Monthly Archives: February 2015

Florida, Travelog

Long Key, short stay

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Long Key State Park is unique in that all sites are beachfront

It’s just one long strip of oceanfront property with a road on one side and campsites on the other. We pulled into site 29 for our 1-night stay, while also eying neighboring site 30 where we’ll stay for 3 days later this week.

The drive over to Long Key from Key Largo took about an hour. It was hot, both outside and inside the van and Rubi did her best to stay cool in her resting place below the dinette.

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We decided to stop into the Dollar General in Islamorada hopes of finding some cheap snorkel gear. We also learned it’s pronounced “eye-la-more-a-da”, just like all the other basterdized Spanish around here.

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Instead, we found a busy store. Liz popped over to the Winn Dixie and found a madhouse. With so few stores on the islands, all of them are overpriced and overused. Luckily, there was a CVS in the center as well and we scored a couple sets of masks and snorkels to aid in our ocean adventures.

The Overseas Highway, also known as Highway 1 and A1A, runs straight through each and every key in the chain of keys heading to Key West.

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Since each key is at the most 1 mile wide, and often much narrower, directions to any location are given with the mile marker and the side of the highway, such as mile 73 oceanside or mile 54 bayside.

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Mile 0 is Key West. Along the highway, we saw miles and miles of turquoise waters, some sand dunes, a few different fishing bridges, which parallel the highway, and various water sports including a set of kiteboarders.

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We have yet to see surfers out here, but kiteboarding seems quite popular and very fun.

There are also some ridiculous roadside attraction stores, including this one with a giant shrimp in the parking lot.

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Liz did a great job driving, while occasionally getting a chance to take in the view herself when traffic backed up.

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We arrived at Long Key at 2pm.

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While windy, the view was gorgeous.

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We watched the pelicans hover just above the water, searching for their catch of the day. We walked to the day use area and admired the kite surfers, vowing to take lessons a couple time while we’re here. And we hiked the 1-mile nature trail, which starts hugging the water, then moves inland to a heavily-shaded stretch of forest, and finally bends to an exposed desert-like area. All 3 of us thoroughly enjoyed it, though Rubi probably had the best time of all.

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We then enjoyed a modest dinner with some pineapple-rum drinks before settling in to listen to the Super Bowl on the radio. The moon shone peacefully over the water and our van.

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Neither Liz nor I follow football much, but we still had some Seattle Seahawks pride strong from last year’s win. What an exciting, and ultimately disappointing, game!

This next morning, we caught the end of the sunrise over the water.

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We went for another walk and then Rubi and I attempted to stay cool in the van while I blogged and Liz went for an exhilarating rollerblading run.

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The high is supposed 80 today, so we’ll finally get to use our air conditioner. We’re headed out for now, but are grateful we’ll be back very, very soon.

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Florida, Travelog, Well-educated idiots

We are in the Florida Keys!

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I’m officially giving up even attempting to complete daily blog entries. The scenery is just too beautiful and the pressure of daily writing just doesn’t seem to fit with the lifestyle down here. At the same time, I do want to get more of these posts—and pics—up more frequently. And so it goes. Now these will officially be “travelog” posts.

What to say about the turquoise water, salty air, and constant display of marine birdlife? The palms bearing coconuts nestled next to Florida grape trees sitting atop sandy soil? The sea breeze, at times refreshing and at times violent? The yachts, sailboats, and cruise ships floating on the distant horizon? It’s all just lovely and truly does change how you feel about nature and makes you attempt even harder to be in tune with it.

On Saturday, we embarked for the Keys.

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The drive to Key Largo was easy and gorgeous. We traveled over the first bit of water on the Overseas Highway.

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Liz loved that they painted the barrier separating the lanes the same greenish blue of the water.

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As soon as we touched down in Key Largo, the vibe was different.

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Every business on the side of the road was geared around water. From the boat sales to the dry moorage to the marine repair shops, we were definitely in a land where water rules.

John Pennekamp State Park was full of life. They have a kayak and canoe rental shop, offer glass-bottom boat tours, and also provide temporary moorage. We passed 2 huge catamaran sailboats, one in the water and one on land. Rubi enjoyed the mile-long nature trail and walking up and down the beach areas. No dogs allowed on the beaches, but the parking lots came close to the water and provided lots of dog-friendly places to sniff.

Liz and I are grateful for our good fortune (and persistence) in getting a campsite in the Keys. There are 4 state parks and they rent out sites for half the price—if not more than half—of what the commercial parks charge. They book up 11 months to the day. Since we were painfully naïve about the snowbird culture and how competitive it all was, we still didn’t have a reservation when we left PA at the beginning of January, despite the plan always including a couple weeks in the Keys. Thank goodness the state of Florida uses the Reserveamerica website and provides the ability to both book and cancel online. I can only imagine how annoying the job was for the poor ranger who used to have to answer the phone, informing everyone who called multiple times a day that there were no cancelations and that the campground was full.

So far, we’ve cobbled together a 10-day stay from 1/31 through 2/8, visiting all 4 parks. We even got 3 days in a row at 2 different parks! John Pennekamp was only for 1 night, but we attempted to make full use of the facilities. After a shower, we attended the Birds of Prey presentation and learned all about the various raptors in the Keys.

We have often felt blessed by being guided by hawks at various times during this trip and on other long-distance drives. We now find out that all those birds were probably just vultures, which are huge and actually look quite pretty when they fly.

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Being in nature, learning from the excellent educational placards in the various parks, listening to rangers, and talking to our fellow campers has shown us how little Liz and I actually know. At times like these, I now affectionately call us “well-educated idiots.”

On Sunday morning, we woke up in time for a quick kayak tour of the waterways surrounded by mangroves.

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We mostly saw trees and a few fish, but it was a peaceful paddle nonetheless.

We have yet to see an alligator or crocodile (which, for that matter, are only present in the US in this part of Florida), though Rubi did wake up at 3am quite disturbed by something near the swampy area behind our site. We still don’t think she’d jump out the back windows, but sleeping with them open was a bit worrisome as she jumped up at the noise outside. Despite a rather bright moon, we couldn’t figure out what was wandering around back there.

We checked out at 1pm to make our way further down the Overseas highway to Long Key State Park, on Long Key. We are there for just for one night, but then return in a few days for a 3-day stay.