Mon May 3 - Fort Lauderdale to Key Largo
Key Largo, Key West, Everglades Travelogue

Bob actually left on Sunday, May 2nd on his ST1300 motorcycle -

and Jenn showed up at my house late that evening. We woke up at 3:30am on Monday morning and I had a KILLER stomachache. Jenn drove us down to Providence, parking was easy and the shuttle was quick. With e-tickets we were done checking in in about 2 minutes. We ran our check-in bags through security and they opened Jenn's because of her hair dryer. Of course both hotels HAD hair dryers for us too! Anyway, we went over to the security line. It was REALLY long but they were organized and it went quickly. On to the gate and in short order we were on the plane. Our layover in DC was easy, too. The gate was right there, and while Jenn had a cinnabun, I had a sausage and egg pizza slice. My stomach was feeling better at that point! Back on the plane and shortly we were flying over the sandy beaches and cool landscapes of Fort Lauderdale. It was fascinating to see the houses in amongst many canals, ponds, lakes, streams and more. To the west, there was a sharp line between where civilization ended and the Everglades began.

A note on airline food here - they charged for food and ran out before everyone got some. We knew this would happen and brought MANY snacks and bottles of water with us. If you travel by air, be prepared!

OK, we got our bags and went to the Hertz desk. The lady there was REALLY unhelpful, tried to pressure us into extra insurance that we had coverage for, told us an upgrade was $10 per level (when the website had $1 per level) and never gave us our maps that we requested. NOTE: If you get a car at FLL airport, DO get the prepaid gas tank option. There are NO gas stations anywhere nearby. We were lucky that we did pay for that option. In the end our $129/4 days AAA rate turned into over $200. Be prepared for that too.

We went out to find the shuttle. The Hertz guy drove right past us, and Jenn helpfully said that maybe we should wait further to the right. Sure enough, there they all were! We hopped on and got a map on the shuttle, so that was taken care of. He dropped us off right at our car, which was a snazzy Toyota Matrix. This was PERFECT for long drives where you wanted to see the scenery! Here are 2 photos of the Matrix that we took on the last day.

It was now around noon. We found Route 1 easily and planned to take it the entire way to the Keys, to see the landscapes of Southern Florida. Here's the map of the first part of our journey, from the airport at Fort Lauderdale down to the 'end of civilization' at Homestead. Click on the map to see a bigger version in a separate window.

We went through Hollywood, a pretty beach town. There were various areas - a Haiti area, a Chinese area, giant hotels on the beach. We went past the basketball stadium where the playoffs were being held, and into Miami Center with lots of tall skyscrapers and workers. Now we turned west to head along the southern coast. Soon we were going past the Samurai Japanese restaurant that Bob and I ate at last time, then we saw a Fuddruckers. We were hungry by now and Jenn had never been at one, so we stopped.

For those of you unfamiliar with Fuddruckers, it's a burger chain where they make your burgers fresh to order, and have a HUGE fixings bar for you to personalize it. Jenn got a Maui Burger with cheese, and I got an Ostrich burger. Both were really delicious and hit the spot. We grabbed some fresh-baked oatmeal raisin cookies for the road. Back on the road, civilization petered out into "used tire sales" and other equally questionable establishments. I was worried that we'd been driving an awfully long time, it was after 2. "Aren't we at Homestead yet?" I asked and Jenn pulled out the GPS to check. Then I looked ahead and there was the Entering Homestead sign! This is the turning-south point for the final journey into the keys - the intersection of the Everglades road and the Keys road.

Mon May 3 - Driving To and Enjoying Key Largo

Main Travelogue Page for 2004 Florida Keys Trip

Florida Keys Trip 1998
Everglades Trip 2003
Lisa's Main Travelogue Page