Miami and the Keys
Trip Start
Jan 27, 2010
1
16
47
Trip End
Apr 28, 2010
Where I stayed
Miami Beach, Florida
Monday, February 22, 2010
We stopped in Key Largo for lunch and once we got the middle keys we had great views of the ocean, the water was a beautiful jade green colour. Most of the way to Key West was only a 2 lane road and there was a lot of people heading to Key West, it probably didn't help that it was Saturday and a warm and sunny day, the warmest we've had about 26 degrees.
We found a park in Key West and walked to the Southern most point in continental USA and got the tourist photo. We walked down historic Whitehead and Duval Streets. Duval Street was packed with people and is called the longest main Street in the world because it goes from coast to coast, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Golf of Mexico! We had a look around the historic boardwalk and had a piece of the famous Key lime pie, really nice.
We started driving back to Miami about 6 pm. When we drove through Big Pine Key we kept a look-out for the endangered Key Deer, their habitat is on Big Pine Key. They only stand 2 feet tall, but we didn't get to see any.
We are staying in Miami Beach's, South Beach. We drove through Miami and over the causeway to Miami Beach. South Beach is famous for it's people watching. I read in my guidebook that they shook USA and all the nuts fell to the bottom into Miami! After 2 days here we would believe that! We drove near our hotel. Parking is impossible to find in South Beach. We can pay $28 to have valet parking at our hotel but instead we parked 2 blocks away in a high rise parking which cost $16 for 24 hours.
Yesterday we drove 8 miles to Key Biscayne. It's a lovely place, the pace a lot slower than in South Beach. Beautiful beaches and great views of downtown Miami. We went back to South Beach and went to the beach for a while. There was heaps of people there, the beach really nice. We went on a duck tour and had the funniest guide. We saw a lot of the arc deco district. South Beach has the largest collection of art deco in the World. We also went into Biscayne Bay and saw the homes worth millions of dollars.
South Beach is nice to walk around, lots of shops and restaurants. We got a huge slice of pizza each for lunch (Alan managed to eat 2!) from a pizza place in Lincoln Road. It is a very multicultural city, well over half the population is Latino. Down the Lincoln Mall 2 blocks from our hotel there is a lot of restaurants and walking past the outdoor tables we couldn't hear very much English spoked, mostly Spanish, Italian and French.
Today we are going on a 4 night cruise to the Bahamas so I will probably do a blog when we get back. We are going to drop our car off at the Miami airport and get the shuttle to the Miami Port, where we can get on our ship from 12 pm today.
Talk to you all in 5 days, Dianne and Alan
