Florida, Alabama & Mississippi

On Tuesday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and set out for Biloxi, Mississippi, driving on the back roads of Florida’s panhandle, keeping as close as possible to the coast. In the town of Mary Esther, just outside of Fort Walton Beach, Florida, we stopped at a Piggly Wiggly to stock up on sodas. I’m not sure why, but visiting a Piggly Wiggly has been on my bucket list for a long time.

We were able to find my soda (diet Mug Root Bear at $5.99 for a case of twelve), but couldn’t find Kathy’s Orange Crush. One weird thing, though; as we drove through town, all of the streets had piles of dead branches in the front yards, just as if everyone had decided to trim their trees at the same time.

After crossing the bridge into Pensacola, (what a beautiful bay, shining in the morning sunlight), we started noticing a number of street signs knocked askew, houses without shingles on the roof, and large trees knocked down. I commented to Kathy that it looked like a tornado had come through. She got on the phone to Google and found that it was the damage caused by hurricane Isaias, just a few weeks ago; the same hurricane that knocked down trees on the Blue Ridge Parkway when we were there.

Just before we crossed into Alabama, near Perdido Key in Florida, we stopped by a Walmart Supercenter to see if we could find Kathy’s sodas there. Although we rarely visit Walmart at home, we’ve become something like aficianados on this trip. In addition to Kathy’s Orange Crush, look what else we found. I didn’t know that they still made these.

When we crossed into Alabama, our other bucket list item was to try fried green tomatoes. I did some Web research, and the name that kept coming up was Lucy Buffet’s Lulu’s in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Lucy is Jimmy Buffet’s little sister. We found the restaurant just after noon and ordered the tomatoes. They were pretty good, but nothing life-changing (However Kathy loved them).

After the appetizer we both had the half-po’boy and bowl of gumbo special. I had the shrimp po’boy with chicken and sausage gumbo, while Kathy had the oyster po’boy with the shrimp and crab gumbo. I have to say that the gulf shrimp were large, fresh, and delicious, nothing like those I’ve had in California, or even in Florida.

After lunch we drove through the tunnel under Mobile Bay, which I found terrifying, and then down the coast to Mississippi. Instead of corn fields or cane fields, we started driving by cotton fields.

As usual, Kathy wanted to feel the cotton with her own hands, so we stopped and she picked a little.

The closer we got to Biloxi, the more traffic we encountered. Instead of the relative isolation of the Forgotten Coast and its understated bungalows, the shore was covered with huge condominium towers. As we got closer to Biloxi, these were replaced with casino resorts.

Our hotel, the Hyatt Place, was about a mile down the coast road from the Biloxi casino strip, about a block from the Biloxi lighthouse. We walked down to the lighthouse and took a picture. Then, we walked across to the boardwalk, and looked at the statue of Fred Haise, a Biloxi native who was one of the Apollo 13 astronauts. We continued down the beach, walking on the boardwalk, under the freeway and towards the casinos in search of something to eat for dinner. 

We didn’t find anything, so we decided just to head back to our hotel and snack on chips. As we were walking back, with the setting sun, from behind the casinos came first one shrimp boat, then four more. They had their lights on and their nets out, and it looked just like scene from the book we were listening to as we drove: Forrest Gump.

Orchids, Everglades & the Forgotten Coast

On Thursday we left Marathon, Florida to spend two days in the Everglades National Park. For the last few days, we’ve listened to Susan Orlean’s 1998 non-fiction book called The Orchid Thief. The book focuses on the arrest and trial of John Laroche for poaching rare orchids from the Facahatchee Strand State Preserve in South Florida.

The book goes into quite a bit of depth about the orchid culture in Florida. One of the main characters is Robert (Bob) Fuchs, the owner of the RF Orchids Nursery. On our way to the Everglades National Park, Kathy noticed that we would pass right by the nursery, so, we stopped in.

The grounds are huge. There are dozens of different shade houses, containing thousands and thousands of plants. We spent quite a bit of time browsing around and looking at the various types of orchids.

Here are some white and yellow ones that I especially liked.

When we went into the office, we found that Bob Fuchs himself was there and he took a picture with us.

He was very cordial and even gave Kathy and autographed copy of his book.

I, however, was just happy to get a picture with this guy in the garden.

The Everglades National Park is the third largest park in the continental United States, after Death Valley and Yellowstone. It covers most of southern Florida and has several different entrances. We went in at the southern-most entrance because we were staying in the park at the town of Flamingo.

The drive to Flamingo from the entrance is about 43 miles. There are different trails along the road, and so we stopped and hiked when we came across them. This is the Mahogany Hammock Trail, a half-mile boardwalk loop through one of the “islands” in the sea of grass and water.  

The in-park Flamingo Lodge was originally built and expanded in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Built in the Modern/Mission 66 style, it eventually grew to over 100 rooms and bungalows. However, Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma did so much damage that the lodge (and visitor’s center) were demolished in 2005.

From 2005 until 2023, there was no lodging inside the park. In 2023 the new lodge, restaurant, and visitor’s center opened. The new lodge has 24 units, and is constructed from durable, repurposed shipping containers elevated on 13-foot concrete pillars to withstand storm surges, sea-level rise, and high winds. That sounds kind of grim, but the units are actually very comfortable and elegant.

As I mentioned in my last post, Thursday, October 22 is our 54th wedding anniversary. We splurged on dinner last night in Marathon. However in the morning my brother Gary sent me this text from my mother’s journal. It was really a blessing.

Back Country Boat Ride

On Friday, we spent the day exploring the park. At 11:00 AM we took a 90-minute boat ride into the “back country”. The trip took us through three different kinds of ecosystems: the estuary, mangrove, and cypress areas. We saw lots of different kinds of trees and birds. We got a glimpse of a crocodile in one of the little inlets, but couldn’t see more than his eyes and snout from quite a distance.

While we were waiting to board the boat, we walked over to the Florida Bay (salt-water) side of the marina and watched some big tarpon jumping, and this manatee coming up for air.

At the end of our tour, just as we were coming into the marina, a large crocodile swam right past our boat. Kathy and I wondered if the tour operators kept it in reserve in the event that the customers were disappointed. 

All in all it was a good tour and we were both glad we took it. After lunch we decided to drive out to some other trails we’d read about. As we left Flamingo, it started to lightly rain. When we finally got to the trail though, it was raining buckets. We decided to skip the hike. By the time we got back to Flamingo, it had stopped raining. Rather than turn around once again, we had dinner at the lodge restaurant, and went back to our room.

Driving to the West Coast

On Saturday we got up early, and I sat outside on the balcony and watched the sun rise. The restaurant served breakfast starting at 8:00 AM, and we were among the first in line.

Flamingo is notorious for its mosquitos. I wasn’t bothered too much, but Kathy had two bites in the first few minutes we were there, despite dousing ourselves with bug spray. Since then, she never travels without self-protection.

It was a long, but pretty drive from Flamingo to Sarasota on the Gulf Coast. To get there, you have to first drive east almost to Miami and then turn around and drive west across the state on the highway called Alligator Alley or the Tamiami Trail. 

Hoping to see some alligators in addition to the crocodiles we had seen in Flamingo, we stopped by the Shark Valley entrance to the park. However, to explore the park from this entrance, you have to take a tram tour, and we really didn’t feel that we had the time.

We got to Sarasota around 4:00 PM. Our hotel was right across the street from the airport. Near Sarasota, in Bradenton, one of our old friends, Leona Karni, who is a missionary from Calvary Chapel, invited us over to her house for dinner. It was wonderful reconnecting, and listening to all of her stories.

Finally Flamingos

We had another long drive on Sunday, up the west coast of Florida, from Sarasota to Perry. About half way between these two towns lies the Crystal River, a set of springs that are the refuge of Florida’s manatee population during the cold winter months. To break up the trip we decided to stop for lunch and see some animals.

We had several different state parks to choose from, many of which allow you to swim with the manatees. Neither of us was up for that, so we finally chose to visit the Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park. Like the Turtle Center in Marathon, this park rehabilitates injured wildlife.

Just as there are no falls in Klamath Falls, Oregon, there are no Flamingos in Flamingo, Florida. However at Homosassa we got to see a few. They are truly beautiful.

We saw an alligator, a couple of manatees, two Florida panthers, a Florida black bear, and quite a few different kinds of birds, including two eagles. It was a nice break half-way through our day.

We had some pizza for lunch and reached Perry about 5:00 PM.

The Forgotten Coast

On Monday we left Perry after breakfast and headed towards Destin, Florida, which is close to Pensacola on the west coast. Instead of traveling inland, through the capital, Tallahassee, we hugged the coast, stopping at a few parks, as well as the towns of Carrabelle and St. George Island. The part of Florida is called the Forgotten Coast, since it isn’t inundated with high-rises like much of the rest of Florida’s West Coast.

At one of the parks we stopped at, Kathy got to happily swing for a while.

This is what it looked like from her point of view.

On St. George Island we stopped to look at the light house and collect some shells on the beach.

In the town of Carrabelle, we visited the world’s smallest police station, shopped for sea glass, and had a nice lunch in a small cafe, Carrabelle Junction. Like the other off-the-beaten-path places we’ve eaten at, they only took cash.

We reached our hotel in Destin around 4:30, unpacked and went across the street for a nice dinner. In the morning we’ll be leaving Florida for Mississippi, Alabama, and then Louisiana.

The Florida Keys

On Monday we left Jupiter after breakfast, headed for the Florida Keys. In Indiana, Iowa, and Illinois we drove by endless corn fields and were able to walk up to stalks and look at the corn. In Florida, the endless fields are filled with sugar cane. Kathy wanted to get a picture standing next to a cane field, but each one we saw was surrounded by a ditch, filled with water. When we got to Homestead, Florida, we stopped by a roadside produce stand, and she bought a chunk of sugar cane, just to try it out. It was sweet! 

Our first overnight in the keys was in Key Largo, the background for the famous Bogie and Bacall film. In fact, the movie was filmed in the studio in Burbank, so there are no notable settings to visit. Key Largo does have the original African Queen in the marina, which you can book for tours, weddings and events. The boat is in better shape than it appeared at the end of the movie.

While we were in Homestead we also stopped for lunch at Marios Cuban Kitchen, to try some Cuban food. I had a Cuban sandwich and Kathy had some sweet plantains. It was so much food that we ended up taking half of it with us for dinner. In Key Largo we stayed at the Pelican Cottages on the Florida Bay side of the Key.

Our cottage (actually, half of a duplex), was cute, with a retro 60s Florida vibe. There was plenty of room. The cottages included a private beach and docks. For us, the most important thing was that the air conditioning worked.

After we got settled into our room, we headed down the road to the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. This is part of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, a 220-mile long coral reef that extends the entire length of the Keys. This park is the home of one of the three “Christ of the Abyss” bronze statues, sunk into 25-feet of water.

About thirty years ago, we both went snorkeling in Hawaii and the Caribbean, and so we would have taken a snorkeling excursion out to the reef. Today, though, both of us feel more comfortable staying safe and dry on a glass-bottomed boat. Also, the signs on all the beaches warning about swimming with the “crocodilians” made our decision a little easier.

Unfortunately, when we went to inquire, we were told that the glass-bottomed boat was not going out on Monday or Tuesday. They didn’t tell us definitively why; we thought that it was most likely because of the wind. Later, when we got to the Everglades, we found that many attractions don’t even open until November 1, the start of the dry, and thus tourist, season. In any event, we went back to our cottage, and I swam off the dock. The water was pretty warm, but the “sand” was very hard, and the Florida Bay was very shallow. Its average depth is three to five feet. It was disconcerting to swim out a ways and find that I could still stand up.

Another thing we liked about the Keys was the pastel color scheme we found on all the buildings. Our cottage was lime green, but others were tangerine, turquoise, and light blue.

Since the Pelican Cottages didn’t include breakfast, on Tuesday morning we went next door to Mrs. Mac’s Kitchen and had omelettes for breakfast. Then, we set off for Key West and the Southern most point in the Continental United States.

Key West & The Overseas Highway

From 1902 to 1905 Florida’s Henry Flagler built the Overseas Railroad as part of the Key West Extension to his Florida East Coast Railroad. At the time, the railroad was known both as “Flagler’s Folly”, and “The Eighth Wonder of the World”. The 1935 Labor Day Hurricane wiped out the railroad, and the surviving bridges and roadbed was purchased by the Federal Government. In 1938, they opened the route as the “Overseas Highway”. In 1982, the original “7-mile Bridge” was replaced with a modern version, which you can see below. To the right, you can see portions of the original 1938 bridge, which is kind of spooky.

We got to Key West before noon. We found a free parking space by the Naval Air Station, and went looking for the buoy that (symbolically) marks the southern-most point in the US. At the end of Duvall Street we found the Southernmost House Key West, a restored 1897 Victorian mansion, now a hotel and restaurant.

Right in front of that we found a line waiting to take pictures in front of the commemorative buoy. We handed our phone to the couple behind us, they took our picture, then we took theirs, and we went off for lunch.

Since we parked next to the Key West Naval Air Station, we looked for a restaurant near our car. We found Olives Mediterranean Grill and had some nice Turkish pita wraps. After lunch, we got in our car and drove to the Fort Zachary Taylor State Park, where we explored the old Civil-War era fort, which was buried in the sand dunes, and rediscovered in 1968.

The project uncovered the largest collection of Civil War-era seacoast cannons and artillery in the United States—over 140 cannons—along with thousands of cannonballs, shells, and a rare steam-powered Civil War desalination plant.

One feature of the park, and Key West in general, are the wild chickens and roosters that roam free. I don’t know if they are protected or not.

Walking back to our car, we also saw two large iguanas (one pictured below) and a two-foot long green lizard, which Google identified as a Cuban knight anole. It was impressive and fast.

Our Tuesday night hotel was in Marathon, Florida, one of the middle keys. That meant that we had to leave Key West, and head back in the direction of Key Largo. As we crossed Big Pine Key, we entered the National Key Deer Refuge. Key Deer are the smallest species of White Tailed deer. There were not a lot of cars on the road, so I was going about 35 mph, and, sure enough, we saw one grazing by the side of the road. A wonderful ending to the day.. When we finally got to our hotel in Marathon, we were pretty tired.

Marathon Florida

On Wednesday in Marathon we took a tour of the Sea Turtle Rescue Center. This is a 90-minute tour; 30 minutes are spent inside learning about the different kinds of sea turtles and the different kinds of disasters that befall them, and an hour is spent touring the facilities and seeing the different turtles in their recovery ponds.

This turtle, for instance, was struck by a boat, and had one of his front flippers amputated. Surprisingly, sea turtles can still survive with one missing flipper, so he will be released after some time of recovery. As part of the tour they showed us the operating room as well.

There are some ailments that prevent the turtles from being released back into the wild. One of these is “bubble butt” or positive buoyancy syndrome, where air becomes trapped between the turtle’s shell and its body. These “permanent residents” are kept in a large pool. 

Those turtles that can be released are placed in an exercise pool for a few months to strengthen their swimming abilities. Here is one of those turtles exercising. 

If you want to know more about The Turtle Hospital, then visit their website where you can meet all of the current patients, and learn about those who have been released.

Kathy and I were married on October 22, 1972. That meant that on our anniversary we would be deep in the Everglades National Park, with no real access to nice restaurants. So, we decided to have an early anniversary dinner at Sparky’s Landing, right next to our hotel.

Before we left the Keys, we had to try conch fritters and shrimp egg rolls. They were OK, but I wasn’t overwhelmed. However, I am overwhelmed with the 54 years Kathy and I have spent together.

Wednesday was our last night in the Florida Keys. On Thursday we’ll head into the Everglades National Park to spend two days in Flamingo, Florida.