A Drive Down the Coast From Orlando To Key West

I probably shouldn’t admit this publicly, but 2020 was actually an excellent year to travel. In our family, we like to refer to that year as our unintentional “Tour of Covid Hot Spots”. Each location that we decided to travel to, simultaneously grabbed the headlines as “the” place for a Covid outbreak. Fortunately, we are a healthy family and stayed that way throughout the entire Pandemic. Never watched Star Wars…never caught Covid…yep, I’m that person.

Anyway, in June of 2020, we could not stay home any longer. The moment Southwest Airlines started flying, we were onboard en route to Florida. Why Florida, well, it was “open”. Sure, the airlines made us wear a mask that served no real purpose as our kids kept dropping them on the floor, stepping on them, and then subsequently rubbing them all over their seats, but whatever, it checked the box.

Orlando, Florida

We stayed at The Grove Resort & Water Park Orlando for the first few nights and it was lovely NOT to have to wear a mask or comply with the 20,431 “health codes” that were in place back in California. In the morning, the kids got to play at the on-site water park, sans a mask, as normal kids do. Once we got that out of our system, we hopped in our rental car and headed to Gatorland.

Gatorland

Gatorland is a 110-acre theme park and wildlife preserve that is billed as the “Alligator Capital of the World”. It features thousands of alligators (including the rare albino alligator) and crocodiles, as well as many other reptiles — like the one my kids are posing with in the picture above. That afternoon we got to feed gators, ride on the gators, and see shows about gators. It was well worth the price of admission, and yes, for what its worth, we did allow both Roy and Greg to ride the alligator. Parents of the year and all. (A gator has a hard time opening its mouth, closing it, well we know how that goes.)

Universal Studios, Orlando

The next day we visited Universal Studios, Orlando. It was the first “park” in the area to open up and we were some of the first few visitors. Unfortunately, this park did require masking, and took it very seriously, but we made it work. We were completely spoiled here as we did not wait longer that 5-minutes for a ride. We rode the Jurassic Park ride almost ten times!

Kennedy Space Center

Before our kids wanted to be Pilots, they wanted to be Astronauts, so this warranted a trip to the Kennedy Space Center. As a kid, this was NOT my favorite place to visit as it took me away from my beloved Disney World, but maybe it would be better as an adult. The Kennedy Space Center is one of NASA’s ten field centers, and the primary launch location for manned spaceflight. When we were visiting there was a launch scheduled, but it was postponed at the last minute due to weather in the area.

Cocoa Beach and Melbourne Beach

Just a short drive away was Cocoa Beach, so we stopped to test the water and walk the boardwalk. We then continued on to Melbourne Beach where we stayed at the DoubleTree Suites. At around 4AM we were awoken by the fire alarm and forced to evacuate down to the parking lot. Standing in the parking lot, we got to all witness a real live “Florida Man” (and Internet meme, referring to an alleged prevalence of men performing irrational, maniacal, illogical, delusional, insane, and absurd actions in Florida) in action, on the balcony. Apparently this guy was the one who pulled the alarm.

Miami Beach

Our next stop was Miami Beach. According to the news, Miami Beach was jammed packed with irresponsible tourists (like ourselves) spreading Covid. In actuality, Miami Beach was empty and we had the place to ourselves. Roy enjoyed jumping waves (the water was so warm!), while Greg was more hesitant and stayed on the beach.

From Miami Beach, we traveled to the heart of Florida’s Everglades, and a little town called Coopertown. Coopertown has a (human) population of eight, a restaurant known for its “down-home” style frog legs and gator tail, an educational center, and is also the entry point to guided airboat tours into the “real” Florida Everglades. It was hot, and loud, and we didn’t see many alligators, but the kids enjoyed it anyway.

Our final stop on our “Florida Road Trip” was the Florida Keys. The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States.

The Florida Keys

The Seven Mile Bridge is one of the world’s longest segmented bridges, stretching 6.79 miles in total. Located in Monroe County, Florida, this bridge connects the 800 Florida Keys to the mainland. It was completed in 1982, but the older bridge still remains as a fishing pier, which you are able to walk out on. In June of 2020, the Seven Mile Bridge had just reopened, as the Keys had been “cut off” during the whole Covid thing. We were fortunate to time our visit perfectly, because as we were leaving, it was closing again. I’d like to think it was because of a Hurricane, but I think it might have been another Covid outbreak or something. Sigh.

John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park

After crossing the bridge, our first stop was at the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park where we had scheduled a snorkeling tour. This park is a Florida State Park located on Key Largo, that includes approximately 70 nautical square miles of the adjacent Atlantic Ocean.  We met our boat in the harbor there, and after a thirty-minute ride, reached a coral reef that is meant to be one of the most beautiful and diverse reefs in the world.

The water is so warm in the Florida Keys that I did not have an issue jumping in from the boat. All four of us were wearing life jackets, and snorkel gear, while the kids also had their own respective pool noodle. Because we were in the open ocean, the water was rough (enough) that Doug bailed pretty quickly as he was feeling seasick from the boat ride. This left me alone out there with the kids. Greg was the first to toss his snorkel gear, instructing me to just hold him and tell him what was under the water. Roy was all in when it came to snorkeling, but not a strong swimmer, so I needed to hold onto his noodle as well. It didn’t feel like it while I was in the water (including the two times that I had to dive down and rescue items dropped by my kids), but by the time I got back on the boat, I felt like I had just run a marathon. Keeping two kids afloat in the open ocean is no joke!

Robbie’s Marina, Islamorada

Robbie’s Marina of Islamorada was our next attraction, and a place that I strongly encourage everyone to visit. Robbie and his wife Mona, started feeding a tarpon named “Scarface” in 1976 when he appeared floundering in the shallow waters near the dock. Robbie saw the struggling tarpon and wanted to help it, so scooped it out of the water, stitched up an injury it had on its jaw, rehabilitated it, and sent it back in the water. Afterwards, Scarface continued to frequent the docks soon inviting all of his fish friends. Today, visitors from all across the world come to marvel at the spectacle, and offer these magnificent creatures a snack. Paying a small fee to get our own bucket of fish, we laid (belly down) on the dock, and got our own adrenaline pumping as these huge fish leaped out of the water to grab their treat.

From Islamorada, we continued on to Key West. Key West is Florida’s southernmost point, lying roughly ninety miles north of Cuba. We booked two nights at the Key West Marriott Beachside Hotel. There is a pool onsite that we frequented, and a private beach overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, that we didn’t. Our first night, we drove into town, and then to the mile-marker for the Southernmost Point of the Continental U.S.A.. The place was full of chickens, descendants of the jungle fowl that was originally found throughout the Caribbean. I was just left to wonder what happens to all of them during a Hurricane. (Apparently they are all okay.)

Key West, Florida

The next day we visited Smathers Beach — the largest public beach in Key West. With a sandy shoreline and calm seas, it a favorite for families. We rented a single kayak for all four of us. Yes, we were crammed in like sardines, but it allowed Roy to paddle, which was crucial for our sanity. We saw a lot of stingrays while out on the water, which made me less interested in swimming there after.

After kayaking, we took advantage of the “best swimming location” in Key West the Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park. The water here is calm but deep enough to swim and snorkel. After time on the water, we took a stroll through the 1800s, in a Civil War Era Fort. Fort Taylor was used in the Civil War, Spanish American War, World Wars I and II, and the Cuban Missile Crisis to guard teh harbor of Key West. It has the largest collection of seacoast guns anywhere, which the boys loved.

Zoo Miami

Our flight home was from Miami, so we made one final stop at the Zoo Miami. With four miles of walkways, Zoo Miami is home to over 2,500 animals. We rented a bicycle cart for around $20, to cover the space more efficiently. The zoo was one of the better ones I have visited, so I would highly recommend it.

When we returned home with such a serious suntan, there was no way to hide the fact that we had broken the travel band and ventured outside the State of California. It was totally worth it though, and we’d do it again, next month.