Visited February 11-17, 2021
By Marty
We stayed at the Grassy Key RV Park in Marathon, about halfway down the 128 mile length of the Florida Keys.
Securing a spot in an RV park in the wintertime on the Keys is a challenge. The Keys are full of snowbirds that come here year after year and get first dibs on reservations. Janell started calling a year ago to find us a spot. She was told at more than one park to call back on April 1st. That is the deadline for any returning "campers" to renew their reservation. If there are any openings at that point they go to people like us. Janell called on April 1st and told them we would take a week anytime in Jan or Feb, and so we secured this week.
A few months later it was time to start working on our entire four month southeastern US itinerary so we had to build it around this reservation.
Key West!
We drove to Key West a couple of times during our week on Marathon. It is about 50 miles or an hour and quarter from us.
This is quite the tourist attraction. 40 or so people, were lined up to have their photo taken beside this marker. I imagine that you hand your phone to the group behind you to take your picture. We didn't want to go through that experience so I just jumped in to snap a photo when one group stepped away and before the next group was in the picture. There is virtually no margin to the right of the marker because I cropped out the people as they walked away...
But I'm not sitting....
Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum
Ernest Hemingway lived in Key West for most of the 1930's. His former home is open to the public and is the most popular tourist attraction in Key West. Hemingway was big on cats, having around 100 at one time. The museum manages the cat population at about 60 cats.
A cat in every room....
Hemingway's writing room was created above the Carriage House with a "cat" walk connecting it to the balcony outside of his bedroom.
The cat cemetery. Hemingway named many of his cats after famous people. The museum operators have continued the tradition. The cat sprawled on the table is Joe DiMaggio.
US Highway 1 begins at "Mile 0" in Key West and ends 2,390 miles later in Fort Kent, Maine near the Canadian Border.
We toured The Little White House in Key West, known primarily as Harry Truman's preferred getaway while in office. He visited 11 times, spending 175 days there during his presidency. Can't blame him for wanting to get as far away from Washington DC as possible, can you?
No interior photos were permitted because the house has a standing invitation for any president, current or former, to visit and stay there. We enjoyed the tour.
Key West's Mallory Square is where everyone gathers to watch the sunset. Too cloudy for a great sunset on this night, but not chopped liver either.
We took a kayak tour through the mangrove forest (mangrove is a salt tolerant shrub or small tree) on Boot Key. It was pretty awesome.
Look closely to see the Iguana and his very long tale
Our tour guide, Daniel, advised us that we would have to do the limbo, forward or backwards, at times to get through the channels. He advised against any sideways limbos, as we'd likely end up in the water.
Daniel spotted a mangrove tree crab. Cool!
Cassiopea Jellyfish
This poor fellow was a shark attack victim. Lost his right front flipper and chunks of his outer shell.
Operating room. Don't look so sad Tommy! Everything will be okay.
The most common injury to the rescued sea turtles is called "bubble butt". No, really. Sea turtles that have been run over by a speeding boat suffer damage to their shell from the boat hull or the propeller. This hull will dent the shell, or worse, pierce it. This results in air getting trapped under the shell, making the turtle too buoyant to submerge for food or safety. The solution is to adhere weights to the shell to offset the buoyancy. The turtle at the bottom of the picture has two circular weights glued to the shell.
Unfortunately there is no medical solution for the trapped air. The turtles can never be released to the wild again because the weights would eventually come off and the turtle would not survive.
The pelican is real. Is he looking at the menu to decide on his dinner meal tonight?
We're a long way from home...
Now u see um, but I sure didn't!
If you, like us, thought "no see ums" were some mythical insect, guess again!
Sitting in our shorts and t-shirts along the water at dusk one day we were chatting with some regulars who were clothed from head to toe. They told us that the no see ums come out every evening for about 30 minutes at dusk. We didn't exactly scoff, but we thought to ourselves, "yeah right". Janell and I aren't particularly prone to mosquito bites so we weren't too worried. I never felt a thing but a half hour later, back in the motorhome, I found these 14 bites and another dozen or so scattered around my limbs. I'm a believer!
If your Uber driver shows up in this.... Try Lyft!
Such cute kids
Until they miss their nap!
Both images are the same photo, posted on a fence in Key West. The image changes with your perspective as you walk past.
We took a snorkeling tour to Sombrero Reef and Sombrero Key Light a few miles east of Marathon in the Atlantic. Sombrero Reef is part of the Florida Reef, the third largest coral barrier reef system in the world (after the Great Barrier Reef and Belize Barrier Reef.) To be honest, the snorkeling was lousy. The water was churned up from some poor weather the day before and the fish were hiding from us. Oh well, the water temp was perfect and it was nice to swim around.
This is 7 mile bridge, the longest of the bridges that connect the Keys, which opened in 1982
The blue bridge to the right is a remnant of the Overseas Railroad, built by Henry Flagler. The railroad ran the 128 mile length of the Keys and operated from 1912 to 1935. It's function came to an end as a result of the Labor Day Hurricane in 1935. You may remember Flagler from our St. Augustine post. He built the Hotel Ponce De Leon there and the Florida East Coast Railway that ran the length of the state. We have seen the Flagler name on roads and buildings all over east and south Florida.
Now you see how the sausage is made.... It's blog time!
Funny thing is, we don't even eat oysters.
Got an early 7:00 a.m start on Thursday for a 450 mile drive to Gainesville, Fl. We'll be driving four days straight, a total of 1,311 miles, to get to Houston. It is very rare that we drive on consecutive days, let alone four days in a row. But we have already seen all that the south has to offer and we are due in Arizona by mid-March so let's giddyup buttercup!
Looks like south Florida was fun and interesting. Thanks for the pictures and history.
ReplyDeleteGreat weather and interesting locals. What more can you ask for in February?
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