OUTAND ABOUT FLORIDA Readyfor aroad The architecture trip?Plan your of MiamiBeach nextadventureat TRAVEL is an attraction houstonchronicle. unto itself. com/explore. ESCAPES &HOME Page L2 HoustonChronicle @HoustonChron Houston Chronicle | Sunday, May1,2016 |HoustonChronicle.com and Chron.com Section L xx ISLAND ADVENTURE West of KeyWest Exploring remote tropical paradise of Dry TortugasNational Park By SusanL.Ebert along with itsintriguing history, has impelled me to devote aday peer overpilot Gary of my Florida Keys excursion to Bouchard’s shoulder as exploring Garden Key, the largest the turbine engine surges of the sevenDry Tortugas islands smoothlytolifeand the and the site of the massive,lore- Inose propeller becomes a rich Fort Jefferson. Here,I’llpay near-invisible blur.I’m wearing S.L.Ebert homage to the 100th anniversary my swimsuitunder my clothes The 70-mile trip from Key of the National ParksService and and have stashed my rented West to Fort Jefferson takes 40 work my waynorth to KeyLargo snorkelgear in the cargo hold. minutes by seaplane. before hightailing it to Miami for Like the other sevenpassengers, aflight home. Ihaveawindow seatand unob- the United States, DryTortugas As we cruise toward our des- structed view on thehigh-wing National Park. tination at an altitudeofamere float-equipped plane as it taxis to Amongthe nation’s 407 500 feet, scores of sea turtles the runway at KeyWestInterna- national parks,onlysix others — seemingly floatthroughthe air, tional Airport and, after ashort three in Alaska, and one each in suspended in the crystalline wa- take-off run, becomes airborne. Michigan, Washington and the ters beneath us, their undulating Forty minutes from now, we will TerritoryofAmerican Samoa shadow-selvesonthe underwater splash down 70 mileswestin —havefewer visitors than Dry sand dunes in pursuit. Icount the azure Caribbean Sea, in the Tortugas. Itsreputation for spec- more than 100 before becoming southernmostnational parkin tacular birding and snorkeling, Park continuesonL4 Andy Newman /Florida Keys News Bureau FOrt JeffersOn takes up nearly all Of Garden Key, One Of the seven keys cOmprising the Dry TOrtugas. Built in 1846 tO prOtect the mOuth Of the Gulf Of MexicO frOm fOreign cOuntries and pirates, it remains the largest masOnry edifice in the Western Hemisphere. Houston designer creates her dream home in the country Farmhousestyle interior designer for Mark W. city and countrycan be spotted Todd Architects. Sheand her in everyroom. Thekitchen mixes rustic details husband, Will Prestridge, a sink is farmhouse style, but with modern touches Houstonfirefighter,boughtthe it’s made of stainless steel. property fiveorsix years before Thekitchen backsplashand By Alyson Ward they started building.While shower wallsare coveredwith they rented ahouse with traditional whiteglass On atwo-lane roadoffTexas their twodaughters, subwaytile —but it’s laid 105, Lauren Prestridgehas built now9and 6, Prestridge HOME straight,not in brick the house of her dreams. drewthe plans, adding DESIGN formation, to look more Thecharcoal-graytwo-story in everydetailshe’d contemporary. in Cleveland, whichPrestridge ever wanted ahouse to Thehomehas three designed insideand out, is full have. bedrooms and 2,170 of contrasts. It’s amodern-day “Because it wasthe square feet of living space. farmhousethatoffers amix of country, Ineededittobea “Wewanted it to be industrial details and charming farmhouse,”Prestridgesays, comfortable but still small,” she antiques, cozy corners and butshe also wanted modern says.“We didn’t want anything wide-open spaces. touches and an “urban vibe” big thatwecouldn’t takecare of Brett Coomer /Houston Chronicle “I hadbeen dreaming mixed in with the homey once the kids are gone.” Lauren Prestridge designed and decoratedher family’smodern aboutthis place forever,” details. Shedidn’t wastespace farmhouse in Cleveland. says Prestridge, the principal That mix of newand old, FarmhousecontinuesonL5 L4 | Sunday, May1,2016 | Houston Chronicle | HoustonChronicle.com and chron.com xx ESCAPES Park is agift to historybuffs, birders, more Park from page L1 If yougo distracted as the pilot GETTING THERE directs our attention to Current nonstopairfares the Quicksands, where run less than $200 round treasure hunter Mel trip foreitherSouthwest Fisher discoveredthe AirlinesfromHoustonHob- Nuestra Señora de Atocha by Airport to Fort Lauder- and the Margarita —two daleorAmerican Airlines shipwreckedSpanish from Bush Intercontinental galleons —and where to Miami International. You it’s rumored thatmore canflyintoKey West,but than $500 millioningold, you’ll want acar anyway, silverand jewels still so whynot drivedown remains strewn across an and enjoythe scenery? 8-mile area. Themastof OnceinKey West,takethe Fisher’s work vessel, the ferry ($175;2hoursand 15 Arbutus, whichalso sank minutes each way) or a here,juts from the surface seaplane ($317; 40 minutes and servesasasignpost each way) to reachDry to the site. TortugasNational Park. Back to the turtles: In 1513, Ponce de León MORE INFO designated these seven Yankee Freedom Dry coral atolls Las Tortugas TortugasFerry: 305-294- (the turtles) in recogni- 7009;drytortugas.com tion of the plenitudeof KeyWestSeaplane these charming creatures, Charters: 305-293-9300; thought by ancientsailors S.L.Ebert photos keywestseaplanecharters. to be totems of hope and The nevercompletedFort Jefferson became aprison duringthe Civil Wartohouse Union deserters. Dr. com longevity. (Myguess: Be- SamuelMudd, convicted of conspiringinthe assassination of AbrahamLincoln, also wasincarceratedhere. cause turtles are reptiles thatlay eggs on land, a 60 mi. abit aheadofthat, and clownfishand neon-yel- sighting of manyturtles 75 as luck has it,the narrow lowsmallmouth grunts 41 Miami meantland wasnearand Gulff Off Mexico channel between Garden —and those are onlythe gave sailors hope that Keyand Bush Keyhas ones Ican identify among DryTortugas 1 they’dliveanother day.) NationalPark sanded in, so Ican walk the seemingly endless KeyLargo Five species (loggerheads, S over. species —dart among the Y Islamorada E green turtles, leather- K As Istroll barefoot corals, their neon arrays DA KeyKey RI backs,hawksbills and FLO down the shoreline, of lightand darkserving West Kemp’s ridleys) reside Atlantic Ocean tight-packed schools of as camouflage againstthe within the park’snearly Garden Key permitdart throughthe living corals shimmer- 100 square miles, fewer shallows,shattering the ing in the refracted light. than 40 acres of whichare Bush Key surfaceasthey scat- Ifloatnearly weightless land. “Dry” wasadded Long Key ter to avoidstreaking justbeneath the surface, later to warn sailors of the Fort Jefferson tarpon in hot pursuit. entrancedbytheir seem- ¼mile lack of freshwater. Brown pelicans dive into ingly endless variety of Chronicle the schooling fishfrom electric colors, vivid pat- Fort lore above,lumbering off with terns and elegantshapes. Bouchard eases back the heavilyfortified beakfuls of wriggling fish. Surfacing, Isee afellow on the throttle as we entryway. ElegantAmerican avocets passenger waving atowel approach Garden Key, Begun in 1846, con- To campovernight at Dry Tortugas National Park, cutscythelikeswashes from the beach,motion- circling the island once struction faltered at the plan ahead: The parkservice allows threetents at a thoughthe shallows with ing thatBouchard’s ready so Icatch abreathtaking outbreak of the Civil War, time and eachfor amaximum of threedays. their distinctive long forustoboard the aircraft aerial viewofthe mon- when building materi- upturned beaks, while forthe flight back to Key strous, ancientFort Jef- als became increasingly around the clocktosave ing us day-trippers onto ruddyturnstones and West. ferson —still the largest scarce.Atits peak,1,729 livesofofficers,ldiers so the sugar-sand expanse. plovers peckamong the As Idashfor the plane, masonrystructure in the troops once garrisoned and the 52 remaining While the other pas- dunes. Icastanenvious glance Western Hemisphere.A here,plusthe families of prisoners. Throughhis sengers walk left toward AlthoughLongKey, at the campers in their hard-earned lesson from some officers;weve ho r, tirelessexertions, only the fort, I’mdrawn to the third atoll, is off limits colorful tents. Thepark the Warof1812 taught the they neverengagedin 38 of the 270stricken theright by the spectacle year round, Iperchatop limits overnight camping youthful United States battle. men died. Twohundred- of hundreds of magnifi- adune at the end on Bush to onlythree tents and thatwhomevercontrolled During the Civil War, ninety-nine officers and centfrigatebirds —with Keyand sitrapt, elbows justthree consecutive the DryTortugascon- Fort Jefferson became soldiers signed apetition wingspans of 7to8feet— on knees for stability nights—an experience trolled the entire Gulf the prison of exile for the initiated by Lt. Edmund wheeling and diving over and binoculars pressed worthweighing for my of Mexico,asthe only nation’s mostheinous Zalinkski, whowrote, Long Key. to my face,glassingthe next visit. This time,I waters deep enoughto criminals. “Heinspired the hope- sooty terns, roseate terns, have aschedule to keep be navigable throughthe Undoubtedly, the most less with courage, and by Birdingbounty brown noddies and mag- and more Keyadventures mouth of the Gulf passed notorious of the prison- his constantpresence in Birders often identify nificentfrigatebirds that planned, so Iclamber within cannon rangeof ers incarcerated here the midstofdanger and more than 70