We were back on the road again. We had about an hour and half journey to Lake Okeechobee and the road was through the country, it was slightly boring, very straight and no other traffic. It was cattle country as there were no houses here, only ranches. We reached the Hamilton Inn where we were staying by mid afternoon. There had not been one Starbucks on route, this is really third world country. We then went for a wander around town, which didn’t take long. There was nowhere to get coffee so we ended up back in the room. There was a washing machine here so we did some washing and then relaxed in our room.
The next morning we were up early, had breakfast and on the road by 9am. We stopped to have a look at the lake and a short walk, before continuing the drive into the Everglades and Alligator country. It was an interesting drive, over two hours on very straight roads using cruise control. We arrived at Shark Valley visitors centre around lunchtime. We had a walk around and saw several Alligators, funny how Linda was not too keen to stroke them! There were plenty of birds around for her to take photo’s of. It then started to rain and rain, so we went to get lunch. This was Indian territory (Cowboys not curry) so we stopped at the restaurant, Linda had a burger, while I had alligator nuggets, very nice. After this it was the drive to Miami which was about an hour away.
In Miami we found the North Beach Best Western and booked in, we have a room with a balcony. It was warm and the sun was out, so we went for a walk and found a coffee shop. There was a free tram ride part of the way back, so we took advantage of that. In the evening Linda went for a swim and I did a workout in the gym.
On Tuesday I was up bright and early, Linda was still fast asleep so I went for a 6.5 mile run, including a mile along the beach. It was warm with the sun rising. I came back and couldn’t get in the door so Linda woke up. We then had breakfast around 9am, wrong time, it was crowded with people pushing and getting in the way. Today was a non driving day and we took the bus to South Beach Miami, about 30 minutes journey. It had started to rain by the time we had reached the Lincoln Mall so we sheltered inside Starbucks. After this we wandered around the shops and stopped for lunch at a Cuban restaurant. The service was terrible, we waited an hour for a sandwich, which was very nice when it came, but too long in arriving, I had a Cuban coffee which was rather sweet. The good news was it had stopped raining by now and so we could have a walk along the beach and through the art deco district. Linda liked the walk and took loads of photos, you can see some here.
It was now sunny and warm, mid 70’s and we had a paddle in the sea, but were careful not to get swept away and kept an eye out for any sharks. We got the bus back to the hotel and then relaxed for a while. We went to the restaurant in the evening and Linda had a cheese sandwich with chips, I could not resist the Dolphin salad, flipper was very nice. We had walked 9.5 miles during the day, so I was tired, but Linda went for a swim. She couldn’t get back, as she now had the fault key, so instead of waking me she had to go to reception, explain who she was and get a new electronic key.
On Wednesday we had an early breakfast, much better as less crowded and were on the road by 9am. We reached the Sawgrass Mills, Sunrise about 10am, just as the shops opened. Linda found a few tops in Tommy Hilfiger and I visited Nike. We were there a couple of hours and then it was back to road I95 and the 150 miles to Melbourne. It took a couple of hours to get there and find our hotel a Holiday Inn Express. After booking in, we visited a craft shop Linda wanted to see and then a spot of dinner, before returning to the hotel. It is slightly cooler up here, so we went to the fitness centre in the evening while the washing was in the machine.