A Wayfarer's Journal
Subtitle
Kerry enjoyed her time behind the wheel of our Ford Mustang convertible. (Don't tell the rental car agency; my name was on the contract.)
I’ve never in my life been a huge fan of the Ford Mustang. At least I wasn’t, until Kerry and I traveled to Key Largo, Florida in early December.
If you’re not overly familiar with the Florida Keys, a quick review: The 120-mile stretch of over 1,700 islands has a permanent population of around 75,000, but around 4.5 million tourists stopped by for a few days (or weeks) in 2014, and the number grows every year. The mangrove-covered upper Keys reach into the crease between the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico from Manatee Bay, near the Florida mainland, to Islamorada. The 40-mile stretch is filled with dive shops, hotels, restaurants and rental properties. Below Islamorada (literally, “island home”), the Middle Keys are less crowded, but contain the fairly sizable city of Marathon (population 10,500), formerly the home of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore and more than a few other famous actors through the years.
We went for the tricked out Mustang convertible for our trip to Key Largo.
Speaking of Hollywood, our love of the Netflix original series “Bloodline” (which I highly recommend, whether or not you’re looking for potential travel locales) first planted in our minds the idea of a post-Thanksgiving/pre-Christmas weekend trip to the Keys. As usual, we looked to Expedia.com to begin the booking process when we decided on Key Largo, which lies a few miles north of Islamorada — the town where parts of “Bloodline” are filmed. We found a fantastic bayside chain hotel (the Key Largo Marriott) and decided we simply had to have a convertible for what figured to be a multi-day jaunt down U.S. Highway 1.
During our drive, we stopped for lunch at the Morada Bay Beach Cafe. Scenes from the Netflix original series “Bloodline” have been filmed here. Whether or not you’re a fan of the show, the waterfront beach dining is worth a try.
The final cost for the hotel (three nights), the Mustang and our non-stop, round-trip airfare from Atlanta to Miami (Frontier Airlines) was just over $1,300. Low-budget airlines like Frontier (thumbs up) and Spirit (thumbs down) gouge you for a few extra dollars for luggage (checked or carry-on, doesn’t matter) and actually picking a seat on the plane, but if you don’t mind the hassle of leaving Expedia.com and wading through a third-party website and then walking all the way through the terminal once you get to the airport — the budget carriers get the gates at the far end, typically — you’ll usually save a few bucks.
I was not very experienced with the rental car process before this trip, so I didn’t really know what was coming when we got to the Budget counter. Turns out I needn’t have worried. We were in and out in 10 minutes with walking directions to a parking deck where our jet black Mustang convertible was gassed and ready to go. Fifteen minutes after we walked away from the counter, we were zipping southward at 75 mph.
A few thoughts about rental cars: Check with your auto insurance company to make sure your coverage includes rentals. Also, do your homework on local gas prices before you accept the prepaid gas option from the rental car company. The option sounds like a good idea because you don’t have to worry about filling up the tank before you return the car. But unless you use every every last ounce of gas in the tank, you’re giving money back to the rental car company. (I figured we were getting a decent deal considering the nature of our trip, but we drove for two days straight and still returned the car with almost a quarter of a tank.) For more great rental car tips, we suggest visiting independenttraveler.com. You’ll learn all you need to know about choosing a car, the best way to book, pick-up and return policies, hidden costs, and much more.
Kerry and I took turns driving the convertible along U.S. Highway 1. We noticed a lot of convertibles on the road that weekend. Apparently, our idea for a long weekend in the Keys, and how to spend, it wasn’t as original as we thought. Still, we had a blast and recommend taking the drive — as long as you’re there in December, according to the locals who told us traffic on U.S. 1 is atrocious during the mid-December-to-August tourist season.
After dinner and an early evening, Kerry and I hopped up the next morning ready to put the top down and hit the road. Mother Nature had other ideas. We had been watching the weather for a week or more before we left, and for once the 10-day forecast was dead-on: constant, incessant, unending steady rain in Key Largo. Kerry thought she saw a sliver of a break in the clouds on the weather app on her smartphone, so we left the top up and headed south on Highway 1.
We drove 20 miles before we finally found sunshine. Our first stop was at the Hurricane Monument (pictures below) at mile marker 81.6 in downtown Islamorada. (Travel tip: If you drive through the Keys, learn to spot the mile markers since they’re what the locals will use to give directions to various landmarks, attractions, restaurants, etc.) Built by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s WPA in 1937, the coral block monument just across from the fire department recognizes the hundreds of World War I veterans and citizens who lost their lives in the massive September 1935 Labor Day hurricane that also wiped out Henry Flagler’s Florida East Coast (FEC) Railroad.
The Hurricane Monument in Islamorada was erected in 1937 by Franklin Roosevelt’s WPA to commemorate the hundreds of World War I veterans and Floridians who lost their lives in the Labor Day 1935 hurricane. The ashes of 300 victims are buried in the crypt.
After we snapped a few pics at the monument, we hopped back into the convertible and, top down, were quickly back up to 55 mph. The roads in the Keys weren’t very busy in early December, but several locals assured us that such pleasant traffic conditions aren’t typical, year-round. “It’s nuts at Christmastime, cars lined up for miles,” said one waitress. “You guys got here just in time.” The waitress also told us that the off-season in the Keys is September and October. “We’re closed for the entire month of October,” she said. “It’s pretty dead around here for a couple months. Hurricane season.”
We made several stops during our three-hour drive down Highway 1, including a walk on the isolated beach at Curry Hammock State Park.
Our next stop was at Curry Hammock State Park, about 25 miles below Islamorada. The park, which protects large areas of mangrove swamp, rockland hammocks and seagrass beds, is essential to the ecosystem of the Keys. Kerry and I spent a few minutes alone on the beach, splashing in the shallow, waveless waters of the Atlantic — or was it the Gulf, technically? If you’re into camping, there’s a 28-acre site set aside for you at Curry Hammock (call 800-326-3521 for reservations). Kerry and I aren’t campers, so we dried our feet and continued down the Keys towards Seven Mile Bridge — a 10-mile ride that we didn’t mind at all, since the weather was still sunny and 72 degrees.
The tracks from Henry Flagler’s railroad were welded together to form the railing on the old bridge (right) when it was converted to auto traffic in 1935. The railroad took nearly a decade to build and was considered an engineering feat, second only to the ongoing construction of the Panama Canal.
We shot straight across Seven Mile Bridge — all 6.79 miles of it — and then turned around and came all the way back across before parking at the northern end. Pedestrians, cyclists and fishermen are still allowed on the original bridge, which began its life as a passage for the FEC Railroad in 1912. After the 1935 hurricane, the railroad ceased operation and the federal government converted the bridge to vehicular traffic until 1982, when it was replaced by a new span that runs directly alongside (sometimes within just a few feet). Look closely and you’ll notice that the original train tracks were welded together to build the guardrail that sits atop the bridgeway. (The Florida Department of Transportation will begin a $77.5 million restoration of the old bridge in March 2016.)