We Have a Date With Jimmy Buffet, Ernest Hemingway and Humphrey Bogart
So excited, the 60th birthday trip is here! The ZiOs mobile is packed and I even threw Gerard in... yes, he is tagging along on this trip! We are headed to the Florida Keys. The house sitter has all the details for kitty care and I am excited to cruise the Overseas Highway. I managed to score three nights at Long Key State Park and we're hoping to get one night at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. If not we will land our last night at some full hook-up park to do our obligatory sanitizing of tanks.
Neither of us have ever been south of Homestead, Florida. This trip snorkeling, seafood, key lime pie and rum runners ARE the agenda.
So next time you hear from us we'll be having cheeseburgers in paradise... ok maybe these vegetarians will settle for fish tacos.
Facts About the Florida Keys
The Florida Keys are made up of about 1700 islands. Very few are populated and only 43 are connected by bridges.
The total land area of the Florida Keys is 137.3 square miles.
42 bridges connect the islands, with the longest being the world famous Seven Mile Bridge, and the shortest being only 37 feet long.
The inhabited Keys are connected by Highway US1, which is also known as the Overseas Highway. It was completed in 1938.
To find locations in the Keys, Mile Markers are used. For example, your hotel may be at MM 54. The tip of Key West is MM 0.
Famous people in history making their home in the Keys: novelist Ernest Hemingway, playwrite Tennessee Williams, and studier of birds John James Audubon. Hemingway's home can be toured in Key West.
Islamorada is considered the "Sport fishing capital of the world". Some of the best charter boat captains can be found here.
The "Hemingway Cat" is a polydactyl cat, a cat with 6 toes, acquired by Ernest Hemingway from a ship's captain in Key West. Today more than 60 of these cats can be found in Hemingway's home in Key West and are protected by his will. Some of these are decendents of Hemingway's first cat.
Some animals of the Keys: Key Deer, Lower Keys Marsh rabbit, Key Largo wood rat, Manatee, Caribbean Monk Seal, sea turtles, osprey, bald eagle, and so many more.
Do you like Key Lime Pie? The origin comes from the 19th century in Key West, Florida. Key Lime Pie is the official pie of the state of Florida as of legislation enacted on July 1, 2006. In 1965, legislator, Bernie Papy, Jr. wrote legislation stating that a $100 fine would be imposed on anyone advertising "Key Lime Pie" that wasn't actually made from key limes. It did not pass.
Marathon Key is home to the Turtle Hospital, at Mile Marker 48.5 bayside. It is the only veterinary hospital in the world dedicated to the treatment of sea turtles. It was opened in 1986 to heal injured sea turtles and return them to the wild.
Key Largo is known for John Pennekamp State Park, which was the first underwater preserve in the United States. It celebrated it's 50th birthday on December 10, 2010