Fort Lauderdale / Miami to Key West
Last night we had one of the biggest thunderstorms I think I have ever heard ! About 3.30am I woke to the first sound of thunderclaps and quickly noticed the room lighting up with each bolt of lightning. There was very little wind around so we estimated afterwards that the storm went on for nearly an hour, with extremely heavy rain and lightning strikes and thunder claps about every 30 seconds or so. At one point I literally jumped in bed – the lightning was so close I could hear the “fizz” as it hit and the room shook immediately with the accompanying thunder bang !
So after 3 nights, I can’t say I have had a peaceful nights sleep yet.
After we did get back to sleep, we woke this morning to clouds however at breakfast the sun was coming out and the start of our trip back up the keys was mostly sunny. As we left the hotel, we found the extent of last night’s rain – the street outside half flooded !
Key West to Fort Myers
Our first stop was to visit the “southern most point in continental USA”. (Hawaii is actually further south)
Not surprisingly, the spot has a big marker which says “southern most point in continental USA” on it. While we were there pretty early, so were others and it was a bit of an exercise jumping in to stand next to the marker for a photo while someone else was getting their camera ready. We then walked past the “southern most house in continental USA”, “the southern most guest house in continental USA”, “the southern most hotel in continental USA” to “the southern most hotel on the Atlantic Ocean in continental USA”. This place had a little beach out front – which was piled high with seaweed blown onshore from the recent hurricane and storms and a little sign saying this was a favourite spot of Tennessee Williams to sit and ponder.
You guessed it !
(These aren’t really the southern most spots here – there is a naval base that is so it should actually be “the southern most point in continental USA that people can actually get to” !)
We then headed back up Highway 1 for our next destination. There certainly wasn’t as much traffic as there had been on the way down but it was still pretty busy. The traffic is kept to 45mph for a lot of the way (and lots of police patrolling) so it is no quick trip.
The African Queen
However with the sun out, we managed to get glimpses of the bright blue ocean that you see in classic pictures of the Florida Keys.
Our last stop was in Key Largo – you know – Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall ? Well in a little inlet amongst a host of charter boats is the subject of another of Bogart’s movies – the African Queen. It’s the actual boat used in the movie. Don’t know how much it is but you can charter the boat as well.
Out of the Keys and back to the mainland, we headed into the Everglades National Park. As you drive into the park, you can see the water amongst the grass – not hard to see why the NP is referred to as a “river of grasses”. We stopped at an area not too far in the lower entrance to the park at a short walk called the Anhinga Trail. It has a trail and a boardwalk over some creeks and is supposed to be a good spot for animal sightings.
Part of the Anhinga Trail
Well we spotted 2 vultures in the car park (seriously – there is a sign in the carpark which says “caution – vultures may cause damage to cars”), a couple of egrets nearby, a few small fish, a small lizard and plenty of bugs – but unfortunately (or fortunately) no alligators.
In need of fuel for the stomach and fuel for the car, we stopped back outside the park at a small town called Homestead. We collected a few snacks at the Winn & Dixie supermarket then had lunch at “Popeyes Louisiana Chicken” – probably best described as a southern version of Red Rooster. Anyway, the Po’boys weren’t too bad.
It was then off along the Tamiami Trail which skirts the top end of the Everglades NP and we headed west to our stop for the night either Naples or Fort Myers. It was now late in the day and the clouds rolled back in and we had a couple of heavy showers. By this time we were on I75 and the 70mph speed limit plus the wet weather obviously didn’t mix well with a few drivers as within 5 km we found 2 incidents where cars had gone off the road – one on its own ending up in the ditch between the opposite roadway and the other involving about 5 cars – one ending on its roof.
Adrienne’s hotel planning worked well as we finally decided on Fort Myers – a little north of Naples. We are at Hilton Homewood Suites and for US$115 we have a 1 bedroom suite, which includes dinner with beer, wine and soft drinks, full buffet breakfast, free parking (common enough in the outer areas but not the cities), free wifi – and Liam has just devoured the free popcorn in the room. Dinner was lasagna with salad -not flash but quite tasty.
Well both the children are very excited tonight as its off to Disney World so it’s off to bed soon as we’ll have an early start in the morning !