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Tourist in the Keys
Mar. 6th, 2008 10:00 pmI'm not really into helicopters, especially not considering how expensive they are. But I got an opportunity to ride with Uncle D in his, in the beautiful Florida Keys, so if I ever were going to ride in one, now would be the perfect time. Only an idiot would turn down such an opportunity. Am I an idiot?
Yes. Yes, I am.
But only for about thirty minutes until I got talked into it. I got a jacket and a life vest, I signed a release form, I put on the helmet with speaker-containing headphones and a microphone. I didn't want to bring anything that might slip out of the helicopter, so I didn't bring my camera, but Robin made me take his, which has a neck strap. (Pictures later. Sorry.)
Uncle D has brought many people up in his helicopter, at least one of whom became hysterical when she got back. So I let him know what kind of person I was: I'm not afraid of heights, but I am not a thrill-seeker. He said that riding in a helicopter is not thrilling, it's just fun.
It's definitely scary going up in that tiny thing with no doors on the sides, but D did everything gently and the first (highly banked) turns were to the driver's side. He couldn't resist doing a quick drop at one point, but he warned me ahead of time. Scary!
It wasn't as beautiful as I had thought it would be, but it was a great perspective. I got to see that the ocean floor was mostly lumpy, but had some deep parts carved out (partly by man, I'm afraid). We saw a boat parked at the edge of one of these trenches and people had gotten out and were wading in the shallows nearby.
**
Then we did something much more dangerous. We got into Uncle D's converted Chevy Suburban, which had no seatbelts in the back. This is the vehicle I once mentioned before from which the roof was cut off.
They're rolling back the cover. Love that paint job.
We took it to Robbie's to feed the tarpon.
There were signs everywhere warning us not to feed the pelicans. Sadly, I found the pelicans to be much more interesting than the fish. I'm such a tourist--don't even know what's interesting and what's a nuisance.
Unfortunately, I accidentally fed a pelican anyway. I had aimed the little fish to the tarpon in the pen, but there was a pelican perched on the pen's fence, and it was fast and snatched the fish first. Then a guy came over with a big net and captured the pelican and pulled it back out of the pen. No one kicked me out of the place or even said anything. They were probably even past rolling their eyes.
**
Then we went to Lazy Days restaurant, the best restaurant in the Upper Keys. It was delicious.
**
Then Hurricane Monument, marking "the most savage hurricane on record" with 200-mile-per-hour winds on Labor Day in 1935.
Here are some close-ups of some of that stone:
**
Then Treasure Village Montessori, the most beautiful school I've ever seen.
With a pretty cute bus, too.
Formerly famous for its giant lobster, but apparently that's been sold and is being removed, piece by piece. The legs were gone.
Now it's more like a tiny spacecraft than a gigantic shellfish.
Yes. Yes, I am.
But only for about thirty minutes until I got talked into it. I got a jacket and a life vest, I signed a release form, I put on the helmet with speaker-containing headphones and a microphone. I didn't want to bring anything that might slip out of the helicopter, so I didn't bring my camera, but Robin made me take his, which has a neck strap. (Pictures later. Sorry.)
Uncle D has brought many people up in his helicopter, at least one of whom became hysterical when she got back. So I let him know what kind of person I was: I'm not afraid of heights, but I am not a thrill-seeker. He said that riding in a helicopter is not thrilling, it's just fun.
It's definitely scary going up in that tiny thing with no doors on the sides, but D did everything gently and the first (highly banked) turns were to the driver's side. He couldn't resist doing a quick drop at one point, but he warned me ahead of time. Scary!
It wasn't as beautiful as I had thought it would be, but it was a great perspective. I got to see that the ocean floor was mostly lumpy, but had some deep parts carved out (partly by man, I'm afraid). We saw a boat parked at the edge of one of these trenches and people had gotten out and were wading in the shallows nearby.
**
Then we did something much more dangerous. We got into Uncle D's converted Chevy Suburban, which had no seatbelts in the back. This is the vehicle I once mentioned before from which the roof was cut off.
They're rolling back the cover. Love that paint job.
We took it to Robbie's to feed the tarpon.
There were signs everywhere warning us not to feed the pelicans. Sadly, I found the pelicans to be much more interesting than the fish. I'm such a tourist--don't even know what's interesting and what's a nuisance.
Unfortunately, I accidentally fed a pelican anyway. I had aimed the little fish to the tarpon in the pen, but there was a pelican perched on the pen's fence, and it was fast and snatched the fish first. Then a guy came over with a big net and captured the pelican and pulled it back out of the pen. No one kicked me out of the place or even said anything. They were probably even past rolling their eyes.
**
Then we went to Lazy Days restaurant, the best restaurant in the Upper Keys. It was delicious.
**
Then Hurricane Monument, marking "the most savage hurricane on record" with 200-mile-per-hour winds on Labor Day in 1935.
Here are some close-ups of some of that stone:
**
Then Treasure Village Montessori, the most beautiful school I've ever seen.
With a pretty cute bus, too.
Formerly famous for its giant lobster, but apparently that's been sold and is being removed, piece by piece. The legs were gone.
Now it's more like a tiny spacecraft than a gigantic shellfish.