My wife and I headed down to South Florida the week before Christmas and visited two national parks and spent two days in Key West.
We went to the Everglades National Park and Biscayne National park and tried to make it to the Dry Tortuga’s, but could not book a seat on the ferry as it was sold out.
We drove to Gainesville from BR the first night which is about a 9 hour drive and listed to a book on tape by Mitch Albom called “The first phone call from Heaven”which is basically a story about people in a small town receiving phone calls from loved ones who had died in the recent past. It is a mystery sort of, but overall a feel good book which most people will enjoy. We brought food for breakfast and lunch each day and ate out at night. In Gainesville we are at a Mexican restaurant called Nopal by Cintron. It was so good we ate there on the way home also. We got on the road the next day and headed for the Everglades National Park. There are a couple of places to enter the park and we entered on the northern side. We took a nice boat tour of the mangroves and gulf and got to see some manatees and other wild life. All in all it was a fun tour and we had a good time. From there we drove to a few more areas and hiked a few trails in the Everglades and saw a bunch of gators and tropical fish, mostly invasive such as Oscar’s, cyclids and talapia. The next morning we went to Biscayne National park which is all under water except for some keys and islands. We took another boat tour of this area and had lunch at a nice key that was once owned by a famous fella named Honeywell, the inventor of the modern thermostat. It’s a beautiful place on the Atlantic side and well worth the effort to get there. After this tour we drove back to the Everglades and went to Flamingo which is at the end of a 38 mile road through the Everglades and the gateway to Florida Bay. We walked around this which is on the water and drank some craft beer and watched a family of manatees at the dock. It was a very close encounter and very cool to see.
The next morning we headed to Key West but stopped in Key Largo for some sight seeing and fun. This drive has been on our bucket list for awhile and we really enjoyed it.
In Key West we took the shuttle from our hotel to the area around Duvall street which is a lot like Bourbon Street in N. O. with out the smell of urine and vomit and very little crime. It rained the first night but we got out anyways but got back to the hotel kinda early and just hung out. As far as the Dry Tortuga trip goes, I tried to book the ferry about 4 weeks out but it was already filled. If you go, book your seat months in advance is all I can say. We did get up early the next day and got in the standby list but they only took 6 people and we were 12 and 13. This is a good option but get there at 5 am. We got there at 6:30 am and people were already in line. At this point we booked a walking good tour to fill the day and it did not disappoint It was awesome and the food and drink we had were out standing. Even though we had been to Key West before by boat, we learned a lot about Key West that we didn’t know from this tour and had a good time doing it. We ate Cuban food, some Caribbean dishes, some rum drinks, and had some key lime pie. After this we headed back to the hotel and later that night we ate at Blue Heaven. A great restaurant where Ernest Hemingway used to referee boxing matches. The food was great and the atmosphere is awesome. We headed back to BR the next morning snd had a nice drive home. We came home to some very good temps which was completely opposite to what we had the week before. Overall it was snd awesome trip and I would recommend it to everyone.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
We went to the Everglades National Park and Biscayne National park and tried to make it to the Dry Tortuga’s, but could not book a seat on the ferry as it was sold out.
We drove to Gainesville from BR the first night which is about a 9 hour drive and listed to a book on tape by Mitch Albom called “The first phone call from Heaven”which is basically a story about people in a small town receiving phone calls from loved ones who had died in the recent past. It is a mystery sort of, but overall a feel good book which most people will enjoy. We brought food for breakfast and lunch each day and ate out at night. In Gainesville we are at a Mexican restaurant called Nopal by Cintron. It was so good we ate there on the way home also. We got on the road the next day and headed for the Everglades National Park. There are a couple of places to enter the park and we entered on the northern side. We took a nice boat tour of the mangroves and gulf and got to see some manatees and other wild life. All in all it was a fun tour and we had a good time. From there we drove to a few more areas and hiked a few trails in the Everglades and saw a bunch of gators and tropical fish, mostly invasive such as Oscar’s, cyclids and talapia. The next morning we went to Biscayne National park which is all under water except for some keys and islands. We took another boat tour of this area and had lunch at a nice key that was once owned by a famous fella named Honeywell, the inventor of the modern thermostat. It’s a beautiful place on the Atlantic side and well worth the effort to get there. After this tour we drove back to the Everglades and went to Flamingo which is at the end of a 38 mile road through the Everglades and the gateway to Florida Bay. We walked around this which is on the water and drank some craft beer and watched a family of manatees at the dock. It was a very close encounter and very cool to see.
The next morning we headed to Key West but stopped in Key Largo for some sight seeing and fun. This drive has been on our bucket list for awhile and we really enjoyed it.
In Key West we took the shuttle from our hotel to the area around Duvall street which is a lot like Bourbon Street in N. O. with out the smell of urine and vomit and very little crime. It rained the first night but we got out anyways but got back to the hotel kinda early and just hung out. As far as the Dry Tortuga trip goes, I tried to book the ferry about 4 weeks out but it was already filled. If you go, book your seat months in advance is all I can say. We did get up early the next day and got in the standby list but they only took 6 people and we were 12 and 13. This is a good option but get there at 5 am. We got there at 6:30 am and people were already in line. At this point we booked a walking good tour to fill the day and it did not disappoint It was awesome and the food and drink we had were out standing. Even though we had been to Key West before by boat, we learned a lot about Key West that we didn’t know from this tour and had a good time doing it. We ate Cuban food, some Caribbean dishes, some rum drinks, and had some key lime pie. After this we headed back to the hotel and later that night we ate at Blue Heaven. A great restaurant where Ernest Hemingway used to referee boxing matches. The food was great and the atmosphere is awesome. We headed back to BR the next morning snd had a nice drive home. We came home to some very good temps which was completely opposite to what we had the week before. Overall it was snd awesome trip and I would recommend it to everyone.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
