Miami Trip Day 2 & 3

Day 2 was by far my absolute best experience of the trip. The Go Miami pass had an option for a day trip to Key West, FL. Another one of my dream vacations I thought I would never experience. But 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning found us boarding a bus for a 2.5 hour jaunt down to the Keys.

We picked the first seat which happened to be a table with benches on both sides facing each other. It was really a fun bus ride.

We stopped in Key Largo for breakfast at a little dive that had the best scrambled eggs and bacon I think I have every had. Then we broke out into the Beach Boys song....Key Largo, Montego, baby why don't we go...

Then we crossed tons of bridges, including the 7 mile bridge as we past through the various keys. 

We arrived at our destination around 10 or 10:30 and it was absolutely beautiful weather. The girls went parasailing. I had no desire to do that but just wanted to walk the island and browse some shops. It took some convincing to get them to go without me. But they had a great time. 

I walked down to watch them take off on their trip and snapped a cool totem pole type picture.

Then this junk shop caught my eye and it was really big on the inside so I spend quite a bit of time in there looking at all the unique stuff.

Outside one store I went to, they had a Big Foot statue made completing out of sea sponges. It was pretty cool.

I walked down the streets of some of the residence and B & B's. It was really quaint. 

The foliage in the Keys is so beautiful.

And of course I saw a ton of roosters and chickens just hanging out. 

We did a little "train" ride around the island, stopping off when we wanting and getting back on when we were ready for the next stop. There were great shops and we had an amazing meal. We stopped at the lowest point but it was too difficult to get a picture with so many people around so we got pics of strangers.

And I got to actually see Ernest Hemingway's house. One more thing checked off my bucket list. I would love too live there. It was like an island oasis.

And we went to the very end point of the coastal highway Route 1 at mile marker 0.

We got back to Miami about 9:30 or 10:00 that night and just grabbed groceries and went back to the room and ate. Sunday morning, we loaded up and went to Sawgrass Recreation Park in the Everglades. We took an air boat ride and actually ran into an alligator up close and personal. 

After a quick lunch at a Japanese restaurant (my first time for Japanese and OOO YUCK), we headed to the beach. The foamy water felt great on my feet since it was close to 100 degrees that day.

Spent some time just relaxing in our chairs on the hot white sand.

And enjoying the blue water and the clear skies.

Ended the day with one of the cruise ships going by us as they headed out to see.

Probably the most jam-packed, exciting, fun filled weekend I ever spent in my life. We flew home the next morning. I had a great time but it felt good to get back to my mountains.