WOW!! Why do people go clear to the Caribbean? This place is incredible!! I'm sure the summers are awful -- mosquitoes, humidity -- but the water is so clear and just an azure blue that is beautiful. And always a nice breeze. WOW!!
The Keys are a collection of 126 islands connected by 42 bridges -- they say 15% of the highway is over water -- and the views are spectacular from each bridge. The islands themselves vary from primitive to overdeveloped, from kitschy to spectacular, from sandy to treed, and from laid back to laid back. Only really 3 towns -- Key Largo (at the beginning), Key West (at the end) and Marathon (in the middle), with little villages scattered in between. The RV parks are incredible -- mostly huge and right on the water -- and they cram them in so close together it really takes away from the beauty. We ended up in Key West at a park right in the heart of town -- no atmosphere, but you could walk everywhere in a few minutes and the people were great,, the bathrooms clean and nice.. We also enjoyed a couple of nights at a funky place in Islamorada -- The La Jolla Resort. It was perfect. Accommodations are quite expensive at this time of year. The RV park was $49 a night (the KOA's etc. were $65-70!). and Key West hotels started at $150 on up.
Key West is a happening place. Every night they celebrate Sunset with a huge party in the town square -- Mallory Square. Jugglers, high wire acts, human statues, dancers, singers, bands, animal tricks -- you name it - it's here! Everywhere in Key West you can walk around with drinks in hand -- and most people do! The open air restaurants are a trip -- parrots on shoulders, dogs roaming around, cats, chickens (no kidding -- they're everywhere in town) and the wildest assortment of people you can imagine. The waterfront has every type of water craft -- huge private yachts and sailboats, party barges, commercial fishing and sunset cruise boats, dinghies from boats anchored off shore, massive cruise liners, catamarans, -- a real menagerie! A couple of days here was all we could take -- we had to retreat to more calm locales!
Oh --- our day trip out to Dry Tortugas National Park was fabulous. I was concerned about seeing that park, as it seemed so remote -- 67 miles off the coast of Key West. No accommodations, water, food, etc. But once we were in Key West, there were a number of choices to see the Park. We chose a Catamaran trip -- the Fast Cat -- 2 1/2 hours each way -- and about 4 hours at the Park. They fed us breakfast, lunch, a snack, gave us a guided tour of the Fort -- the major artifact there -- provided us with snorkel equipment, and treated us to a really fun trip. Fort Jefferson was never completed, but is impressive in its size. It imprisoned the 4 people who were convicted as accomplices to John Wilkes Booth in assassinating Lincoln. The most famous was Dr. Mudd, who set Booth's broken leg after he jumped to the stage. The coral reef off the beach was really fun to explore -- beautiful purple fan coral along with many sea creatures -- anemones, sponges, star fish, Sgt. Major's, grouper, snapper, and the occasional barracuda or stinging jellyfish, just to keep things interesting.
A leisurely trip back up the Keys with a stop at a highly rated state park - John Pennekamp, and we found ourselves saying - we can make it back to Florida City -- then we figured we could make it to Naples -- no let's go to Marco Island -- and so our trip continues to be a happenstance!! A stop at the Big Cypress Visitor Center out in the middle of nowhere, gave us a break. Found a great KOA and settled in for the night after a nice walk around the park.
A water exercise class was our first calling the next morning -- the weather, the birds, the nice people made for a very enjoyable experience. There were a few mosquitoes -- and they all found me!!
So many small towns scattered along the gulf coast -- towns you've always heard of -- Marco Island (much nicer than I remember it from 12-14 years ago on an AT&T junket), Naples, Ft. Myers Beach, Sanibel & Captiva, Sarasota, etc. We explored through a few of them, and decided to land a bit in Sanibel since my friend Patty comes here every year and loves it. The island of shell beaches -- I've never seen so many. The sand here is so fine, it is like sugar. But it is very expensive here, and the traffic is horrendous -- fear of an hour's wait to get off the Island caused us to exit before we had seen everything we wanted to. I think a weeks' stay is minimum to really enjoy this place! But we enjoyed our Valentine's Day celebration here, anyway.
We ambled along up the coast while we searched out our next beautiful spot. I was reading the AAA book, and found out that Sarasota is the home of the Ringling Bros. circus -- and that there is a museum there about the circus and Mr. Ringling's Mansion. So off we go. Most of the Museum is a regular Museum with a large collection of the artwork he accumulated during his lifetime. A beautiful Italianate building with perfect gardens houses his collection. In another building is the circus collection. Old costumes, old circus wagons elegantly restored, pictures, posters, and a scale model replica of a "big top" circus were the highlights here. The mansion is undergoing renovation, but we got to enjoy the terraces, gardens, and peak in the windows at the work in progress. It's name is Ca d'Zan and the design is definitely Moorish with lots of fabulous tile work on the outside. Definitely worth the stop.
I think we went over the highest spot in Florida - the soaring bridge connecting to St. Petersburg from the south is breathtaking - definitely higher than anything around! We'd been to Tampa - St. Pete before, so just stopped at a suburban motel and did some errands and enjoyed the pool. The next morning we went to explore the Vinoy -- a fabulous old hotel on the Bay that I had spotted on our previous trip there. It is really gorgeous.
Just a little further up the beach due to horrible traffic, we settled into a little motel right on the Gulf at Belleair Beach -- The Belleair Beach Resort. A great value at $84 -- right on the beach with a very nice pool and well kept beach area -- complete with shuffleboard (everywhere in Florida), a nice grassy area, a picnic area with BBQ's, and lounge chairs facing the Gulf -- really perfect. Found some neat shells here too. The motel referred us to a great stop for dinner -- Guppy's. It reminded us of the kind of place you would find in Portland -- made us homesick -- the food was great.
We were enjoying laying in the sun after our walk along the beach, when 2 blimps went right by us -- one of them the Met Life Snoopy Blimp that was covering the Sr. PGA event in Tampa. It was neat to see them so close up.
We have really been just doddling along, and decided we needed to make some time -- or we'll never make New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Finally got out of the Clearwater area and headed for the Interstate to make time towards Tallahassee, camped in an RV Park with lots of trees with hanging Spanish moss -- really pretty.
Off to Tallahassee in the rain -- but that ended fairly quickly, and back into the sunshine. Over the Swannee River and lots of Stephen Foster trinket shops! A quick run through Tallahassee (where they put the "DA" in Florida recently...) and off again to the coast and a night at a KOA at Alligator Point. Didn't see any of them, but this is really a beautiful, isolated spot on Florida's Forgotten Coast.
Although cooler than down south (we actually ran the heater in the Van), this coastline is really pretty and not nearly as crowded as other places we've been -- this is how Florida must have been years ago - white sand beaches against clear blue waters with hardly any people or high rises interrupting the birds or the waves. The road runs right along the water most of the way - very scenic. At about Destin, the scenery changed to more dunes -- the first we've seen since the Outer Banks. Just before Pensacola we traveled about 15 miles through the Gulf Islands National Seashore -- very isolated and beautiful - the azure blue waters and sugar fine sand were back.
Evening brought us to Pensacola Beach and our last night in Florida with a new appreciation for the diversity and beauty of a state that I never cared much for. It does have lots to offer. I'll be putting my toes into that sand and water one more time in the morning before we head out for "the real south" -- Alabama & Mississippi.