The lower Florida Keys: Wildlife and friendly folk

At dinner in Miami Beach the night before I picked up the rented Toyota and drove down U.S. 1, my friend Laura, Florida born and bred, explained how she knew when she'd crossed the border into Keys territory: "You walk into a bar where you've never been in your life. If everyone there treats you as if you've been closing the place every night for the last eight years, you're in the Keys."

By DAISANN McLANE