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Westward from US 1 towards the Florida Bay and the Everglades National Park
Distance from Miami to Key West 162 miles
Travel time with stops: 7 hours
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Towards Key West
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To come from San Francisco rains to this expanse of sky, water, and light, was disorienting. A narrow 2-lane highway with a 45 mph speed limit going through tunnels of mangroves, bridges miles in length, the water swirling in blue, green, blue-green hues on either side. Small towns clustered around their marinas and motels. Drawbridges. Blue skies, deep and wide, wheeling with birds. The old bridge, concrete and old railroad ties, damaged in a hurricane years ago, cluttered with fishermen, their long lines, and yellow headed brown pelicans paralleling the modern road.
I don't know where you get such things, but 1 out of 10 houses had concrete manatees in front of them holding the mailboxes. Each one of them obediently wearing a Santa hat for the holidays.
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The light leaked in past my sunglasses. I wonder if that's the difference between people in different places, if like drinking glasses we're filled up by our weather, by our skies.
We stopped for photographs. We stopped for lunch. We stopped at Long Key State Park to stretch our legs. There was a short trail through the mangroves and along the water. It was called the Golden Orb trail after the golden orb spiders living along it. A pleasant hour, until almost back to the beginning of the there-and-back trail, we happened upon a couple and their 5 year old. The five year put his hands on his hips and asked if we'd seen any poisonous snakes. Which surprised Dean and I. It was one of those cartoon moment where Daffy Duck says, "snakes? snakes?" It seems that we'd missed the warning sign at the park entrance that warned about poisonous snakes in, oh, foot high letters. |
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