Florida Keys and Beyond

After a refreshing nights sleep (actually I would like to say that but with the window air conditioner rattling, a street light shining in our eyes and the waste disposal experts picking up the large bin beside our window at 6 AM, I can't), we ventured forth for the breakfast part of the B&B.

Just at the end of our path is the breakfast bar with all the normal offerings, very fresh with lots of citrus and homemade breads. Tables were arranged around the pool, all very relaxing.

This view from the other side of the pool shows the breakfast bar to the left, tables to the right and more rooms in the old plantation behind. The B&B was once a cigar factory and the various rooms are made up of the old factory, the original plantation home and some of the managers houses. Our room was an managers house just back behind the breakfast bar.

After a relaxing breakfast and a lovely walk around, it was time to head down the main walkway and continue our adventure, much later than we should have. Once we found our car, we drove through old Key West and along the shoreline until the road left the island.

Driving back along the Keys I still took opportunities to stop and check out the old bridges still left standing. The middle section of this old bridge has been removed and the newer bridge is much higher to allow bigger boats to enter from the ocean. You can walk along a lot of the old bridges, but they are closed to traffic.

I pulled off the road to take a picture of the 7 mile bridge. As far as you can see is the bridge with a very high section in the distance just to the left in the picture. The 128 miles of road in the Keys is one lane each way and was very slow driving. It was well past lunch before we got back to the mainland, and well behind schedule I might add. And that was the best part of the drive.

By the time we found a suitable hotel and stopped for the night I was exhausted. The drive after the Keys took us through Miami. We had planned on taking A1A, the scenic route, through Miami but because we were running way late we decided to take the interstate. Big mistake. Just got on it and the traffic stopped. It took us almost 3 hours to cover the 10 miles we needed to go before we could get back onto A1A. By that time all the roads were jammed with commuter traffic and even the scenic route wasn't. The problem we found with A1A was that it was not very commercialized which made for a lovely drive but hard to find accommodations. We finally found a great hotel in West Palm Beach. By that time, I didn't even care that we bought our first house for the amount of one nights stay here (a slight exaggeration, but not much).

But, oh it felt good to get out of the car and the traffic and sit and unwind a bit. I would recommend the drive along the eastern seaboard along A1A to everyone. Its an absolutely breathtaking drive in places alongside mansions that have to be seen to be believed. We'd have to liquidate all our funds just to buy the front gate on some of these places. It makes for a wonderful drive though. I would recommend avoiding Miami (for heavens sake, avoid Miami). But I'm off the road and starting to breath normally again.

The hotel had a great seafood menu so I broke one of my rules about never eating in the hotel I'm staying at (actually I was just sick of driving). We had a great meal with a nice merlot; it was very relaxing. Brad, our son, called to wish me a Happy Birthday, which was great. I've always struggled to remember special occasions, its a relief to know your son has more class than you do; there's hope for the next generation, isn't there. We had a great nights sleep. I got up, made coffee in the room and went for a walk. Even finding a hot tub we didn't know about couldn't spoil the moment.

Just past the hot tub was the beach. Not nearly as warm but still a beautiful beach with no one around. I would have been tempted to stay at this lovely spot another day but, the kids are expecting some inheritance I'm sure. We breakfasted on some fruit we lifted from the B&B and hit the trail for home.

For most of the day we continued north on A1A, absolutely enjoying the ocean view and the mansions. We stopped at a number of roadside parks to stretch our legs but finally we had to turn westward across the middle of Florida and head home. After following the ocean the trip across the middle of Florida is boring and we never even took a picture till we got home. But now we're back and its raining here again. For 3 days we had beautiful weather and I spent my birthday someplace exotic so the trip was worth while.

Florida Keys-Part one

Although we have been in Florida for almost 3 months, we haven't done anything more than a day trip. We're only a few hundred miles from the Florida Keys so we decided that would make a great adventure for a few days. Driving due south of Bradenton takes us through Ft. Myers, Bonita Springs and Naples where we start the turn left at the bottom of Florida. Here we stopped at Fakahatchee State Park to view the alligators. They always look more interesting behind a fence.

Walking along the boardwalk, we came across this little snake, about 2 feet long and sitting in a tree alongside the fence rail. A ranger nearby said not to disturb it, its a cottonmouth and its bite is deadly. He doubted a helicopter could get you to the hospital in time. There went any ideas of draping it over our necks for photos.

Farther up the road we stopped at a picnic site for lunch in Big Cypress Preserve. The road we are travelling on has light traffic with no restaurants or stores for most of the west to east drive so a picnic fit the bill nicely.

There was a mile long boardwalk through the swamps at the picnic site so we went for a walk after lunch. It was a great walk; I can't imagine getting through the swamps on foot. It was bog for the whole walk. This is all part of the everglades and covers thousands of square miles just like this. Do you still want to buy some Florida land?

Eventually we left the mainland and drove onto the Keys. The first one is Key Largo and after passing over dozens of small islands and keys, you arrive at Key West, the last Key and roads end. This is a typical bridge that takes you from one island to the next. Some are very short and one is called seven mile bridge, so I guess its long. The original roads and bridges were built in the 1930's and have been replaced with wider stronger ones. In most cases they didn't remove the old bridges, they just knocked sections out so boats could pass through. That bridge is as narrow as it looks; I can only assume that traffic travelled one way at a time.

The old bridges were low arches, too low for most boats now which is why sections are removed. The keys are 126 miles long and mostly bridges so it must have been a major undertaking in the 1930's.

 We had stopped at a tourist office in Key West and booked a B&B ahead. This is the front of it. Its right in the heart of old Key West, a beautiful and picturesque town at the very end of the keys. It was a long drive so its nice to get to our hostel.

The B&B has no parking so I dropped off Carmen and our bags in the room and drove around until I found an open parking spot about 2 blocks away. The downside of a picturesque little town built before cars arrived and the roads were built for buggies. Thankfully Carmen had some Scottish nectar poured for me and all's right with the world again.

After suitable R&R time we ventured into old town Key West for sustenance. Although the establishment was called "The Rum Barrel" (which neither of us drinks) we loved the decor and were assured of other drink options. I had a beer and Carmen had a tea, pretty exotic, huh? We each had a great fish meal and then walked around the wharf area and main street. That was day one.

Exploring the area

We haven't gone anywhere too exciting lately so thought we'd go see some of the local must see's. Manatees are very large (about cow size; thats why they're called sea cows, I guess) and live in the fresh water rivers. They don't like cold water and hundreds of them migrate to the local electrical generating plant because of the warm discharge water. So, if you want to see lots of Manatees you have to go there. Do you see them?

After shooting a dozen pictures, this is the best I got. The inlet was loaded with them, its just that they stay just below the surface until they need air, then they slowly stick their nose out and roll back under. In the previous picture, all the bumps on the waters surface are Manatees. This is the tail of one. Its hard to tell size buts thats about 3 feet across. After a half hour of this your mind goes numb.

I did manage to get a picture of this one anyway. Because they lay just below the surface they are often hit by boat propellers so they are collecting for rescue and repair. Pictures are available in the gift shop for a nominal fee for photographers who didn't manage to get as excellent a picture as I did.

Next we decided to go to the harbour front in downtown Sarasota. At the park entrance stands this statue. When VJ day (the end of the war with Japan) was declared hundreds of thousands of people crowded the streets of New York to celebrate. The photo on which this statue was based was shot by a New York Post photographer on that day in August of 1945 of two strangers who just happened to celebrate with a kiss and he took their picture. This is one of the most famous photos ever taken. The statue is made of aluminum and should be able to take hurricane winds. I just hope her dress can as well. This statue is a must see as well.

There is a lovely park at the marina with walking trails and fountains. The bay is filled with yachts and sailboats.

 If you recall the Christmas boat parade we watched, it was at this bay. Its a little easier to see the sights during the day.

We also stopped at the same Tiki Hut for lunch. Its a lot more relaxing this time without the hundreds of revelers who were here at Christmas. Its a lovely day with a warm wind blowing off the water and the sun finally heating things up a bit.

 On the far side of the park one can relax and enjoy the lovely day. That is Sarasota Bay in front with the bridge in the background taking people to St Armands Circle on Lido Key. Thats an exclusive shopping area we had wandered through in a previous posting. These warm days have been few and far between this winter so our timing couldn't have been better. Now if the rain will just hold off till we get home.

Airboating on Lake Okeechobee

Since we got here we have wanted to get out into the swamps and everglades and see wild Florida. The airboat is perfect for doing that, plus it looks like a lot of fun. We picked up a couple from the campground and headed for Lake Okeechobee which has miles of what we were looking for.

The airboat is an aluminum flat bottomed boat with an engine mounted on the back and an airplane propeller connected direct. Its very noisy and if my hat blew off I wouldn't be reaching back to grab it, I'll tell you. This was right behind me. It has a top speed of 50 mph and he took it up there; great fun.

The real benefit of these things is that they can go anywhere in the swamps and reeds. If a mud bar is in front, he just speeds up and slides over it. My problem was that I was sitting at the side and some of the reeds slapped me as we whipped by. Darn things stung so I leaned left when in the reeds.

Once out of the large lake area we went down one of the tributary creeks. According to the driver, this creek hasn't been touched by man and looks like it would have 200 years ago.

Its been cold, but we were lucky today that the sun came out. Gators started climb up on the bank to soak up some sun so we got to see a few. We were feeling quite cocky sitting there in our big heavy airboat. We wouldn't have gone so close in our canoe I'll tell you. This guys about 9 feet long.

We saw a lot of birds and turtles. With the noise of the airboat we sure weren't sneaking up on them, I think it was the speed, we got there before they could react, or they were just used to the noise, one or the other. If you look close you can see a turtle on a log just ahead on the right hand side. It was over a foot long; not our little red sliders at home.

Here's a big cypress tree along the edge. Notice the root knobs sticking up all around it? These are 2 to 3 feet high. They help the tree breathe so if the area floods the tree doesn't suffocate as long as these are above the water. Isn't nature amazing?

Another airboat company uses this stream as well so this is kinda what we look like. You may have noticed no one has a life jacket on. They are on board and we were shown how to use them but we were told that if we fall in its a lot easier to just stand up. The deepest water we went through was around 3 feet deep. Not like our streams and lakes back home, these are just shallow muddy puddles.

I don't know what it is about us and water. Just after we turned around to come back it started to rain. Fortunately we were only a mile or so from a bridge we had gone under so we stopped there till the rain stopped. But we still got soaked.

We sat for a few minutes while the storm passed. Notice our driver on his I phone; he's checking the weather and has the satellite picture of the storm cell thats raining on us. It stopped shortly and we made it back fine. By the time we got off, it was nice and sunny again. Our friends are farmers from Saskatchewan; I think they enjoy rain.

By the time we got back to the campground we were treated to a beautiful sunset. Another day of adventure in Florida!

Edison and Ford Winter Estates, Ft. Myers

About an hour and a half drive south of us is the winter retreat of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. If you don't know who they are, Google them and get caught up with the rest of us. Mr. Edison was more than pleased to pose with Carmen when we arrived.

In this and the previous picture is the Banyan tree that sits on his estate. It is the largest one in North America. Banyan trees drop vines down from their branches and when they attach to the ground a new trunk forms. All those trunks behind us were once just small vines. When the new trunk gets large enough, the tree spreads farther outward using the new trunk as support. They can cover many acres.

Thomas Edison bought this property in 1885 and had the houses built in 1886. When he bought the property, there were no roads so all material was brought in by the Caloosahatchie River. The property was deeded to the city of Ft. Myers in 1947 and all the furniture, pictures and even the board games are original. The buildings are beautiful and wide open so the breezes could blow through with wide porches to keep the sun and rain off.

He designed the landscaping for the entire property and planted trees from all over the world. These are Royal palms he had planted. He also planted a 1 1/2 mile row of them along the street outside his property and Ft. Myers became known as City of Palms.

Almost all of the plants on the property were planted based on a master plan by Edison. Wherever you walk you come across new and different plants and they are laid out to maximize their beauty.

A lot of the plants were planted for a specific function. This is a Mysore Fig tree which he and Harvey Firestone planted because they were trying to figure out how to use the rubber in the plant for tires. The large Banyan tree was also a rubber producer and was a gift to Edison from Firestone in 1925. There was also a lot of  bamboo planted because Edison was trying to make filaments for his new light using bamboo strands.

Time for a coffee and a sandwich as we sit and relax in the shade. We picked a perfect day and are enjoying the warmth after weeks of near freezing temperatures. In fact, a beer probably would have been more enjoyable than the coffee. Oh, well.

Henry Ford was good friends with Edison and in 1916 he bought the property next to Edisons and built his winter home there. We are taking a stroll through his garden, although he was a bit quiet. Must have a lot on his mind.

He brought this model T down from Detroit as a gift for Edison. They used to drive around the back country in it before roads were built, trying to find new fishing holes and hunting areas. Must have gotten stuck a lot based on the marshy countryside around here.

This is the pier that Edison had erected so that they could get the materials needed to build and improve his property. The river is so shallow that the original pier was twice as long as this so larger barges could dock with supplies. He had a boathouse and a summer house built on the pier as well as railroad tracks so wheeled carts could be used to speed the movement of supplies off the pier. They would sit in the shade of the summer house and fish off the pier as they enjoyed the breezes over the water. Sounds pretty idyllic, doesn't it?

Along the front of the property, thousands of exotic orchids were planted and it became known as orchid lane. It was the wrong season for them but we did find this pretty gardenia. Just imagine thousands more and you get the idea. I haven't even touched on the museums which feature most of Edisons original material he used to invent the light bulb, the phonograph, the moving pictures and the hundreds of other inventions he patented. It was a great place to visit. Hope you enjoyed the tour.