Florida update

I have so many photos, videos and antidotes about Florida from the last few weeks that I have once again overwhelmed myself and posted next to nothing. It's a habit of mine. The short of it is that we have biked at lot, generally 15 to 20 miles nearly everyday, walked for miles on the beach and bobbed mindlessly in the sea until the dirt and confusion of the world washed away. Don't hate me. It comes back.

According to local rumor, Oprah's cottage on Casey Key

We have also spent a fair amount of time biking and driving around in an effort to get an overview of the area. Florida is amazing but I wouldn't be saying that if we were spending much time in the cities. When I say Florida I mean the beaches. They are amazing. Florida has over 8000 miles of shoreline. And the wildlife is beyond amazing, although humans have paved over most of their habitat, leaving them to fend like hobos rummaging for leftovers. Will we learn before it all goes away?

Lizard enjoying the morning. Do you see the lizard?

This morning I rode to the little coffee shack on the jetty at the south end of Casey Key. In case you're wondering, a key is a skinny barrier island. Got lots of photos of pelicans sitting in a tree airing their wings and a lizard enjoying the morning. After breakfast M. Lee and I went for what amounted to about an eight mile walk on the beach although we gave ourselves credit for 10 given that we were walking on sand. We wanted to see if we could walk all the way to Oprah's shack but we didn't get that far (this time). It is cleverly situated in the exact middle of the key, and being that the filthy rich do not allow public access to the public beach, it is a long walk from the public beach in the hot sun. However, we did see Stephen King's house the other day. It's on the north end of the key, which is much easier to reach. It looks like a huge warehouse. I suppose the hurricane shutters were down. Anyway, I got this photo of Oprah's place during a bike ride on the key. It sprawls out of the photo on both sides and is far more grand than it looks. Use your imagination. Go wild. It would be hard to over estimate.

Most amazing house on the key.

This is about the time when baby turtles begin hatching from deep within the sand and scampering into the sea. There are several carefully marked nests long the shore but we haven't seen any of the little darlings make their famous short but perilous journey but we did find part of a turtle egg shell on the beach the other day. It was rubbery like a swim cap and, of course, I took about 40 photos of it. However, the big event today, as well as one of the big events of the whole trip, was spotting a manatee slipping through the gulf. A manatee! Sorry, Kristiana. I know you ordered a photo of a manatee but she was moving too fast. Still, a cavorting manatee happily nibbling sea grass in the sea? How cool is that? I still owe you a photo but, until then, use your priceless imagination and you will see her with your mind's eye. Isn't she lovely?



And the other day, while hiking in a wilderness reserve on a different key, we met this charming little gopher tortoise with sand on her lips. She was a beauty too. We were all stunned, Mr. Lee, the tortoise and I. Gopher tortoises are endangered and extremely shy so the three of us just stood there looking at each other not knowing what to do. Unfortunately, we did freak her out a bit but, in general, I think we did okay. We took a couple of photos and went on our way.