Everglades and The Keys

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10/5/13 Florida City, Miami

Well I had the best night’s sleep for a very long time! Today we decided not to go anywhere just to get sorted out and take it easy. So we started with a trip to Walmart (ha ha gotta love that place), Howard reckons we were there for 2 ½ hours but I’m sure he exaggerated! There are so many fascinating things to see in Walmart, clothes to try on, gallon containers of a hundred varieties of ice cream to be examined, cds to look through, weapons of every variety to be shocked by, all the different types of m&m’s to be surprised by and so the list goes on!

After all that excitement it was back to the motel and two machine fulls of washing to do and finally I was able to get rid of the skunk effect hair courtesy of Revlon!

We ate at Sonny’s bbq pit and my word the food was superb! The quantities though were staggering and the amount people were eating was rather sickening (us included I have to add). Everyone in there was huge and I’m not surprised – the waitress knew them all and what they were going to order! These four women started with 3 helpings of salad each and I’m not talking lettuce and tomato, then they had the family platter which was pulled pork, ribs, chicken, beef, fries, four side dishes and bread. We left before they finished so I never got to see what they had for dessert unfortunately.

The service was excellent, the waitress was so friendly and so we left what we thought was the correct tip ie 10%, it was really weird, at first she said did we want change and we said no, no keep it and then she suddenly seemed really ticked off. I can only assume we were supposed to leave more, but in the UK and most places 10% is the norm and in Peru 10% of the bill would have bought us a full meal! So now I guess we will just insult all the staff in the USA, as there is no way will Howard leave any more than that.

Back in the room and we are just lazing about groaning!

11/5/13

Howard’s eye has flared up again so not going too far today. We decided to visit the Everglades National Park as it is just down the road, for $10 you can visit any part of the park for 7 days which is seemed pretty good.

However it turned out to be the most boring of all the National Parks we have visited! I had thought it would be driving along a winding road with huge big trees dripping with stringy moss and somewhere in the distance the faint sound of someone singing the blues and the splash as a gaitor plopped into the water.

The reality was a wide straight road driving for miles through areas of water covered with small green plants and lots of stunted little trees. We stopped at the lookout points and saw more water, plants and trees. We did the board walk and saw more water, plants, trees, fish, birds and a very small alligator that Howard reckons was just a painted log! We reached Flamingo Point and saw more water, plants, trees, a harbour and rich people’s boats. Then we drove back to the motel.

12/5/13 The Florida Keys and Key West

So despite having a dodgy eye Howard was determined to drive to Key West today, so we got up early and set off. It is really bizarre as you drive over the sea along a road that connects all these small green islands. Who decided to build that?!

The sea was every shade of blue and green imaginable and the sun was shining brightly the whole time. We passed tiny keys, middle size keys and big keys and kept going on and on, eventually three hours and 120 miles later we arrived in Key West, the most southerly point of the USA and closer to Cuba than our Travelodge!

Key West is a small, quaint little place, full of tacky souvenir shops and bars but it has something about it. The houses are lovely, ‘old’, clapboard with those great porches and little ‘trains’ are chugging around full of tourists being shown the sights.

There was a really nice harbour area with lots of lobster and seafood on offer and the restaurants were packed out, probably because a huge cruise ship was in. We drove back via the beach area and I was surprised that the beach didn’t appear to be very large or very impressive.

Driving back the difference between Key West and the other keys seemed much more marked now, there were lots of business either closed or up for rent and nowhere else seemed to have made as much of itself as Key West has. Nevertheless there were huge water front houses everywhere, with their docks and boats and this whole area is clearly the playground for the wealthy.

I’m glad we saw the Keys but it was a hell of a lot of driving!

Tomorrow we are off to join our five night cruise so I won’t be able to publish any more blogs until we get back, so just picture us on our balcony heading towards the Bahamas!

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Photos

1 Grasshopper
You can imagine how high i hopped when i saw this on our car windscreen!!

2 Everglades National Park (2)
There is a small aligator in there somewhere

Comments

[Debbie Stephenson]

Imagine....
if I'd have been there! that's all I'm saying! (but excellent photo) xx

[Teesside Travellers]

Hee hee, you and me both! Howard took the picture and then had to remove it - needless to say!!