Events of Tuesday, January 18, 2011

                We awoke this morning in Miami Everglades Resort, Miami, Florida. It had rained almost all night long, and it was extremely muggy and humid when we woke up. Hurriedly, we dressed and ate breakfast and headed for Biscayne National Park for our canoe tour, guided by Volunteer Park Ranger Jim White, who had called last night to introduce himself and discuss last-minute details. We loaded up in the rental canoes: Ben and me in one, Abby and Mom in the second, and Dad and Lindsey in the third. Meanwhile, Ranger Jim got into his personal kayak (the teal-ish blue color which Lindsey loved), and a fellow kayaker named Roger joined us as well (from the Bay Area in California – near our home‼).

                We paddled out, started to get the hang of canoeing, and promptly got stuck in the mangrove-tree-lined shore. You see, Florida beaches aren’t all sand and palm trees like everybody thinks. In fact, some of the beaches in northern Florida actually cut away all the mangrove trees and pour in tons of new sand every year to produce the warm sandy beaches everyone covets when they think of Florida. Most of the shoreline, especially around Biscayne National Park is lined with mangrove forests. In fact, Biscayne National Park boasts one of the longest continuous stretches of mangroves left on the Florida's East coast. So we got right up, real close and personal … and entangled ourselves in the mangroves. This was just the beginning of what our fellow canoers heard from Ben’s and my canoe all morning: “Ben!?! Tree!?! Tree‼ TREE‼”

                Next, we paddled along the shoreline until we reached a little creek, into which we paddled inland. Here, we managed to get stuck again, creating quite a hilarious situation. Abby and Mom, being in the lead, were stuck ahead of us, while Ben and I were also stuck, blocking their exit. Both pairs in both canoes were trying to turn around, in a very tight space, in relatively long canoes, with pokey trees everywhere around us. We ended up backing out of it (canoeing backwards became quite easy to me by the end of the day) and then turning around in a more open area of the creek. After that little misadventure, we let the tide and current carry us back out of the creek, to visit two manmade islands in the bay. After discussing the birds and fish of the area, among other things, we spotted a great blue heron and several ibises and a brown pelican. Ranger Jim shared that the pelican spiritually symbolizes Christ’s self-sacrifice, because, in times of drought and, hence, lack of food, the mother pelican will peck at her breast until it bleeds, and feed her baby pelicans that way.

                Heading out to explore the sea grass, the wind took us out quite a way into the Biscayne Bay, so we worked long and hard to get back into the shoreline, and out of the wind. After that, we picked up a bit of trash and discussed the problems of the bay, like rubbish, leaks, and overfishing. Abby found two whelks, one big and one small.

                On our way back in, Daddy took a dip, and Abby took a slip. Lindsey and Dad shared one of the canoes, and Lindsey had turned around to face Daddy while canoeing, so they could talk better. When Daddy suggested she turn around and help him scout out some interesting stuff on the shallow sea floor, she stood up to do so. This tipped the boat just enough to flip poor Daddy onto his back, one leg straight up in the air, higher than his head. He even managed to get one shoulder wet. When it came time to disembark from the canoes, Abby stood up, slipped (because of her wet flip flops), fell, and dipped her bottom in the water, resulting in some very wet, very uncomfortable jean shorts. Before our canoe ride, Ranger Jim had given us the following mini safety lesson about the canoes – if we fall out, just stand up, because the Biscayne Bay is so shallow that the water won’t be over our heads. He also said no one has ever fallen out of the canoe, and Daddy was almost the first.

                Needless to say, we were in no state to get back into the RV. So we had a lovely picnic lunch outside in the shade of the trees, right by the bay, with a lovely cool breeze helping to dry everyone off. It was quite the enjoyable meal.

                Following lunch, we began the long drive down to Key West. I absolutely loved the cement highway medians along US-1. Normally, in states other than Florida, these cement blocks are simply the color of cement, gray. But these wonderful concrete barriers were painted the prettiest Florida aqua blue I have ever seen. It made me smile.

                But then we drove across a bridge through the bright light blue Florida water, and I saw an even prettier blue than the paint on those concrete barriers. It was an amazingly aquamarine color of water. Some parts even looked purple-lavender-ish. This is cheesy, but there really are no words to describe the color of this Florida water. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before, and it could not be duplicated by man for paint or dye or anything else. It’s a God thing.

                Before we knew it, we had arrived in Key West and were crazily driving through the narrow and crowded streets looking for a place to park our RV while we go to Dry Tortugas National Park via boat. A helpful visitor center suggested the motel next door. Here, we got a (as in one) room for two at $99, for one night. As you can see, this area is really benefitting from the tourism industry.

                From there, we walked over two miles to Mallory Square for their celebration of the sunset. One of my dearly missed friends is Mallory, spelled exactly the same way as the name of this square in Key West. So I missed her dearly. There was lots to see in Mallory Square: shops, artists, guitar-players and singers, jugglers, acrobats, fire breathers, and palm readers. There was even a bushman like in San Francisco near Pier 39! A bushman, for those of you who are not so worldly and well-rounded as I, hides behind what looks like a bush and then jumps out and scares people and somehow makes a living out of it. The best part of the sunset celebration in Mallory Square was, undoubtedly, the sunset itself. I took pleasure in the fact that these people were celebrating the simple things in life, like the sun setting. It happens every day, but it’s still worth celebrating. In fact, it’s like a celebration in itself. This sunset was nothing special, but it was still beautiful, and a fun experience all around.

                We then walked back through the maze of shops, bought Abby her third pair of sunglasses for this trip, got dinner at Wendy’s, and walked the long way back to the motel. Back at our “home base” for the night, we packed like crazy for tomorrow and went to bed hot and tired, Mom and Lindsey in the cool motel room, the rest of us in the RV parked in front of the motel. Hopefully the cops don’t have a problem with us being here. There is NO RV parking anywhere in Key West, due to the lack of space. We should be OK since we are registered guests at the hotel…but we shall see.