Rain, rain . . .

Monday 14 March 2011
We woke near Mobile, Alabama. It took three tries to finally discover the way to the hotel we wanted last night. That was a frustrating experience. We travelled most of the day and made it to near Shreveport, Louisiana. Between Jackson and Vicksburg, Mississippi we had to drive through the most intense rain I have ever had to drive in. We slowed down about 20 m.p.h. and still the rain was so heavy for awhile with the wipers going as fast as possible we could barely see out the window.

The image today is from Ft. Pickens. Yesterday we passed the border of the time zone but today find the time in the new Central time zone is the same as in time in the old Eastern time zone. Then we heard the switch to daylight savings was yesterday. Very confusing!

FL Caverns & Ft. Pickens

Sunday 13 March 2011Florida Caverns is a smaller cavern (round trip ¾ mile). It has the flowstone, stalactites, stalagmites, bacon and other formations. I would guess there are about ten major rooms and connecting passages. The guide showed us a sharks tooth, a nautilus shell, and a sand dollar in the ceiling of the cavern.

But the highlight of the day was Fort Pickens. It was a struggle to find it. There are two barrier islands and Ft. Pickens is on the outer island at the extreme west end.The island it is on has been partially converted into a casino resort somewhat like Ft. Lauderdale. But turning the rest of the island into a National Seashore preserved the white sugar sand beaches and keeps the highrise hotels at a distance. Fort Pickens was a lot different than I remembered from visiting it in about 1966. One bastion of five was accidently destroyed in 1899. The walls were stuffed with gunpowder and set to blow up if an enemy ever took the walls. A fire in 1899 blew up that powder. But it is an old brick pre-Civil War fort that continued in use to about World War I. A reinforced concrete battery was built on the parade grounds of the old fort in about 1904. I was surprised to learn an inverted arch system was used to disperse the weight of the fort on the white sand. The park service did almost nothing to interpret the new batteries for WWI.

Mission San Luis

Saturday 12 March 2011
Mission San Luis was the main Spanish Franciscan Mission of West Florida near present-day Tallahassee. Founded in 1654 it was mainly a mission to the Apalachee Indians, the strongest tribe in this area. In 1704 the British from South Carolina attacked and the village was burned by its own residents to prevent it falling into British hands. The inhabitants scattered. Some of the Indians went west to live with the French in Mobile. Some scattered into the forest. The Spanish also split up. Some went back to St. Augustine and got yellow fever there and died. Others went to Mexico City or Havana. They had lots of contact with Spanish colonies in Mexico. The Apalachee Indians built a meeting house that was a log cone covered with thatch. The one built here was the largest individual Indian building in the American Southeast. The picture above shows the rebuilt size. In the tree shadow you can just barely make out the door, normal size to give a perspective of how big this thing is. The Spanish eventually built a stockade. Since both societies had commons this worked very well with Indian meeting house, stockade, and mission church all built around the commons.

I noted that the story of the real first Thanksgiving as told by the people of Florida does not involve Massachusetts but rather St. Augustine, Florida. In the year 1565, the grateful Spanish and their Indian friends of New Spain held a thanksgiving feast together 56 years before those Johnny-come-latelies, the Pilgrims of New England.

Jupiter Springs

Friday 11 March 2011
We hunted for the Blowing Rocks near Jupiter Florida. Instead we found windswept rocks by a channel and a nice beach. Then we drove a long way to the Ocala National Forest and found a beautiful swimming hole that just happened to be called Jupiter Springs. The CCC built a water mill to help keep the swimming hole level the same. Water bubbles up out of a spring here and forms a gorgeous pool. BJ went swimming in the 70 degree water but I thought it was a tad too chilly for me so I only went in up to my ankles. BJ found a picture of this place in her guide book and has wanted to visit it ever since.

Little Cuba, Miami Beach, Ft. Lauderdale

Thursday 10 March 2011
We visited a little Cuban eatery in Miami called Palacio de los Jugos. Then we drove through Coral Gables a bit more up-scale with "Mediterranean" style housing. Then we drove to Miami Beach in a downpour. I was floored by the opulent high rise hotels next to the beach. I have never seen so much wealth concentrated in one space, not even on Waikiki in Hawaii. It was much more highrise than Hawaii and cram packed in together. BJ was a little freaked out by the combination of being in a highrise canyon crowded with people and the flooding driving through about four inches of rain on the road. So we left and went to Ft. Lauderdale. There we walked on the beach at a state park that kept the highrise hotels at a distance, see the beach picture. It was much more calm and relaxing. Finally we drove to a KOA near the Lion Country Safari.

Southernmost

Wednesday 9 March 2011
We returned to Key West and did a walkabout. We visited the "Southernmost Point" monument. It really isn't southernmost but the laid back Key West attitude is that details like that are not important. And we walked Duval Street a little. It has lots of shops. I was happy to see a few tourists with ashes smeared on their foreheads (good Catholics). BJ snorkeled John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and saw several fish. We sleep in Homestead, Florida on the mainland tonight, which took a direct hit from hurricane Andrew.

Key West vs. Sugarloaf Key

Tuesday 8 March 2011
You learn so much when you travel. The Greeks taught that you were not really educated until you toured the world. I learned that Key West is beautiful but way crowded with tourists and traffic, at least on Fat Tuesday otherwise known as Mardi Gras. I've spotted the same kind of thing at Sun Valley in Idaho, and certain villages in Maine. It is a sort of pattern that wealthy easterners like to descend on quiet little towns and make them tourist destinations with too many beautiful people crowding the shops, the tours, and the streets in a crowded pedestrian/auto traffic jam. A lot of good looking girls and guys are showing off their gorgeous bodies in nothing but bikinis and bathing suits in Key West. There are also a few old guys like me who go without shirts and thus commit crimes against humanity. During his most productive period Earnest Hemingway lived here. That connects him with both Key West and Sun Valley Idaho. Maybe that is why the wealthy easterners like to crowd together in search of Hemingway in places like this. BJ always gets on edge in crowded places like this. I love to people watch, especially how the beautiful people live.

BJ has always wanted a conch shell horn. In a tourist shop at the far end of Key West she bought one. This is particularly appropriate because the name for people living on the Florida Keys is conchs. And in 1982 they seceded from the United States, created the Conch Republic, declared war on the United States, broke a loaf of hard Cuban bread over a cooperative U.S. Naval officer' head, surrendered a few minutes later, and applied to the United Nations for a billion dollars to help rebuild their devastated nation. This was all because the U.S. border patrol put up a road block near the only bridge to the keys and searched everyone coming off the keys. This backed up traffic for miles and for weeks and got the mayor irritated. He said if the United States wouldn't treat conchs as equals they wanted out. Having a conch from the Conch Republic is way cool. She picked one the size, shape and color she preferred.

Somehow I'm not interested in collecting those kinds of "things." I figure I only have a few more years left in this mortal coil, and since I can only take the things I have learned, and the relationships I have formed, it is only the memories and my family that are precious to me. But BJ wanted to see some old shops at the marina and so did I. It makes me happy when she is happy. I showed her a bumper sticker that said, "We don't skinny dip, we chunky dunk," and BJ giggled about that one most of the way back to our camp.

In driving to mile marker 0 on Highway 1 you reach the west side of Key West. If you want to go farther west to the Dry Tortugas it will cost you a $160 ferry ride. On this drive we learned that there are only two or three smallish towns on this string of Florida Keys. They are all very low lying barrier islands (see image above). The weather is warm with a cooling sea breeze. I'm at the KOA on Sugarloaf Key. BJ is doing laundry, I'm typing this blog, and this evening we will probably go swimming in the Gulf of Mexico. The campground here is crowded with RVs for a KOA, but it is peaceful and relaxing with that wonderful sea breeze. Many of the shops in the Florida Keys are named "Southernmost" and sure enough, our KOA on Sugarloaf Key is called the "Southernmost KOA."