The drive to Key West begins a mile below Florida City on the mainland where mile marker 126.0 begins and starts counting down the miles to KW.  The first and largest key is Key Largo which is close to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park (Mile 102.5), the first underwater state park in the U.S., where you can take snorkeling, diving or glass-bottomed boats out to the lacy coral reef that parallels the keys' Atlantic shoreline all the way to the Dry Tortugas.

 

Continuing through Plantation Key, where pineaplle and banana plantations flourished at the turn of the 20th century, U.S 1 crosses Snake Creek on one of the 42 bridges that connect the keys.

 

Islamorada is the only settlement on Upper Matecumbe Key and marks the beginning of the Middle Keys.  The island's Hurricane Memorial (Mile 82) honors victims of the Labor Day hurricane in 1935, which washed out most of the railroad and was one of the most powerful ever recorded in the U.S.

 

At the Long Key State Recreation Area (Mile 67.5) beachcombers may find rubbery egg cases left by sea turtles.

 

The Long Key Viaduct sweeps toward tiny Conch Key, then Rte. 1 angles across Grassy Key and in to Marathon, the heavily developed center of the Middle Keys.

 

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.  On the other side of the bridge Bahai Honda State Park (Mile 37) has white-sand beaches, rare in the keys.

 

As the road pushes southwest, the keys seem more isolated and less populated.  Bridges become shorter, and the islands begin to merge.  It is not uncommon to see a large osprey nest perched atop a telephone pole.

 

Big Pine Key, unusual for its large slash pines, is the only place in the world where endangered Key deer live.  These deer stand only 2.5 feet [0.8 meter] tall.

 

For its final 30 miles, U.S. 1 crosses one small tropical key after another until it reaches Key West, a rather eccentric tropical town whose atmosphere is more Caribbean than American.  Just walk around and enjoy.  You won't want to leave.