After leaving Sanibel Island we “waited†two days in Disney because of a weather forecast which promised dry weather so we would not run into drenching rain while in the parks (did that once in Anaheim – and that is not so fun). Today we left Disney, after having a really good time there (plus the promised sunshine 🙂 ), and have just arrived in Panama City.
Our visit to the Everglades National Park (also known as mosquito central) was reduced to a visit to the Everglades Alligator Farm (not the National Park) and a short drive into the National Park.
The alligator farm is not a zoo, but a working farm where they raise alligators for the meat, and cash in on tourists by having a few shows and air boat rides.
Driving from Miami to Key West is south on Highway 1, the only road down over the keys. The drive down over all the keys (islands) is very special, and the water looks like something which you just have to swim in. Once there was a train to Key West, but in a big hurricane it was damaged beyond repair. Unfortunately the old train bridges are just sitting there collecting rust – only some parts are maintained as a historical site – and the power lines have been put on poles just next to the road, so the view is not as nice as it could be.
We came to Key West (well, one island away) in the afternoon and we just sat there in the breeze, enjoying the view and the air, before we went to bed (the WiFi was unfortunately based on a satellite connection, and satellite uplinks are really slow and with the slow server I have for the pages it was almost impossible to actually update the blog).
Since Biscayne National Park is just south of Miami we could stay at the same campground for both Biscayne and Miami. It is a state park campground in an avocado plantation – I’ve never seen an avocado tree before and when we drove in we were not sure what kind of green “fruits†there were on the trees! Anyway, the campground is just 15 miles south of Miami and very nice – my only complaints, besides some mosquitoes, would be that the water in the showers was too hot and could not be adjusted, and that the avocados were not ripe. Life is tough!