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Flamingo Gardens started as a 2000 acre citrus grove.  The owners would entertain investors at their weekend home at the grove and they planted gardens around the home.  In the 1930s they gave tours of the groves and gardens to the public. In 1969 a Foundation was formed to continue the land as a gardens and bird sanctuary.  Flamingos, peacocks, and egrets roamed the gardens as they do today.  The jungle gardens expanded with over 3000 tropical and subtropical species of plants.  A bird sanctuary for permanent injured, non-releasable birds is at the gardens as well as an aviary.  Many of the birds come and go as they desire, always coming back for a meal.

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During the 1800s Key West's main industry was salvaging ship wrecks that sunk because of the coral reef or storms. The salvaged cargo was then auctioned off.  In the mid 1800s they were averaging one shipwreck per week.  By the late 1800s the salvage business declined due to increased technology and sailing ships replaced by steamships.  In 1912 the railroad increased Key West's tourist business.  The shipwreck Museum covers the salvaging history of Key West.
Treasure hunting has been a business in Key West in the 20th century.  The Mel Fisher museum covers Mel Fisher's successful search for sunken Spanish ships with treasure.  You can buy some of the sunken treasure if you have a lot of money.
Every evening you can catch performers and jugglers on Mallory Square working for tips.  My brother and I helped put one performer into a straight jacket and locked chains.  He did manage to get out.  Not an easy way to make a living.

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We went to Key West where we climbed the Key West Lighthouse.  I have now climbed all seven lighthouses in Florida that the public can climb. The others are Pensacola, St George, St Augustine, Ponce Inlet, Jupiter, and Cape Florida.  The Key West lighthouse was built in 1847 of brick.  Originally built to 66ft, 20 ft was added in 1894.  The light keepers quarters is a museum. 
We stopped by the Key West butterfly Conservatory.  They do not have a laboratory so they receive chrysalis from a farm in South America and one in Asia.  My brother's light blue shirt was a butterfly magnet as a couple butterflies landed on his shirt for a ride.

these two old ladies are statues

view from the top

Joe's shoulder was popular with the butterflies 

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I picked up my brother Joe in Miami on my way to the Florida Keys.  We camped with my RV trailer on Big Pine Key.  We rode our bicycles to Key Deer Refuge and did see a deer.  They are smaller than other deer, being only under 30" at the shoulder.  We than rode to Bahia Honda Key to the State Park We hiked the trails, then looked at the remains of the original train bridge completed in 1912 over the deep Bahia Honda channel.  Henry Flagler built the railroad connecting Miami to Key West across the keys from 1905 to 1912.  In 1935 a hurricane destroyed 40 miles of track.  The state started replacing the railroad with a road - US 1. The bridge over the Bahia Honda Channel had steel truss spans, so the road was placed on top of the trusses making it a very high and narrow.  The new replacement bridge was not built until 1972.

the old road on top of the RR

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At Butterfly World in Coconut Creek, Fl you walk among the butterflies in their natural habitat.  The numerous colorful butterflies flutter about quickly not posing for your camera.  You have to be patient.  Most of the butterflies are species from around the world and are bred at butterfly World in their laboratory.  You can observe caterpillars eating leaves at the windows looking into the laboratory. Butterfly World also farms butterflies to sell to universities and zoos, shipping the chrysalis. You also walk through an aviary with singing tropical birds and hummingbirds.  Another aviary has colorful lorikeets from New Guinea that will eat from your hand. In the butterfly museum there is a collection of butterflies and moths and insects from around the world.  You can walk through the park as many times as you wish, which is a good idea because you see thinks you didn't see before.  On my second time through, a butterfly landed on my shoulder and stayed there for 10 minutes.  I was wearing a shirt that my wife Carol had embroidered butterflies.  One of the lab techs who was releasing butterflies that had just come out of their chrysalis, took a pic with my camera for me.

lorikeets

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With my daughter Holly and her family living in Pensacola, we have been there many times.  Pensacola is the second oldest city in Florida.  It has a large historic district where you can take a tour of several homes and museums for only $5.  Pensacola was part of a Spanish colony, then French, then English, then Spanish again, before becoming part of a US territory.  The Pensacola Naval Air Station has a very large aviation museum that is free. The base is home of the Navy Blue Angels performing jets, which you can watch practice when they are in town.  Also on the base is the Pensacola lighthouse and museum that you can climb.  170 year old forts are near the lighthouse and you can take the free ranger guided tour.  With white sand beaches Pensacola is a tourist bargain.

historic pensacola

grandchildren Abram and Charlotte on tower at park