Southern Florida (Miami, Everglades National Park & the Florida Keys)

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Our trip to Southern Florida was planned far less in advance than most of our other trips usually are. In fact, it was on quite a whim that we decided to come visit this area. I had received a good deal on a ticket voucher through my Delta Skymiles account. Having visited warm Puerto Vallarta, Mexico the previous January, I thought it might be fun to try another sunny destination during the following January. My ticket voucher could only be applied towards a destination in the United States, so one day, I randomly asked Mike "What would you thinking about traveling to Miami in January?". Mike replied something like "I don't know...I guess it sounds okay". And, thus was created yet another journey for Mike and Jennifer. Our trip occurred over a period of six days and involved visiting Miami Beach, Miami and it's surrounding area, the Everglades National Park, and a drive down the Florida Keys, with a two night stopover in Key West.

Day 1: Thursday, January 8th, 2009

When I had reserved our plane tickets from Seattle to Miami through Delta Airlines, I was extremely concerned about the flight due to the lack of time during the layover in Atlanta. Although there is one direct flight a day from Seattle to Miami, it's with Alaska Airlines, and the travel voucher we used for this trip was for Delta Airline flights only. As a result, we were scheduled for a layover in Atlanta, but only for about one hour in duration. For most airports in the US, this wouldn't be a problem, but having traveled through Atlanta's airport several times myself, I knew it wasn't a good idea. I was just a tad bit worried that we wouldn't be able to make it on time, much of the reason being owed to the massive size of Atlanta’s airport. I really hate the notion of layovers, especially when traveling through the US, but only accepted it for this flight due to the cheap price (buy one regular ticket, get the other for only $100).

Unfortunately, my concerns were affirmed when we arrived at airport on the first day of the trip and saw that our flight from Seattle to Atlanta was running 30 minutes behind. Since we only had 60 minutes between the two flights to begin with, the fact that we had even less time now was truly worrisome and quite an irritant. Knowing that there were several direct flights each day to Atlanta from Seattle on Delta, we spoke with one of the ticket agents and asked if we could get on earlier flight. Unfortunately, it was too late at that point. The guy from Delta we spoak with reluctantly stated "well, with the estimated time of arrival in Atlanta...you should be fine". This comment definitely didn't make me feel any better, although Mike tried to keep reminding me that airlines always build in additional time to the estimated length of flight to account for late arrivals. This didn't matter to me though; I was already pissed off and extremely worried that we would miss our flight out of Atlanta, and end up having to wait until the following morning to fly to into Miami.

We eventually made it to the gate area, and as we were waiting for our flight to arrive, we were informed it would be an additional 30 minutes late. Now, I was REALLY freaking out and just kicking myself for having booked a flight with such a small layover time. I stated to Mike that we would never again book a flight with a layover unless it was absolutely necessary.

Our flight finally departed at 14:05, one hour and five minutes after it was originally scheduled for. I felt extremely anxious during the entire ride down to Atlanta. Mike seemed to take it all in stride like he usually does, but I was constantly monitoring the flight status on computer screen. This great little gadget would show us where the flight was at the current time, and the estimated time of arrival. Luckily, we had some strong tail winds, so that pushed us a long a little faster than anticipated.

During the flight, we found out there was several other couples that were also headed to Miami. We all discussed how worried we were about making the connection, and I relayed that I would be running through the airport if necessary. Thankfully, one of the flight attendants later asked over the intercom if all those whose final destination was Atlanta could sit in their seat and wait to disembark so that the other passengers with connecting flights could get off as quickly as possible. Her request was greeted with cheers and applause, so I felt a little more hopeful.

When we finally arrived in Atlanta, we had 15 minutes to spare until our flight was scheduled to depart to Miami. We rushed off the plane, but then saw on the flight screens that the Miami flight had been delayed by 15 minutes, so we were able to breath a small sign of relief as we had 30 minutes to make it. Of course, the flight to Miami was departing from a different concourse, so we had to take one of the underground trains. By the time we made it to our gate, they had already begun boarding. Somehow, and through the grace of someone looking out for us, we had made it. I was so incredibly relieved.

Once we made it on board the flight, a very strange thing happened. Somehow, the flight ended up having one too many people on board. There was a young woman who had been unable to find a spot in the overhead bins to place her carry-on luggage, so the flight attendants informed her that they would gate check it for her. When she was finally able to make it to her seat, she realized that someone was already sitting it in. She began conversing with the passenger, who was sitting next to his wife. The flight attendants immediately took note of this, and asked the man if he was supposed to be sitting somewhere else, and if they could see his boarding pass. He stated that he did not have his boarding pass as he had given it to the airline attendant who had scanned it. The flight attendants became immediately confused, and started talking amongst themselves, asking if there was any seats open, or if there were young children (under 2) who were sitting in a seat when they should have been on their parents lap. One of the flight attendants even said "wait, are you telling me that a man somehow made it on the plane without having a ticket?!". Fifteen minutes later, both the man and his wife were informed to get off of the plane and the young woman was able to sit down. I found it quite strange that a person was able to board a plane without having a boarding pass. The only thing I could think of was that he passed by the attendant unnoticed while her head was turned as she was scanning someones boarding pass.

We finally arrived in Miami at 12:00, one hour later than expected due to the late departure thanks to the extra person on the airplane fiasco.

We had reserved a car rental ahead of time through E-Z Rent-A-Car, so we immediately gave their rental office a call to request a pick-up from the shuttle as soon as we had disembarked the plane, at around 12:20. The agent Mike spoke with told him to wait at the departures area, so we followed her directions. Twenty minutes later, they still had not arrived so Mike called them again, although that time have they did not answer. Knowing that the shuttle service was provided through their partner Embassy Suites, we immediately called the hotel to ask them where in the heck the shuttle was. The agent we spoke with informed us that they couldn’t find the representative from E-Z Rent-A-Car but would continue looking for them ASAP.

We waited another ten minutes, and then Mike called the hotel a second time. He was rudely informed that the car rental staff had left at 12:45, when they were supposed to be open until 01:00. We were absolutely infuriated. The car rental company never came to pick-us up even though they had indicated on the phone that they were going to. We sat there, waiting for nearly an hour, only to find out that no one was coming to pick-us up. It was almost 1:00 in the morning, and we were both exhausted from our long day of traveling, and without transportation. Not really knowing what to do, we both began to call other car rental agencies until we found the cheapest price. The winner this time around was Thirfty. Unlike the other company, Thirfty came through for us and the shuttle arrived to pick us up in no time at all.

Exhausted at this point, we received the car from the car rental agency and headed to South Beach, where our pre-booked accommodation at the Clay Hotel was located.

We were able to find the hotel without any problems thanks to Garmin, our navigation system. When we arrived at the hotel, I waited inside the car while Mike walked inside to check in. We then parked the car in a parking garage a few blocks away as hotel had no more available spaces. We began the walk from the garage back to hotel at 2:30, but not before first stopping for pizza as we were starving. We finally collapsed in our hotel room at 3:00. Hands down, this was the worst day of travel EVER for both of us; we would like to never again repeat any of the things that occurred on this day. I commented to Mike that I felt as though we had traveled the distance to Europe (12 hours total), when in reality, we had only traveled across the United States. We went to bed hoping that the following day would be much better and make up for our day of hell. None of these problems would have occurred had we taken the direct flight on Alaska; we definitely learned our lesson and vowed never again to have a layover unless a direct flight wasn’t an option.

Day 2: Friday, January 9th, 2009

Having had an extremely late night the night before, we ended up waking up at 11:00. We were greeted with bright blue skies and the beautiful, warm sun. I was super excited to get outside and feel the sun, so we both got ready quickly.

From our hotel, we drove through South Beach, enjoying the colorful and interesting Art Deco architecture from our car window as we drove towards Coconut Grove. We eventually reached the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, but before heading into the grounds to park, we drove to the nearest grocery store in order to purchase some beverages, snacks and other necessities (such as sunscreen) for our trip.

Afterward, we headed back to the museum. The Vizcaya Museum and Gardens was once the private home of James Deering, an American millionaire. In the early 1900’s, Deering bought 180 acres of waterfront property in the northern area of what is now Coconut Grove. His plan was to build and create a Renaissance Italian villa with formal gardens like those he had visited on his European vacations. In order to achieve his goal, he made two separate trips to Europe, purchasing and later amassing a massive collection of various pieces including furniture, decorative art, tapestries, entire ceilings, wall panels and much more. These treasured pieces (which range from the 15th to 19th centuries) were then used to assemble his villa, specifically designing the interior space around the artifacts he had obtained. Construction of his home took over two years to complete and required over 1000 workers, which was at that point in time, ten percent of the population of Miami.

We arrived just in time to join a 45 minute guided tour, which was included in the $15 entrance fee. The tour guide took us through the main floor of the house, explaining in great detail the history of many of the objects in each of the rooms. At times, I felt as though I was wandering through a palace in Europe as the rooms were so authentic to their specific designated period (i.e. Rococo, Baroque, Neo-Classical, etc). The house reminded me in many ways of the Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California as both homes were built with artifacts from palaces, castles, and churches in Europe.

After the tour concluded, we visited the upstairs portion of the house, which included the many guest bedrooms and Deering’s private bedroom and bathroom. Next, we walked outside where we were rewarded with amazing views of Biscayne Bay. From the back terrace, we walked into the formal gardens.



The formal gardens took even longer to create than the house did, finally finishing in 1921. The ten acre garden mixes layouts from 16th and 17th century Italian hillside estates with those of 17th century France, creating a beautiful and serene place with many walking and photographic opportunities. I spent quite a bit of time walking through the gardens as there was many beautiful things to take photos of. The best part of the gardens however was the warm sun that was beating down on us; it was crazy to think that it was cold and probably less than 40 degrees back in Seattle, while we were experiencing nearly 80 degree weather.

From Vizcaya, we drove towards Coral Gables. Coral Gables was one of the first planned subdivisions in the United States, the brainchild of George Merrick. This community helped termed phrases such as "gated community" and "homeowners association". In the 1920’s, Merrick purchased 10,000 acres and then built the famous Biltmore Hotel, a beautiful resort built in the Spanish-Moorish style. Afterward, Coral Gables continued to evolve with broad streets, plazas, and public spaces such as the Venetian Pool. The 12 square miles of Coral Gables contain several unique neighborhoods, including the Chinese Village, Italian Village, and the French Normandy Village. Unfortunately, due to the lack of addresses for these neighborhoods and without a detailed map in our possession, we were unable to drive through any of the “themed villages”. We did however see the Biltmore Hotel and it’s gorgeous interior along with the Coral Gables Congregational Church.

After driving through the amazing estates in Coral Gables, we headed over to Key Biscayne. Key Biscayne is actually an island east of downtown Miami and south of Miami Beach. We first stopped at Crandon Beach Park, which was located on the eastern side of the island. We found the beach right away, but were disappointed when we saw that there was a $5 parking fee. However, we somehow managed to avoid paying the fee when we entered the parking lot; the attendant just waved us on in. By this point, it was around 16:30, and the temperature was beginning to decrease, so it was a bit chilly at the beach, especially with the breeze. I was shocked at how few people we saw at the beach; maybe a few dozen people when it normally could have been covered with hundreds. Although 70 degrees may sound like good beach weather to this Seattleite, apparently the same does not hold true for Miamians. We walked down the beach for a few minutes, running our toes through the soft sand and eventually touching the Atlantic Ocean, a first for both of us.

From Crandon Beach, we headed to the southern tip of the island to Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Recreation Area. This is a 415 acre park that is home to the Cape Florida Lighthouse, which was built in 1845 and is the oldest structure in Florida. We arrived in the park just as the sun was beginning to set, so I was beside myself knowing that I would be able to attain some amazing photography of the beach and it's lighthouse as the backdrop would be a beautiful pink-blueish sky. In the end, I was thrilled with my photos; it seems that I often find myself arriving at the right place at the right time in terms of photograph opportunities.

After leaving the park, we headed back north on Key Biscayne until we reached Key Biscayne Village, the only town on the island. As we had only been snacking all day, we were quite ready for a full meal so we selected Café Croisic, a French bistro, based on recommendations from our Lonely Planet guidebook. We arrived just as the restaurant opened at 18:00. For our meal, we shared French Onion Soup as an appetizer, both ordered the chicken dish for dinner, and had chocolate cake for dessert. The soup was good, not necessarily the best we’ve ever had, but certainly not the worst either. The chicken was surprisingly good; it was a chicken breast that had been tenderized and then grilled with a balsamic vinegar reduction and placed over a medley of vegetables (Mike) and mashed potatoes (Jennifer). The chicken was moist and had a pleasing char-broiled taste. The dessert however, was definitely the best part. It was a chocolate cake-like brownie that had a thick and oozing chocolate sauce in it's center, topped by a scoop of ice cream. While I enjoy chocolate, it’s not necessarily my most favorite choice for dessert, but this chocolate dish was the most amazing I’ve ever had (in terms of chocolate). As you bit into the cake-like texture, you were immediately greeted with the warm, oozing rich chocolate center. The taste was phenomenal, period. The total price of dinner was more than we would have like to normally spend ($70) but as we hadn’t spent too much that day on sightseeing, I didn’t feel too bad. In truth, although we had an excellent experience with dessert, the food itself was overpriced, but is a good choice if you want some delicious French food.

From the restaurant, we headed back to South Beach, where we relaxed at our hotel room for the rest of the evening. We were both still exhausted from our travel nightmare from the day before.

Day 3: Saturday, January 10th, 2009

We awoke to our second morning in Miami under bright blue skies once again, but this time feeling even more exhausted than the day before. The bed in our hotel room had to have been the most uncomfortable we had ever slept on before, so after tossing and turning all night, neither of us had received much sleep.

We finally left around 10:00, and headed out for a breakfast to a place called Le Sandwicherie. This counter service only restaurant was highly recommend by several of the guidebooks I had read and was also rated by Zagat, so I definitely wanted to check it out. Le Sandwicherie serves only sandwiches and smoothies, so Mike ended up ordering a ham sandwich with most of the regular trimmings while I had the French Croque Monsieur sandwich (ham and Swiss cheese sandwich, between layers of toasted bread). My dish came with a salad and we also ordered a freshly made smoothie. The sandwiches were quite delicious and made with the utmost fresh ingredients including awesome and authentic French bread. It’s no wonder why the place is immensely popular and has been so highly rated.

From the restaurant, we began the Art Deco walk through South Beach, which started just a few blocks from our hotel. Aside from it's nightlife, South Beach is probably most famously known for it's Art Deco district, which contains over 800 preserved buildings, many of them located along the chic Ocean Drive. To this day, this area of Miami has the world's largest collection of Streamline Moderne Art Deco architecture. Many people have referred to Miami’s Art Deco architecture as Tropical Deco due to its use of bright colors and tropical motifs. We walked through street after street of these beautiful buildings, some of them obviously well taken care of and others in need of some desperate TLC.

During the walk, we also ventured over to Lummus Beach Park which is a 300 foot wide beach that stretches over ten blocks. The beach was filled with volleyball players, women strutting their stuff in tiny bikinis, families with their children making sand castles, and many women sun bathing topless; quite an interesting mix of people and lifestyles and a true representation of all that is SoBe life. The water here was surprisingly warm and the beautiful Caribbean blue color I had so been looking forward to seeing. From the beach, we continued to walk along Ocean Drive, which was a great stroll for people watching.

From South Beach, we went and grabbed the car and headed towards Coral Gables, this time to the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. Mike went inside the visitor information center and paid for the $20 tickets, and then we immediately left and headed to a nearby Publix Grocery store. We wanted to purchase additional snacks for our trip, so I was very pleased to find out that Publix was close by. This grocery store was about 1000 times nicer than the Winn-Dixie we had stopped in at the day before and had a much better selection of food items to choose from.

From the grocery store, we headed back to the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. This is the largest tropical botanical garden in the United States (outside of Hawaii) and is 83 acres in size and was originally created in 1938. South Florida is the only region in the continental United States where both tropical and subtropical plants can survive year-round, so this massive place is quite amazing. In order to obtain a good overview of the park, we opted to take one of the 40 minute guided tram tours that was included in the entrance fee. The tram tour took us through a myriad of different gardens, from ferns to orchids, to fruit trees to numerous palm trees (550 of the known 2500 species are grown here) to the beautiful man-made lakes; we saw a tremendous variety of tropical foliage.

Along the way, we also saw many iguanas, much to the park’s unhappiness. Apparently, these little (well, rather big) creatures destroy much of the plantings and vegetation, and procreate at an alarming rate. While I know that the park wasn’t pleased with their existence, it was rather fun to be able to see so many of the colorful iguanas up-close.

After the tram tour, we decided to walk around the park ourselves, spending much of our time in the lakes area, also known as the Fairchild lowlands. I had difficulty keeping my camera turned off as it seemed wherever I turned, there was amazing beauty that had to be captured. At times, when the wind wasn’t blowing, I was able to get some great shots of the palm trees reflecting so elegantly in the lakes (lake reflections are some of my most favorite shots to take). We also encountered a few other forms of wildlife, including a turtle (which was underwater in one of the lakes) and several birds, one of which I was able to get some close-up shots of. Towards the end of our visit, we made our way to the tropical fruit pavilion where we toured the tropical house and enjoyed the amazing and colorful tropical flowers. This garden would make for the perfect wedding location. In fact, we were lucky enough to see some of the staff members setting-up for a wedding that was to occur later that evening; the view from the wedding ceremony location was truly incredible with the lake area providing a gorgeous backdrop.

From the gardens, we drove to Little Havana, which is a 30 block neighborhood that centers around S.W. Eighth Street (aka Calle Ocho). This famous neighborhood was initially set-up by Cuban immigrants during the 1960's and has been followed through the years by Dominicans, Nicaraguans, and Salvadorans, to name a few. While the area itself was not as rough as we had expected, there really wasn’t much to see or take photos of. We had initially hoped to eat at one of the Cuban restaurants in the area, but our timing was off as neither of us was very hungry.

Instead, we left the area and ventured over to the Bayside Marketplace. I wasn’t too keen on visiting this place as I had read that it was quite touristy and not too interesting, but Mike wanted to check it out. The market had a parking garage where we parked for a ridiculous $10 fee. Essentially, what we saw was your average outdoor shopping mall with all of the standard American chain stores; very disappointing, especially since we had wasted $10 on parking. Sometimes it is truly best to believe your guidebooks and take heed of their advice.

From the mall, we decided to find a place for dinner. Mexican sounded good at the time, so after consulting our guidebooks, we found a place called Taquerias el Mexicano, which was located in the Little Havana neighborhood. We parked the car on the street as there was no restaurant parking, and then headed inside. We were of course, the only white people inside, but I knew that this meant that the food should be good. Mike ordered his go-to chicken fajitas while I had a combination dish of a ground beef taco, cheese enchilada, and a bean tostada. The dinner began with the standard chips and salsa, but lucky for us, these chips were thick and crunchy, similar to those we had found in Mexico the year before. The salsa was obviously homemade, and probably some of the best we have ever tasted. Dinner itself was okay, just a tad-bit disappointing. My tostada was probably the highlight of the meal; it was topped with refried beans, tomatoes, lettuce, sour cream, insanely delicious guacamole, and cotija cheese and was quite tasty. My enchilada on the other hand was actually cold, not very good, and the beef taco was okay, just too greasy for my taste. Mike stated that his fajitas were good, but he’s definitely had much better and much worse. The best part of the meal however was the cheap dessert we ordered; a $2 piece of flan that was smooth, creamy, and placed in a strawberry sauce. Bottom line; we would probably eat here again, but try different items on the menu in hopes of a slightly elevated eating experience. Unfortunately, there are no photos of food from our visit as Mike refused to allow me to take the camera out. He said that it would make us stand out in the restaurant even more so than we already did! 😊

From the restaurant, we drove back to South Beach and collapsed at hotel; we were both exhausted.

Here are some of the general impressions/things we noted about Miami during our two day visit:
• Miami drivers tend to drive like maniacs; they were, without a doubt, the craziest drivers we had ever seen, constantly honking their horns and having absolutely no patience for anyone or anything.
• Almost all of the cars on the road appeared to be very new; seldom did we ever see any run-down looking cars, even in the poorer sections of the city. The only things we could attribute this to was the cheaper cost of living, and the ritzy lifestyle, which seemed to expect these sort of niceties.
• The downtown Miami skyline was much larger and more impressive than I had imagined. I knew Miami was one of the larger cities in the United States, but I hadn't guessed that it would have such a dramatic skyline, especially at night.
• Although we only spent two days in Miami, we could have easily extended that time to a week and not seen everything the city and it's surrounding area had to offer. You shouldn't underestimate the size of the city, as it is quite massive and spread over a gigantic area of land.
• With the exception of the Bayside Market, much of the downtown area was absolutely dead when we drove through it around 17:00 on a Saturday evening. Apparently, most of the city's famous nightlife must take place in South Beach.
• There were many tolls on several of the local freeways, which surprised me as we have practically none in Washington State.
• Parking access to many of the beaches cost money, so be prepared to dole out a few dollars when hitting the beach.
• The city is relatively new, in comparison to other US cities; in 1920, the population in the Miami metropolitan area was only 66,000 people; less than 90 years later in 2009, the population is over 5,000,000.
• Miami, and more specifically, South Beach, has a very European vibe to it, with lots of outdoor cafes, carefree attitudes, and a large European community. We enjoyed this aspect of the city immensely.

Day 3: Sunday, January 11th, 2009

We headed out of Miami early this morning, leaving the hostel at 8:15. We then drove west for about one hour until we reached the Shark Valley Visitor Center within the Everglades National Park. While doing research for the trip, I had read that the National Park offered two hour tram tours along the 15 mile paved trail in the Everglades prairie. The only other options for accessing this trail were by bike (which we didn’t have) and by foot, which definitely didn’t sound too appealing in the 85 degree weather. The tram tour cost about $16 per person (not including the $10 entrance fee to the park) and was offered each hour, on the hour. However, in order to ensure that we were able to participate in the 10:00 tour, I had called a few days prior to reserve our spot.

Luckily for us, the 10:00 tour was not completely full, so Mike and I had a full row of seats to ourselves, which was quite nice and proved handy when I later needed to move from side to side while taking photos. The entire duration of the tram tour was narrated by a Park Ranger, who was extremely informative and provided a ton of information on the Everglade’s delicate ecosystem. She also gave a thorough explanation on many of the birds and other animals whom reside in the park. One of the interesting facts we learned was that a female alligator lays anywhere from 20 to 50 eggs per year, but only five to ten of her offspring end up living to adulthood. Baby alligators are a yummy delicacy for many of the birds, turtles, and male alligators, so their survival rate is very low. Another fascinating bit of information we learned was that the sex of the alligator is determined by the placement of the eggs in the nest; that is, the eggs that are towards the bottom of the nest remain a cooler temperature, and become females. Eggs that are place at the top of the nest are kept warmer, and therefore, turn into males. The facts I mentioned above are only a small sampling of the interesting information the Park Ranger talked about and explained to us.

The temperature as we rode along the trail in the tram was very hot, even with the wind. It was difficult to stay cool, especially when I was moving from side to side on our bench in the tram while taking photos.

Towards the middle of the trail, we came to the Shark Valley Observation Tower, which was an unfortunate concrete eyesore, but made up for it's lack of beautify by providing amazing views of the surrounding park. At the top of the tower, we were able to see a group of three alligators sunbathing together, which was unique as the most we ever saw together at once was two. We figured that one was the mother alligator, and the other two smaller ones were her children.

One of the most impressive things about the Shark Valley trail was the abundant amount of wildlife we saw and encountered. I cannot begin to count the number of alligators we saw as we drove along the path (at least 50) or different types of birds that flew past us. It was truly amazing to be able to see so many animals flourish in their natural habitats. I was so incredibly excited to be able to photograph the alligators up close; this was an experience we will never forget and one that I wholeheartedly recommend.

From the Everglades National Park, we drove just down the road to Cooperstown Airboats. An air boat is a flat-bottomed skiff that uses powerful fans to propel itself in the shallow water of the Everglades. I was very apprehensive about participating in one of these tours (they can be found everywhere in this part of Florida) as I had read that the boats were loud and that their environmental impact had not yet been determined. However, this was something that Mike really wanted to do, so I gave in, knowing how important it was to him. We chose Cooperstown based on the positives reviews they had received on Trip Advisor.

After arriving, we only had to wait about ten minutes until they placed us on a boat. Immediately prior to getting on the boat however, we were each allowed to hold a baby alligator. I was reluctant to hold the wiggly reptile, but figured that if everyone else did, I should as well. When I initially touched him, I was shocked at how soft and squishy he was; I assumed that his body would be very hard, but in fact, it was still quite malleable.

After everyone had their turn holding the baby alligator, we all got into the boat, and were given cotton balls to plug our ears with to protect our hearing from the loud fans. The entire ride lasted about 40 minutes and took us through the wide open expanse of swamp fields and through groves of small trees and bushes, in hopes of finding turtles and alligators. We only saw a few animals, but that was okay for Mike and I as we had seen enough in the Everglades National Park. What I more so enjoyed about the ride was the feeling we experienced while on the boat. If felt as though we were floating through the air and softly gliding through the water. That feeling, combined with the amazing scenery and big blue skies that seemed to go on forever was truly an incredible and unforgettable experience.

From Cooperstown Airboats, we began the long drive to Key West. Along the way, we stopped in Key Largo for a late lunch. We found two different recommend restaurants to eat at, but both were closed! We finally settled on a place called Rib Daddy's. Mike ordered a pulled pork sandwich with a side of chili while I had the prime rib sandwich with grilled onions and gruyere cheese and a side of cheddar mashed potatoes. My sandwich was quite delicious, but unfortunately, the potatoes were instant, which did not make me happy. Mike stated that his sandwich was good but the chili was nothing special. We had planned to get in and get out of the place quickly, but the waitress ended up taking FOREVER to get us our bill, so we left probably 15 minutes later than we had wanted.

We continued heading down Highway 1, which is a 113 mile roadway that connects 45 different islands in the Florida Keys. A times, it was difficult to know that we were driving across a small island as there was so many strip malls and small brush blocking the views. However, as we approached the middle Keys we were able to see the beautiful blue water much easier. I would have loved to have stopped and take photos along the way, but we were in a time crunch as we had indicated we would check-into our hotel at 18:00.

We ended up arriving in charming Key West around 18:15 at our chosen placed of lodging called the Caribbean House. The owner of the small ten room establishment was a friendly French woman named Marie who hailed from my favorite city if the world, Paris. She took us to our room, which was painted a colorful pink color, but decorated very tastefully in a Caribbean style. The most important part though, was the bed as it was actually COMFORTABLE, unlike the horrid one in Miami.

After dropping our stuff off in the room, we headed out into the city and walked down Duvall Street for around one hour. Duvall Street is one of the main thoroughfares of Key West and is filled to the brim with tourists, tacky stores with tourist paraphernalia, and a smattering of good restaurants. We had wanted to find a Cuban place for dinner that evening, but I didn’t have any of the guidebooks on me, so we had to walk back to the hotel room.

We decided on a Cuban place called El Meson de Pepe, which just so happened to be located at the end of Duvall Street, about a 30 minute walk away from the Caribbean House. Mike decided to drive us there instead of walking, and luckily, we found a parking garage right next door to the restaurant. For dinner, Mike ordered the Chuletas de Cerdo al Key Lime (pork chop dish marinated in key lime and garlic with sauteed onions) and I chose the Pollo al Ajillo (roast chicken dish with a garlic mojo glaze and caramelized onions). All of the main entrees came with a side of black beans, rice, and plantains. While Mike was excited to eat plantains again, I had never tasted them before, so I was looking forward to trying a new food. Both of our dishes were excellent with intense flavors; a lot of lime and onion had been used to season both dishes, which was fantastic. I thought the plantains were okay, basically a greasy, mushy, sweet banana. Definitely edible, but nothing I would go out of my way to eat again. For dessert, we ordered a slice of key lime pie. Neither of us had ever tried key lime pie, but we were both surprised with the taste and texture. It did not have the huge lime flavor we were expecting, and the custard part of the pie was not as smooth as I had anticipated. We figured (and hoped) that this slice was not a true representation of an authentic piece of Key Lime pie. From the restaurant, we drove back to the hotel, where we were able to finally enjoy relaxing in a very comfortable bed.

Day 5: Monday, January 12th, 2009

We began this morning by walking a few blocks from our room to Croissant de Paris where we picked-up a few pastries for breakfast, including key lime beignets and croissants.

After eating our quick breakfast, we headed to the nearby Hemingway House. This house was the former home of the very famous and beloved American novelist Ernest Hemingway from 1931 to 1939. Hemingway wrote many of his most famous works here, including "A Farewell to Arms" and "For Whom the Bells Toll".

The entrance fee to the Hemingway House was a bit steep at $12 per person, but we still decided to visit as it was the sight we most wanted to see while in Key West. A guided tour of the house was included for free with the entrance fee, and left every ten minutes.

Upon entering the house, we immediately noticed the many cats; they were everywhere, including the house and the gardens. We also noticed that most of the cats had the famous six toe pads, which is usually referred to as polydactyl (extra toes). Their paws were much larger than I had expected and actually quite strange looking. Apparently, some of the cats have extra toes on their front feet, and some on their back feet. Ernest was given a six-toed cat by a ship captain many, many decades ago, and all of the cats who now live on the property are said to be descendants from that original cat. The house currently has about 60 cats, all of whom are given names in honor of famous people, such as Audrey Hepburn, Pablo Picasso, Spencer Tracy, etc.

The tour guide on our tour was a very eccentric man who obviously loved his job; however, at times his loud voice and antics were slightly annoying, so I was somewhat happy when the tour had concluded. While on the tour, we were introduced to many more of the cats, including Charlie Chaplin, Harry Truman, and Archibald MacLeisch. Most of the cats were very friendly, but some looked as though they had seen better days; some just looked a little rough around the edges and as though they were in need of a bath.

From the Hemingway House, we walked several blocks to the Heritage House Museum. The Caribbean Colonial house was originally built in the 1830's and was last occupied by Jessie Porter, who was a fifth generation "conch". Jessie was famous on Key West for her hospitality, and entertained many people, including the famous Tennessee Williams. Much of the furnishings and decorations of the home date from Jessie's time. I love walking through old, beautifully restored homes; Mike on the other hand, can usually do without this activity. As a result, he decided not to tour the house and waited for me outside on the front porch. I paid the $5 entry fee, but was almost immediately disappointed once I walked into the interior of the house. While it had been nicely restored, there was only five rooms to view in the house; the upper floors were closed off to the public. For an entrance fee of $5, I thought it was quite ridiculous to only show a small portion of the house to the public.

From the Heritage House Museum, we walked just around the corner to the Audubon House, which was the former home of ornithologist (scholar of birds) John James Audubon. The house contains the first edition works of 28 of Audubon's paintings. As he had before, Mike also opted not to go inside this house. The Audobon House, unlike the other, was much larger and all of the rooms with the exception of one were viewable. The best part of the tour however was the gardens behind the house, which were filled with a variety of different flowers, specifically many colors of orchids. I had a great time taking photos of the many beautiful flowers.

From here, we headed out of Key West to the place I was most looking forward to visiting on the Keys; Bahia Honda State Park. There are just a few areas along the Keys that have the white, soft, sandy beaches many of us might picture. One of these few exceptions is Bahia Honda State Park, located about 30-45 minutes north of Key West. As we drove north and approached the park on Highway 1, the blue ocean water began to change into turquoise colored water. I had not been able to see this beautiful color on our way down into Key West as it had been dark out, so I was quite excited.

In order to enter the park and park our car, we had to pay a $6 fee. From the entrance of the park, we drove about ten minutes north to one of the beaches called Sandspur. I chose this beach out of the three as it was listed as being the best. When we arrived, I was blown away by the gorgeous water, but a little disappointed by the beach itself. While the sand was soft and white, there was quite a bit of dried seaweed everywhere, so the views were not as I had expected. However, the ugly seaweed did not detour my enjoyment of the beach. Initially, Mike and I walked together along the shores of the beach. Eventually, we made our way a few hundred feet into the ocean, where the water was only to our mid-calfs! The water at Bahia Honda State Park is very shallow and maintains it's minimal depth outward for several yards from the shoreline.

Later, Mike began to feel a little too hot from the blaring sun, so he went and sat in the shade while I continued the walk down the beach. Being from Seattle, it is a rare occasion when we can enjoy a beach on a hot and sunny day while also feeling warm ocean water at our feet; wait, let me restate that. It's not rare, it's actually impossible! The ocean waters of Washington State are always freezing, so to feel warm water on my feet and legs was so refreshing. I also absolutely love the feeling of soft sand underneath my bare feet; it’s probably one of my most favorite simple things in life. I ended up walking down the beach for at least a mile; I really didn’t want to turn around as it was so relaxing and peaceful, but I knew it had to end at some point, just like everything else in life.

After leaving the beach, we drove back down to Key West. Feeling completely relaxed but still somewhat tired, I passed out in the car almost immediately and slept the whole way down. Once in Key West, we headed to the landmark of the most southern point in the continental United States. I had expected a huge crowd of people posing next to the buoy, but I saw less than one dozen. We opted not to have our picture taken with the landmark as there was a strange man who was without much success, attempting to converse with everyone in the area. He wore an orange t-shirt on that read “VOLUNTEER”. Really, this man was not a volunteer, but just another person asking for money after offering to take your photo. Not wanting to be harassed, we opted to take a photo of the buoy itself and then headed to our hotel.

We quickly freshened up at the hotel, and then left and walked down to Mallory Square in order to watch the famous sunset. Unfortunately, as soon as we arrived at the pier we noticed that one of the giant cruise ships that had arrived earlier in the day was still docked, and would probably be blocking our view of the sunset. I was quite irritated with the situation, but at least we were able to witness the process the ship had to go through prior to disembarking. The cruise ship finally left about ten minutes prior to the sunset. I love watching sunsets, especially because I don’t often get the chance (or time) to do so at home. It is very popular for visitors to watch the sunset at Mallory Square, and it seemed as though the entire town was out there with us.

After the sunset, we began the long walk back to our hotel, but not before stopping at a store called Key Lime Pie Factory. We had wanted to find some easy food souvenirs to bring back to the girls (our exchange students). We ended up buying some key lime cookies for them and a slice of Key Lime for ourselves, hoping that it would taste a lot better than the one we had the night before at the Cuban restaurant. We left and then almost immediately ran into another Key Lime store just a few hundred feet away. A man ushered us in, and explained that he was not a chain like the one we had just visited, and that his place actually had “the best” key lime in town. I was doubtful, until we agreed to buy a slice and then took a bite; the taste was truly delicious; sweet and tangy, and the consistency was perfectly smooth. It was in fact much better than the key lime from down the street. Generally speaking, the best tasting food almost always comes out of a local place versus a chain as they seem to have so much more pride in their food and tend to cook and bake almost everything themselves from scratch. Apparently, the other place had their pies brought in from Miami, and they weren’t baked fresh daily.

After dropping the key lime pie slices off in our hotel room, we headed just out of town to a Mexican place for dinner called Chico's Cantina. Unlike most of the other places we had eaten at on our trip, I had not found this place in a guidebook. Instead, I had seen it twice along the highway as we drove into town. It looked good, and we both always love eating Mexican food, so we hoped for the best. It’s definitely a local place that is probably not often frequented by tourists. We ordered the same standard plates we always do at Mexican restaurants, along with a side of guacamole for the chips. Overall, I would say the food was good, but not great. My beef taco was probably the best of my meal, but the rest was just okay. Mike also stated that his chicken fajitas were “okay” which means not bad, but also not good. I can’t say for sure if we would eat here again; we would probably lean more towards no as there are so many other options in town; no point in eating only so-so food twice.

We drove back to town again, and settled in at the hotel for the rest of the evening, knowing that tomorrow would be our final day in the warm sun.

Day 6: Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

On our final day in Florida, we headed for breakfast to a restaurant called Blue Heaven, which was located just down the road from the Caribbean House. The grounds on which the restaurant is located has had a very storied past; it was once home to a bordello, and Ernest Hemingway also referred boxing matches here. The restaurant is located completely outside, so it has great ambiance and even includes several resident roosters and hens. Blue Heaven was listed in all of the guidebooks we had as being one of the best places to eat in town, so we thought we should stop in for a visit. I ordered the bacon and eggs benedict, while Mike had the rooster special (eggs, potatoes, bacon and pancakes). The food was quite tasty and reasonably priced. The only negative aspect to this experience was the horribly humid weather, which destroyed my straightened hair within ten minutes!

After eating breakfast, we walked back to the Caribbean House, checked out, and began the long drive north from Key West to Miami.

Along the way, we stopped at Long Key State Park as I had wanted to spend some of my last moments in Florida at the beach. This beach was okay, definitely nothing near as nice as Bahia Honda State Park but we still managed to enjoy ourselves just fine. We walked along the beach for a bit, running our toes through the soft sand. I was also fortunate enough to get some photographs of a few small birds that were also enjoying watching the waves roll in.

By the end of our quick 30 minute detour, my hair looked ten times worse than it had back in Key West, and was officially toast. I didn't know quite what to do, but I knew that I had to figure something out pronto as their was no way I was going to appear in public like that. For those of you who don't know, my hair is naturally poofy; no, not cute and curly as it was when I was a child, but instead a huge and wavy mess that looks as though I have electrocuted myself. We obviously did not have access to plug my straightener in, so instead, I came up with a different solution. I had brought my black rain jacket with me, and decided to wear that with the hood tightly pulled around my head. When I've worn this jacket in the past, it has made my hair quite smooth, so I hoped that it would be able to do the same for me this time. Although it did not get rid of the waves, it definitely de-poofed my hair to a level that I found was acceptable for the public's viewing

Towards the end of our three hour drive, we encountered some traffic on the way into Miami, but had no other additional problems. Lucky for us, the storm the weather forecasters had been expecting for the last two days was just beginning to roll in as we left, so we able to avoid the approaching bad weather.

Overall, our experience and time spent in Southern Florida was absolutely amazing. Aside from our first night of hell, the rest of our travel plans seemed to run quite smoothly and without any hiccups. The weather was just as I had hoped it would be; a temperature variance that ranged between 75 to 85 degrees with beautiful sunny skies each day. It was so refreshing and invigorating for us to get out of the rainy, gray, and dreary Seattle weather for a few days. It's truly amazing what a difference a few days of sunshine can make in your life in the middle of January.

Prior to purchasing the plane tickets for the trip, Miami, the Everglades, and Key West had never really been on my list of places I wanted to see and visit. However, I am very thankful that the idea of traveling to this part of the United States randomly entered my brain on that day back in September. Had it not, we would have never known just how great this area is and the vast number of choices of things visitors have to choose from. Unlike so many of our other trips, this one was not about seeing as much as we possibly could in a short time span; instead, we chose a few items that most appealed to us and focused on enjoying our time there. We could have easily spent the entire time in Miami instead of also visiting the Everglades and Key West as we only saw a sampling of what Miami had to offer. However, it was unimportant to me that I see every major site in the city; I was actually more interested on getting out of the city and reveling in the natural beauty in the surrounding area.

Southern Florida is an area of our country where we could definitely see ourselves returning again in the future, especially during the winter months. It's relatively accessible (assuming you do not follow our lead and instead take a direct flight), has a plethora of accommodations, restaurants, sightseeing possibilities, natural beauty, and best of all, as I always say, has the type of weather needed to "warm one's bones".

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Photos

Congregational Church in Coral Gables
Built by George Merrick in the Spanish Baroque style

Cape Florida Lighthouse
Located in Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park

Art Deco architecture
Even the US Postal Service building of Miami Beach was designed in the same style as the rest of town.

Beautiful Bahia Honda State Park
Can we say paradise?

Espanola Way
Beautiful street near the Clay Hotel