HAPPY EASTER TO ALL!! And a "hurry on up" to Spring! We all want the better weather to come to our areas!
We are back in Orlando now and just taking it easy in our campsite yesterday and today. We are trying to rest up for our big adventure tonight. We will leave for the east coast {Florida's Space Coast) tonight about 10:30pm to get our spot in Titusville to watch the shuttle launch. We'll arrive at the Clarion Hotel around midnight where we hope to get a parking spot to view the launch. Today after our long morning walk on the nature trail, we saw two sandhill cranes with their baby between them. They are very beautiful birds that are shaped like flamingos but are grayish-brown in color. The sandhill crane baby just sort of hops along between the parents and is soooo cute!
I do need to back up a few days and tell about our time in Key West. After our two days of adventure in the Everglades we headed south down Hwy 1 to the Keys. We faced an approx. 124 mile drive down to Key West from the Gateway to the Keys. We entered Key Largo (the first and largest of the Keys) and it was hard to picture where we were. There were strip malls and commercial enterprise on both sides of us. But as we drove southwest, we began to see glimpses of the beautiful water on both sides, the Atlantic on the south and the Gulf on the north. As we passed on to Islamorada (Purple Isles) we drove over the highest spot in the Keys at 18 ft above sea level and there was more open water viewing. We stopped along side the road to view the turquoise waters up close and ended up getting a good shot (by camera, folks!) at a bald eagle just sitting on top of a utility pole waiting for its next meal. The utility poles themselves were quite interesting. The poles are out in the water (probably because using valuable land space was out of the question) and for repairs and such service, barges with bucket lifts on them are used. During our stop, we were able to watch one of the barges in use....how ingenious! Marathon is the "heart of the keys", right about midpoint on our way down to Key West and at the end of which is the famous seven mile bridge, the longest stretch of bridge over open water. Big Pine Key, located at the beginning of what is called the Lower Keys, is where we will come back to park the 5th wheel for a couple weeks someday. It's got a homey, rural feel to it and it's where you can find the little Key deer (26-32 inches tall). They have a docile nature and can swim easily between the islands of the lower Keys. We didn't see any this time but will surely when we come back.
The final stop on Hwy 1 (milepost 0) is Key West, the tiny island at the end of a continent. At one time in the 1800s Key West was Florida's most populated and America's richest city then had to declare bankruptcy in the 1930s. It all started with ship wrecks on the many coral reefs surrounding the Keys. It became a money-making enterprise to lay claim to and salvage the profitable ship wrecks. Many speculators swarmed down to Key West to take advantage of these calamities. When lighthouses were built and shipwrecks became less of an occurrence than sponge diving, growing tobacco, cigar factories and fishing became prime money-making ventures. It was visited by Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon, home for a while to writer/adventurer Ernest Hemingway, vacationed on often by President Harry Truman and now beloved by the many tourists who visit yearly. Ed and I arrived there full of anticipation for a couple days of rest and relaxation. Andrews Inn, our B&B was located next door to Hemingway House where Hemingway lived from 1931-40 and is now a museum. A lighthouse is right across the street from Hemingway House and we visited there also. Duval Street is called the longest main street in the world because it runs from coast (Atlantic Ocean) to coast (Gulf of Mexico). It's about 2 miles long and we walked it all at different times. Cuba is only 90 miles away off the southern tip of the island. There is a U.S. Naval Reservation there that has satellite dishes that keep track of what goes on over there. We parked the truck at the B&B, unpacked our bags and set off by foot to explore. Rest and relaxation went out the door! In two short days, we visited Hemingway House, Key West Lighthouse, had a drink, listened to music at Sloppy Joe's (Hemingway's fav bar), watched a sunset on Mallory Square, hiked out to Ft. Zachary Taylor and the beach, walked to the southernmost tip, ate lunch and wonderful Key lime pie at Southernmost Cafe and looked at the array of military devices aimed at Cuba. The sunsets at Mallory Square are famous and we were advised to go out there at sunset at least once. Well, once is enough, the crowds there are suffocating but there were jugglers, sword swallowers, many other street performers and a myriad of vendor booths at which to buy an array of tourist "stuff"! The sunset was beautiful and I put up with the crowds for a bit. I had to back off and sit on the side for awhile as Ed photographed the sun until it sunk into the sea. I dislike being crunched by crowds but it was definitely colorful out there. All too soon it was time to pack it up again and move on, time to get back to Dude and "home". It was a too many hour drive back to Orlando and we took two days to do it. Dude was very happy to see us and here we are all together again!