We started the day off with a cheap ($7) breakfast at McDonald's, then headed down the 297 (off 1-10 W) to the Pensacola Naval Air Base (home of the Blue Angels!) to visit the National Museum of Naval Aviation. The museum is located on the base, so you have to show ID and get a temporary visitor's pass before driving in. On the way in we stopped first at the Pensacola Lighthouse, which is currently used as the office of the Coast Guard liason. The lighthouse was built in 1856 and stands 171 feet from ground to focal plane. Apparently they [View Full Entry]

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We had no destination when we set out today along the 1-10 W from Tallahassee. That was, of course, until we discovered that there really isn't a whole lot to see or do along that stretch of highway (unless you're looking for a nice campground, in which case there are many). After stopping for breakfast at The Waffle House, we decided to keep driving the 199 miles to Pensacola, making this the last long day of driving for the rest of our trip. We made one stop in a small town called Milton, where we wandered around an antique mall called [View Full Entry]

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We started our day off at the world's largest McDonald's (in Orlando) for breakfast. I'm a sucker for anything that starts with the words "world's largest" in front of it, so this was a must see on our journey through Florida. The place doesn't really look that big from the outside, but the inside is quite impressive, full of strange themed areas, a huge arcade, a singing Mac Tonight, a painted jungle, a 50's section complete with jukebox and celebrity photos...oh, and food too! They have a special bistro menu on top of the regular McD's fare, so I took advantage [View Full Entry]

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We had a relatively uneventful day of driving today. After stopping at Dunkin Donuts (again) for breakfast (at least I'm mixing things up a bit...today I had my veggie omelet and cheese sandwich on a multigrain bagel instead of the usual croissant!), we set out on the Florida Turnpike toward Kissimee, only to discover a short way up the road that there is quite a high toll ($13!) to take that route. We decided to detour to the 95 instead and drove that highway up to Melbourne, cutting across the 192-E to Kissimmee. We arrived at our destination at about 3pm [View Full Entry]

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We checked out of our hotel this morning and decided to head a bit further south along the Keys, stopping first to take a few pictures of the gorgeous water and then at Robbie’s Marina. You can pay to feed the Tarpon fish there…however, the smell alone was enough to deter me from wanting to go through with it (that and the large crowd of people already out on the dock). We decided instead to eat breakfast at The Hungry Tarpon, located in the front of the marina. It’s a local diner, the kind of place where everyone knows everyone else [View Full Entry]

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If you can survive the endless stream of cars heading into the Florida Keys, the scene that awaits you at the end of your journey is certainly worth all the brake lights and cursing that will be seen and heard along the way. After stopping at Dunkin Donuts for breakfast again this morning (why don't they have these in California???), we set out from Miami Beach toward Islamorada, located about 27 miles south of Key Largo. The traffic wasn't too bad along the Florida Turnpike, but once we hit Highway 1, I'm fairly certain it would have been faster to park [View Full Entry]

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Today started out with a walk down Collins Ave. from our hotel (in North Beach) to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. After we ate we hopped on the H bus to South Beach, located about a 15 minute drive away. We spent the entire day walking up and down Ocean Drive, Collins Avenue and Washington Avenue, people watching, walking on the beach for the first time since we've been here, and taking in the scenery. We were amazed at the amount of abandoned and run down buildings here, some looking like they've been empty since the 1980's. There are also quite a [View Full Entry]

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We were less than an hour from our final destination (Miami Beach) when we set out this morning, so we decided to find our hotel early and then head over to Homestead for the day to visit the Coral Castle. When we found the hotel (the Beach Place Hotel, located in North Miami Beach), our room had already been cleaned so we were able to check in two hours early. We settled in, dropped off our luggage and hit the highway to Homestead. It was about an hour away and also our first run in with Florida traffic since we've been [View Full Entry]

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Our morning started out at Sunrise Diner, where we collected our free breakfast courtesty of the Luna Sea Motel. The breakfast was a bit too homestyle for my taste (crisco flavored hash browns, anyone?), but thankfully I picked french toast, which was quite possibly the safest choice. And hey, it was free, so I'm not going to complain about it! After breakfast we headed to Kennedy Space Center, located about 25 minutes away from the motel. The last time I went to KSC, I was 9, so let's just say that space travel has sure advanced since then. The visitor complex [View Full Entry]

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If you’re planning a trip out of LAX any time soon, I highly recommend booking your flight for a Tuesday morning. Living in a post 9-11 world, it is almost impossible to be greeted at the airport by less than 50 people waiting in line ahead of you to check in, check bags, make your way through the security checkpoint, even to go to the restroom! Heck, lately you have to consider yourself lucky just to find out that your flight hasn’t been delayed, canceled, or the whole airline gone bankrupt while you were waiting. But this morning, not only were [View Full Entry]

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