Saturday, March 5, 2016

Lori & Jim's Great Florida Adventure - Day 9

I'm Day 9

Today it felt strange to be riding in a car all day instead of on bikes!  After breakfast we hit the road and traveled on down Route 1 towards Key West. 

At Islamorada, we saw the "Theater of the Sea."  It looked interesting so we stopped and went in. 


There was a series of marine and bird shows, a nature walk, and a marine walk. For an extra fee you could swim with dolphins, have a nurse shark encounter, or take a 4 hour glass-bottomed boat ride, but we skipped all those extras. 

First the dolphin show



Then a sea lion show


Next a ride in a "bottomless boat."  We rode through the dolphin lagoon (never fear the boat's prop had a cage around it) and the Dolphins did tricks around us as well as up through the center of the boat!

Then the nature walk through the mangrove trees followed by the marine walk learning about fish, sea turtles and alligators. The last show was a parrot show. And we got to hold parrots. It was a fun stop along the way. 


On we went through one key after another, over bridges, down Route 1 until we finally arrived at Key West. 

Our hotel is lovely!  A real taste of old Key West! 

Our room is on the second floor. The parking in Key West is a nightmare so it is FULL of bikes and small motor scooters! "Val" and "George" got a lovely spot at the hotel bike rack. 

All settled in, we went for a walk along the pier and we're lucky enough to reach Mallory Square in time for the sunset!  





After the sunset we found a really neat Cuban restaurant for dinner. There was a band playing outside but all the outside tables were full so we ate inside. We tried food and drink we've never had before and everything was great!  We were stuffed, but happy as we strolled back to our room. The hallway from the restaurant back to the attached gift shop is like a little Cuban village. 






Here are some additional sights we saw while wandering before and after dinner. 


Gotta read the sign next to the parked bike!


Pelicans gathering where the men were cleaning fish. 




Be sure to read the note on the door!

























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