Suppose you wanted to live in Big Pine Key and suppose you had a job in Key West. The homes off Ship's Way would be 50 minutes from your job and you might end up in a street like this. On a windy afternoon your neighbor's trash can might have rolled into the street, but this is a quiet area, and no harm done: 
Pine trees are Big Pines stock-in-trade and they offer cover between lots:
This street rejoices in the unlikely name of Journeys End Road and it doesn't have access to salt water canals. That means the homes on Journeys End are"dry lots" in the local lingo. 
And there are streets off this street too, and the houses her are also said to be dry lots as they have no canal access and thus no boats parked behind them in the water:
This is the Big Pine version of the stereotypical picket fence, just don't mind the banana leaves:
Here's another version with date palms for a touch of the exotic:
If you drive Journey's End in a car, rather than taking a bicycle ride as I did in this case, the journey does end rather abruptly here, unless it is a Smart Car with folding mirrors. This picture is looking west back at Journeys End:
Big Pine Key, like the neighboring islands in the Lower Keys is home to the stilt style of building to keep homes above the dangers of hurricane induced flooding:
And here too we see some gorgeous rampant greenery. I've published pictures of these types before and someone supplied a name which I promptly forgot. Which isn't to say I don't like these palm, on the contrary, I just can't remember their name:
This next house was for sale by Christie's, and they are asking $245,000 for a two bedroom, two bath on the usual stilts. At the height of the recent boom they may very well have sold this for half a million.
A dolphin mailbox up the street...
...not to be outdone by this fish box around the corner on one of the side streets.
This was an area of neat lawns and no leaves out of place:
But these are still dry lots with no canal access. So by contrast we cross Ship's Way to the equally eccentrically named Flying Cloud Avenue ( what else do clouds do, but fly, I ask myself):
These may be wet lots but they run out of room just as sure as eggs is eggs, just like the dry lots:
Wet lots are built on canals dug out of the rock years ago before such behavior was rendered illegal and these houses have docks behind them:
The closeness of water seems to encourage an awful desire for huge homes:
And many of these magnificent living spaces are sitting there empty, waiting for their owner's return from Up North:
Something a little more modest like this 1950's style ground floor home appeared occupied and it's probably one of the original homes on this street:
And here an addition to the neighborhood appears to have been stopped dead, metal re-bar sticking hopelessly out of the ground. Perhaps it was over optimism that killed the new home, perhaps horrible economic disaster. Who knows, but it looked sad in its state of neglect:
Even "new concept homes" of modular houses on stilts (not new at all as far as I know!) seems too much for the current economy. A modular home on stilts is a nice way to go especially if you have a boat at your dock on the canal in back:
And here is the end of the journey for this street, something rather more spacious than a modular home on stilts, and this place has the added benefit of an open water view:
And that was the terminus of my bike ride for the after noon.
Pine trees are Big Pines stock-in-trade and they offer cover between lots:This street rejoices in the unlikely name of Journeys End Road and it doesn't have access to salt water canals. That means the homes on Journeys End are"dry lots" in the local lingo. And there are streets off this street too, and the houses her are also said to be dry lots as they have no canal access and thus no boats parked behind them in the water:This is the Big Pine version of the stereotypical picket fence, just don't mind the banana leaves:Here's another version with date palms for a touch of the exotic:If you drive Journey's End in a car, rather than taking a bicycle ride as I did in this case, the journey does end rather abruptly here, unless it is a Smart Car with folding mirrors. This picture is looking west back at Journeys End:Big Pine Key, like the neighboring islands in the Lower Keys is home to the stilt style of building to keep homes above the dangers of hurricane induced flooding:
And here too we see some gorgeous rampant greenery. I've published pictures of these types before and someone supplied a name which I promptly forgot. Which isn't to say I don't like these palm, on the contrary, I just can't remember their name:This next house was for sale by Christie's, and they are asking $245,000 for a two bedroom, two bath on the usual stilts. At the height of the recent boom they may very well have sold this for half a million.A dolphin mailbox up the street...
...not to be outdone by this fish box around the corner on one of the side streets.This was an area of neat lawns and no leaves out of place:But these are still dry lots with no canal access. So by contrast we cross Ship's Way to the equally eccentrically named Flying Cloud Avenue ( what else do clouds do, but fly, I ask myself):These may be wet lots but they run out of room just as sure as eggs is eggs, just like the dry lots:
Wet lots are built on canals dug out of the rock years ago before such behavior was rendered illegal and these houses have docks behind them:The closeness of water seems to encourage an awful desire for huge homes:And many of these magnificent living spaces are sitting there empty, waiting for their owner's return from Up North:
Something a little more modest like this 1950's style ground floor home appeared occupied and it's probably one of the original homes on this street:And here an addition to the neighborhood appears to have been stopped dead, metal re-bar sticking hopelessly out of the ground. Perhaps it was over optimism that killed the new home, perhaps horrible economic disaster. Who knows, but it looked sad in its state of neglect:Even "new concept homes" of modular houses on stilts (not new at all as far as I know!) seems too much for the current economy. A modular home on stilts is a nice way to go especially if you have a boat at your dock on the canal in back:And here is the end of the journey for this street, something rather more spacious than a modular home on stilts, and this place has the added benefit of an open water view:
And that was the terminus of my bike ride for the after noon. 
2 comments:
Nice shots of BPK. Familar bike riding territory, especially in the winter, when the wind does not stop blowing.
They are called Travelers Palms in Belize.
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