tasty after having expended energy snorkeling for a couple hours.

Anne's Beach (Islamorada)

We rented a house in Islamorada for our week in the Florida Keys, so we had researched and indentified some things to do in and around Islamorada. One of the things we decided to check out when we had a little bit of downtime was Anne's Beach, which was just a couple miles south of us and right off of the Overseas Highway.

We visited Anne's Beach after a break at our rental house to ride out the fairly brief storm that had prematurely ended our jet skiing in the bay and mangroves near Robbie's of Islamorada.

Because of the ominous weather, it was not surprising that we had the small Anne's Beach to ourselves.

It was easy to see why this would be a popular beach for families with small children or for people with pets. Even with the windy weather, the water in the protected bay was relatively calm.

We were surprised how far an adult could walk out into the water from the beach and still have the water level below the adult's waist.

Here are some of the other quotes we read about Anne's Beach before our first visit there:

• Annes Beach, A Slice of Paradise: "The view from these picnic shelters is worth the trip alone."
• Islamorda Times: Anne's Beach: "Welcome to one of Islamorada's best attractions for the avid beachgoer. While the Florida Keys in general do not offer a large variety of sandy beaches, this little stretch located at Mile Marker 73.4 Oceanside offers a beautiful place to relax and enjoy the day sunbathing and wading in the warm tropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Anne's Beach 3Always voted as one of the best beaches in the Florida Keys, Anne’s Beach offers many amenities that can enhance a full day of pure enjoyment."
• Anne's Beach in Islamorada: Worth a stop on drive through Keys: "One of my favorite stops on the drive down the Florida Keys - Anne's Beach in Islamorada — re-opened in 2019 after it was devastated by Hurricane Irma two years ago."
• Anne's Beach in Islamorada Florida Keys: "This Keys Beach is located on the Atlantic Ocean, but there is almost no wave action, due to the wide expanse of shallow water typical for Florida Keys beaches. Visitors can enjoy the clear and warm waters year round."
• Annes Beach In Islamorada Florida Keys Is A Lovely Place To Spend A Few Hours: "Annes Beach is probably the most popular of all the beaches in the area of Islamorada, although it is still pretty low key compared to some of the other beaches you might find in the Florida Keys. ... But if you have visited these other more glamorous examples of sandy loveliness beforehand, then don't be put off by this little beach."
• Reviews of Anne's Beach

Anne's Beach is small, but it does have sand and the two small parking lots are connected to the beach via a wide recently-build boardwalk. The covered picnic tables and available restrooms are additional amenities available at Anne's Beach.

All photographs of Anne's Beach shown in this post were taken on a date in late July 2020 (well after its August 2019 reopening after Hurricane Irma's destruction) with storms moving in and out of the area.

Jet Skiing from Robbie's of Islamorada

We had not pre-planned any activities, charters, or excursions for the Thursday of our week in the Florida Keys to allow for other things to potentially be rescheduled to that day if necessary. However, Thursday morning's forecasted and realized windy conditions were enough to preclude rescheduling any snorkeling activities to that day. Because we were staying at a house we rented in Islamorada, we arranged to return to Robbie's of Islamorada to go jet skiing.

We had seen advertisements for jet skis at Robbie's of Islamorada on prior visits (such as when we kayaked through the mangroves).

We probably should have purchased the jet ski package first because it (at least at the time) included a free half-day of kayak or paddleboard rentals (we had previously paid for the kayaking), but we didn't know what our schedule was going to allow.

Our group of six used three jet skis (two riders on each ski) and we followed the guide out into the bay to begin the two hour jet ski adventure.

We slowed down when we got near and went through the mangroves.

We went much faster when we were out in the open bay.

There is supposed to be 30 minutes of snorkeling as part of the two-hour jet ski adventure, but the guide saw the bad weather coming in fast, so we skipped the snorkeling and arrived back at Robbie's marina just before the storm hit us.

We enjoyed visiting Robbie's of Islamorada again and visiting the marina and jet skiing.