Everglades Airboat ride and Key West

Monday, 12/28/15 - A travel day to Fort Lauderdale area, actually Popano Beach. We are headed to Highland Woods RV Park (an Encore/Thousand Trails Park).  We arrived at the correct address, but the sign said Breezy Hill -oops.   We went to the next park and the sign said Highland Woods, correct, but both entrance gates are down.  We went around the corner hoping to find another entrance - no luck.  I got on the phone to Highland Woods, but nobody answered the phone.  I tried three times while Tom drove 8 miles around in a circle.  Still no answer, so we decided to go to Breezy Hill and ask questions.  Hooray - we are in the right place, they gave us a site in Highland Woods next door.  The girl at the front spoke mostly French, but told us to make a U turn out of Breezy, back to the street, and enter at the first gate of Highland Woods.  I told her that the gates were down, but she would not comment, she just said go ahead (I don't think she understood me).  Anyway, we made the U turn to the street, but stopped there.  I got out and walked to the next campground and through the gates.  I found three men sitting out in their patio.  One spoke English (hooray), and he told me that the gates would open when we got close enough.  I don't know why the girl at Registration would not tell me that!  I waved Tom into the park, and Hooray, the gates opened.  We found our site but it was really tight.  The neighbors came out to help us, but most of them only spoke French (all from Quebec), and it was very confusing.  Finally settled, and looked around.  What a dump!  No amenities, sites are unkept, no wi-fi, very noisy train next door, also a noisy sand and gravel yard next door, and very hot and sticky - - a horrid park!  I really must complain to Encore about this park.  We stayed in and made plans for our tour tomorrow.

Tuesday, 12/29/15 -  Tom and I headed to the Everglades Holiday Park for an airboat ride through the Everglades.  There were a million people there - more holiday travelers.  We waited in line inside for about 30 minutes for purchase boat tickets, then waited outside at picnic tables for our boat.  We waited another 40 minutes for our boat, but it was all worth it--what a hoot!

airboat in the swamps

I could not download the video of the airboat because the file was too big, so you will just have to trust me that it was loud and very fast, both forward and sideways.

The Sawgrass and the yellow lily pads are beautiful.

sawgrass and yellow lily pads

Enlargement of the yellow lily pads

  Here is a bromiliad in the trees (it looks like a pinapple).

Bromiliad

  The birds are beautiful too.  Here is a Snake bird, I don't remember the real name.  It will have to leave that to my cousin, Berk.

Snake bird

  Another pair of birds that I call blue birds with orange beaks.  Again, I need help from my cousin.

blue birds with orange beaks

Now, we come across a large iguana sunning himself in a tree.  Here is my picture and an enlargement.  I would guess that he is about 6 feet in length.

Iguana sunning in the trees

Enlargement of the Iguana

 Lastly, we see an alligator swimming our way.

Gator swimming to us

The whole ride was about 45 minutes and totally enjoyable.  Here is our souvenir picture.

We tried to get lunch, but the crowd was so big that they sold out of all their food.  We then went to the Gator Show (which was included in our boat ride ticket), but again the crowds were so big - we could not see anything because there were no seats and they stacked people 5 deep in front of a chain link fence to see the gators.  Of course, we couldn't see them and we couldn't sit down, so we left.  It was so hot and humid, I was glad to away from all those people.


Wednesday, 12/30/15 - We traveled from Popano Beach to Fiesta Key (about 1/3 down the Overseas Highway).  I was so glad to be out of Highland Palms.  We were headed to the one campground that Encore advertises the most as their 'tropical paradise'.  Since their camping fee was $125/day, I assumed it would be a 5 star resort.  Here is a picture I got from the web.

Fiesta Key
(Highway 1 in the foreground)

As soon as you leave the mainland on Highway 1, you enter the Overseas Highway.  It is 113 miles to Key West and most of it is over small islands (called 'keys'), landfills, and bridges, and of course, water.

Overseas Highway

We arrived at Fiesta Key.  They gave us a site that backed up to the swamp and it stunk to high heaven.  In fact, it smelled like a sewer!  The campsites were tight and unkept.  Since we were in so much of a hurry to leave Highland Woods, we did not dump the tanks.  We expected a '5 star resort' would have hook ups.  Wrong again!  Our site did not have sewer hook ups and we were full.  So...no showers or dishes here and very little water for the toilet.  Mom and I walked together to the camp restrooms--UGH!  They were a steam sauna.  The three air conditioners were all broken.  Just when I thought Highland Woods was the worst campground we had been in, Fiesta topped it.  This place was awful.  We couldn't even spend time outside our RV as it smelled so bad.  Tom complained at the office and they told us that the restrooms were being demolished and rebuilt soon.  They gave us a credit, so we ended up paying for only the deposit of $81 for our two days.

Thursday, 12/31/15 - We stayed in and did paperwork and emails.  No tours were planned for this stop anyway, as we were here to look at the best-rated campground!

Friday, 1/1/16 - Finally--we got out of Fiesta Key and headed south down the Overseas Highway.  We only had about 40 miles to go to Sunshine Key.  Here is a picture of our next campground, a big improvement. The ladies at the front knew that Fiesta Key was very bad.

Sunshine Key Campground

We traveled over the 7 mile bridge to get here, the longest span over water only.  The old railroad ran next to the new highway. The original railroad was built by Henry Flagler (the same Henry Flagler I talked about in the St. Augustine blog) to bring customers to his hotels in Key West It was in very bad shape - vastly damaged by a hurricane in 1935 and deteriorated over the years.  If you would like to read up on the history of the railroad and the new highway, here is a link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overseas_Highway.  Here is a picture of the old railroad..

old railroad

And here is a picture of the old railroad next to the new highway..

Old and New

We are settle in and look forward to touring Key West next.

Saturday, 1/2/16 -  Tom and I are off to Key West, about 40 miles south of Sunshine Key.
Here is a picture of a bridge on the road, and pelicans along one side, and fishing platforms along the other side...

Bridge on the Overseas Highway

Pelicans

Fishing Platforms

Finally we got to Key West.  Again, a million people here on vacation.  We stopped in the Visitor Center and got a map of the downtown area.  We parked ($20 fee), and we walked around the main areas of attraction.  I forgot my canes, so I decided to try and make it on my own (with the help of Tom's arm).  We covered about 6 blocks, including a stop for pizza and beer, and a stop for ice cream.  We also stopped at a popular sunset point.  The patio of this bar sits out over the water facing southwest.

Sunset Point

About 2 more blocks and my back was done.  Most of the shops were tourist junk or T-shirt stores or bars or tatoo parlors.  The temperature and the humidity got to me - I could hardly breathe.  It started to rain.  Tom actually left me at a jewelry store and walked back to the car to get my wheelchair.  What a guy!

We continued on, but it rained heavier and heavier, so we parked under one of the shop awnings.  It didn't stop.  We decided we had had enough - nothing more to see.  We went back and got the car.  All I wanted was a picture of the Southernmost point of the U.S. for the blog.  We drove to the spot and guess what......more people than you can imagine.  There was no where to park, so I got out with my camera while Tom drove around the block.  I walked over to the cement marker (that was all it was) but could hardly get a clear shot, so I walked around the barricade to get a picture.  All of a sudden, I heard people screaming at me.  I turned and saw a line (about a block long) of people waiting in line to take a picture, and a guy with a tip bucket trying to organize the line.  I had walked right to the front and took a picture - OOPS!  I turned quickly to get out and tripped on the tip bucket.  Money went everywhere and I kicked off his sign!  Oh well, I got out of there.  My pictures are lousy because a guy walked in front of me, but here they are.

the crowd

The Southernost point of the
continental U.S.A.
Key West, FL

 We left and headed back to the RV, stopped for groceries on the way, and was very glad to get home.  I think the northerners and the Canadians that love this area can have it.  All I could see was a large swamp and tropical trees, high temps and high humidity.  I guess they are used to it, and are glad to be out of the winter of the north.  I will take Palm Desert in a heartbeat.

Sunday, 1/3/16 -  It rained most of the night and very hard this morning.  Tom had to take the dogs out anyway, then he went back out in his bathing suit and wiped down the RV in the rain (it was pretty dirty from the road).  Now he is working on some minor repairs.  I am working on this blog.

For Dad:  we are finally beginning to head home, we are leaving Key West.  Tomorrow we travel north, back to the mainland.