The Keys

We drove across the width of Florida on I-75 from Naples almost to the Miami area, which took us along the northern border of the Everglades National Park.  A number of shops advertised tours through the national park on airboats - those funny-looking craft fitted with giant fans on the back.  We stopped for lunch at a picnic area on the side of the road, and from a walkway there overlooking a body of water we saw alligators, turtles, fish, and the pretty anhinga birds.

Our current RV park, in Florida City, is not far from the beginning of the Florida keys - that dotted series of sand-covered coral islands joined by bridges, the Gulf of Mexico on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other, arcing more or less southwest and terminating in Key West. 

Key Largo, the first of the keys, has always brought to mind an image of beauty and palm trees and white sand beaches and marinas - and maybe that can be found off the main road, but driving through, Key Largo looked seedy and not well kept up, with souvenir shops dominating the landscape.  So we drove ahead, over more bridges, and the further we went, the nicer the scenery became and the prettier the drive.   

We saw evidence of the damage six months ago from Hurricane Irma.  Most of what we observed was on the left - the Atlantic Ocean side - as we drove down.  Whole neighborhoods were either barren or massive new construction was underway, all the new homes elevated on stilts.

We found a nice restaurant overlooking the gulf.  It was one of the few windy, cool days in southern Florida and the servers were wearing coats, but it was a beautiful sunny setting and a good meal, including a dessert of traditional key lime pie, which was invented in Key West and uses the tart key limes that are grown in these islands.

At our RV park we talked with a retired policeman, younger than us, who recommended that we check out the Hilton Head Sun City in South Carolina, where he and his wife and dog live.  Beautiful, lots of activities, easy to make friends, and reasonable prices, he said.  I think we'll go there in a few weeks, and it might be wonderful - but my God, how embarrassing it would be to tell people that we live in ... Sun City!