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ollect your car at Miami Internatonal, toss your It’s a great place to get away from all that and
bags in the trunk and put the top down. You did stll take advantage of the 21st century infrastructure
Cget the convertble, didn’t you? Take LeJeune and traveler-friendly airfares the Sunshine State ofers.
Road to the Dolphin Expressway, bear lef onto the Flying into Miami or Ft. Lauderdale and then making
southbound Palmeto and you’re all set. Now you can the 1-hour jaunt down to the Upper Keys – it’s the
kick back. It’s a straight shot from here. As the road ultmate escape… nearby, yet a world away. Quaint.
unspools, the strip malls and fast food franchises Tranquil. Low Key, if you will.
recede in the rearview mirror along with your stress. Which is one reason this part of Florida has
After a few miles things start to look different. become so popular in recent years as a weekend
Feel different. Smell different. South of Homestead getaway for city dwellers, as well as a prime meetng
the Everglades spreads out on either side of the and incentve destnaton. The Upper Keys – Largo,
highway – flat and far and framed by cotton clouds as Plantaton, Windley, Islamorada, Craig, Fiesta and
far as the eye can see. Just before you hit the coast Long Key – ofer virtually any kind of getaway you can
the rivulets appear. Things get wetter, greener. The imagine, from the exclusive Ocean Reef Club at the
delta encroaches, watery fingers reaching up on either north end of Largo to major chains like Hilton, Marriot
side of the road, a marina or two…then the sign: and Hampton Inn to 11-room boutque propertes and
Entering Monroe County. The causeway. And finally, modest fshing camps.
the first bridge. A word here about navigatng the Keys: Locatons
along the Overseas Highway from Key West to Key Largo
ou’re now on what’s called the Overseas Highway, are commonly expressed in mile markers. The Florida
skirtng the edge of Key Largo at Pelican Cay. Department of Transportaton maintains mile marker
YOddly enough, 87% of Monroe County’s land area signs every mile along the highway. Numbering starts
is on the mainland; part of the Everglades and virtually at zero in Key West and increases towards the east
uninhabited. Over 99% of the populaton of around and northeast up the path of the Overseas Highway.
73,000 lives in the more famous and well-traveled Businesses along the highway list their locaton by
porton of the county where you are right now – the mile markers, adding decimal points to more precisely
Florida Keys. indicate where they are between mile marker signs. It’s
You’re following a famous path. Large sectons of about 50 miles from the Monroe County line (MM 112.5)
the 128-mile Overseas Highway were constructed on to the Long Key Viaduct (MM 64).
the former right-of-way of the Overseas Railroad, the
Key West Extension of the Florida East Coast Railway eing the largest of the Keys, Largo has the
built by wealthy industrialist Henry Flagler in the early biggest concentraton of hotels with meetng
part of the 20th century. Completed in 1912, the Band event space, combining frst-rate facilites
Overseas Railroad was heavily damaged and partally and upscale amenites with a unique, low-key, close-to-
destroyed in the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, and the nature atmosphere that invigorates and engages – just
roadbed and remaining bridges were sold to the state the kind of thing today’s planners are looking for. That
of Florida, which used them to complete the original and good logistcs.
highway in 1938. The Hilton Key Largo Resort, tucked into 12.5
acres of lush hardwood forest along the Gulf of Mexico
f you’ve never experienced it, the Florida Keys are and the southern boundaries of Everglades Natonal
a different world – an arc of tiny islands, flat and Park, ofers 200 rooms and suites along with 17,000
Isandy and rough around the edges with palm and square feet of meetng & event space – including a
mangrove, beautiful and serene. Aside from a handful series of private terraces, all with breathtaking water
of top-shelf resorts tucked away on large tropical views. Nature lovers can walk the trails lined with
tracts, it’s a land of low-slung hotels and roadside majestc mangroves, catch glimpses of local wildlife,
seafood joints; bait & tackle shops and modest watch manatees gently maneuvering close to shore or
marinas; lush waterfront parks and side roads that just spend their tme relaxing on the resort’s intmate
dead-end into tiny inlets with crushed-shell parking private beach. Teambuilding exercises make good
lots. This is Old Florida, the way it was before the use of Key Largo’s natural beauty, with paddleboard
South Beach crowd and theme parks took over. races, scavenger hunts and numerous other optons.

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