Miami, Key West and the Everglades

At the end of October Daddy Monkey took his first bit of leave and we booked flights from St Louis down to Miami International Airport. We spent 6 days away in total, 3 nights in Miami, 3 nights in Key West and then on our final day we drove up from Key West early in the morning and spent the day in the Everglades before catching our evening flight home.

We were actually feeling pretty exhausted and a bit run down when we arrived, the move from the UK combined with a non-stop and hectic schedule of events and trips in the US meant that we just hadn't stopped and we were glad to have a couple of quiet days with late starts (thankfully Mini Monkey obliged), afternoons relaxing on the beautiful beach and evenings sat outside at local restaurants eating good food. Miami actually has the largest concentration of Art Deco buildings anywhere in the world and we walked around a selection of them with Daddy Monkey pointing out the ones he recognised from various films/movies. I found it amusing that ALL of the shop dummies, from high end to low end stores, were victims of cosmetic surgery and unrealistic enhancements - no wonder everyone was so body conscious! Overall there was a really good atmosphere and we felt like we really were on holiday. We also went to the Miami Zoo, turning up mid-week during term time meant that we practically had the place to ourselves. Feeling a bit lazy (and it was a hot day) we decided to hire a bicycle cart thing, basically 2 bicycles with a large frame joining them, a bench seat and a sun canopy over the top. It was a great idea and helped by the fact that the zoo was so empty we were able to zip easily and quickly between all of the cages. Our favourite thing was the giraffe feeding (I haven't seen any zoo do it before) we walked straight through all the signs saying how long you would be queuing for from this point and were the only people there to start with. We paid our $2 and the man handed us a very large armful of leafy branches which we held out for the extremely eager giraffes. They stuck out their huge blue tongues and wrapped them around the branch and literally stripped all of the leaves off leaving us with an empty stick - we needed to hang onto the branch pretty tightly! The giraffes were so close we could pat their heads and they were not in the slightest bit unsure or afraid of us, once mini monkey had got over her initial fear she was fascinated.

After Miami we set off for Key West, the furthest most point in a 126 mile string of Islands originally connected by Henry Flagler's railroad in 1912 but after this was destroyed in a hurricane in 1935 the Overseas Highway was completed in 1938. I think we had expected something more reminiscent of a string of 'bounty advert' style bumps of sand connected by a thin road that would make us feel like we were floating between Islands. The reality was the Islands are all heavily developed rocky outcrops with minimal beaches and lots of lush/dense green vegetation. The road often did not actually afford any view of the sea, particularly for the first 70 miles or so and was a vast dual carriageway, concrete construction with fenced sides. Don't get me wrong, it was an at times very interesting and amazing experience to drive down through the Keys and the 7-mile bridge just after 'Marathon' (about half-way down) was truely impressive. Key West turned out to be the Gay Capital of Florida and Daddy Monkey was a little perplexed to find that our evenings out included men dancing in their briefs in the street, on the bars and in doorways. Also the walk back to our hotel took us past the local brothel with touts outside encouraging us to come us (what all of us?!?!?). So whilst it was not entirely what we expected there was a great party type atmosphere, a very laid-back vibe and some interesting sights (?!?!). We walked along the historic board walk, looked at fishing boats, saw lots of large fish swimming in the water, went to the southern most marker pointing to Cuba - which is the next land mass and ate lots of junk food. Our verdict - a good fun place for a night out, apparently great fishing; not that beautiful and not very child friendly.

On the final day we went to the Everglades which were great. Due to time constraints we were only able to go to a limited area and it is somewhere that we would be keen to explore further at a later date. First we drove to Shark Valley Loop which is a conservation centre within the Everglades National Park and went on a 2 hour 'tram' tour, which is basically like an oversize golf buggy seating around 20 people which drives a man made loop through the Everglades stopping at an observation tower you can climb up and look out over the surrounding area. Our tour guide told us lots of information about the flora, fauna, birdlife, wildlife and of course Alligators that inhabited the habitat. We saw a selection of birds and a few alligators and their babies. We then went drove to a different place just outside the National Park and went on an air boat tour (airboats are not permitted within the National Park). It was advertised as an adrenaline rush type experience but we found it quite sedate apart from the fact that it was INCREDIBLY noisy when the engine was running even with the cotton balls they gave us shoved into our ears. We travelled along the man made waterways (dug when they were excavating stone from the area for use building roads) and saw a couple of rather large Alligators up very close and lots of vegetation and were then given the opportunity to hold a baby Alligator with its mouth taped shut. It was probably our favourite day and I would definately recommend both places.

We loved Florida overall and are keen to return in the future to explore a bit further.