We headed to Florida for a long weekend in March. It was three years after our last trip to Florida (the weekend we got engaged.) Scott's parents were staying in the condo, so we piggybacked onto their vacation.
Day 1
We arrived in Fort Lauderdale late Wednesday night and went to the condo. On Thursday, we got up, got ready, and headed south. Our first stop was Biscayne Bay National Park. We had been there before, and just needed to stop to get our picture in front of the sign since we hadn't done that the last time. We also looked around for a few minutes, but skipped the normal visitor center movie opportunity since we had watched that before. We left there and continued on. The drive through the Keys was okay. It was less exciting than I had thought. I don't have a desire to do that again. We stopped on Big Pine Key to go to the headquarters of the National Key Deer Refuge for a stamp. The Key Deer turned out to be smaller than regular deer, but not small enough to be extremely cute. We never saw any real ones, just the stuffed one in the visitor's center. We hadn't had lunch yet, and should have stopped when we had seen the fast food restaurants because our options became pretty sparse. We finally found a Burger King just outside of Key West and stopped. It was not the best meal I've even had, but it worked.
We arrived in Key West around 3. Most of the attractions closed at 5, so we skipped the hotel and went straight to the Hemingway Home. We found the house easily; parking was another matter. We drove around a bit and finally found a lot. (Drove past it first, then had to come back.) We parked there and significantly lessened the weight of my change purse, since it was a dime for 10 minutes. We put in enough change to take us to 5 and started walking. The Hemingway House was our first chance to experience the Key West tourist fee - $12 per person to enter. We listened in on part of the tour, which was interesting. We were also able to wander through the house and grounds on our own, which was a very nice feature. I also got to see my fill of cats. They were very friendly and cute. Only half of the 47 ones there have 6 toes and I think we found the one that has 7. From there we walked over to the lighthouse, but it closed at 5. We walked down Duvall Street and went back to the car. We drove to the Southernmost Point in the US and walked people line up to take their picture with it. We were a bit confused though, since other parts of the island did seem to be farther south. We checked into the fine Days Inn Key West and decided to drive back downtown for dinner. This time we found a garage at the Westin. It was more expensive ($4/hr) but easier than feeding the meter. Plus it was next to a giant American Gothic statue. We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, checked out a few souvenir shops and then went back to the hotel.
Day 2
The darn roosters woke me up several times during the night. Apparently they don't really wait until the sun comes up. The spring break teens returning to their rooms at 5 a.m. also woke me up. (Seriously - what were they doing until 5 a.m.? I'm old.) We had to meet at the boat at 7:30 for our trip to Dry Tortugas National Park. We went on the Fast Cat. (My parents went on the Yankee Clipper a few years ago.) Our boat was smaller than theirs; it fit about 100 people. We were able to get seats inside and I had one of the best donuts ever. Unfortunately, they had the air conditioning on, and the windows were kind of fogged up, so it wasn't the most comfortable trip. We both listened to our iPods, and I took a few cat naps. The boat ride took about 2 hours and 20 minutes. We arrived around 10:30 and found a tree to put our stuff under. We had taken the optional snorkeling equipment with us just in case. The boat company gave a tour around the fort and the guide was pretty good. That lasted for 45 minutes. We didn't want to be in the crowd for lunch, so we went to the visitor's center to get our stamps and watch the video. After lunch on the boat, we got our sign picture and our souvenirs. Then we walked along the moat wall. The water was beautiful and everyone looked like they were having fun snorkeling. Then we put our feet in the water. It was quite chilly. We walked over to the other beach and waded for a few minutes. We just couldn't make ourselves get in the water. We spent the rest of the time walking around in the fort again. We were one of the last ones back on the boat, so there were no seats available inside. We had to sit on the back, which would have been okay if we had seat backs and if they didn't bring all the seasick people to the back. It was pretty gross. The extra 2 and a half hours in the sun didn't help my poor skin, and I ended up burned on the right side. We did a little more shopping when we got back to Key West and had dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise (not the Jimmy Buffet one.) Their schtick is 5-napkin cheeseburgers, and mine was definitely greasy and kind of gross.
Day 3
We didn't get started as early as we had hoped, but had several things we wanted to do before we left. We parked in the garage again, and walked down to the lighthouse, past the Mile 0 marker. Lighthouses have a stamp program like the National Parks, so we usually get them when we are near by. We paid the entrance fee ($10/person) and then walked up the light house. (I'm not a huge fan of those spiral metal staircases and am becoming more afraid of heights as I get older.) The view was pretty though. We went through the museum and back to the VC to ask for the stamp. At first the worker said they didn't have it, which was disappointing. But then he found it. We got to the Truman White House just as a group from a cruise ship arrived, so we waited for the next one. The tour was again a bit overpriced ($12/person - a theme this weekend) and was a little long. (There was a combo ticket with the Hemingway Home, but we didn't know about it ahead of time.) We also didn't really enjoy our tour guide. He said things like "That's the trouble with kids in America these days..." (My parents did this tour a few years ago and really enjoyed it, so it is hit or miss.) The downtown area was getting unbelievably crowded at this point, so we were ready to get out of town. It was a Saturday morning, and it seemed like the decision to be in Key West during the week was a good one. After a quick lunch at Taco Bell, we started north. The drive back was also not too exciting. We got to the first Everglades VC at 4. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to drive to the Flamingo VC, 38 miles away, since that one closed at 4:30. (Ironically, we did that hurried drive in 2005, only to find it closed then too. Maybe we will finally get there next time.) We rushed to get to Royal Palm, because we were told it closed at 4:30. Unfortunately, it actually closed at 4:15. We walked on the Anhinga Trail, where you can see a ton of alligators. Then we went back to Fort Lauderdale. Scott's parents bought us dinner at Damon's and we walked into Lauderdale-by-the-Seas for ice cream.
Day 4
On our last full day, we had several stops to make. We got to Shark Valley in the Everglades at 8:50; just in time for the 9 a.m. tram ride. It was the first one of the day, and I highly recommend getting there for that. It wasn't very hot, and the fog and dew hadn't completely burned off, so there were beautiful spider webs everywhere. We saw a ton of alligators. They just laid in the culverts every few feet and watched the tram go by. There were also a lot of birds, which were nice, but more exciting for someone who cares a lot about birds. The whole tram ride took 2 hours and was well worth the $15/person fee. We drove to Big Cypress National Recreational Area, taking the detour along the scenic drive. It was not scenic. The foliage along the road was overgrown, so you couldn't see very far on either side. There were alligators along the way, but after all the ones we saw in the Everglades, it just wasn't worth it. (There were also alligators along the road to Shark Valley, so you can easily see them without ever paying an entrance fee.) We stopped at the VC to get our stamp (more alligators there) and drove on to the Gulf Coast part of Everglades. By the time we got there, it was in the 90s. I was hot and burned from Key West. They did have boat rides, but one was leaving when we arrived and I just wasn't feeling it. We got our stamp there and then drove back to FL on the Alligator Alley. (Which is a complete misnomer - I didn't see any!) We had dinner with Scott's parents and then walked along the beach one more time before we had to go back to the cold of Chicago.
Here are some pictures from our adventure.
