Key Largo and Islamorada....

Since we so rarely have a car these days, we thought we'd run a few errands and take a drive up to the Upper Keys.

Despite several previous trips thru Islamorada, we had never stopped at the Hurricane monument. To understand the significance of the Hurricane monument you must first understand a bit of the Florida Keys history. In the early 1900's Henry Flagler built a railroad from the Florida mainland through the Florida Keys. This railroad was the first connection of the Keys to the mainland of Florida and was a very significant achievement for its time. In the 1920's construction of the Overseas Highway began. In many cases the highway was built over the top of the existing railroad bridges. Much of this construction was completed by WWI veterans who, after returning from the war, were in need of work. Many of the veterans remained in the Florida Keys following the completion of the Overseas Highway to support maintenance of the bridges.

In September 1935 the Florida Keys experienced their first known hurricane with winds in excess of 200 mph. The storm devasted the Florida Keys, destroyed many of the bridges and took many of the veterans as casualties. The Hurricane monument was erected in memory of those lost on the fateful September day.

What would a day of sightseeing be without food??? We lunched at the Lorelei - one of our favorite open air bar/restaurants in the area. The music is always fun and the food always good but we were further entertained by the NautiLimo, a floating pink Cadillac we found floating on the docks. One thing is certain - you never know what you will find while in the Florida Keys.

We had to, of course, make a stop at the best fishing store in the area, the World Wide Sportsman. The boys decided to show off a bit of fishing finesse of their own and boarded the replica of Ernest Hemingway's fishing boat which sits in the center of the store and managed to reel in (no reel involved) a stuffed mahi mahi. Impressed? Me neither. =)

The Admiral

3/21/09