Cross country to Key West: Key West to NOLA

Well we've gotten good WiFi once we've arrived in Sun City so it's blogging time.

I left off after Key Largo so there's a lot of ground to cover to get through to New Orleans.  We headed down the causeway and got some photos of pretty much the same thing.  Water, causeway railings and some small islands for the next couple hours.  

Entering Conch Key

Seven Mile bridge in the distance

The old Seven Mile Bridge is on the right

There are trees growing on it now The original iron railings are falling apart.

The drive does have interesting spots as you drive through the various keys.  Places you can pull off and walk out onto the bridges between the islands are fairly common.  Folks park in the roadside lots and walk out to the channels and fish.  It's unusual to see someone in a hoodie with the hood up and long pants in 90+ weather standing in the sunshine.  If they didn't the wind and sun would bake them pretty bad.

We stayed at the Ibis Bay Resort which is one of the first you hit before the town of Key West proper begins.  It's a nice place to stay with Smuggler's restaurant on site which works in consort with the resort.  The restaurant has a link with Three Hands Fisheries, a small cooperative like group of fishing captains that provide local catch of all kinds.  Each captain has his own specialty that he fishes.  The guy that shrimps catches 30,000 to 40,000 pounds/month.  They all have decades of experience.  The Smuggler does an excellent job of preparing the fish.  It's a bit on the expensive side, but the food is worth it.

There's a nice beach area, not really improved for swimming, but great to sit by and just relax.  There are islands just offshore which are populated by pelicans and ibis and in the evening they all come back to the islands to roost.

Pelicans roosting

Ibis roosting on the same island

The Ibis Bay Resort has some tortoises in residence.

Old Coast Guard headquarters

Our first night there were storms so we were only able to catch sunset color from the clouds.

Hemingway House.

Old Key West Lighthouse

As far as Bozo can go

Tried again to catch the sunset from the marina area, no colors due to clouds. Bummer.

Even the birds watch the sunset.

From Key West we headed towards New Orleans, stopping in Naples and Pensacola on our way.  To get to Naples we avoided the freeway and took US 41 across the bottom of the everglades through the Miccosukee Reservation.  They have a cultural center and restaurant about half-way on the Tamiami Trail, which is US 41.  Before I-75 this was the way across southern Florida.  But, on the way, we continued our "practice" of stopping off at speedways, like we did in Indianapolis 2 years ago and at Daytona on our way down to Key West.  This time we stopped at Homestead/Miami and the security guard was kind enough to let us enter and go into the grandstands for photos.  

Bozo at the finish line

Everglades. Not really much to see. Grass, water and because it’s so flat and no bridges views are slim, unless you take an airboat ride.

Miccosukee cafe outside dining. No dangling pets or children over the fence to entice the gators.

After you leave Naples you get into Florida’s cattle country. The “mountains of Florida”.

After you get past Naples you start to get into the cattle farming area of the state.  Not a whole lot to see except grass, trees and some small, poorly kept farmhouses, except for a few real nice estates.

I'm going to stop for the day.  Next time I'll cover our trip into New Orleans, for the 3rd time.  We went 3 years ago for our niece and nephew's 50th birthday.  The Seattle contingent rented a house and cottage in the Garden District.  2 years ago we came through on our Burning Bridges Tour.  We stayed at the Prytania Hotel then and did this time also.  It's only a short street car ride to get to Canal Street from there and there's a laundromat a block away.  

I'll cover NOLA, and beyond, in the next blog. 

Ciao for now.