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.
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.
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.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=V-FOWxrcZ1w
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.
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.
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.
Liz did a great job driving, while occasionally getting a chance to take in the view herself when traffic backed up.
We arrived at Long Key at 2pm.
While windy, the view was gorgeous.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
