Road trip South - Key West

We made a big effort to be on the road early from Miami.  We hit a bit of traffic, but not too much.  We had to drive back through homestead again.  It was fun seeing all the race paraphernalia, and remembering it from the previous day. 

The road down to Key West is long.  Like 120 miles long.  Admittedly, The scenery is stunning.  We got a beautifully clear day to drive down.  We were unsure what to do for lunch.  We had plenty of snacks in the car.  The majority of the islands that are not occupied on the keys are designated a marine protected area, so there are plenty of state parks.  Instead of stopping at a restaurant or for fast food, we decided to stop at one of these,  Curry Hammock state park.  Best $8 we have spent on lunch while on the road. The view was beautiful.  There was a few other people around, but not many.  

After lunch we went for a little walk along the beach.  The kids played in the park too.  It was very warm.

We probably stopped for about an hour in total.  A great way to break up the drive.  It is so stunningly beautiful in the keys.

And hardly anything there.  The people that do live there are very on top of each other, as we found out.  I had booked the hotel ages ago.  The Southernmost Beach Resort is exactly as the name says, the southern most resort in the whole of the continental USA.  Given the size of our family, and our budget, we were limited by hotel room choices.  We were pretty pleased with what we had though.  This was the view from our balcony

We went out for dinner that night.  The hotel sat at the south of Duval Street.  This is basically the party street of Key West.  We found a pub type place for some food.  Key west is not the most kid friendly place..... We enjoyed it all the same!  

The hotel did not include breakfast, though they were adjoined to the Southern Most cafe.  This is where we ate breakfast every morning.  The breakfasts were very good.  Most mornings after breakfast we would go for a walk around the grounds of the resort before most people were up and about. They had plenty of hammock's around, which the kids loved.

They also had a bar area with a fooseball table.  The boys discovered this the first morning, and absolutely loved it.

Our first full day we had a glass bottomed boat ride to the coral reefs booked.  Unfortunately it was too windy, so it got cancelled.  We spent the day on the beach drinking cocktails and playing with the kids.  We went out for dinner that night to a nice ace we had spotted the evening before.  The good restaurants all had set times for meals, like 12-2 lunch and 6-10 dinner.  A little old fashioned, and certainly not the convenience of the rest of America......

Road trip south - Miami

The drive from Cocoa Beach to Miami took just over 4 hours.  It was a Saturday, and the nearer we got to Miami, the more crazy the traffic was.  I was glad I drove first, so paul handled the Miami traffic.

I have been to Miami before, back in 1998, when I was 16.  I can remember most of that trip, it was my first time in America, and everything was amazing and awe inspiring.  In that respect, Miami has not changed.  We drove to South Beach first.  We parked up and headed for the beach.  What an affluent area.  

Typically the boys wanted to go in the sea, even though it was freezing.  So they got their stuff on.  Daddy had to go with them.  To be honest, this was really not a very nice beach.  It seemed dirty, the tide was rough, and there were more asses on display than at a donkey farm.  

The weather started to turn a little grey and windy, so we headed back to the car, very unimpressed.  Fortunately the hotel we had booked was in Coconut Grove, a suburb south of the craziness of Miami. Driving there was an experience: high rise buildings, people everywhere, and the general madness of a city.  Reminded me why I didn't like them.

As we drove into Coconut Grove, we breathed a little sigh of relief.  Yes, there were still high rises, but all the crazy people had gone. Granted it was raining.......

We took a little drive around before checking into our hotel.  What a delightful, artistic, eclectic area.  A real breath of fresh air.  However, not overly kid friendly......  We ended up eating dinner at a local sports bar, early.  They were more than accommodating, and it was almost relaxing

We had booked into a suite hotel, so the boys took the 2 rooms, and we slept on the sofa.  It wasn't a great night sleep, but us all not being in the same room was nice......  We awoke the next morning, and went for a good breakfast, before going for a walk to the local marina.  We walked past the Ritz-Carlton on the way.....

There were some nice boats here.  Absolutely stunning on a Sunday morning.

There was a park of sorts, so the boys had fun playing and climbing.  

We headed back to the hotel as the boys wanted to take a dip in the pool.  It was freezing.  Our hotel was full of NASCAR supporters.  I sat by the side of the pool watching them all depart for the race at Homestread, before deciding we needed to get a wriggle on to the track too.....