Last day in Key Largo

Tomorrow we’ll be back in the frozen North. :-)  Today we had another wonderful day.  Had breakfast at Gus’ right here at the hotel.  Headed North to Florida City on the way to Everglades National Park.  We drove to the Royal Palm Visitor Center as we heard that the best trail in the park was right there.  We didn’t really have high expectations.  You know how that goes – you walk a trail in some park and you really don’t see much.  Well I’m glad to say it was fabulous.  We walked a one mile trail and saw herons, egrets, wood storks, turtles and lots of anhingas, a bird that goes underwater to fish.  If you go there, go to the Royal Palm Visitor Center and take the Anhinga Trail.

More pictures at http://arthill.smugmug.com/gallery/7470124_kN2R8#481951232_WwNES

Spent the rest of the day at the pool then had a fish dinner at Ballyhoo’s.

Relaxing - Thursday

We deliberately didn’t plan too much for today.  Had breakfast at Bogey’s Cafe next to where the African Queen is docked.  Then we took a glass bottom boat tour out to the reef.  It’s seven miles from shore and 240 miles long.  Second longest in the world after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

Stopped at a place which claims to be where the Humphrey Bogart movie Key Largo was filmed.

Came back to the hotel and spent the rest of the day at the pool and beach.

Had another fish dinner at Sundower’s almost next door to the Marriott.  Jill had yellowtail snapper (again) and I had grouper this time.  The sunset was incredible.

Grabbed a couple of night shots of the bridge leading to Gus’, the restaurant where we ate last night.

Another nice day in the Keys

We headed for a place called Theatre of the Sea 20 miles south of our hotel.  It’s sort of a scaled down version of Sea World with a dolphin show, parrot show, sea lion show, bottomless boat ride and some nature walks.  Small, not fancy but very well done.  All of the groups are small so you always get a good seat.  Shows all run back to back so in 2 1/2 hours you can see it all.  We really enjoyed it.

View Full Album

On the way back we stopped at a wild bird sanctuary.  They have a lot of birds that have been injured or are sick that they are nursing back to health or at least taking care of.  As luck would have it we got there just before they feed wild pelicans.  It was something to see; hundreds of pelicans.  Jill and I both took a turn at feeding them fish.

View Full Album

Had a great fish dinner here at the hotel at a restaurant called Gus’.  After we saw the sunset from our balcony of course.

More Florida pictures here http://arthill.smugmug.com/Vacation/723052

Tuesday trip to Key West

We left Key Largo around 8:30 for the 100 mile drive to Key West.  It was interesting to drive across all of the bridge including the 7 mile bridge. We stopped for breakfast so got to Key West about 11:30.

Took the 90 minute Conch Train Tour http://www.conchtourtrain.com/  and thought it was very well done.  It seemed like we went all over Key West and saw a lot of things that we missed the last time we were there.

After the tour we walked down Duval Street and had lunch at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville. 

Next stop was the Hemingway House with 44 cats roaming around.  We took a guided tour there too.

View Full Album

By the time that was over it was after 4:00 so we started back down Duval Street.  Had a piece of Key Lime pie at the Blonde Giraffe.  Got back in the car and hit the road around 5:30.  It was really slow getting out of town but once we got on the highway it moved along okay.  Saw another great sunset but this time in the rearview mirror. 

Stopped for dinner 10 miles South of our hotel and then headed back.

More pictures of Key West in my Key West Smugmug Gallery

Ahhh, Florida

Left O’Hare around 7:45 for our flight to Miami.  Picked up a rental car and headed toward the Keys. We took a detour off of Highway 1 on Card Sound Road to have lunch at a place called Alabama Jack’s.  It was a busy place right on the water with a band.  Fun place but we had the worst waitress we’ve ever had.  Took forever to get our food.  We had conch fritters and crab cakes; they were just okay.  The place was especially popular with bikers.

View Full Album

Go to Key Largo and checked into the Marriott.  It’s a nice place right on the bay; our room is on the third floor.

View Full Album

We drove around a bit and found the African Queen.  It’s hoisted up out of the water and doesn’t look like it’s ready to

View Full Album

take passengers in spite of what the sign and guidebooks say.   Watched some fishing boat operators bring in their fish.  The pelicans and an egret were pretty interested as well.

Today, Tuesday we had breakfast at Harriet’s and drove a little further south, did some shopping and then spend the afternoon at the pool.  Watched another great sunset and had a fabulous dinner at the Fish House.