South Florida -- May 2008
| AARP sent Sarah to Miami for a conference; Robert and I tagged along and added a couple days in Key Largo to enjoy the sun. The hotel was on the bay side of Miami and had a nice little playground in the front yard -- part of Bayfront Park. This sculpture was fun to climb on. | |||||||
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And the monorail (Metromover) is completely automatic -- that gave Robert a great chance to "drive" the train. He got a kick out of that (as did the other passengers). But really, the fun started after Sarah's conference ended Friday when we drove down to Rock Harbor just south of Key Largo. While the sun was hot, the water was very pleasant and there was a breeze the whole time we were there (sometimes more breezy than others). The cottage had a nice (small) beach and dock on the bay side of the island. |
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| There was even a paddle boat to take out from the dock. Not a kayak, but fun none the less. The "artistic" photos are proof there was some humidity -- it took a bit for the fog on camera lenses to evaporate. | |||||||
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| On Saturday, we headed to Islamorada to rent a couple kayaks from The Kayak Shack and paddle through the mangroves. We popped out into a bay that didn't seem to ever get more than 3 feet deep. |
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| That bay seemed like a nice place for a dip for Robert. After he was back in the boat we noticed some of the native wildlife. The shark was really small -- about 18 inches or two feet and it seemed very shy. The crocodile was a bit lager and not disturbed by us at all as it soaked up some sun on the remains of an old skiff. The egrets were more shy than the crocodile but not so shy as the shark; I was able to get a couple pictures as they flew away from me. | |||||||
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| After we turned the kayaks in, Robert wanted to feed the fish -- huge tarpon -- and a pelican who thought he (or she) deserved some fishy snacks as well. |
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| The cottage grounds were very pretty. Other than the bougainvillea, I don't know what the names are, but the flowers were beautiful. And a somewhat tired out Robert was happy to keep me company while I wandered the grounds a bit admiring them. His shirt (thanks Janek) almost matched some of the orange blossoms. Of course, he also had a car to keep him occupied... | |||||||
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| We had to take a picture of this Montessori School for our Montessori friends. We spotted it Sunday as we headed down to Theater of the Sea, the big marine animal park. Oddly enough, they get a lot of exotic bird donations; so, the parrot show was our first stop there. Sarah enjoyed giving the parrot a lift -- Robert wasn't sure about that, perhaps he remembers his earlier exposure. |
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| The dolphin show was our next stop. This seemed a little more intimate than the Baltimore Aquarium dolphin show. This time, Robert was one of the volunteers allowed to pet one of the dolphins (Sarah was too, since she did such a good job helping him). | |||||||
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| Our next stop was the sea lion show; by the time that was over, it was time for some lunch. |
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| Robert enjoyed his fist snow cone after lunch. Then we checked out the turtles and sharks in their ponds before we decided it was time to leave. Theater of the Sea was the spot that reminded me most of many of Carl Hiaasen's books, especially Tourist Season. | |||||||
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| After watching the turtles swimming around, we headed up to Pennekamp Park to check out the beach on the ocean side. From there we headed back to our cottage and our bay side beach. |
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| While the beach was not a fancy restaurant, it made for a nice Mother's Day moment, I think. | |||||||
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Before our flight back Monday, we stopped by Shark Valley, an entrance to the Everglades. Sarah was down there in February when the alligators were sunning themselves on the paved paths. This time they were a little more elusive in the canal -- but not too elusive. It was another fun trip, but it's nice to home again. |
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