The southern part of Sunshine State might be the flattest place I’ve ever visited: I didn’t see a single hill. Perhaps that’s why the developed parts seemed so relentlessly ugly. We drove through an endless expanse of parking lots, strip malls, big stores, and apartment complexes that looked like military barracks. Here in the northeast, we have hills and valleys that create pockets of natural areas, and trees to hide concrete and asphalt. In a perfectly flat landscape, eyesores remain eyesores.
In contrast, the national park we visited, filled with sawgrass and alligators and turtles, was more beautiful than I expected. We stopped at every interpretive trail and walked on boardwalk trails through mangroves and boggy areas, all the time listening to bird song and watching alligators. We rented bikes and rode out to a tower that overlooked the rippling fields of sawgrass. I saw birds I’ve never seen before and flowers that were blooming in February.
We drove through a famous chain of islands that, ironically, would have been so much nicer without the highway we were driving on. Some of the smaller islands functioned bridge supports, and the highway didn't leave room for much else. We kept seeing broken bridges, deserted and left standing, replaced by a stronger, bigger bridge, and buildings that had been abandoned after hurricanes. Despite that, the beaches were still lovely, with clear water and silty sand. I wondered why they were so empty, but then I saw a poster on a bulletin board that the water wasn’t safe to swim in because the bacteria levels were too high.
That was the impression I kept getting: Southern State of Alligators and Palm Trees was stunningly beautiful, but damaged and abused, as if somewhere along the line, humans didn’t understand the value of that beauty.
12 comments:
An alligator! Were you using a zoom lens?
It's so weird you posted this today, because only last night I dreamt of that state. I lived there in 2004 and 2005 and still miss it very much sometimes.
It has its drawbacks, but it is very beautiful, and the migration of people there from all over the world has given it a unique immigrant culture that fostered, at least in my high school, easy camaraderie. Almost no one is a native.
As for the pollution, I think that the population explosion there is partly to blame; millions of people have flooded the state in a short period of time and infrastructure hasn't always kept up.
Sandy: Nope. I was actually that close. We kept seeing alligators everywhere, and it was surprising how quickly we got used to them.
Brightened Boy: We were mostly in the national park so I didn't get a sense of what the city was like. But I have to say, it was wonderful to feel all the sunshine in February!
I live in Southern State of Alligators and Palm Trees (though not in the most southern part). I've been to that tower in the field of sawgrass. I live amongst those relentlessly flat, ugly strip malls -- or at least ones just like them. You've described both sides perfectly.
I've lived in the northern part of SSAPT since 1991. You made some sweeping generalizations that are completely untrue. I've been to your state a few times but I don't profess to be an expert on it, or to offer an assessment on the health of the entire state, or of everyone in it. So please don't pass judgement here either because you really don't know what you are talking about in this case.
I've lived in South Florida for ten years, and I'd say your observations are spot-on.
Anon2: My observations were based on what I saw, but also what I've read about environmental issues in South Florida. I was pointing out the way that population pressure and development has led to environmental damage — just as it has all over the country. The flatness of the geography makes the contrast between the developed areas and the national park areas more visible than it is in other places.
When I talk about environmental problems, all of us humans are implicated. I didn't say anything in particular about residents of the state.
Joy William (or maybe its Williams?) has written a bunch of essays about Florida that talk about the Everglades and the Florida Keys and all the environmental damage done to lower Florida, but also how ecologically valuable that part of the country is.
It IS flat. It's very flat. I see it through a loving eye, though, because my younger sister lived there for years and LOVED it, so I went there predisposed to all that is positive. You know I hate the cold, but I don't think I could live somewhere where the weather changed so little around the year.
Welcome back, jo(e) !
While you were there, you didn't happen to notice any snakes that were 26 feet long and as thick as a telephone pole, did you?
(See "They’re Big and Ready to Eat Florida".)
Actually, we talked to a couple at one of the nature trails who HAD seen a "really big snake" lying at the edge of a parking lot. I had been hoping to see a Burmese python (just out of curiosity) but when we circled back to the parking lot, the snake was gone.
A-ha! I have several unread items of yours in my reader and the first several photos were clearly not from your usual place! It all make sense now.
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