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Old 8 Oct 19, 04:23 PM  
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wizzo
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Arrow Pizza, Wings and Stranger Things 2019 Day 4

Day Four – 14th August 2019

THE INDEX IS HERE

Day 4 is following hot on the heels of Day 3. The primary reason for this is because it’s largely a driving/beach day, not a lot really happened! There is some good news however. If you are a fan of ‘Lynn’s photos though car windows’ from previous trip reports, then today readers, you are in for an absolute treat!

The day began at 5am with me looking at GoPro prices and availability….don’t laugh. It was playing on my mind a bit. I decided that we didn’t have enough time this morning to wait for the shops to open. We would set off for the Keys and I would try and secure one later. It was a shame I’d ruined the GoPro because I was planning on doing a lovely time lapse as we drove down A1A. However, like Baldrick (ask your Dad) I had a cunning plan! I was going to cobble together a makeshift mount for the car and use my iPhone to do a time lapse.

It looked like this…



We had breakfast in the room which consisted of cereal pots secured at the 7-Eleven last night. We did this so we could hit the road early and get out of Miami before all the traffic happened. We checked out shortly after 8am, paid the parking fee in the garage ($20 per day) and hIt the road.

As you can imagine it was fairly built up for a good while heading south through the Miami suburbs but before long we hit the open roads through everglades, bridges and beautiful scenery.

As promised, this is what Lynn managed to capture of it!































I think you will all agree that even for Lynn, there were some absolutely classics there! I genuinely believe you couldn’t do any worse with your eyes shut. She knows I love her really and without her absolute ineptitude with a camera, you would have had nothing to laugh at today.

I haven’t said anything about our plans for today! The intention was to go as far as Bahia Honda State Park, stopping briefly on Little Duck Key to admire 7 Mile Bridge from the public walkway made up of a section of the original bridge.

We stopped for lunch (at about 10:30!) at MacDonald’s in Marathon as we were the best part of the way to our final destination anyway. I took advantage of the all-day breakfast and had a triple stack sausage and egg McMuffin. The ladies gorged themselves on $1 cheeseburger. This was a much welcome breath for my wallet that was exhausted from being in Miami!

It’s at this point that I will introduce you to the time lapse I took using my improvised camera mount. It’s not as good as a proper mount but it will give you and idea of traveling through the Keys too.



That video started at Maccy D’s and ended at the car park at Little Duck Key, at which point we got out to look at 7 Mile Bridge and the sea.





We were treated to plenty of wildlife from the bridge too. Jellyfish, garfish, rays and what we later identified as a Loggerhead Turtle. The following pictures don’t do the wildlife justice.













We had been planning this stop at Little Duck Key for months and it didn’t disappoint. Although I have no idea what this bloke was doing putting his anchor in by hand in waist deep water while his missus pulled on the bloody rope!



We set off again and just a few miles down the road we pulled into the car park of Bahia Honda State Park, paid the toll and parked up.

The weather had been a bit cloudy as we drove down but did improve the farther south we got. When we hit the beach it was deceptively sunny but there were some ominous looking clouds in the distance. It was so deceptively sunny that Lynn left mine and Lauren’s rash vests in the back of the car but hey, we thought, we won’t be here that long and it’s not that sunny. (Note that it’s not my responsibility to make sure I’m dressed appropriately - Lynn added this bit). 3 hours of snorkelling later both of our pale northern backs were burnt to a crisp! 😊











The snorkeling was excellent. The sand you can see here is all imported. The darker water further out is all seagrass. This seagrass held a multitude of fish species hence why we spent so long out there. We saw the biggest Puffer Fish we’ve ever seen. Far bigger than one in any aquarium we have visited. I would have loved to alarm it and make it puff up but as hard as I tried I couldn’t find a stick.

I’m joking before you ring PETA!

So we had 3 hours getting frazzled and then decide to head back up to the mainland. We could have easily made it to Key West if we had wanted to, but then it was never the intention today either. We will save Key West for when it’s just me and Lynn.

The journey back looked like this (to Lynn)!






















I’m sure you will agree there are some classics on the way back too! ?

By 5:30pm we were back on the mainland and checked into our hotel for the evening in Homestead (the first civilisation you come to once you get back on the mainland). It was a Best Western for us tonight, nattily called ‘The Gateway to the Keys’. It was exactly like every other Best Western, cheap, clean, cheerful and with a good breakfast selection thrown in.





I was straight on my phone while the girls got changed and found that the local Walmart had a sale on GoPros with $50 off and had some in stock so once everyone was ready, we set off for dinner via Walmart.

As it tuned out, I got the last GoPro in the shop, so I was lucky. With Walmart bag clasped tightly in hand, we headed to Sonny’s BBQ for dinner.

In all the years we have been coming to Florida we had never been to Sonny’s. We ordered Fried Pickles and Redneck Egg Rolls to share for starters followed by the Family Feast which has a bit of everything. I say “A bit of everything” when we couldn’t actually finish it all, with sides there was a ton of food.









Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it, especially me. The meat was flying everywhere, and I wasn’t wasting any of it even if it dropped on the table, the ‘THREE SECOND RULE’ was very much in play tonight.



We were all laughing at Lauren in that last photo because this was the point in the holiday that we realised that Lauren only smiled and talked when she had Wi-Fi! It didn’t matter where we went, if we wanted to know if a place had Wi-Fi, you just had to ask Lauren because if it existed, she was connected within seconds 😊

We settled up and once again this meal was very reasonable compared to Miami.

Back at the hotel, the kids watched about 18 episodes of ‘Impractical Jokers’, I pricked about with my new GoPro and Lynn fell asleep. Standard evening in our house. Some baseball was watched (Rays) and by 10pm we were all in the land of nod.

Today was a lovely relaxed day. We had so much time to meander through the Keys it was ridiculous. It looks such a long drive to Key West on Google Earth. Trust me, it isn’t. We will be back, that’s for sure.

Tomorrow – We visit a boy/man called Robert who wasn’t there, take an airboat tour and check-in to our villa in Cape Coral.
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Old 8 Oct 19, 05:00 PM  
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FLAFantastic
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Lovely day!

Now come on and write up another day

Lynn's photo's are fab - better than looking outside in sunny Bolton (actually is at the moment! Rain later no doubt!)

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Old 8 Oct 19, 05:58 PM  
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ziggyzag
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Can I just say, for the record , I like Lynn's photos and think they are rather good,
Another fab day
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Old 8 Oct 19, 07:07 PM  
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Jannyjan
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The road from Marathon to Key West can be slow, if there is traffic it can take ages. If you ever in the area again, go to eat at Sunset Grill, on the right just before 7 mile bridge. It's fab.
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Old 8 Oct 19, 07:30 PM  
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HermioneGranger
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I love Lynn’s photos, they remind me so much of the ones my mum takes. Gave me a good laugh today.
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Old 8 Oct 19, 08:17 PM  
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pandanne
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Looking at Lynns photos is looking at mine😏. Goodness knows what they’ll be like on our Route 66 motorbike tour next year 😱
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Old 8 Oct 19, 09:13 PM  
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mick
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A great day I thought Lynn’s photos were good when we went over seven mile bridge I could only look straight in front so my pictures would have been the car in front!

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Old 8 Oct 19, 11:01 PM  
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Floridaagogo
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Think you should publish one of those coffee table books full of Lynns photos 🤔🤔🤔🤔
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Old 8 Oct 19, 11:10 PM  
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walt4it
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Amazing just how quickly you get sunburnt and even more incredible at how children have a 6th sense about wifi availability - great game to play if you have wifi and they don't

Now as for the bloke with the anchor in hand ...

Amazing number of photos for a day like today
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Going out in a Blaze of Glory- Our Summer of Sorcery 2019 - COMPLETE! 4 Weeks, from The Yacht Club for 10 nights onto much more Florida fun too

All of our previous Trip reports and escapades can be read here.
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Old 8 Oct 19, 11:36 PM  
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I think Lauren has the curse of the teenager! Our Ds has been threatened with his phone going in the Disney lagoon if he doesn’t smile on photos! He looked like we were torturing him in Disneyland Paris this summer 🤦🏻
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