Marathon is a city I have wanted to photograph but I have lost my nerve. I don't know it very well, I don't eat out there much or shop, I've been to the movies there a couple of times. I guess its greatest draw for me is the convenient layout of the Home Depot and the grappa I can buy, Italian brandy, from the super slick deli and liquor store wedged between the gym and the Post Office on Highway One. Because we work in Key West even though my wife and I live equidistant between the two cities, we shop mostly in Key West, not Marathon.
The fact is, Marathon lacks the cute factor, as you can see in the photo above. It's a city incorporated almost a decade ago on a wide spot along Highway One, a four lane strip mall with none of the Old Town, greenery, or big city pretensions of Key West. It is an excessively long strip mall and compressing an essay about it into 20 pictures is more than I can manage. So, I have decided, like the man faced with the problem of how to eat an elephant, to chew it off one piece at a time. First the beach, later the highway:
Sombrero Beach Road runs due south from the city's main traffic light on the Highway, there is a Bank of America on one corner and a Tom Thumb inconvenience store on the other, and from there its a two mile ride through Marathon's more chic neighborhood, past the High School to the beach.
The road dead ends into a large parking lot lined on one side with massive homes:
And on the other by the beach itself and it is a fine beach, by Keys standards:
In creating this recreation area Marathon has gone all out, including lawns, picnic areas, clean usable toilets and its even dog friendly, provided they are leashed and you clean up after them. Its filled with environmental messages about turtles and it offers views out across the Straits of Florida, almost to Cuba. Little wonder its a popular place, with young people:
Older people, or perhaps just more restful people we might say:
Residentially challenged people:
And swimmers:
So all these Middle Keys people are enjoying all these rather decent amenities in a free park the like of which Key West cannot boast:
All of which is a tremendous encouragement to stay and linger awhile, which I may well come and do later when school is back in session. Instead, photos taken, water fountain drunk from and its back in the saddle again to the next self imposed assignment:
Under a sunny August sky.
I got a request some time ago to photograph the charity pickets at the Wesley House in Key West. I apologize for the delay but here it is...
The Wesley House is one of those laudable Non Governmental Agencies that keep communities functioning in ways that are not immediately obvious but that are invaluable. They provide services for low income families for people that need help and don't know where else to get it. As is always the way they are on a constant hunt for money, though their barometer on Varela Street at Virginia Street got pushed a bit into the background by the over enthusiastic ministrations of the landscaping crew: 
Their goals are not modest but as best as I could tell they were doing well, in raising the red ink as it were. Wesley House offers tons of services and recreational outlets in a town where parents always complain of nothing to do:
And in order to keep on providing services and opportunities they have started an innovative fund raiser whereby people buy stakes in the picket fence around their brand new crisp clean facility at the Inez Martin Center:
The picket fence stakes carry a plaque with the name of the donor:
And as the person who asked me to take the photos was anonymous I felt I could do no better than highlight this one, for which profession I have a particular fondness as my wife is one:
Online and in hard copy, as they say:
For a good local cause the money keeps rolling in, we hope.
And there it was tied up snug next to the Western Union schooner, that small, mastless sailboat has fallen into the second life of boats around here, serving as accommodations. 
No one was on board this visit, perhaps I'll have better luck next time though I am usually in town in the afternoon and he is likely out on the water then...
The waterfront is a busy place in winter with flocks of people wandering back and forth, but in late July its too hot to attract drifting crowds. I heard a few Europeans talking, a common feature of summers in Key West, poor things they know no better than to come to the Keys in baking season:
Sailing is tricky this time of year as winds are down and thunderstorms are up, so going on the water means less sailing and more other stuff (motoring):
I've seen this trimaran around for some time and I rather like the elaborate cabin arrangement, its probably too heavy to sail well with a floating bar in the cabin but that isn't a consideration for most passengers in my experience as a charter captain:
Schooner Wharf uses their boat as an advertising prop pure and simple, and quite the eye catcher it is too:
On the subject of eye catching I wouldn't have the nerve to wander around in public looking like this but I guess they were sea scouts or some other worthy thing and it must make it easy for the scoutmaster to keep an eye on his flock. You can just see the heat pressing down on that splendid hat :
The short stretch of waterfront near Schooner Wharf is home to the key West symbol of seafaring which is the Western Union and a group of enthusiasts have taken on the task of refurbishing the boat as a floating museum ever since Historic Tours unceremoniously dumped it one day without notice.
Within living memory Western Union used this sailboat to lay telegraph cable to Havana, and if that sounds old fashioned bear in mind today there are something absurd like half a dozen phone lines to Cuba and good luck making a call. 
Its that time of year, even in a good year, when business slows down to a crawl in the Southernmost City, including in the cute little booths along Lazy Way Lane:
At least they are open for business again after a period when it seemed everything was going to stay shuttered on the lane over a rental dispute. It's said around town that Harbor House, the new development behind Schooner Wharf has gone bankrupt and construction has stopped for now on the old Jabour's Trailer Park property.
Fire the proverbial cannon down Greene Street and all you'd end up doing at the end of July is knocking a couple of mad dog visitors off their Honda Metropolitans:
Swivel the cannon ninety degrees to the left and if you missed the scooter riders before you'd get a second chance as they cruise the urban desert of downtown Key West:
I didn't find the Prodigal Son this time around but I had a nice excuse to check out the boardwalk one more time. This blog is a great excuse to just go for a ramble.
I wrote an essay on Curry Hammock State Park a few months ago but I never did take the nature trail which is less than a mile from the main park entrance at Mile Marker 56, and every time I've driven up to the mainland I've eyed the turnout longingly. So, being the damn fool I am, I decided August was as good a time as any to go 
The parking area is only a quarter mile from the entrance to the trail itself. One parks in the pea rock and one strolls down the bike path that 
And there was no shade so I soon got to 
About the time I finally arrived at the turnoff and I ducked into the shade some intrepid soul on a bicycle whizzed by on his way God knows where:
Along with shade the trail starts out promisingly enough looking like a waterhole for large tusked mammals, 
And rainy season brings out the mossies as well. While I am relatively immune to their bites I am not 
I did manage to remember the sunscreen but I did of course forget to apply 
Despite reports to the 
I don't know if it was the sudden lack of a fresh breeze or the insistent snarling of the mosquitoes but the fun started to drain out of the walk. The forest closed in:
The trail became less obvious at the same time my absent minded 
All along the trail, 
Ah yes the joys of a clear sky and bright sunlight!
Just time and 
If there were any doubt, this is in fact a gentle walk best enjoyed in Winter.