Dear Dry Tortugas National Park,
We are sorry we judged. We are sorry for all those derisive snorts we emitted at the mention of your name. What can we say? We knew nothing of your treasures and beauty. We were mistaken in thinking you were nothing but a historic fort on a sad little island. Had we done our research we might have known that you are so much more.
We are sorry we judged. We are sorry for all those derisive snorts we emitted at the mention of your name. What can we say? We knew nothing of your treasures and beauty. We were mistaken in thinking you were nothing but a historic fort on a sad little island. Had we done our research we might have known that you are so much more.
Perhaps before we made up our minds we should have spoken at length with that park ranger who had just transferred to Olympic, the one who told us how you are a gem of a place to camp. Maybe we should have expected that any place ranked as "the best thing to see in the Florida Keys" would not disappoint. We could not understand how an ancient military station and prison could rank as a national park. Please forgive us, and know that we jumped to conclusions about how political pork belly projects happen based upon our experience at the first park we visited this year (yes, we are talking about you, Hot Springs NP).
You were kind to us anyway. Your Fort Jefferson is a fun walk through American history on its own, but you went far beyond. You served up a delightful array of tropical fish and corals, horse conchs, tube worms, and urchins. The largest significant rookery for the Magnificent Frigate Bird. One of the best park orientation films we have seen all year (and we have seen a LOT).
We cannot even complain about your remote location because it gave us the excuse to treat ourselves to one of the best experiences of our whole year: a seaplane ride! To see you (and the other Keys) from the air! To splash down lightly in your crystalline waters, waving at all the other visitors who waved back from the ferry boat. And to do it all with the sounds of Jimmy Buffet in our headsets, the soundtrack of the islands if ever there was one.
To think we almost skipped you entirely, all because we made a silly assumption about your offerings. Dry Tortugas NP, you turned out to be about the best wrap-up to our year of enjoying the many wonders of America's national park system.
We were hasty in our judgment, but we have learned. Thank you for not holding it against us.
- the Keiters
We were hasty in our judgment, but we have learned. Thank you for not holding it against us.
- the Keiters