Spring Break: Biscayne National Park and the Keys

Our initial plan was to do Biscayne on day 1 of our trip and Everglades on day 2 before heading down into the Keys.  With our Biscayne boat tour pushed back to one of our Keys days, we decided to use our second day to drive down and explore the upper Keys of Key Largo, Tavernier, and Islamorada.  We enjoyed driving down into the keys and seeing all the views and bridges.

Our first stop was at Robbie's in Islamorada to feed the tarpons.

Staley and Zach fed the tarpons (which were really big fish), Zach got bit by an aggressive pelican, and we saw several manatees, which was a highlight for Adelie.  Adelie and Briggs did not want to feed the fish, especially after seeing how aggressively the pelicans would try to steal the fish you were holding.  They were happy to just be spectators.

After fish feeding, we ate a yummy lunch at the beachfront restaurant Morada Beach Cafe.  Unfortunately, by this time, Staley wasn't feeling great from the drive down to the Keys.  She took some lunch Dramamine, but never fully recovered, which put a damper on the rest of the day and night for her.

We made a quick stop at The Mystical Mermaid store where Adelie and Briggs spent their souvenir money from Uma and Papa on a manatee stuffy for Adelie and an alligator stuffy for Briggs.

Our last plan of the day was to find a beach for snorkeling.  We first stopped at Harry Harris Beach, but weren't enamored so we headed to Cannon Beach in John Pennekamp State Park instead.

All the kids flirted with snorkeling.  Briggs never made it past his knees in the water as Adelie saw a jellyfish just as she started snorkeling, and they both decided they were done with the ocean for the day.  Staley and Zach snorkeled for quite awhile and saw a variety of fish and lots of jellyfish.

After snorkeling, we headed back to our house in Homestead, had spaghetti for dinner, did some laundry, and then packed up to leave in the morning for our next destination.  

Our next day was our Biscayne National Park day.  After not feeling well during our day in the Keys, Staley had a rough night of sleep that made for a really rough morning the next day.  I was worried that she wouldn't be able to enjoy our day in Biscayne. Pushing on amidst the tears, we loaded up our stuff, checked out of our Air Bnb, and then headed to Biscayne for our sailboat cruise.  Thankfully, once on the boat, Staley perked up and was able to enjoy the day.

We had booked a small group tour for 6, but the last spot remained unfilled so we had a private sailboat tour for the day with our captain, Danny.

Danny was great!  He let the kids help raise and lower the sails, was very educational about the national park and the area, and was just a really nice guy to spend the day with.  The weather was lovely, and I think we all agreed that the sailing portion was the highlight of the day.  So beautiful and relaxing.

We sailed to Adams Key (one of the keys in the national park), had a picnic lunch, and then we kayaked and snorkeled in a shallow portion of the bay among the mangroves.

While kayaking, we saw a variety of fish, but we also saw a small shark as we were nearing our snorkeling area.  I think that was enough to impact Adelie and Briggs' desire to snorkel.  They both tried, but in the end, they preferred to sit on the paddleboard with Danny and just put their faces in while lying on the paddle board.  The snorkeling was okay, but the mangroves are home to smaller fish and we didn't see a large amount or variety of fish while snorkeling in the mangroves.

The sailing back was a great way to end our time in Biscayne.  And to top it all off, we saw a few dolphins.

After our cruise, we hopped in the car and drove down to the middle Keys.  We checked in to our hotel in Marathon and then headed to Burdine's for dinner.  The sunset was beautiful, the food was good (especially the hushpuppies), and it was nice to be eating in the beautiful weather with the waterfront views.

Staley was still recovering from her rough night of sleep the previous night, so she went to bed right after dinner while Adelie and Briggs took the chance to do a little swimming in the hotel pool before bedtime.

I had really wanted to make it all the way to Key West, the southernmost point in the continental US, but that was still an hour south of Marathon.  Staley did not want to spend any extra time in the car, Briggs had no interest either, and Zach was pretty indifferent about making that a part of the trip.  I decided I'd just get up early and drive down to watch the sunrise in Key West and then head back to Marathon while everyone else could sleep in.  Adelie offered to join me, and it was really special getting that quality time with Adelie.

We had a pleasant drive down to Key West, found the southernmost point, watched the sunrise, explored just a bit, took a few pictures, found Hemingway's home/museum and saw a few polydactyl cats, Adelie grabbed a Starbuck's frosted lemonade, and then we drove back to join back up with the family.

Wild chickens and roosters were plentiful during our travels, and we saw lots of them wandering around Key West while we were there.  We also saw lizards EVERYWHERE we went which was one of Briggs' favorite things.

One on one time with Adelie is pretty rare, and I really enjoyed our few early morning hours together.

The rest of the family slept in, so we got back in time to eat breakfast with them in our hotel.  The kids then did a little swimming in the hotel pool again before we continued on with our plans for the day.

We headed to Turtle Hospital for an educational tour in this motel-turned-hospital where they rescue, rehabilitate, and, if able, release sea turtles.

I found the entire story of the hospital very interesting and learning about the various sea turtles and their ailments/plights educational.  We all enjoyed the tour, saw a bunch of sea turtles, and also saw a big iguana while we were there.  It was definitely a trip filled with a variety of wildlife.

After the Turtle Hospital, we drove across the famous Seven Mile Bridge.

Right across the bridge, we found Veteran's Memorial Park in Little Duck Key.  It was just a small beach area right off the road after the bridge but ended up being the highlight of our time in the Keys.  The girls and Zach did a bunch of snorkeling and found some cool fish and lots of jellyfish.  Briggs played in the sand, and we found a crab digging a hole that we watched for a really long time.  The weather was beautiful, the water was warm, and the beach was the perfect little place to relax and just enjoy it all.

We left our little beach area mid-afternoon to start the 7 hour trek to Weeki Wachee.  We stopped at the Key Lime Pie Factory in Tavernier for a late lunch of pie to give us energy for the journey.

The pie was A-MAZ-ING.  I love key lime pie, and this was the best I've ever had.  We also enjoyed the garden out back of the factory (that was filled with the padlocks mentioned in a previous post).  It was quiet and relaxing in a somewhat cheesy sort of way.

We had a great time exploring the Keys and the national parks, but it was time for us to head to our final destination of Weeki Wachee.  The 7 hour drive from Marathon to Weeki Wachee made us all a little road weary, with just one stop along the way for a quick dinner of sub sandwiches at Jersey Mike's.  Our road trip books this trip were 'Pax: The Journey Home' (which we finished during our Everglades and first Keys day) and 'The Mysterious Benedict Society' (which we started on our last Keys day).  Good audiobooks help pass the time more quickly, and both our audiobooks were winners.  Our audiobook, endless snacks, and gum gave us enough entertainment and energy to make it to the final destination of our trip.  Stay tuned...

Spring Break: Everglades

Our initial plan for our first day was a sailboat cruise in Biscayne National Park, but the forecast called for rain and clouds, so we changed it up a bit and started off our trip in the Everglades instead.  The rain held off, but it was cool and overcast in the morning, so I was glad that we had decided to change our boat trip for another day.

Ready to see some gators!!

Zach said that he wasn't going to the Everglades unless we could take an airboat ride.  So we did.

It was a fun mix of loud thrill ride meets educational experience...

with gators.

Our tickets for the airboat ride also included a wildlife show.  There were gators (of course) and a scorpion and a bird and this toad.  Not sure I loved being pulled out of the crowd to see if I could turn this toad into a prince, but the kids thought it was pretty great.  I wasn't overly impressed with the show, but I was glad that Zach could cross airboat ride off his list of Everglades musts.

We then headed to the Shark Valley entrance where we walked the short Bobcat Boardwalk and then walked a few miles out and back on the Shark Valley Tram Road.

Along the Tram Road, we saw plenty of gators sunning themselves along the side of the road, as well as turtles, fish, and a variety of birds.

We also saw two nests of baby alligators.  They were actually pretty cute, although we resisted the urge to pick any up and bring them home with us.

Although the day started out a little cool and overcast, the sun came out for a bit in the afternoon and it warmed up quickly.

After checking out the wildlife on the Tram Road, we then headed to the park entrance closer to Homestead.  On our way to the Ernest F. Coe entrance, we stopped for a late lunch at an authentic Mexican food truck.  It was yummy!!  Zach declared it one of his favorite meals of the whole trip.

Once in the other section of the park, we hiked the Anhinga Trail, which was a relatively short and easy path and boardwalk trail.  We saw plenty of wildlife.  Like gators.

On this trail, there were plentiful gators, including 2 that were resting right on the trail.  It was a little harder to give them a wide berth when they were taking up half the trail.  A bit unnerving as we scooted around them...quickly.

We also saw more birds, fish, and turtles along this trail as well.

We also walked through the short Gumbo Limbo paved trail.  This was a more wooded, less wildlife-y trail.  I can't say that I didn't keep my eyes out for gators lurking in the woods.

To end our day, we stopped at the famous Robert is Here exotic fruit stand. We stocked up on novel fruits like dragonfruit, thai and mansana bananas, mangoes, and some sort of imported hybrid orange, as well as fresh squeezed Florida orange juice.  Since we had a late lunch, we then decided to just get fresh fruit smoothies and milkshakes for dinner.  It was by far the best smoothie I have ever had, and it was one of my favorite "meals" of the trip.  So good!!!  If we ever go back, I'm getting another banana-mango-passion fruit smoothie.

It was a good day in the Everglades.  Airboats and gators and smoothies, oh my!

Spring Break: Travels and Lodging

When we travel someplace new, I always want to see and do as much as we can in that part of the country in case we don't get back anytime soon.  Our spring break trip plan started with the seed of the idea to visit Biscayne National Park (one of Adelie's national park picks for her 4th grade year) in southern Florida.  Finding that it was right next to the Everglades, we quickly added that national park to the itinerary.  I had been wanting to find an opportunity to take Adelie to Weeki Wachee State Park near Tampa to see their world famous mermaids, and although it was a further away on the gulf side of Florida, it seemed like a necessary addition to our trip.  As I dove into the planning, we then determined that we couldn't be THAT close to the Florida Keys without at least spending a bit of time there as well.  So what started as a quick Florida trip to see a few national parks quickly turned into our very own driving tour of southern Florida.

And it was great!!

We drove to Chicago and then flew to Florida.  We flew into Ft. Lauderdale and out of Tampa on Southwest.  Our drives to and from Chicago were just fine.  We listened to part of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on our way there and part of The Mysterious Benedict Society on the way back.

 The kids passed the time on the airplane listening to music, eating snacks, playing, and watching movies.  Our flights were both slightly delayed, but we had no other issues with our time in the car, airport, or on the plane.  Our kids have become really good travelers and each trip just gets easier.

Thanks to State Farm, we get a crazy good deal on rental cars.  We spent our week driving around in a brand new Traverse.  There were 7.5 miles when we drove it out of the parking deck and was spotless with that new car smell.   When we returned it 1100 miles later, it did not have that new car look about it anymore.  There were snack crumbs and sand and sunscreen. There were footprints on the seats and fingerprints on the windows.  It had a very lived in look about it when we were done, but it served us well for our travels.

Our first 3 days were spent in an Air Bnb in Homestead, just south of Miami.  It was a cute 3 bedroom guest house.  It wasn't fancy, but was clean and quiet and the owners who lived on the property were very nice and welcoming.  (I usually take pictures of the places we stay, but I forgot to get pictures of this one.  My bad.)  It wasn't anything special, but it was a nice place to come home to at the end of each day.

We spent one night in a Hampton Inn in Marathon while visiting the Florida Keys.  The kids loved the pool, the rooms were nice and clean, and they had a fantastic free breakfast as well.  Those are our 3 top priorities when looking for a hotel, so this one was a winner.

Our last 3 days were spent in this great water-front Air Bnb near Weeki Wachee.  It was our favorite of the trip.

The kitchen, living spaces, and bedrooms were really nice and met our needs.  It had a large washer and dryer, which is something I always appreciate.  But the best part of the house was the back porch and the location.

The big, wrap-around screened in porch overlooking the water was absolutely lovely.  We ate our meals out here, relaxed out here, and enjoyed the Florida weather without dealing with the Florida bugs.

The location of the house was perfect as well.  It was right on a canal that was just a short paddle away from the Weeki Wachee River.  We had kayaks and paddleboards available for us to use, and we made good use of them as we explored our canal and the river.

I loved paddling to the river and spending time on the river, but the kids more enjoyed playing games, swimming, and paddling around in the canal behind our house.  (That worked great as we could easily watch them while relaxing on that lovely screened in porch.)

All the places we stayed during our trip were winners, but Weeki Wachee was my favorite house and favorite setting.  It was a full week of traveling, of driving, of exploring, so it was so nice to have good places to come "home" to at the end of each day.