Markham County Park, Sunrise, Florida
This is My covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. …and it will be the sign of the covenant between Me and you. …every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner – those who are not your offspring. …My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant. ~ Genesis 17:10-14 And now you know where the practice originated! Circumcision is a sign – a seal if you will – of wholehearted commitment to God. It marked them as God’s people. Similar to baptism in the Christian faith today. In fact, we learn in the New Testament that circumcision wasn’t a requirement for those not of the Jewish faith in order for them to be recognized as Christ-followers (Galatians 5:6). It wasn’t the act itself, but the symbolism of the act – devotion to God. In some other religions/people groups, it is considered a rite of passage from boyhood to manhood and is performed at or about the age of 13, and ushers them into full participation within the community.
I know it seems weird that we’d say we’re on vacation. Many of you think that’s all we do, but you’re wrong. We don’t vacation, we live on the road. Today, we went on vacation.
It’s a two-hour drive from Markham Park to our overnight reserved room at the Ragged Edge Resort in the village of Islamorada; a community that sprawls over six of the more than 800 Florida Keys – Plantation Key, Windley Key, Upper Matecumbe Key, Lower Matecumbe Key and the offshore islands of Indian Key and Lignumvitae Key. It’s an additional two hours to Key West.
When we started out this morning (shortly after 7am), it was getting overcast, and remained that way for a while. But true to Florida, the clouds cleared out and it was a spectacular day! Perfect for a spectacular drive! I don’t know where the dividing point is between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, but Key West sits in between them.
Two years ago, we kayaked a mile to get to it, and had the entire island to ourselves. : )
At the end of Knight’s Key (the city of Marathon), the 7-mile bridge begins and takes you across nothing but water until you enter Little Duck Key – which, believe it or not, is still 38 miles from Key West.
The bridge is called “7-mile bridge”, but it’s technically 6.79 miles long, and it’s not the only one you have to cross to get all the way down to Key West. There are actually a total of 42 bridges that make up the Overseas Highway, which runs 113-miles across coral and limestone islands from the tip of Florida (Miami), to Key West. One of them happens to be almost seven miles long.
When I was looking for the length, I discovered the following article written by Jeff Klinkenberg for VisitFlorida.com, and I found it so interesting and well-written that I had to share it.
Finished in 1982, the longest bridge in the Florida Keys is wide enough to give a motorist room to pull over to change a flat tire and steal many glances at the perfectly green water.
The original bridge I grew up crossing was less friendly, narrow and harrowing, requiring concentration and a good grip on the steering wheel as you left Marathon Key on your way to Key West and suddenly found yourself driving over the ocean. Smart drivers kept eyes on the oncoming traffic instead of nature. The bridge seemed too constricted for two passing cars.
Completed in 1912, the old structure, initially a railroad bridge, was known as the “Eighth Wonder of the World’’ because even attempting to build something so ambitious over miles of open water and a soft bottom in a harsh tropical climate seemed a bit nutty.
As you drive over the modern bridge now you can see the old bridge nearby. Only the pelicans and great blue herons use it as a perch. But for some of us, the old bridge reminds us that the Keys have always been a place for dreamers and schemers who didn’t like to be told “You can never do that.”
Henry Morrison Flagler, a craggy, white-haired business genius who made his fortune in the oil business, hadn’t gotten rich by being cautious. In the 19th century he came to Florida, built a hotel in St. Augustine and founded the Florida East Coast Railway. By 1896, his train was going all the way to Miami. That wasn’t good enough. He wanted his railroad to go another 100 miles or so south – to Key West.
“Flagler’s Folly.’’ That’s what a lot of folks called it. “Just watch me,’’ was Flagler’s credo.
Starting in 1905, he spent $30 million of his own money to lay track and build dozens of bridges, hiring 4,000 workers for the small fortune of $1.50 a day. They had to wade through swamps where boots sank into the mud as crocodiles slipped off the banks. Some workers died of heatstroke and snakebite. Everybody was bitten by mosquitoes. Folks were chronically hungry and thirsty.
In 1908, the workers reached Marathon Key where about seven miles of open water lay ahead. Flagler’s civil engineers had to invent new technology as they went along. At their disposal were two steamships, tugboats, paddle wheelers, dredges, launches and a catamaran. Flagler sent away to England for a kind of cement capable of drying underwater. Divers wearing helmets positioned underwater structures. Barges swung in the current as workers tried to keep their balance.
They slept in tents and in bunkhouses Flagler built on Pigeon Key, about two miles from shore. The bunkhouses are still there. A ferry will take you to the island and a guide will show you around. Do it.
You’ll learn that on Jan. 28, 1916, the train rumbled to a stop in Key West. Flagler, 82, stepped out of his private car with his young wife. “Now I can die happy,” Flagler whispered to a friend. “My dream is fulfilled.’’
Dreams die hard in the Keys.The death of Flagler’s railroad happened on Labor Day in 1935. It began when the barometer started dropping. Nobody knew that the most powerful hurricane to ever hit the United States was on its way.
It swept across Matecumbe Key, in the Central Keys, that evening. Officials from the railroad had dispatched a train to evacuate residents and 800 World War I veterans who were living in tents and working on a new road near the railroad tracks.
The train arrived too late.
Years ago, I spent a day with Bernie Russell, whose family – 53 brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins – lived on Matecumbe as commercial fishermen and Key lime growers. He told me what happened as the eye of the hurricane got closer.
The wind rose and the tide creeped into buildings. Russell, two siblings and his parents, abandoned a crumbling fruit packing house and made a run for the railroad tracks at the high point of the island.
In the 200-mph winds, Bernie watched his mother blow away. He never saw her again. Other relatives disappeared in the howl of wind-driven rain. Somehow he and his dad survived. In the morning, they saw that virtually every palm tree on the island was snapped in half. The railroad cars were blown off the track. Only the locomotive, which weighed 320,000 pounds, stood up to the storm.
More than 400 bodies were recovered. Most had drowned though others were killed by flying debris.
Bernie Russell lost more than 40 relatives.
The Flagler railroad was lost too.
Not every bit, but enough that the Florida East Coast Railway decided to end service to the Keys. It sold the railroad line to the U.S. Government. A roadway was placed over the surviving railroad bed and broken track became the guardrails on the new motorist bridges.
The Overseas Highway, as it still is called, opened in 1938.
No wonder it’s closed. : )
That’s how close the marina is to the highway!
We made it Key West! The last time we were here, we had two little tag-alongs with us. As best as we can recall, it was 1989. The boys would’ve been three and five. I remember on the way down, there was an alligator on the floor of our car. (the boys were playing in the backseat – unrestrained by seatbelts back then 😊) I remember visiting an aquarium of some type that had a touch tank where the boys squealed with delight at touching things like stingrays and sharks. They also loved the anoles that graced the grounds and room of the condo we were staying in for free. (owned by Blaine’s then boss, the Heaters)I also remember that we had the only children on the island. Or at least it seemed that way. We ate dinner at a ‘cloth napkin’ restaurant one evening, and I remember us admonishing the boys to be still and quiet. They constrained themselves pretty well – for three and five year olds. But one of the best parts of the trip? The part that has resonated with me and caused me to be a kinder person? An elderly couple finished up their meal and stopped by our table to tell us that we had two of the most well-behaved children they’d ever seen! How sweet! For the rest of our time there – and forevermore – I looked at my children differently. And I try to let other parents know when I notice their children being sweet, because you never know what a kind word might do for someone.
We walked Duvall Street (the most popular one in Key West), stopped for a small lunch of fish tacos at Garbo’s, and then walked over to ‘The Southernmost Point in the USA’. After all, that’s the real reason we were here. The Point, not the fish tacos. 😊
It actually moved along fairly quickly and most of the waiting was done in the shade.
It’s an African Tulip Tree.
A couple of hours later, we were back on the highway and headed to our resort.
There’s only one road in and out of the Florida Keys, and most of the time, it’s just two lanes. You have no choice but to follow the traffic in front of you, and both directions today were a single stream of cars, like ants marching to and from their hill. (or like the ones in our coach a few weeks ago!) Most everyone accepts this fact, but not all. One woman in a pickup, who had been closely tailgating us for quite some time, decided that she was going to buck the line, and cut around us – over a double yellow line – barely squeezing in front of us before being hit head-on. Good grief! She then proceeded to ride the bumper of the SUV that used to be in front of us. Eventually, she went around that car, and one other (Two this time! Woohoo!). And that’s as far as she ever got. But she never stopped tailgating.
The woman who checked us into our place for the night, told us that there are really horrific accidents along that road all the time.
The Ragged Edge is such a wonderful place! It’s not a 5-star resort, but it was really nice. We sooo much enjoyed our time here – short lived as it was!
The owner/manager told us about a restaurant just a mile up the road where we could get some great food for dinner, so we got back in the Jeep and headed to the Twisted Shrimp. It had good reviews, but it looked like a hole-in-wall greasy spoon. I think there may have been two tables inside, and just a handful outside. The owners were there to welcome us and explain the menu if we had questions. We looked it over, placed our order and went outside to choose a table. It was a little noisy with the road right there, but the weather was perfect. So was the food! We shared everything!
I used the napkins on the table to take care of that. : )
And so firm, we had to cut them with a knife until we got them down to bite-sized.
Homemade cocktail sauce too. Yummy!
Back at the resort, we felt the call to relax on their ‘beach’.
Out at the end of the property, with the Atlantic Ocean lapping gently beneath us, we looked down and saw this really strange looking giant slug. Turns out, it really was a giant slug! Wanna know how I found out? I Googled ‘sea slug in florida keys with black circles’. And with the click of a button, there were pictures of it. I love how easy Google is!
The Spotted Sea Hare is a large marine slug that is relatively common in Bermuda. It grows to about 15 cm (6 inches) in length. The leathery skin is light brown, tan or olive and covered by large and small black rings and fine black lines. Sea Hares have a very thin shell inside of their bodies. If disturbed a Sea Hare will squirt violet purple ink. The ink is harmless to humans (but it will stain), but is thought to be an irritant to fish and other potential predators.
The Spotted Sea Hare can be found in tide pools along the rocky shore. It can also be found in shallow water on sandy or rocky bottoms with dense algae growth, and in seagrass beds. They feed on algae, mostly intertidal red algae.
There were an abundance of beautiful flowers too!
Later in the evening, we ventured back out to enjoy the sunset.
So majestic!