Yeah, finally made it to Florida and decide to spend a few days in Daytona Beach. It has been so cold that we are looking for warmer weather. It is much warmer here in Daytona and can be outside without a coat. We turn on the TV and saw they are testing tires on the newly repaved Daytona track and it is open to the public for free so we head there. There were three cars on the track and we were able to stand right by the fence and watch. The noise when a car passed by us was unbelievable. They will be testing the track again tomorrow so we will come in the morning. Many big name drivers are here, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Juan Montoya to name a few.
Dec. 16
A beautiful sunny day as we head to the Daytona track this morning. We find seats in the grandstands and see 14 cars running this morning. There are lots of people here today and we stay until lunch time. After lunch we drove to the beach and were able to drive on the beach in the Jeep past many high rise condos. It is a beautiful white sandy beach and it's finally warm enough to put our toes in the Atlantic Ocean. I pick-up sea shells and walk in the water which isn't too cold.
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| pace car |
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| Daytona Speedway |
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| putting my feet in the Atlantic |
Dec. 17
Sunny and warm again today. We head down towards Cape Canaveral. Our first stop is a lighthouse not far from Daytona. We stop at Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse which is a beautifully restored lighthouse with museum buildings surrounding it. Next we go to Canaberal National Seashore and drive to the end of the road and stop to walk and pick-up sea shells on the beach. The water here is a deep turquoise blue color. We stop at a place called Turtle Mound. It was a place for Timucuan Indians to gather and process clams. Today the mound is 18 feet high with a walkway built over it. We saw a small armadillo along the road. Next we went to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. We drove along a road were alligators were out sunning themselves and many shore birds along the way. We saw egrets, blue herons, brown pelicans and a pink colored shore bird called a Roseate Spoonbill. We don't go to the Kennedy Space Center but could see in the distance the buildings and a rocket being readied for launch in February.
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| Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse |
Dec. 18
Rain this morning. We are moving south to Pompano Beach. The rain is coming down in sheets and it is hard to see. Traffic is going slow because of the hard rain. We finally get to the campground and get soaked getting hooked up. We are near my nephew, David so call him to make arrangements to see them tomorrow.
Dec. 19
It is still cloudy today and stay around the motor home where I do some laundry. Around 4 we go to David and Makebas house which is about a mile from our campground. They have a cute house in Lighthouse Point that has been totally remolded. The kitchen and back yard have been recently redone. We had a delicious dinner and ate out by the pool. It was great seeing them again after seeing them in Chicago and Boston.
Dec. 20
Sunny and warm today as we head down towards Miami. We go to Biscayne National Park and stop at the visitors center. This is the only part of the park on land. We watch a movie about the park which protects and preserves a significant marine ecosystem with mangrove shorelines, a shallow bay, undeveloped islands, and living coral reefs. There is a boat ride out to an island but the next one was at 1 in the afternoon. We decided to go on to the Everglades National Park instead. We took a side road that went to another visitors center and walked on a boardwalk over the marshy area. We saw many birds, turtles, and about 20 alligators in one spot. We took the road which ends at Florida Bay to Flamingo Visitors Center and marina. We only saw a small portion of the Everglades and will probably see it from the gulf side later.
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| Alligatores in The Everglades |
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| Egret |
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| Great Blue Heron |
Dec. 21
Sunny and nice again today. We stay around the campground in the morning and after lunch we go to Deerfield Beach which has public access to the beach. We walk along the wide beach. It is warm so lots of people are on the beach and some even swimming. It is a beautiful area with inter coastal waterways with large yachts and ocean going boats parked in front of houses.
Dec. 22
Sunny and blue sky today as we leave to go south to the Keys. We are going to spend Christmas and a total of 5 days in the Keys. We are going about halfway down and staying in a campground near the town of Marathon. We will be able to explore the Keys in both directions in the Jeep.
Dec. 23
Today is sunny and warm again. After lunch we head down to Key West. We plan on doing a little shopping and eating dinner down there. We go to the southernmost point in the continental US. which is a large concrete painted marker. We are only 90 miles from Cuba. Next we go to Mallory Square where people are preforming for donations. We have dinner at Sloppy Joes which was Ernest Hemingway's favorite restaurant. After dinner we go back to Mallory Square to watch the sunset. This place is known for its beautiful sunsets and many people were gathered to watch. We pick up 2 pieces of key lime pie to take home for our desert and head out of town to the motor home.
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| Southernmost point in continental US |
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| Sunset in Key West |
We will spend 3 more days down here in the Keys and go back on the mainland on Dec. 27th. The Keys are very tropical feeling with everything so green and many blooming bushes and flowers. The water color is a beautiful turquoise blue. The water is at different depths so the water takes on different hues of blue/green. There are many bridges to cross all the way down to Key West.
We want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We will miss spending Christmas with our children and grand kids but we feel fortunate to be able to follow our dream while we are able to. This country is so large that we are only seeing a small portion of it. We have loved visiting the many cities and states and have fantastic memories of each place we have seen. We are finally enjoying the warm weather and look forward to our trip across the gulf states. We will head up the gulf side of Florida and plan on meeting our son Chad, Melanie and Jacob in Disney World on Jan. 7th for 6 days. We have been on the road almost 4 month and traveled over 9600 miles. Definitely Happy Travels, Barb
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