Tag Archives: John Pennekamp State Park

We are in the Florida Keys!

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.