Thursday, April 21, 2011
We checked out of the Marriott Residence Inn in Delray Beach about 10 o’clock. It was a beautiful bright sunny day. The temperature was already 83 degrees with a nice breeze blowing off the ocean. We drove west along Atlantic Avenue for our final cruise up the avenue. I mentally said goodbye to Atlantic Avenue and Delray Beach and I hope to return soon.
Delray Beach Looking South
We drove to Route 95 and aimed the car south. We whizzed by Hillsdale, Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Hollywood, and Miami at 65 miles per hour. It was interesting to see the tall buildings of the city of Miami in the distance. We came to the end of the highway and drove through a residential neighborhood before Interstate 95 ended and became Route 1.
The traffic was heavy as we approached a sign which warned us that there was a dollar toll ahead. I was driving so Jeff prepared the toll money. We passed signs for a Sun Pass or “Plate Photos”. After toll booths didn’t appear, we realized that overhead cameras took photographs of my license plate and I would receive a bill for the toll plus “administration fees” sometime in the future!
We passed through five similar toll booths which took photos of my car’s license plate. Will they all have additional fees added to the 75 cent or one dollar tolls we wondered? And how much?? Bummer! I’ll find out soon…
We continued on Route 1 southbound to Florida City, the last city on the mainland. It was about 12:30 and we decided to stop for lunch at a Cracker Barrel, then continue on to Key Largo. We had made a reservation at the Hampton Inn there and drove south on the Overseas Highway/Route 1 to find it.
After we checked in, we explored the hotel. The exterior of the building was ordinary, but the lobby and breakfast area were very nicely decorated. Our room was on the first floor with a private patio near the parking lot. The hotel resembled an old fashioned motel. Although the room was nicely decorated in a tropical motif, there was a musty smell in the room. Thank goodness for air conditioning! Perhaps rooms on the second floor were better, but we could not change because it was Easter weekend and rooms on The Keys were at a premium.
We walked down to the water and the shore was amazing! The bay was directly in front of the hotel. The water glistened a wonderful shade of sea green. There was a short sandy beach with lounge chairs and tropical plantings. There was a pool behind the beach, along a narrow canal.
I overheard a woman telling her young sons who were swimming that manatees had been sighted nearby and to be on the lookout. The grounds had beautiful tropical plants and trees. Small geckos scurried across the walkways. What a beautiful place! It would be a nice beach to relax and do nothing.
We wanted to see the rest of The Keys, so we left our luggage at the hotel and continued south on Route 1. Believe it or not, it took us three hours to reach Key West! The distance was about a 100 miles, but there was a lot of holiday traffic and the speed limit ranged between 35 mph to 55 mph. Just to keep everyone honest, there were many police radar-traps along the road.
The Overseas Highway is an amazing feat of civil engineering. We had learned in St. Augustine that the road had been built over Henry Flagler’s railroad tracks after a severe hurricane had destroyed parts of the track. Now driving on the highway, we could appreciate Flagler’s contribution to South Florida.
The highway essentially connects several of the islands in the archipelago at the end of the Florida Everglades. The islands were formed from fossilized coral and sand bars. Bridges connect the islands and the longest bridge is appropriately called The New Seven Mile Bridge. All the islands are inhabited and have colorful names like: Islamorada, Plantation Key, Tavernier, Upper and Lower Matecumbe Key, Long Key, Conch Key, Duck Key, Grass Key, Ramrod, Cudjoe, and Bahia Honda.
The city of Key West is a well populated town with a Naval Air base. It’s nickname is the “Conch Republic” and it is the southern most city of the continental United States. According to Wikipedia, Key West has a population of about 26,000 in less than six square miles.
We arrived at the end of Route 1 and luckily found a parking garage for the car. It was about 5:00 o’clock, and we still had a couple of hours of daylight to explore Key West. Now we were sorry that we had not made reservations to stay here, because we had to drive back to the hotel tonight and we felt it was getting late.
We walked to the shore to see the harbor. There were many private yachts and many head-boats for hire. There were serious fishing boats, sail boats, catamarans, you-name-it boats! We walked along the famous board walk along the shore. There were boats on our right and bars on our left with lots of people, noise, and music.
As the sun set, there was a breeze and the air cooled off a little. We sat in one of the bars for a cold non-alcoholic drink and watched the crowd. Then walked around some more.
Key West was definitely a happening place! There were lots of people, lots of activity, lots of noise, lots of music! We drove back to Key Largo in the dark and planned our return to Key West the next day.