Day 6 Florida Winter Vacation 2010

Today we slept in a bit, had breakfast and then headed to Everglades National Park.  The park entrance is only 6 miles from our hotel. 



First stop is the Ernest F Coe Visitor Center.  We got our National Park Passport Book stamped.  This is a very nice visitor center with lots of displays and murals.



This is the only panther that we saw.



We parked at the Royal Palm – Anhinga Viewing Trail and walked around the raised boardwalk.



Of course we saw some Anhinga’s.



We also saw lots and lots of Alligators.



And this Great Blue Heron.



A Great Egret.



A Wood Stork.



A couple of Black Vultures.



As we were driving out of the parking lot there was this giant alligator getting ready to cross the road.



We continued along the road to the Flamingo Visitor Center, we didn’t see any Flamingo’s here but we did see an Osprey sticking its head up out of its nest.



Everglades National Park is a park that we will come back to visit.  Both of us enjoy seeing the birds and identifying them.  The temperature got as high as 79 degrees today… nice……

To see all of our photos ( and a short video of an alligator swimming ) from today you can find them by clicking this link to my FLICKR site.

Day 5 Florida Winter Vacation 2010

Today we are up and out the door a little earlier than usual.  We have a 100 mile drive ahead of us as we head South through the Florida Keys to Key West Florida.

It is just over a 100 mile drive but it will take about 3 hours because the speed limit is 45 mph and sometimes 55 mph.



Karen and I enjoy driving on Scenic Roads and this Highway has several designations.



Along the way we saw several of these Manatee Mailboxes.  We are still hoping to see a real Manatee.



We drove from Key to Key making our way South towards Key West.  Saw this giant spiny lobster.



A series of bridges and causeways connect each Key.





We arrive in Key West and found a parking lot to park the car.



Lucky for us, right around the corner from the parking lot was the terminal for the Conch Train.  Once aboard the train we got a guided tour of the town of Key West.



First stop on our tour is Mallory Square, we got off here, wandered around, bought some souvenirs and had some lunch.  Here are some photos that I took as we walked around.





We found the “Mile Zero” marker that signifies the beginning of US 1



We also each had a slice of Key Lime Pie from the Key Lime Pie Factory.



Back on the Conch Train we continued our tour of Key West.  We saw Harry S Truman's “Little White House”



We passed the marker for the Southern Most Point in the USA…  I wanted to get off the train to take more photos, however when I saw the line up of people waiting to take photos, I decided that it just wasn’t worth the effort so I shot these photos as we passed by.  We will have to come back another year at a time when there aren’t so many people.



This is Ernest Hemingway's Key West house.



Marilyn Monroe was in town for the New Years Eve celebrations.



It is 5pm and we better find our car and head North to our hotel.

To see all of our photos from today, you can find them by clicking on this link to my FLICKR site.