Beth and Jake invited us to go to the
Florida Keys with them earlier this year. They used to live in a trailer park down there. That's probably not how the locals referred to it, but I don't have a better term. It was a classy gated trailer park community on the water with a jacuzzi, a pool, bath houses, and a guard at the entrance keeping out anyone who didn't belong. We took them up on the invitation and went down there last weekend. It was a short trip, but it was great. I, for one, needed a little break - and I love going to new places and learning new things.
I learned a lot of interesting things from stories that Beth and Jake were telling us. Most of which prompted Wikipedia searches because I'm a Wikipedia freak. And those searches yielded even more interesting information. Apparently the Keys used to be inhabited by "
wreckers" - sort of like pirates or privateers. I'm still a little confused as to whether they stole valuables from wrecked ships, or helped the owners of the ships to recover their valuables for a hefty fee... Sometimes the cargo they found was pretty weird (check out the article). They also told us about this spy blimp that the military used to spy on Cuba. It was called "
Fat Albert" - if you read the story you'll learn that it's actually an aerostat (a tethered balloon.) I tried a few times to get a picture of it, but none of them came out. The most interesting and amusing thing I learned was the whole history of the
Conch Republic (apparently pronounced "konk".) You can read more about it on their official website
here. The short, short version is that Key West actually seceded from the United States in the 80's, declared war by hitting an officer with a loaf of stale Cuban bread. They then surrendered and applied for foreign aid from the U.S. - all because of an annoying roadblock. There's more to it than that, and more incidences as well like the Invasion of '95. Pretty amusing stuff.
In addition to the history and stories, I got a pretty decent feel for the place. I really knew nothing about the Keys before we went. What I learned was that it's just south of Miami - a very nice drive since we rented a convertible. We drove down through the Everglades which weren't as tall as I was expecting. For some reason I expected jungle canopy, but it was really just a marsh. The whole area is actually pretty flat - like a meadow, but instead of grass there are mangrove trees and alligators. Consequently, the Keys are not really that nice for swimming - not a lot of good beaches apparently. It's more of a boating/fishing place. We rented jet skis while we were there. That was a first for me. I'd like to try it again on a day that's not so windy and I'd like to be wearing goggles... I inhaled part of the Atlantic and got a sinus infection. We ate at a number of delicious places. There were three that really stood out:
Camille's Restaurant (the best damn omelet I've ever had - crab, brie, asperagus, and dried tomatoes I believe),
Blue Heaven (beautiful restaurant with tasty food), and
El Meson de Pepe (excellent Cuban cuisine). I also had liquor for breakfast almost every morning... I discovered (or rediscovered? may have had it before) an excellent cream liquor that goes by the name "
Amarula". The website is nearly as amazing as the booze actually...
Anyway, those are the highlights... Also Jake bashed his head open and bled everywhere - that was pretty rad. Here's the photo gallery for the trip to the Keys:
http://picasaweb.google.com/evans.tucker/FloridaKeys#slideshow
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