After four days in the Florida Keys, it was time to head back to the mainland. I had originally thought we would stay one more day in the Keys but due to budgetary constraints, we had decided to leave on Thursday. This turned out to be a good decision because we felt like we had seen and done everything we wanted to do in Key West in the amount of time we were there.
Except when we were driving back up, I remembered that I had wanted to get a cheeseburger. Oh well.
Our destination for the day was Florida City to tee us up for some sightseeing in the Everglades. Neither one of us had been to the Everglades before. The closest I had ever been was driving across Alligator Alley (I-75) on a work trip.
But like most travel days, we didn't want to just drive, so when we got to Key Largo, we stopped at the John Pennenkamp Coral Reef State Park. Our state park pass covered the main entry fee, but Monroe County charges a 50-cent per person fee that we had to pay separately. We had noticed this at the other two state parks we visited in Monroe County but were not charged at either Fort Zachary Taylor nor Bahia Honda state parks.
The state park has a 2.5 hour eco-boat tour that started at 12:15 that we would have been in time for, but by now we felt like we'd seen enough eco-stuff for a bit. Plus it cost $55/person so we thought it was a bit more than we wanted to spend. (I was still a bit salty about the 50-cents surcharge.)
However, there is a great small aquarium at the visitor center which was a highlight for me! We enjoyed watching the fish swimming around the coral; it was so calming and relaxing.
We also went for a walk to see a bit more of the state park. They are fixing up areas that have received hurricane damage, but there's still plenty of accessible spots for kayaking, fishing, snorkeling, and just enjoying the beach. We thought it was interesting that the cannons were right on the beach aimed at the beachgoers.
John Pennenkamp was an associate editor with the Miami Herald and played a vital role protecting the natural resources in the area. He was influential in the establishment of both the Everglades National Park and the state park named after him. (This information is from a sign in the Visitor Center.) I like that most of the state parks that are named after individuals have some sort of information about the person.
We spent about an hour at the state park before heading north to Florida City where our hotel was just at the beginning of the Florida turnpike and about 45 minutes from where our Everglades tour would be the following day. We had thought about heading to one of the other Everglades entrances as we had time, but the information I found online for the closest one indicated it was closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Since getting home, I found out it's only closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays during summer season. Oh well! It was a bit of a whim anyway.
So instead we got a late lunch at the Cracker Barrel and then stopped at Best Buy to get a new phone case for DH as his had fallen apart the day before. Our room was ready early at the hotel, so we checked in and did two loads of laundry. (Note, this is the last time we had to do laundry on the trip!)
It was nice to have a restful afternoon as we knew the next day had a full agenda!
~ Cindy D.
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