Miami to Key West and Back / June 4 and June 7, 2008

Along U.S. Route 1 heading to Key West - Overseas Highway

On the way to Key West, there was a magnificent rainbow that stretched across Overseas Highway. Since I was driving, my friend grabbed her camera and started shooting. Thank goodness my windshield was pretty clean :) Overseas Highway begins a mile (1.6 kilometers) below Florida City on the mainland, where mile marker 126 starts counting down the miles to Key West. Following the former roadbeds and bridges of the Florida East Coast Railway, which was completed from the mainland to Key West in 1912, the highway shoots across the southern edge of the Everglades. (June 4, 2008) [B]

Along U.S. Route 1 heading to Key West - Overseas Highway

(June 4, 2008) [B]

Memorial to World War I Veterans - Islamorada

Memorial to World War I veterans who perished during the Labor Day hurricane on September 2, 1935. They were building bridges to replace ferries, which crossed to and from the mainland. They lived in a camp near this site. The road was rebuilt on the railway bridges leaving the unfinished piers as a memorial to the hundreds who lost their lives. Islamorada, Village of Islands, is the name given by early inhabitants of the Florida Keys and is a series of keys made up of Plantation, Upper and Lower Matecumbe and Windley Keys --> Mile Marker 73 to 90. (June 4, 2008)

Memorial to World War I Veterans - Islamorada

Memorial to World War I veterans who perished during the Labor Day hurricane on September 2, 1935. They were building bridges to replace ferries, which crossed to and from the mainland. They lived in a camp near this site. The road was rebuilt on the railway bridges leaving the unfinished piers as a memorial to the hundreds who lost their lives. Islamorada, Village of Islands, is the name given by early inhabitants of the Florida Keys and is a series of keys made up of Plantation, Upper and Lower Matecumbe and Windley Keys --> Mile Marker 73 to 90. (June 4, 2008)

Remains of the FERA (Federal Emergency Relief Administration) Bridge Piers at MM-73 - Islamorada

Easily seen are the innocent looking coffin-like rectangles in the bay just south of Lower Matecumbe Key at about MM-73. They are the piers for the bridge that never was. These chunks of concrete are the actual monuments for this little known epic struggle of politics and human survival. Islamorada, Village of Islands, is the name given by early inhabitants of the Florida Keys and is a series of keys made up of Plantation, Upper and Lower Matecumbe and Windley Keys --> Mile Marker 73 to 88. (June 4, 2008)

Overseas Highway MM -73 - Islamorada

On the way to Key West Islamorada, Village of Islands, is the name given by early inhabitants of the Florida Keys and is a series of keys made up of Plantation, Upper and Lower Matecumbe and Windley Keys --> Mile Marker 73 to 90. (June 4, 2008)

Overseas Highway MM -73 - Islamorada

On the way to Key West Islamorada, Village of Islands, is the name given by early inhabitants of the Florida Keys and is a series of keys made up of Plantation, Upper and Lower Matecumbe and Windley Keys --> Mile Marker 73 to 90. (June 4, 2008)

Overseas Highway MM -73 - Islamorada

On the way to Key West Islamorada, Village of Islands, is the name given by early inhabitants of the Florida Keys and is a series of keys made up of Plantation, Upper and Lower Matecumbe and Windley Keys --> Mile Marker 73 to 90. (June 4, 2008)

Overseas Highway MM -73 - Islamorada

On the way to Key West br>Islamorada, Village of Islands, is the name given by early inhabitants of the Florida Keys and is a series of keys made up of Plantation, Upper and Lower Matecumbe and Windley Keys --> Mile Marker 73 to 90. (June 4, 2008) [B]

Overseas Highway MM -73 - Islamorada

On the way to Key West br>Islamorada, Village of Islands, is the name given by early inhabitants of the Florida Keys and is a series of keys made up of Plantation, Upper and Lower Matecumbe and Windley Keys --> Mile Marker 73 to 90. (June 4, 2008)

Overseas Highway MM -73 - Islamorada

On the way to Key West Islamorada, Village of Islands, is the name given by early inhabitants of the Florida Keys and is a series of keys made up of Plantation, Upper and Lower Matecumbe and Windley Keys --> Mile Marker 73 to 90. (June 4, 2008)

Overseas Highway MM -73 - Islamorada

On the way to Key West Islamorada, Village of Islands, is the name given by early inhabitants of the Florida Keys and is a series of keys made up of Plantation, Upper and Lower Matecumbe and Windley Keys --> Mile Marker 73 to 90. (June 4, 2008)

Overseas Highway MM -73 - Islamorada

On the way to Key West - I was on the south side heading toward Key West but looking north :) What's that saying, "Don't look back." Well, who knows why I was looking north - my heart was certainly going south :) Islamorada, Village of Islands, is the name given by early inhabitants of the Florida Keys and is a series of keys made up of Plantation, Upper and Lower Matecumbe and Windley Keys --> Mile Marker 73 to 90. (June 4, 2008)

Overseas Highway MM -73 - Islamorada

On the way to Key West Islamorada, Village of Islands, is the name given by early inhabitants of the Florida Keys and is a series of keys made up of Plantation, Upper and Lower Matecumbe and Windley Keys --> Mile Marker 73 to 90. (June 4, 2008)

Heading back to Miami

Taken from inside the car as we were passing by . . . (June 7, 2008) [B]

Heading back to Miami

Taken from inside the car as we were passing by . . . (June 7, 2008) [B]

Heading back to Miami

Taken from inside the car as we were passing by . . . (June 7, 2008) [B]

Heading back to Miami

Taken from inside the car as we were passing by . . . (June 7, 2008) [B]

Heading back to Miami

Taken from inside the car as we were passing by . . . (June 7, 2008) [B]

Seven Mile Bridge - Heading Back to Miami

South of Marathon, U.S. 1 crosses the spectacular Seven Mile Bridge. One of the world’s longest bridges, it offers sweeping views of the open Atlantic on the left and the Gulf of Mexico to the right.The Seven Mile Bridge runs over a channel between the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Strait, connecting Knight's Key (part of the city of Marathon, Florida) in the Middle Keys to Little Duck Key in the Lower Keys. It is one of the forty-two bridges on US 1 in the Keys.I stopped on the side of the road while my friend got out to take the photos. Thanks, Barb :) (June 7, 2008) [B]

Seven Mile Bridge - Heading Back to Miami

There are two bridges in this location. The older bridge, originally known as the Knights Key-Pigeon Key-Moser Channel-Pacet Channel Bridge, was constructed from 1909-1912 under the direction of Henry Flagler as part of the Florida East Coast Railway's Key West Extension, also known as the Overseas Railroad.This bridge was badly damaged by the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, and subsequently refurbished by the United States Federal Government as an automobile highway bridge. It had a swing span that opened to allow passage of boat traffic, near where the bridge crosses Pigeon Key, a small island where a work camp for Flagler's railroad was located. Hurricane Donna in 1960 caused further damage.The present road bridge was constructed from 1979 to 1982. The vast majority of the original bridge still exists, used as fishing piers and access to Pigeon Key, but the swing span over the Moser Channel of the Intracoastal Waterway has been removed. (June 7, 2008) [B]

Seven Mile Bridge - Heading Back to Miami

South of Marathon, U.S. 1 crosses the spectacular Seven Mile Bridge. One of the world’s longest bridges, it offers sweeping views of the open Atlantic on the left and the Gulf of Mexico to the right.The Seven Mile Bridge runs over a channel between the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Strait, connecting Knight's Key (part of the city of Marathon, Florida) in the Middle Keys to Little Duck Key in the Lower Keys. It is one of the forty-two bridges on US 1 in the Keys. (June 7, 2008) [B]

Overseas Highway - Heading Back to Miami

(June 7, 2008) [B]

Seven Mile Bridge - Heading Back to Miami

South of Marathon, U.S. 1 crosses the spectacular Seven Mile Bridge. One of the world’s longest bridges, it offers sweeping views of the open Atlantic on the left and the Gulf of Mexico to the right.The Seven Mile Bridge runs over a channel between the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Strait, connecting Knight's Key (part of the city of Marathon, Florida) in the Middle Keys to Little Duck Key in the Lower Keys. It is one of the forty-two bridges on US 1 in the Keys. (June 7, 2008) [B]