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The Continental Breakfast

Yummy danishes available for breakfast at many motels

Most of the motels we stayed at had what they call a "Continental Breakfast," which can consist of anything from a freshly cooked full breakfast of eggs and sausage, toast, or a hot buffet, where you help yourself to whatever you want, to a nice selection of fresh fruit, cereal, bagels, danish rolls, bagels, and a myriad selection of regional delights.

Then there is those other motels.  The ones that advertise a Continental Breakfast, but when you go to the breakfast room, you find out that there are already 75 people in line, and 8 tables to sit at, all occupied.

And the only things left are a couple of plain glazed donuts that are so old they're shriveled up like prunes.  Maybe the coffee urns are empty and the cereal milk is warm.

One of those motels was so bad that the old folks drove 11 miles to find something decent fer breakfast.

For that reason, now, whenever we find a motel, the old folks always make sure that there is a decent breakfast restaurant nearby.


Origin of the name "Keys"
by Sparky

I originally decided that the name "Keys" for the group of island that now have that name came from the fact that the pirates that used to live and work there was always having to lock up the treasure that they stolt from people, cuz other pirates, who might not be very honest, might steal it from them.

Since most pirates stolt everything from everybuddy, they got to stealing keys and locks along with everything else they stolt.  That way everybuddy could lock up everything all of the time, and they came up with a saying about their keys: "Don't leave home without them!"

Of course, there are people out there that will tell you that "key" comes from the Spanish word "Cayo," which means "Small Island."

And still others will tell you they are named after the world famous "Key Lime Pies," that everybuddy down there talks about and they eat them all the time.

Picture of world famous key lime pie


Sparky's Opinion on Key Lime Pies

There are a lot of different recipes for making Key Lime Pies, and all of the locals around the Keys each have a different opinion about whose aunt's recipe is best.

That slice of Key Lime Pie that I saw in a bakery window in Key West looked all yukky, cuz it had green stuff oozing out of it, and that reely looked bad.

Over the years I've learned that these new things come and go, but when all is said and done, you jest can't beat good, old fashioned, chocolate chip cookies washed down with chocolate milk!

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Sparky's Florida Trip Header, representative of things seen in Florida

Page 9
(By Sparky)

Key Largo, Florida
Movie poster of the African Queen movie

May 4, 2003, late afternoon, we arrived in Key Largo and checked into the world famous Holiday Inn.  What's it famous for?  Why, that's where the original boat "African Queen," used in the movie of the same name, is located, and it's available for personal cruises if you have sufficient funds and a need for such a boat ride.

In the movie it got blown up in the end.  Also, in the movie, Bogart cut a couple of holes in the front to hold his homemade torpedoes, and they aren't in this boat either, so maybe they used another boat to cut the holes in and blow up...or maybe this boat is really a fake."African Queen" boat next to the Holiday Inn at Key Largo

You can click on the website below to find out more about the African Queen and the tour of the coral reef in a glass bottom boat:

Key Largo Attractions & Information 

Glass Bottom Boat Tour.  The old folks took this boat tour, and since there was a glass bottom in that boat, everybuddy got searched to make sure they weren't carrying any glass cutters.  The boat took us on a seven-mile voyage to Molasses Reef in an air-conditioned cabin while me (Sparky) and Scruffy guzzled root beer and had a bite from the snack bar.

Sign showing the entrance to the glass bottom boat tour
Key Largo coral reef tour sign
Glass bottom boats ready for action
Key Largo glass bottom tour boat
View out the bottom of the glass bottom boat
View of glass bottom
Key Largo waterway to Straits of Florida
Waterway to Florida Straits 

Everybuddy watched the waters of the Atlantic turn from blue green to the brilliant royal blue of the Gulf Stream, then we went down into the basement of the boat, to the viewing area. With 280 square feet of glass, it's the largest viewing well of any glass bottom boat in North America. The windows are located in the flat part of the hull, so there's no distortion to affect your view as the narrator describes the remarkable undersea world of John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and the Key Largo National Marine Sanctuary.

There was even some reel cool junk in the bottom of the water, like a winch off of a boat that crashed there, and a pile of train tracks where a boat full of tracks sunk during the construction of the Flagler Railroad about a hundred years ago!

Oh, yeah, the fish were also reel cool.  Click on the link above for more information, or click below for information about the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park:

John Pennecamp Coral Reef State Park Information 

Some of you might be interested in what Dexter did while the old folks was away doing that boat tour.  The pitchers below tell the story

Dexter got hungry for a reel good mattress tag, and jest couldn't resist.  Then he decided to play "King of the pillow pile."  Nothing got hurt but the mattress tag.

Dexter eating the mattress tag

Dexter on top of the pile of pillows

Long Key State Park

We arrived at Long Key State Park on the morning of May 5, 2003, and everybuddy got out to stretch their legs and paws. (The old folks don't have paws, so they jest stretched their legs).

We walked along the wooden bridge over some swampy like area and got to a place where they had reel cool picnic areas, with a table and a roof over it.  Near the end of the walkway there was a great view of the Straits of Florida, which is another different kind of ocean, or something.  They also had a big coconut tree with coconuts growing all over it.  None of us guys wanted to learn how to climb up that tree and get us a coconut fer lunch, so we didn't get one.

Long Key State Park entry bridge
Long Key entry bridge
Long Key State Park picnic area with tables under roofs
Long Key picnic areas
View of Straits of Florida from Long Key State Park
Long Key view of Florida Straits
Coconuts on tree in Long Key State Park
Long Key coconut tree

They also had some mosquitoes, and the old folks each got another mosquito bite, and they smacked another 2 mosquitoes each, so that helped the scorecard a little.  For more information about Long Key State Park, click below:

Long Key State Park Information 

You ken click below to find out a bunch more about the Florida Keys:

Florida Keys Information 

Seven Mile Bridge was seven miles long, and was built for Henry Flagler's Overseas Railroad in the early part of the 20th century, but they cut it to let boats go under it, so now it is only about 2.5 miles long, and allows access to Pigeon Key.  That's too short to bother taking the bikes off of the bike rack, so the old folks didn't take a ride there.

Bahia Honda State Park is on the north end of another interesting bridge.  Built originally for the Flagler Overseas Railroad, it was comprised of a series of steel truss bridge segments anchored to concrete bases.  When the railroad was abandoned, the State of Florida decided to use it for the highway, but being a railroad bridge, it wasn't wide enough to handle 2 lanes of traffic.  An enterprising engineer decided how to add a 2-lane highway to the top of the trusses.

Motorists who drove over that bridge reported that it was a scary ride, since the roadway hung over both sides, and the entire structure was reported to creak and groan under the weight of traffic.  Today it has been cut at both ends to prevent access to the dangerous structure, and to provide access for boat traffic.

Bahia Honda State Park Information 

Middle of Bahia Honda Bridge, showing odd truss and the roadway above
Side view of bridge middle
View showing cutout on west end
View of cutout at west end
View from west end showing interesting construction
Side view of west end
Crumbling concrete visible at the west end of the bridge
Crumbling concrete

The website below shows some interesting construction details of several of the bridges in the area.  If the link below doesn't work, search for "Flagler Railroad Bridges" to find another website:

Old Flagler Railroad Bridge Information

Big Pine Key is where the tiny "Key Deer" live.  They are only 26 to 30 inches tall, and are on the endangered list.  You can find out more about them on this very good website:

Key Deer Information 

Key West

This is the southernmost point of the Continental United States.  We arrived there on the 5th in the afternoon, and checked into another motel.  The next morning, May 6, 2003, the old folks took a tour on a bus, and the driver took them all over the place.  They got off in the downtown area and found out that You ken buy more kinds of T-shirts and other stuff you don't need there than anywhere else in the area.  And in case you're having trubble finding enough flamingos fer your front yard or in your house, you ken jest go there to a flamingo store they saw.

Monument showing the southernmost point of the United States
Key West cement thingy
Picture of the southernmost house in the United States
Southernmost
U. S. house
Key West Gifts, your source for all your flamingos
Key West Flamingo Store
Key West Downtown area
Key West Downtown

After the bus tour, we took off fer Key Largo again, and you ken read all about it on the next page.  We didn't go back there to take that glass bottom boat tour again, we jest stopped at a motel again cuz it was getting late in the day, and those mosquitoes come out jest before dark.

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IS HERE!
THEY GOT US!!

SCORE CARD
as of May 4, 2003,
Mosquitoes, 15 bites
Old folks, 11 mosquitoes

As of May 5, 2003,
Mosquitoes, 17 bites
Old folks, 15 mosquitoes

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Copyright (C) 2004 by James J. Meagher