4th of July Trip

We had so much fun this last weekend. Elliott, has come from Oregon to visit for the month of July. We picked him up Wednesday night and it has been a whirl wind ever since. We left Friday for the Keys for the weekend. The ride there is beautiful and we passed the time with stories, the kids watching Seinfeld on the DVD and listening to Blue Collar radio on Sirius. One bridge we cross is the Sky Bridge and it is so awesome. At night the rods light up, but if you fear heights not a good one to go over. It gives you a great view of the bay.

Along the way we passed several signs you would not see in Oregon, here are a few.

For those who know Spanish... where you wouldn't want to live.

We stayed in at the Oceanside Motel in Islemorada. It is owned by former football player for the Steelers, Gary Dunn. It is a local favorite and during football season many ex-football players stop by. It was a nice place and the food and hospitality great. I included pictures on my video portion. It was cute the first night we were there looking at the menu. Elliott saw dolphin and he immediately said,"I'm not eating flipper!" Dolphin is a fish that is big in the area as are conch.

I happened to have the opportunity to capture a live conch on the beach. They actually have eyes where you can see the pupils. Elliott took him back out when were finished taking pictures.

Faith loved being able to go up to the outside bar and order Shirley Temples. I loved the sign that is hanging where she ordered the drinks. Hurricane Warning-If the beer bottles break, there is a hurricane.

We ate breakfast one morning at a place called Mangrove Mike's. The restaurant is very popular with the locals. You can buy these visors with fake hair. Gregg tried one on...NOT! But we had a good laugh.

The main reason we went was to snorkel and Bahia Honda is one of the best. You have the Atlantic on one side and the Gulf of Mexico on the other. We had to deal with a park ranger who definitely took his job to seriously. They had raised the rates since last year to ten dollars a car with four passengers. We were two cents short. He would not budge, so I had to pull out the visa...what a jerk! I thought Gregg was going to lose his temper but I kept putting my hand on him and telling him it's okay. We had a really great time snorkeling. I didn't get to do a lot because I am still battling with this stupid eye infection. One eyed-Suz, I should have bought a patch. They saw lobster, cow-fish, and other many beautiful fish that swim by you even just sunbathing in the shallows. Faith was catching the hermit crabs and amusing nearby kids. That evening we went to Lorelei's for dinner. Faith and I both thought about Gilmore Girls when we saw the name. It is open seating right on the beach. In one of the boat slips was a car converted to a boat...what a great imagination.

After dinner, we watched a great firework display from the safety of our motel.


On the way home we stopped at the Everglades Park. The air boat ride is amazing in itself. The beauty of the Everglades and seeing the alligators in the wild. I included a separate video. On the way home we were on a portion of the trip called Alligator Alley and yes, there a hundreds hanging on the banks when it is sunny. They have fences on both sides of the highway but occasionally they escape. In fact, one trip down we saw one doing the death roll in the slow lane, everyone was swerving everywhere. We were diverted because of an accident-80 mile detour. The one perk was Diary Queen where we stopped for ice cream. The kids had to let out some energy...

Then we ended our road trip with another beautiful sunset.