Florida Keys

I visited the Florida Keys when I was a child, but it was the first time for Paul and the kids. On Saturday morning we drove to Key Largo where we spent time at a state park, took a glass bottom boat tour, and spent the night at a hotel we really loved. On Sunday morning the boys used the stand-up paddleboards at the hotel again before we checked out. Our plans for Sunday had been altered on Friday evening when they called to tell us we needed to reschedule our snorkeling tour that we had planned to do to Looe Key on Sunday afternoon. After we left our hotel, our first stop was a wild bird sanctuary also located on Key Largo. Our next stop was to feed tarpon fish at Robbie's on Islamorada Key. I would definitely classify it as a tourist trap. I knew it would cost $5 for a bucket of fish to feed the tarpon, but I didn't realize they also charge $2.50 per person just to walk onto the pier. Nadia had the most success in feeding the tarpon. The pelicans were very aggressive in trying to get the fish from the buckets. The first day we arrived in Florida, we got some groceries because we don't usually stop for lunch when we're on vacation. I knew that they only gave out pastries for breakfast at the hotel on Key Largo, so I had planned for us to stop at Taco Bell for lunch on Sunday since we had a small breakfast. After we had lunch, it started raining. I tried to change our reservations for the Turtle Hospital to Sunday, but they were all booked up for the day. In light of the downpour, it didn't seem to be a good day to go to a beach or visit the Key Deer Refuge. So, we checked into our hotel around 2:00pm (much earlier than usual). 

When I had been planning the vacation, I discovered it was very challenging to find affordable lodging on the keys. I searched hotels, Airbnb, VRBO, etc. Originally, I had planned for us to stay one night in Key West, but that was even more expensive. So, we spent two nights on Ramrod Key. All three nights on the keys we only had a room with two beds. For three nights in a row, we created a "bed" for Nadia on the floor by using a blanket, sheet, and four extra pillows. We went to pizza places for dinner on Key Largo on Saturday night and on Key West on Monday night. On Sunday we went to a popular restaurant on Big Pine Key called No Name Pub. There are about 90,000 $1 bills covering the walls, ceiling, etc. in that restaurant! We got one 14-inch pizza and one order of nachos to share between the five of us. Food prices (whether at a grocery store or a restaurant) are much higher down here compared to around our home. Even though a large pizza costs more than we are accustomed to paying, it's still cheaper than buying five separate entrees. Typically, we bring some games with us on vacation. Because we were flying and not checking any bags, we didn't bring any games this time. On Sunday afternoon when we picked up some reef safe sunscreen and a little bit more groceries, we also got a deck of cards. We played hearts in our hotel room on Sunday as well as on the ship to and from Dry Tortugas on Monday.

While booking the trip, Paul and I discussed which tours to take at Biscayne National Park, John Pennekamp State Park, etc. I looked into a wide variety of snorkeling tours and kayaking tours. One that was easy to pick (because there was only one option) was the ferry to Dry Tortugas National Park. I knew Paul would enjoy the tour of Fort Jefferson, and I was enticed by the descriptions of how amazing the snorkeling was supposed to be there. My only hesitation had been the cost. It's an expensive outing. Early in our marriage we had some wonderful snorkeling experiences when we were in Mexico and at some islands in the Caribbean. Unfortunately, the waves were really high as we sailed out. I've had motion sickness since I was a child, but usually as long as I was careful not to sit in the back of a car, not read when in a car or airplane, etc. I could avoid throwing up due to motion sickness. Smelling the vomit of other passengers didn't exactly help me. Paul, Oliver, and I eventually succumbed even though we made it most of the way there before we started making use of the little bags. We tried taking Dramamine, but we waited too long for it to help. I almost never get a stomach bug. Over the last 20+ years usually the only time I throw up is in reaction to having anesthesia. I had been a little queasy on Saturday in the big waves on our glass bottom boat tour, but as long as I took a break from looking down and looked out at the horizon, I was fine. It's rather unpleasant to pay a lot of money for an outing and then have 3/5 of our family throwing up because of said activity. The kids only wanted to do the 20-minute Fort Jefferson talk. Paul did that as well as a 70-minute tour. I would have enjoyed the longer tour, but the kids wanted to explore on their own. They also earned a Junior Ranger badge while we were there. I hadn't realized that breakfast had been included, so we had stopped for a very early breakfast at Dunkin.  I knew that lunch was included. They served Jersey Mike subs, chips/pretzels, carrots/celery, cookies, and drinks for lunch. Because the water was so cloudy due to the waves, it wasn't really possible to see much of anything by snorkeling. This week the air temperature had dropped about ten degrees which made the water seem colder albeit the water temperature was actually warmer than the air temperature. I had expected that this day would be my favorite of our time in Florida this month, but that definitely wasn't the case. Thankfully, the trip back was smooth, and no one experienced any motion sickness. Paul said he still thought it was worth it to be able to visit Fort Jefferson. After we go to Biscayne National Park today, we will have been to 9 of the 11 National Park sites in Florida. 

We arrived back on Key West at 5:30pm. We drove to a pizza place, had dinner, and then drove back to the hotel on Ramrod Key. We considered taking a photo at the southernmost point buoy, but there was a long line of people at the time we went past it. As we were driving back, the hotel called us to tell us *again* that our snorkeling trip that had been rescheduled for Tuesday morning had been cancelled. I'm not exactly sure why as there wasn't any rain in the forecast, but I just asked for a refund. On our way to No Name Pub, we had several sightings of key deer, so we opted to skip visiting the National Key Deer Refuge. Since we had to leave our hotel at 6:10 on Monday morning, we let the kids sleep in a little on Tuesday morning. We had bagels and cream cheese (from our ferry ride the previous day) or pop tarts (from the grocery store) for breakfast in our room. Our first stop was Bahia Honda State Park also on Big Pine Key. The boys wanted to rent stand up paddleboards, but they only rent kayaks and SUPs to those age 18 and up. We headed to Sandspur Beach and spent a few hours there. Our second stop was a ninety-minute tour of the Turtle Hospital on Marathon Key. We had planned to have dinner at IHOP, but it turned out it was permanently closed. Oops! I had brought some McDonald's gift cards "just in case." Oliver and I got tacos at Taco Bell, and the other three got food at McDonald's. The kids got ice cream at McDonald's. We stopped at the Key Lime Pie Factory on Key Largo on the way back so I could have a slice of key lime pie. It was expensive but delicious! We spent a night for the third time in a week at the same Holiday Inn Express in Florida City. Today is our last day in Florida as we are headed to Ecuador tomorrow!