We made it to St. Augustine, and are safely ensconced in our hotel room getting ready for a big day tomorrow. Connor and I listened Ernest Hemmingway's "A Farewell to Arms" on the way down while Bonnie watched Harry Potter movies. In Jacksonville, we stopped and ate dinner at Clark's Fish Camp -- what a blast! A very cool place to visit if you're ever that way -- the food is great and the kids will LOVE it! http://www.clarksfishcamp.com/
Clark's Fish Camp
What an EXHAUSTING day! Of course, it was exciting, too... but walking through a steam bath adds such drama to each excursion :) We started out by taking the sightseeing trolley to get an idea of what we wanted to do. The guide was very knowledgeable, and while I've been to St. Augustine before, I now have a much better appreciation of its history. We ended up touring the Castillo de San Marcos (http://www.nps.gov/casa/), the oldest wooden schoolhouse, the Fountain of Youth, and Ripley's Believe it or Not.
We tried to eat lunch at a 1700s drug store, but ended up leaving after waiting close to an hour for our food (they were short some employees). After grabbing a sandwich, we finished up our touring and headed to the beach. As usual, it was SO relaxing! The perfect finish to such a hectic, busy day.
Dinner was at a Japanese grill, now we're off to bed to get ready for Kennedy Space Center and the Space Coast tomorrow.
Castillo de San Marcos
Old St. Augustine
An outhouse!
Drinking from the Fountain of Youth
We left St. Augustine and headed for De Leon Springs State Park (http://www.floridstateparks.org/deleonsprings/default.cfm) to eat breakfast at the Old Spanish Sugar Mill (http://www.planetdeland.com/sugarmill/). Of course, once we got there and saw the spring-fed swimming area, Bonnie just HAD to go swimming. So she took a dip while we waited an hour for a table, then we enjoyed a fabulous pancake lunch.
Afterwards we headed to Kennedy Space Center. When we arrived at 3:00 we were told that the last “tour” bus left at 3:30, so we ran to get in line to see the tours… thinking we could see all of the Visitor Center attractions once we came back. Of course, things have changed since the last time I was here… everything is much more controlled. So it wasn’t until we got on the bus that I realized the “tour” went to three different stops (get off, see the sights, get back on another bus), and took about 2.5 to 3 hours! That would have us getting back to the Visitor Center too late to see all of the exhibits there! So… we decided to just sit on the bus through all of the stops and go back to the Visitor Center. This took over an hour – but we got back into time to do all of the fun stuff.
We made it to Vero Beach and will be heading into Miami tomorrow!
De Leon Springs State Park
Old Spanish Sugar Mill Restaurant
Kennedy Space Center
What a beautiful day! Our first stop was Palm Beach Atlantic University for a campus tour (http://www.pba.edu). Connor is interested in this school for college, and we were very impressed with the friendliness of the people we met today and the beautiful campus.
We then drove into Miami. We are staying at the Marco Polo Beach Resort, and having a blast. It has a pool that leads to the beach. So Bonnie and I swam in the pool for a little while, then stepped onto the beach for a little ocean swimming. After cleaning up we ate dinner at a great Spanish restaurant – Casa Juancho (http://www.casajuancho.com). The food was wonderful, and the ambience was even better – dark wood, low beams, antique furniture, etc. Some college students serenaded us, and an accordion player showed off his skills (and let Bonnie give it a try). Fabulous experience.
Dinner was finished around 9:00 pm so we headed over to South Beach. We wanted to visit Miami Ink – for sheer curiosity – NOT to get a tattoo! However, the tattoo studio (Love Hate Tattoo) has moved down the street a ways, and “Miami Ink” is now only selling retail. And, of course, they were closed. So we walked around South Beach for a little while, but it is really not a place for kids after dark.
Tomorrow we are taking a tour of Miami and (maybe) doing the Skylift, but everything we’ve seen so far has been beautiful! Gorgeous fountains, ocean front condos built by Trump, and beautiful bridge lighting. It’s been nice to see.
We left our hotel this morning with the intention of going up in the Miami Skylift… but after battling traffic and a crazy navigation system (skyscrapers didn’t help), we made it to Bayfront Park only to find that the skylift is no longer in existence! Undeterred, we navigated over to the Venetian Pool at Coral Gables (http://www.venetianpool.com). I was totally transported into 1940s and ‘50s Hollywood films just being there! And we all LOVED the swimming ~ refreshingly cool water, caves, waterfall… a great time!
From there we began the trek to Key West. While the towns were a little disappointingly normal (I didn’t see Humphrey Bogart or Lauren Bacall on the street corners!), the ocean views were unbelievable. The green, jade and sapphire colors of the Caribbean are simply indescribable.
After checking into the hotel, I ran up to a laundromat while the kids relaxed before supper. We took a cab down to Mallory Square to enjoy the Sunset Celebration (http://www.sunsetcelebration.org/) and eat dinner. What a great day!
Coral Gables Venetian Pool
Mallory Square
What a fun day! We bought tickets to the hop on/hop off trolley, and that was a great decision. We took a good tour of the entire island and hopped off to see what was important to us. We took pictures at the southern most point of the continental US, drank coconut water straight from the coconut, visited Mel Fisher's Treasure Museum, ate lunch, and visited Hemingway's house. Bonnie, of course, was most enchanted with the 6-toed cats (http://www.hemingwayhome.com/HTML/our_cats.htm) -- and Connor enjoyed the guided tour. On our way down we had listened to "A Farewell to Arms," so the visit to Hemingway's house was timely.
Around 2:30 Bonnie and I came back to the hotel, and Connor continued on his own around the island. It was nice for him to just mingle with the people and spend some time alone. Then he joined us at the pool and we swam and had fun for a couple of hours. Tomorrow we explore the Everglades... should be interesting!
It was 100 degrees and 80% humidity in the shade. The fan boat ride through the Everglades was in the sun. Been there, done that!
What a joy it was to see the Everglades in my rear view mirror! It is only 93 miles from Everglades City to Sanibel Island... but the difference is unbelievable.
To get into the spirit of things, last night we stayed at the Everglades Rod & Gun Club (http://www.evergladesrodandgun.com/). This club has a lot of history, and I thought it would be a neat place to stay. Well... maybe when it's not the OFF season. We arrived around 4:30 pm to check in only to find out that you have to pay up front -- and they don't take credit cards. So we ran up to an ATM for cash, finally checked in around 4:50, and were shown to our cottage (very friendly staff). We quickly realized that our toilet was "running," and decided to let the front desk know as we went to the pool. Fifteen minutes later, the hotel was SHUT DOWN. We were able to get to the pool through a back gate, but there was NO ONE working -- the restaurant and front office were locked up, and we were the only customers for the evening! Not being able to get in touch with anyone was a little disconcerting, but overall it wasn't a bad experience -- just one we couldn't wait to get away from :)
Tonight we are on a different planet! South Seas Island Resort on Captiva Island (http://www.southseas.com/). We rolled onto the island around 2:00 pm, ate lunch at the Bubble Room (http://www.bubbleroomrestaurant.com/), did our laundry, then hit the beach. Connor left around 7:00, but Bonnie and I stayed until after 9:00 pm looking for shells. She is a GREAT shell seeker -- and we had a blast watching the sun set over the Gulf.
Not a fan of the fan boat
This morning we left Captiva Island and began our way towards Tampa. First stop -- the Ford & Edison Winter Homes. The Edison museum and lab was cool, but it was so hot that the rest of the tour was rushed. The most incredible sight was a Banyon tree -- the sapling given to Edison by Harvey Firestone back in the early 1900s and it now looks like a FOREST of trees (see picture). However, it is only 1 tree with many roots!
The Salvador Dali museum was next -- totally worth the extra time and money to see. I now want to read a Dali biography.
After the museum, Connor said, "NO MORE HISTORY!" So we are now at a hotel behind Busch Gardens and will spend most of tomorrow at the amusement park. :)
Not much to say about Busch Gardens -- it's an amusement park. However, I like it better than any other amusement park I've been to... so there's THAT at least.
I think out of the 3 of us, Bonnie was really the only one who wanted to be there -- lesson learned. So Connor and I just let her set the pace and we roamed around for about 5 hours. Then just as we decided to leave around 4, it started storming! Perfect timing.
We are now enjoying a nice, relaxing evening at the hotel and looking forward to Weeki Wachee Springs tomorrow. Mermaids!!!
Well... I think we were about 2 years late in visiting the mermaids :( Weeki Wachee Springs (www.weekiwachee.com) is a throw-back to road side attractions of the 1950s and 60s... a place where mermaids perform underwater shows to delight the kids. When I took Bonnie to Disney World for her 5th birthday, she was totally enthralled with Ariel, and after waiting for an hour in Ariel's Grotto to visit with the "real" Ariel, she was so excited she could hardly speak! She gazed adoringly at Ariel, and asked her a variety of questions about living under the sea.
Today, though, the magic was gone. Bonnie knew all along that "mermaids weren't real," and that those were just "skirts that looked like fins." However, in spite of all that, we had a good time together. We enjoyed the shows, and Connor even managed to have a little fun.
Tomorrow we begin our week long relaxing stay at a resort... so the road trip has officially come to an end. We've learned a lot, had lots of fun, but mostly had a great time just being with each other. When I look back at our road trips over the past 3 years, I think the most important part is the time that Bonnie and Connor spend together. With their age difference, they don't spend a lot of time during the school year, but on these road trips they really connect. It's a good thing -- and I'm already making plans for next year!
We ended the road trip with a week's stay at a resort with some family. The summer road trip was now a feature of our excursions.