Off to the Florida Keys and Key West this morning. It is a three hour drive from our campsite! And we thought we were south. It was a nice, cool morning. As is just 50 when we left. The Keys were not just what I expected. Most were busier, bigger and lots of mundane businesses and tacky shops - could have guessed the tacky shops. We arrived in Key West and Janet found us a very good place to eat, outdoor dining on rough benches but excellent food. The only issue was chickens and roosters sitting at eye level and scrabbling at your feet and flying across your table at about 2 feet. Apparently people in Key West find having hoards of domestic foul wandering the streets and interrupting your dinner charming. I think this speaks volumes about the Key West “vibe.” I would need several of the adult beverages offered everywhere in quantity to begin to see roaming poultry as charming. Yuck. Rusty and I set off for the airport and our seaplane to the Dry Tortugas National Historic Site 70 miles off Key West while Cindy and Janet headed to some historic sites and to spend the afternoon negotiating the chickens.
The Dry Tortugas and Fort Jefferson were wonderful and the flight over the water at 500 feet exciting. The fort that used 16,000,000 bricks made in South Carolina was begun in 1826 and never completely finished but was nearly so. Three stories tall it occupies nearly the entire island save a few yards of land on two sides. It never saw hostile action yet it held, at one point, 1600 people. It was a pleasant day but most of the year it is brutal, hot and full of mosquitos. We had a nice flight back with gorgeous pastel skies. After reconnecting with Cindy and Janet we drove with one stop for dinner back to the campground about 11:30.
The Engaged Cadillac
What a contrast! A banner day! Yay! We went off to a place with real food, coffee shops and just stuff. It took a while but is was so worth it, no gators nor crocs either. We had ice cream! Finally. Lovely flavors, I picked up two or three that you will be reading about once I perfect them. Also mango lattes will soon be amongst the hottest new trend only outdone by my soon to be famous Key Lime & Pineapple latte (with a dollop of Dole whip topping). What a marvelous place. And, I got to fly another one of those floaty planes. Flighting is one of my most outstanding qualities.
Sadly we drove back to the hottest place on earth where we will spend yet another fruitless day. WHY?
