While many of my friends were traveling up north to go home for Christmas and the holidays, my fiancé and I took a road trip to Florida. We drove from I-75 to the Florida Turnpike- all the way to the end. What’s at the end? The Everglades (and a bunch of alligators and large snakes!) But we didn’t drive to Florida for the swamp. We went to stay with my fiancé’s family for Christmas. His parents’ permanent home is in the metro Atlanta area, but they are currently residing in Florida City, which is near Homestead. His dad took a temporary job in Homestead and we stayed with them in their condo for the holidays. It was really nice since I was off work for almost two weeks. We spent our entire vacation in Florida and had a blast. It was really nice to spend time with my fiancé’s family and have a nice sunny Christmas Day in which we could wear shorts and T-shirts. It was a little strange not being at their house for the holiday, but we managed in the condo.

It was a 13-hour car ride down to Florida but we made it in 12 hours and it really was not all that bad. It didn’t feel like it was a very long time. We passed the time talking and listening to music. We even made a gas tank last almost 600 miles! My ‘ 99 Toyota Camry (also known as a ticking time bomb) gets great mileage, especially on the highway using cruise control.

We finally arrived to the condo and had a nice few days relaxing and enjoying our vacation. We mainly just hung around the condo and went on errands to a few stores. We drove down to Key Largo to see the sites and ate at a very nice restaurant on a marina overlooking the water called The Pilot House Marina, Restaurant and Glass Bottom Bar. The floor of the patio had a glass bottom, and you could see the fish swim by as you ate. Even tried some fried gatorbites! My fiancé thought the gatorbites tasted like chicken.

Outside the Pilot House

Christmas day was spent opening gifts, eating a big breakfast and then another big meal for Christmas dinner. Santa was very good to this Jewish girl! On Christmas my fiancé and I took a nice walk around the condo complex and just enjoyed being in the warm weather. If we had spent Christmas in Atlanta, it would have been a very different story.

Later on in the week, we went to the Everglades Alligator Farm, where we went on an air boat ride though the swamp. There definitely wasn’t a splash free zone on that boat. It was really neat to see the wildlife and fun when the airboat did doughnuts in the marsh. We also went to the snake show and the alligator show, which was very impressive. The Everglades Alligator Farm is the only place in the world that houses both alligators and crocodiles in captivity. They are in separate fenced-in areas of course. We saw a lot of baby alligators. Too bad they grow up to be big mean gators!

Everglades Alligator Farm

Baby Gators

Key West. What an adventure! The three-hour car ride from Florida City to Key West left us in the mood for sightseeing and fun. Once we parked, we set off to walk around the island. Shopping and looking at restaurants took up most of the afternoon. We kept trying to find a place for lunch but ruled out just about every place we walked by. Then we ended up at the end of the island at the Southernmost Point. What a tourist spot! By that time we were so hungry that we bought a coconut on the side of the street. This guy had a big cart with a barrel full of coconuts and a drill. One by one he would drill a hold in the coconuts, put a straw in them and charge three dollars a pop. It was pretty good but so heavy! We ended up throwing half of it away.

We walked by the Hemingway house but decided not to go in. They wanted 13 dollars per person for admission! We walked back and finally found a restaurant to eat at with a great Mahi Mahi wrap. Then we explored Key West some more. By the end of the day, we had walked across the whole island and back.

Hemingway House

In the evening, we had tickets to a snorkel and sunset cruise, which started out as a disaster and ended calmly. A rocking catamaran with 40 plus people scrunched in it, led to snorkeling in high waves. There actually wasn’t much snorkeling going on at all, just trying to keep our heads above water and not have the current smack us into the boat. We decided we had enough of it. With our bellies full of salt water and fogged up diving masks, we swam the short distance back to the boat. I tried to board the boat and the waves knocked me into the stairs, leaving me with a huge bruise on my leg that lasted for weeks. It wasn’t all bad though. As we sailed back to the shore, a beautiful sunset was in our view throughout the rest of the cruise. After the cruise, we went out to a restaurant called Turtle Krawls where they race live turtles. The food was superb, and we enjoyed grilled oysters, crab dip and the traditional Key lime pie. Late at night, we headed back through Marathon, Key Largo and the smaller keys to return to the condo in Homestead.

Key West Sunset

We had a wonderful experience with all the people throughout the Florida Keys. All the places we went were clean and inviting environments. The Florida Keys have a reputation of being expensive. They do live up to this, but I think it is worth every dollar. I highly recommend it and plan to go back again someday.

The next day we went to Miami. Let’s just say we will not be going back. This is what made our trip unpleasant: Traffic. No place to park. Crowded beach and streets, for starts.  All the restaurants had patios that extended in to the Street. (Ocean drive was blocked off to vehicle traffic to prepare for the Orange Bowl festivities). Servers and hostesses would stand near the patio entrance to each restaurant and try to get tourists to come in and dine with them. There would be a big sign out front with all the specials. We thought wow, lucky us; we’ll get to eat for cheaper! But this was only to lure frugal tourists like us in. My piece of advice: Don’t order the special! The restaurant we ate at did not even want to deal with us since we wanted to only pay $10 per meal like the sign advertised. Not only did we have bad service, we were overcharged and the food was not impressive. Here is a picture of the $50 appetizer that definitely was not worth the money. But if we only had one bad experience on our lengthy vacation, I’d have to say the trip was a success.

Overpriced appetizer!

Miami Beach

Other memorable moments of our vacation included eating at a dive bar in Key Largo called Shipwrecks that had exceptional seafood baskets and our trip to Homestead Bay Park. The park overlooked the bay on one side and the ocean on the other. It was a beautiful day to walk around and enjoy the scenery. There was also a marina at the park that housed a variety of boats. Our drive home went by fast, and overall we had a great tropical vacation!

Homestead Bay Park