Day tripping to Key West

Morning at the pool and then watching some big lizards on our yard and Debbie Doo's sandwich lunch at the beach. Try the Capitan sandwich unless you're a vegetarian. We have been to Florida many times but we had not seen everything yet. For example, we have never seen a manatee before and today we finally saw one. It was much bigger than we anticipated. As big as the kayak in this picture. We were at Robbies to see the tarpons being fed. They were also huge but then the manatee appeared by the pier. It was amazing. As we had been to Robbies before I almost drove by but then decided to turn as Mona had not seen the tarpons before. It was a good decision. After the manatee sighting we almost drove to Cuba, or at least as close as you can drive. On arrival we had ice cream and I had rainbow ice cream to blend in. Sunset celebration at Mallory Square had actually the new performers as well but the banjo-playing guy with a money-collecting dog was my favorite. Thai and sushi dinner and then drive back to Islamorada. The distances at the Key as longer than expected. No matter where you go, you will never get there on time. And Kia is now 16 years old.

Mainly staying put today

It was the warmest day today. We stayed mainly at the pool. The girls got some sunburn and I got some tan. I ate some Conch at Mrs Mac's Kitchen. In overall the Islander Resort is a good place to stay at the lower Keys. Tomorrow some more sun and a trip to Key West for some sunset celebration. I stopped at each retro neon sign for a picture. . Stopped at Worldwide Sportsman for some lures. I bought bait lures. What is bait here is regular fish in Finland.

Driving through the gator country

Today we drove from Ft Myers Beach to Islamorada at the Keys. The next three nights we will be here at Islander Resort. We've stayed here once long time ago but since then the place has been renovated and it looks great. On the way here we crossed the Everglades and we expected to see some gators. And there were plenty lying around the roadside. There is a large ditch on the north side of Tamiami Trail and if you pay close attention you will see them waiting for teenage girls to fall into the ditch. Well, none of the girls fell in and we managed to reach our destination. Before checking in at the Islander we had dinner (not too cheap but the fish was worth it) at the Wahoo's Bar and Grill. Minna had mahi mahi, aka dolphinfish (not dolphin...), which may be the best tasting fish of all the fishes. I had tuna and I need to get mahi mahi also this week, it just can't go wrong. By the way, they don't want to give my money back. The weatherman promised above 25 degrees for the rest of the week.

Are we in Finland in May?

I want my money back. The second time in a row Florida offers us below 20 degrees Celsius temperatures. We moved to Ft Myers Beach and tomorrow the temperature will go up to 20. Tonight it was 10 degrees. Luckily the locals suffer more than us so I can handle it. Everyone keeps telling that last week it was above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (above 30 degrees Celsius anyway). The rest of the week should be OK though. Our hotel Lani Kai Beachfront Resort offers barbershop-like reception, sea views and kitchy-retroesque decoration. I have to admit that this is what we are used to. The Orlando hotel was way above our league, at a very affordable price. But in Orlando you always get more with your money, especially in Ponderosa buffet. Well, we didn't eat at Ponderosa for a reason. Lani Kai doesn't have a wifi. So I will need to find a cafe with wifi in the morning. Sorry to say, we've been eating fast food so far. Today we actually went to a restaurant and had a dinner and a couple of Margaritas, finally. The Beached Whale at Ft Myers Beach had excellent fajitas and decent ribs. And Minna got a new favorite: Buffalo Shrimp. They were so good that she had to get some for dessert after having dinner at the Surf Club the next evening... The Surf Club had very good burgers. The ride to Ft Myers was interesting. We took the scenic route instead of the highway to Tampa. We drove through the orange groves and saw an endless stretch of trailer parks and taquerias. Trucks filled with oranges and grapefruit. Needless to say the mexicans do all the picking. Perhaps we could have gotten the best tacos of the southeast if we had stopped in Arcadia or Fort Meade. Tomorrow some sun and drive to the Keys.

Change of plans

We've just spent 4 nights in Orlando shopping and rollercoasting. We didn't have anything booked for the next two nights to have some room for improvisation. Minna booked the next two nights at Ft Myers Beach. It's furher south as yesterday was really cold. We barely managed to stay at Universal for the Mardi Gras parade as it was maybe 13 degrees in the evening. The best rides: The Revenge of the Mummy and Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, front row seats, with Motley Crue's Kickstart my heart playing on the speakers. And of course The Simpsons. Kia and Mona got to ride Rip Ride Rockit twice in a row as the video recording system didn't work the first time. They got to bypass the lines and got front row seats on the second ride (they had just denied front row as on the first go it was too scary...). And got the video. Unfortunately the video had just very little of the actual ride. More animation than real riding. Every time we had planned to play the minigolf here. Now we finally managed to do so at Pirate's Cove. . Very annoying when a couple of families with small kids didn't even count the score and were always coming behind us because it takes a bit longer when you actually follow the rules. They shouldn't even let small kids to come and play this serious sport.

Feels like working

On the go in Florida again. We flew in from Frankfurt for the first time with A380. It is an amazing plane and possibly has 2 cm more legroom. Anyway, intercontinental flight was just as uncomfortable as I recalled.´ Each movie on the personal display started with a Nissan Leaf commercial. I watched three movies and three Nissan Leaf ads. At immigration, Kia's passport raised amusement as it was from the time she was 8 years old. Once through the customs, we saw a big billboard with Usain Bolt and Nissan GT-R greeted us. Then off we went to the Hertz rental where we saw our rental car: Nissan Rogue. And the roads here are quite packed with Nissan's. Models which I have never seen before. And the ones I have seen, look totally different like the Pathfinder, for example. Then, after 14 hours of flying, 400 km car ride to Orlando. We have 2+1 day tickets to Universal Studios and Kia wanted to take the Hulk rollercoaster and as there was not too much rain yesterday and the weather was "not warm" we spent the morning in the Islands of Adventure. Then to Florida Mall with the ladies. The record shops and the bookstores are online nowadays so I had little to do for the afternoon.