December 14
Today we explored the Collier- Seminole State Park at the west edge of the Everglades. It is named after Barron Collier, a financier who helped build the Tamiami Trail from Tampa to Miami in the 1920s. The part of the road through the Everglades was extremely difficult - men were fighting with mosquitos and alligators as they blasted the limestone and coral under the swamp and used it to make the road
bed. There is a continuous canal along the side of the roadway and we saw hundreds of white egrets wading in the water as well as half a dozen alligators sunning themselves on the banks of the canal. There is a walking dredge in the park that was used in the roadwork. At the boat basin on the Blackwater River, we saw a manatee slowly swimming around and feeding on the plants in the river as well a
great blue heron waiting patiently to catch a fish. We hiked a trail to one of the original old stands of
royal palms left in Florida. We saw several gumbo limbo trees with their characteristic reddish trunks.
The wood was often used to make carrosel horses.
In the afternoon. we drove to nearby Marco Island to spend time in the sun on the wide white sand beach. What an enormous number of shells!!!!!! We watched some playful dophins jumping and cavorting in the surf. Saw a lady reading the book "The Shack" and had a nice discussion with her
about the book.
December 13
We left the Keys this morning and drove all the way to the eastern end and took the Card Sound
road back to the "mainland" - but Florida sort of "peters out" in islands and mangrove swamps almost
too numerous to count. We went to the Everglades National Park ( we bought that $80 interagency pass so every park we enter from now on will be "free"). Will we see alligators?? That is the question. The
Anhinga Trail took us on a boardwalk where we indeed saw several of the huge black/brown water
birds drying their wings in the sun. And sure enough - we did see 2 large alligators - lots of teeth when they yawned! On the way from the park to the Tamiami Trail, we passed dozens of gardens and plant
nurseries full of hisbiscus, ficus and palms ready to be shipped up north where we will pay a good price
for plants that grow abundently here in the south. We stopped for the night at Collier - Seminole
State Park and tonight we will hear from Ranger Pete about the building of the Tamiami Trail
December 12
Yesterday we had quite a thunderstorm - lots of rain and wind - interesting to see the palm trees almost
bent over in the wind. It was a day for reading and "vegging", but I did get Christmas cards written - we'll
get some pictures to put in them and send them off soon. Got caught up on laundry and groceries and other chores
December 10
In the Keys, locations are by mile markers. Our campground is in the middle Keys at MM 59. The Keys begin at MM 120 and Key West is MM 0. Just 13 miles from our RV park is the Seven Mile Bridge. In the
1920s, Henry Flagler built a railway from Miami to key West. One of the feats of construction was a bridge across open water for 7 miles. There are many bridges in the Keys from island to island but this is the longest span over water. It later became a roadway. Now there is a new bridge and the old one is a
long fishing pier. We walked the first couple of miles - lovely nice beezes and charter fishing boats coming and going under it, then drove to Key West.
What an interesting town! Old town Key West has pastel painted homes most with second floor balconies (similiar to New Orleans construction) to catch the breezes.
We parked the car and walked most of the afternoon after a seafood lunch. We peeked in Ernest Hemminway's house and Harry Truman's "Little White House" . A Carnaval cruise ship was leaving from the harbor after the passengers had spent their bucks in the numerous shops, several of which sport the rainbow flag. The most interesting place was the cemetary! Crypts are built 4 and 5 high because the coral rock is too hard to dig. There is a memorial to the USS Maine - blown up in Havana harbor in 1898 - the start of the Spanish American War. We got home after dark with tired feet but enjoyed our day a lot.
December 9
Yesterday we drove from Pompano Beach to Grassy Key and the Jolly Roger RV Park. The island is so narrow that the park is between the Gulf and the Atlantic. There is a dock that has been taken over by the pelicans and cormorants and there are lobsters under the edge of the seawall. We had to sign a waiver when we checked in not to take any of the lobsters (shucks- we'll have to buy them in a resturant!)
Today, we explored a bit and checked 2 nearby State Parks - Currey Hammock and Bahia Honda - both so popular tha you have to book 11 months in advance. We found a nice beach in Marathon - Sombrero Beach and we took a picnic and spent the afternoon in the sun - love it!