Tag: National Parks

Mammoth Cave National Park, KY

The weather was dropping below freezing with a chance of snow over the next few days, so, to make the most of the warmth before the cold front, I followed a route that would take me first to Kentucky, then to North Carolina, then onto South Carolina. After all my time in the balmy, south Florida heat, I wasn’t quite ready to change my wardrobe to full-on winter yet. I wanted to ease my way in. With this route, I could enjoy the beauty of the national parks in each respective state while still having feeling in my fingers, nose, and toes.

I researched which parks were dog friendly and which activities would allow Ella. That really helped in the planning because I realized I wouldn’t need to allot much time in parks that weren’t dog friendly. Those would require only a day trip, which would leave the possibility of exploring and camping at a nearby state park or visiting friends and relatives.

The Kentucky hills are full of caves, and, in fact, the state boasts the most caves in the union. These caves make for an above ground landscape that is rolling with gentle grades and sharp declines, not to mention sinkholes in abundance. Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky is named after the largest underground dry cave in the US. It was our next stop.

Ella was allowed on all the trails in Mammoth Cave NP which was fantastic. They were gorgeous! Because it was winter, they were strewn with fallen leaves from sleeping, deciduous trees that stood tall and prominent. Although there were no green leaves in sight, the rocks were gleaming with a lush carpet of green, dewy moss that sparkled in the sunshine. The trails were cut into the hillside which sloped down to a river. Exposed formations of rocks were stacked in tiers creating a natural amphitheater. Because the trail sliced through the hill, tree roots were clambering between the rocks for space.  It looked like a giant’s staircase covered with shaggy, green carpet and adorned with ornate and intricate woodwork.

The trails were well marked, and the changes in elevation got our blood pumping. Because the trees were bare, Ella could see every squirrel digging for every nut, and there were a bunch. She was pretty sure she could catch them all! The sky was clear blue, and the air was very cool and crisp. Exactly what you would hope for on a winter’s day in Kentucky.

There were about five or six trails that we explored throughout the afternoon. The trails were of varying difficulties, and one was even a handicap accessible trail, built through some beautiful parts of the park that covered flat ground near bends of the river where springs bubbled up with crawfish and other water life. The trails wove through the woods near the Green River and the River Styx. The River Styx is an underground river that flows through caves and rocks and meets up with the overground Green River through a series of tiny waterfalls and springs. The hillside where these two rivers meet is configured naturally with sandstone and limestone and stands like a wall with tiny waterfall windows. The weather was cool enough that there were icicles hanging off the rocks and twinkling in the sun.

Looking over a whole landscape of rocks and winter trees and dead leaves you would think that the terrain would get monotonous, but it was a constant source of fascination and interest. The vines that are normally green and thick with life are bare, and you can see their twiggy outlines twist through the trees, climbing upwards and branching off into other trees before cascading back down. The trees were varying widths and heights and colors, everything from dark sable to white. And I really couldn’t get enough of the moss-covered rocks. I have an inordinate fascination with forest decay – moss, lichens, fungus, mushrooms. The amount of growth and life that is present in death – that replaces death – is awe-inspiring and truly exciting. And the moss in this forest oozed life.

As we were rounding out our last trail, we passed the Mammoth Cave sinkhole, or maybe I should say one of the sinkholes, because I think there are several. From there, it was a climb to the parking lot. Ella gets excited on our walks and has a tendency to pull on her leash, marching out ahead of me. I normally hate it and correct her. When we are climbing hills though, I’m not gonna lie, I really like the extra pull-power she provides. An added bonus – she is on the constant lookout for the most efficacious way to climb the trails, so when I follow her, I often avoid the wretched, jutting rocks and tree roots that I normally wouldn’t see. It’s kinda nice.

Mammoth Cave does not allow dogs inside the caves or on any cave tours, but they do have a kennel, so for less than $10 you can leave your pup for a few hours to do one or several of the cave tours. I opted for the tour that had 500 stairs, most of them descending into the cave, but there were many other small staircases inside, and then of course you had to climb out. It was an amazing experience being in this giant, dry cave, most of which consisted of expansive rooms or chambers that didn’t have the stalactites or stalagmites that you usually see in caves. In fact, what makes this cave remarkable is that most of the cave is above the water table, so these large, cavernous rooms stay dry.

We did however go into a part of the cave called the drapery room that had all sorts of watery and wet stalactites and stalagmites in intricate formations. We walked through several rooms on a pathway made up of footbridges and small staircases, and right in the center of one of the rooms, from probably 100 feet up, there was a waterfall that fell in a giant column through the middle of the room. The water landed about 30 or 40 feet below the footbridge. Spectacular.

We saw leggy cave crickets but no other real wildlife. The bats were hidden in dark crevices and corners, out of sight. There were two Rangers that walked with us, one in front who turned lights on as we went in and one behind who turned lights off as we passed through. The reason for the diligence toward inky darkness is to cut down on any algae that might grow in the artificial light because when the algae grow, the cave crickets will rely on it for food instead of leaving to forage outside. It’s the leaving that gives them diversity in their diet which in turn leads them to providing diversity in the diets of cave bats and fish.

To follow the warmer temperatures, Ella and I did not camp in KY that night but drove on to TN in anticipation of the Smokies. The drive through Kentucky at dusk was beautiful. The hills were rolling with a giant patchwork of green, winter rye and wheat-colored grasses; red farmhouses with silos and old, wooden barns dotted the landscape. The sunset was softly lit with pastel hues of purples and blues with a tinge of pink that contrasted the barren, black outlines of oak trees that would rise and fall on the horizon. Straight ahead, as my Subaru was rolling over the hills, was a pure, white, crescent moon as if it was die-cut into the sky. I drove slowly so I could soak in the evening’s scenery before it got dark.

After the visual feasts of the day, that moonrise was my dessert wine – sweet, brief, and satisfying.

Biscayne NP

Biscayne National Park is almost entirely undersea, and since Ella is a bona fide landlubber, we spent our time exclusively on the hiking trails. This park is made for water sports – boating, swimming, and such – so to enjoy the park properly you should kayak, snorkel, or even better, scuba. Or take a chartered boat trip out to the Biscayne Bay and to nearby coral reefs. Since that wasn’t our fare, we enjoyed our hikes on a couple of trails, a few of which were really cool because they were lined with craggy and porous coral pieces, even though the vegetation was rather unremarkable. One of the trails, however, was on a boardwalk through a mangrove forest, and we had an opportunity to see what the mangroves are like at eye level. The long and leggy roots underwater are just as fascinating as the twisting, leafy branches in the open air.

It was really pretty neat, but there’s not much to see if you’re not underwater, so we headed on to the Keys after our hike. We completely bypassed the Dry Tortugas, another island designated as a National Park off the lowest end of the lower keys, which you can only get to by plane or boat, neither of which interested Ella. Next time!

The Keys

The Keys, while charming, were underwhelming, I’ll have to say. I was really expecting way more, which is the bane of expectations, isn’t it? I thought I would be overcome by the breathless beauty of idyllic tropical islands. The reality is the beaches were almost nonexistent, and the whole of Hwy 1 that runs 150 miles through to Key West felt like an extended strip mall. The vegetation is mostly just scrub all around, not nearly as beautiful as most of the trails in the state parks, the national seashore, or in the Everglades, or even on mainland Florida. The islands were beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but not comparable to other parts of Florida, a state which, in general, has amazing state parks and a plethora of them. I don’t mean a lot of state parks, I mean hundreds. I can’t even imagine how many. I was really hoping to find a list of state parks with the goal of getting to all of them. Lol. You could never do that in few weeks in Florida. There are just so many – and not just state parks but wildlife management areas, and refuges, and rehabilitation areas. It’s amazing. It makes me so proud of our nation’s commitment to wildlife preservation and conservation! But I digress.

Key Largo is not a particularly beautiful island, and apparently there was a demand for a beach that looks like what most of us expect the beaches in the Keys to look like. To appease tourists, there is a man-made beach at the very Southern end of the island, complete with sand and palm trees. It was cute and well populated with sunbathers, kayakers, and sailors of all types. It was 85-90 degrees, and the women were in bikinis. As Ella and I walked around the beach from pier to pier, we passed a man on his phone sitting at a park bench next to a tow service vehicle. As we walked on further, we passed a couple looking pensively towards the water. It took a few more moments to register what they were looking at. Their sailboat had run aground – the tow was obviously for them. There are numerous, numerous boat rental companies in the Keys. I have no idea if the couple were locals who owned this boat or if they were tourists who tried their luck at a Key Largo adventure by sailing a rental into unfamiliar waters. Either way, at least they could lament their misfortune from the vantage point of a beautiful, bona fide, sandy, palm beach! Ella’s commitment to staying on land was affirmed at this point.

There are so many smaller and larger keys along the way, and each one seems to have its own, unique environment. Long Pine Key has a deer refuge, but the key deer are everywhere. I drove around the island specifically looking for them, and ohmygosh, I found some! Driving through a neighborhood, I found four or five, maybe six, lounging on a front lawn. I guess the residents there are just super used to seeing them. There are signs everywhere that say drive slowly; the deer’s biggest enemy are cars, so I did drive very slowly. When I saw these deer, I pulled over onto somebody’s yard (sorry, person!), and I got out to take pictures. They were so small and cute! One started walking towards me and came right up to me. I put my hand out in a greeting, and it sniffed my hand, its little wet nose brushing my palm. My heart! It turned and went back to its little group, but they stayed right there in the yard, scared of nothing. They were really precious.

The Keys may not be immersed in beauty above land, but it’s the action below water that is what they’re known for. When you’re in the Keys you must do the water sports. All of them. The water sports and the underwater wildlife are where it’s at. The Keys are created for scuba, for snorkeling, for boating, jet skiing, wind sailing, kayaking, etc. The coral reefs, the brightly colored fish, anemones, starfish, sea horses, and jellyfish all light up the underwater landscape. Of course, I didn’t do any of those with trusty Ella, so we traversed the few trails we could find. The John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park has glass bottom boat rides that I hoped Ella might be welcomed on, but they weren’t running the day we went. If you’re going to the Keys, you need to know it’s not really all that worth it to stay above ground. But if you want to see what’s below the water, I understand it’s teeming with wildlife.

Each of the keys has a little bit different feel, and there are so many of them! There’s even one called Saddle Bunches, which is an adorable name. It’s just a whole bunch of tiny mangrove islands, uninhabitable really, but connectors for the Hwy 1 bridge spans.

The Keys definitely have a beachy, island, laid back feel. It’s even more laid back than mainland beaches because there really isn’t much else going on. No high-rises and no multi-million-dollar-businesses. No high-stress lifestyles, so the vibe is cruise and care-free. There were a few more affluent keys, but the vibe was the same. If you’re not into water sports, the only thing left to do is eat and drink. I did my part. Fortunately, all the restaurants have outdoor seating, so Ella was welcome everywhere.

To space out my food and alcohol intake in a reasonable manner, I made a list of all the places I wanted to hit based on blogs and recommendations I had read online. Many people had gone before me and made lists of places one HAD to go and things one COULDN’T MISS, so I compiled a list of restaurants, bars, exhibits, and attractions that piqued my interest. Down there, businesses have regular street addresses but also are described by mile markers. Key West starts Hwy 1 at mile marker 0, and Key Largo goes into the 100s. The mile marker of the business tells you where it is along the route – very convenient.  So, I Googled the mile marker of all the places on my list and put them in order. Then I decided which ones I would stop at for breakfast, for lunch, for drinks, for supper, or for key lime pie. Since I spent three days driving back and forth to my home-base hotel in Homestead, I had three days to hit all my spots. It worked perfectly.

The first day I did Key Largo; the second day I did some more Key Largo down to Islamorada; and the third day I did just about everything below the Seven Mile Bridge and into Key West.

Marker 88 is a restaurant with an outside tiki bar. Ella and I stopped there to take in the sunset and have a spicy watermelon margarita, and we sat next to an almost-local who gave me tips on the best places to visit. He was from Miami but owns a place on Islamorada, so they come every weekend and boat and snorkel. He said this was the BEST place to get Key Lime Pie. (I obliged. It was good, but my favorite was at Mrs. Mac’s Kitchen.) Over the course of the night, I had the pleasure of sitting next to some very interesting folks, but the most notable was when a guy from Long Island, NY, sat next to me on my right, and we chatted each other up. About ten minutes later, a dude sits on my left and says he’s from NY; to be precise, he’s from Long Island. What are the chances?! They tawked in thei’ N’Yawk accents fa quite some time befaw I left them to thei’ reminiscences.

On the third day, we stopped at the Bahia Honda Beach and then Big Pine to see the key deer before heading down to Key West. Our first stop at the mouth of Key West was the botanical gardens, which had lovely trails through a vast variety of palm trees and shipwreck artifacts. Once in town, however, I was again a little underwhelmed. I was expecting this beautiful beachy experience, but it was really just a commercial, touristy beach town, not very different from so many others.

Key West has far more homes than the other islands, and most of them are really cute and quaint, painted in beach pastels with wraparound porches and porch swings. The island is loaded with restaurants and attractions that cater to tourists, and we headed to the aquarium, which was awesomely dog friendly. It also gave us a taste of all the underwater flora and fauna we had been missing! We walked around Mallory Square, the main gathering point at the Southernmost tip, with lots of shops and museums. It was not the strip mall feel I had become accustomed to and had much more of a beach town feel, and it had a pretty historical significance. Key West was explored by settlers in the 1500s, and in the 1800s was an entry to the US while still being treated as a foreign nation, called the Conch (Konk) Republic.

Mallory Square was adorable with brick inlaid streets and shops with wrap-around porches and several little parks. It was fun to walk around, and the place was full of energy. We parked in a parking garage right at the beach at the Southernmost point, so that’s where we were regaled with the peaceful sunset with boats and palm trees as a natural backdrop.

We stopped at the Salty Frog at Mallory Square for supper, and a lady who could only eat half of the sirloin steak she ordered gave the rest to Ella. She said it would have gone to waste otherwise, so Ella got a half a steak and some leftover French fries from this dear sweet soul. Our server brought a bowl of water, and Ella was in heaven. A live musician was playing James Taylor tunes, and that was a really fun ending to a great Florida Keys week.

Most of the time it’s really fun to look around for areas to stay, to camp, and of course I have a preference for some place beautiful. I’m especially fond of state parks and stay in them as much as I can because there is almost always something to see and do. In the Keys, because it was their high season and the midst of Christmas and New Year’s, there were no camping spots available anywhere. I spent a lot more money in the Keys than I had anticipated because of the food and drink, but also because I stayed in a hotel. Hotels in the Keys were anywhere from $500-$2,000 per night because of the holidays, so I chose a little historic hotel in Homestead, on the mainland, where the room was $100 a night – budget for sure. It looked like it may have had a full clientele at one time, but those days were long past. As you walked in you were greeted by a large wooden staircase that wound upward, hinting that maybe it was a grand home for the town settlers a hundred-some-odd years ago. The carpet was thick, garnet-red, and accents of emerald-green accessorized the rooms. My room had a heavy, rose oil air freshener that hearkened back to a great aunt’s home during the holidays.  It was a dive hotel in a dive town, and the price was just right.

The fellow who checked me in handed me a key and made a point to say, “You’re the only one with a key to this room. Each room is keyed differently and has its own key, so you don’t have to worry about anyone else having a key.” Okay. I mean I wasn’t really worried about that, but now I just might be. And it was a real, true-to-life key, like back in the day. Actually, two keys – one for the outside of the building and one to my actual room.

That night while I’m asleep, at 1:30 in the morning, somebody opens my door with a key. I had pulled the bolt latch over, and I’m so glad I did. The door caught on the bolt latch with some force and woke Ella and me up. The perpetrator was all flustered and I heard him say, “Somebody’s in here, somebody is in 102,” and in my deepest, meanest voice, I said “HELLOOOO, Yes! Somebody is in 102!” trying to sound threatening. I heard him talking some more in the hallway. Then he went away – no apology, no explanation. My adrenaline was pumping pretty hard, and I was thinking how very thankful I was I secured the latch. I remember him saying, sort of muffled, “You told me there was nobody in this room,” so I had a couple of scenarios in my head. Either somebody who normally has this as a long-term rental was just coming back unexpectedly in the middle of the night, or maybe it was the Miami-based owner of the hotel who just needs a room for the night. I stayed awake for several hours, heart pumping, listening intently, but it didn’t seem like we were in any danger at all. It sounded like an honest mistake. There wasn’t anybody else in the hallway that I could hear. It sounded like he was alone, talking on the phone, trying to figure out why he was told that the room was empty. I also wanted to know why he was told the room was empty.

The guy went away as soon as he heard there was somebody in the room. It was obviously a mistake. I let it go. The next morning, while I was taking Ella for a walk, a workman stopped me and said, “Oh I’m so sorry! I want to apologize to you for what happened last night! We had an air conditioner leak, and the guy was supposed to get access through your room, but there was a mix up,” or something like that. So, apparently the perp was an on-call workman, bless his soul, probably awakened in the middle of the night and told to come do this job that nobody wanted to do and ended up busting in on a customer. It sure was quite the surprise for both me and Ella!

All-in-all, I was super happy to have this hotel room, so close and accessible to the Keys. Plus I got a nice warm shower and slept between sheets instead of in my roof top tent, which is pretty great. During the Keys’ high season, I felt like a thief, enjoying the modest, inexpensive digs, despite the shenanigans.