This is a continuation of our family vacation to Miami and Key West. The first part of our trip can be read here. After the Everglades we started the drive to Key West. A lot of pictures I saw of Key West were these huge bridges that had ocean on either side of them. Once I drove there I realized most of the drive was on islands, and short bridges with some views of the ocean. Anyways, we stopped on Islamorada to visit Robbie’s to feed the Tarpon. I had no idea how huge Tarpons were nor did I think we would be feeding them actual (dead) fish. I was envisioning feeding bread to something like Koi fish. These Tarpon were clearly used to being fed so they were a little aggressive and fast! They were like bullets charging after the fish. My brother in laws were laying on their stomachs, holding out their arms until the last possible second with the hopes to have the Tarpon jump out of the water. They had success- Tarpon can definitely jump! My husband also gave it a go and left his hand out a little too long and the Tarpon got his forearm/hand for a few seconds. He had minor abrasions along his arm from the Tarpon’s grip. Craziness. I would definitely recommend this stop. It was great fun for all ages.  After Islamorada, we found our hotel in Key West. We stayed at the Sheraton Suites and really enjoyed it. Although I will say that it is really easy to push the emergency button on their phones. We had the hotel staff knocking on our doors at 11 pm one night making sure we were OK. Slightly embarrassing. I won’t say who did it but I’m pretty sure they are less than four feet tall. It was late and we got pizza and gelato from Duetto Key West. It really hit the spot after a fun filled day in the Everglades and driving through the Keys.

The next morning we had breakfast at Banana Cafe. Most of the party I was with had the crepes. I had the Swiss Veggie which was scrambled eggs topped with ratatouille and Swiss cheese. I thought ratatouille was a great idea and I’ll have to try it at home one day. The waiter was hilarious and so kind. While waiting for our food my son was using a knife to chop up the paper napkins. He was content and not harming himself or anyone else so I just let him be.  ~I was planning on cleaning up after him~. Anyways, our waiter saw him chopping and brought over a huge stack of napkins for him to chop up. I’m grateful he had a good sense of humor.

After breakfast, we spent a few hours at the Butterfly and Nature Conservatory. I could have spent all day in there (mostly to photograph them). The butterflies were so fun to watch, fly around, land on my kids heads, give them butterfly kisses and photograph! They are so fast it was tricky to photograph them in flight. There were also flamingo’s and a few other birds in the conservatory. It was pure magic for everyone.  After the butterfly conservatory, we walked over to the southern most point to snap a photo. Then we walked to and up the lighthouse. My kids were such rock stars walking all over Key West in the heat and up the 88 stairs of the light house. Then we took a break for lunch. Some went to Five Guys and I went to Smoothie Shuttle. I just wanted something cold to drink. It was perfect. Plus, I knew we were about to go get some Key Lime Pie so I didn’t want a ton of food. I love Key Lime Pie. My mother in law had seen the Key Lime Pie Company on the Profit so that’s where we went. We got the original, blood orange (tasted like orange creamsicle to me) and strawberry key lime pies. My sister in law got the key lime pie dunked in chocolate.  After our afternoon snack (vacations are all about the food too aren’t they), we went to the Shipwreck Museum. Some of the reviews online said that the museum was small so I wasn’t sure if I would like it. We spent about an hour and half at the museum. My favorite part was their staff dresses up in a sailor’s attire and talks about the history of Key West, pirates and treasure in the area. Once they finished talking, they set you free to explore the museum on your own. We walked through some stores then headed back to the hotel. We ended up ordering in dinner to the hotel for speed and convenience (from Duetto’s again!). Then hit the hotel’s pool for the evening. It was another great day.  The next day we went shore snorkeling at Fort Zachary Taylor. We didn’t have time to see the Fort because we were out snorkeling for about two and half hours. The kids were even able to see the colorful zebra fish through the Key’s crystal clear water. I’m so grateful for our family to help with the kids because we tag teamed with them who was watching the kids in the water while we snorkeled. We went back to the hotel, showered and packed up and left to go back to Miami. We stopped in Key Largo for a combined lunch/dinner (linner?) at Key Largo Fisheries. It was a cafe/ fishmarket/marina. It was delicious and so filling. I had a Mahi Mahi sandwhich, the kids had shrimp and my husband had a Lobster BLT. We dined on the covered deck, next to the marina with a cool breeze and live music. Once we ate we headed back to Miami. We spent the night again at the St. Regis. That evening we went to the beach and enjoyed the pool at the resort. The next morning I woke up early to catch the sunrise at the beach (I went solo it was so peaceful), then we went to an hour of church, had lunch and drove back to Jacksonville. We had a busy but wonderful five day trip down to Miami & Key West. 

We recently got back from a vacation to Miami & Key West. We traveled as a family with my in-laws. It was amazing. I’ve posted some pictures of our trip on Instagram and would love it if you followed me there. My mother-in-law did pretty much all of the planning- I just sat back and enjoyed the ride. She does such a good job at not only finding great activities to do but also fun places to eat. We drove from Jacksonville to Miami and spent the night at the beautiful St. Regis at Bal Harbour.

I think I might have had a Cuban sandwich at some point in my life but mostly couldn’t pin point what Cuban food was. So, we ventured to Little Havana on our first night to Versailles. The restaurant and adjacent bakery was huge. We actually walked into the bakery and gelato shop first and had to walk through to the restaurant. It was fun walking through the hallways we saw people who looked like regulars reading newspapers and playing cards, and a few other people were counting what I assumed was the profits from the day. The staff was super friendly and gave some wonderful recommendations on what to try. I ordered a sampler plate and it was huge but had my kids share with me.

We all crashed hard that night because we knew the next day was going to be our longest day. We had muffins and juice for breakfast, packed our bags and headed over to the Everglades. We took the Shark Valley Tram Tours and had the best tour guide. She had been giving tours for years and I could tell how much she loved the Everglades. She was a wealth of information and so excited to look around and show us everything. She had us walk around to feel the marsh. There was a slight bounce while walking around the earth. She nonchalantly talked about how she had a snake kit in the tram car ready to go to catch a python if we saw one!! I raised my hand to ask her what that entails and she said, “it’s really not that big of a deal” but proceeded to show me her kit and how she would catch a snake with her BARE hands. After her description of grabbing a python and putting it into a pillowcase, I was definitely on high alert walking around the Everglades.

I was intrigued by the alligator nests and had a hard time spotting them at first. But basically it looks like a large pile of hay. The gators take about 3-4 days to build them. The sex of the alligator is determined by temperature. Below 86 degrees F the alligators are female and above 93 degrees F the gators are male. Between those two temperatures there is a mix of the genders. We saw big gators, baby gators, turtles and birds. Because our tour guide had several built in stops to the tour my kids were entertained for the duration of the two hour tour.

After the tram tour we proceeded to the air-boat tour of the Everglades. We used Coopertown Air-boats and were quite happy with the experience. We had a picnic lunch before the tour. My mother-in-law had the BRILLIANT idea of bringing a cooler on this trip and cold waters were in there! Absolutely wonderful to have cold drinks between activities. I was skeptical on how much value an air-boat tour would add to the experience of the Everglades. I mean we had already seen a lot of alligators. We saw more alligators on the air-boat tour, and there was just a whole different feel to the experience because we were in the water with the alligators (well on the boat) but it felt like we were on the same level as the alligators. I felt like I was encroaching on the gator’s turf, I felt more in the wild and we were closer to the alligators in action. The gators we got the closest to were the mother’s guarding their nests. They opened their mouths and made low snake like sounds. I took my pictures and we sped away.

To protect our ears from the noise of the air-boat we had cotton balls in our ears and the kids were suppose to wear headphones. The kids wore them most of the trip. Since there is a drought going on in the Everglades the alligators are traveling along in packs and we saw at least 100 alligators within 25 yards. It was pretty incredible to see that many alligators swimming around. I kept a close grip on my kids and made sure they stayed between my husband and I throughout the trip. After the tour we were told we would get to touch a “baby” alligator. I thought of the baby gators in the above pictures and was excited my kids would get to touch an alligator. When I saw what was brought out I exclaimed,  “That’s not a baby!” In fact, Gucci (what a great name for a gator) is four years old! Gucci opened her mouth once while my brother in law was holding her and we all squirmed a little bit. The kids were a little to eager for my liking but they got to pet the “baby” gator. I held Gucci and was surprised at how smooth the skin was. I couldn’t believe I held THIS gator and a few years ago in Louisiana I declined picking up the hand sized actual baby gators. 

My husband and I have a goal of visiting all National Parks. We love them and the Everglades did not disappoint. After the air-boat tour, we had ice cold water from the cooler and started the 3.5 hour drive to Key West.