FreedomWagen: FL: A1A Coastline to Key West

St. Augustine 11/23

No trip through Florida would be complete without a stop at the first fort established in the US, and Castillo De San Marcos National Monument. The town was a bit of a tourist cluster and parking a nightmare, but worth the stop for the night.

We cruised the coast, which was slow going but lovely views of the Florida coastline.

We followed the A1A past divey Daytona Beach down the Canaveral National Seashore. Little did we know, the coastal road dead ends. We were an hour in before we hit the round-about and had to back track. Regardless, it was worth the cruise to see Florida's unspoiled coastline without any development.

Viewing an island created entirely from shell and Native American discarded material.

Beans window gazing

Lunch of leftovers, beachside

Backtracking

Down to Boca Raton, where we soaked up some rays and watched surfers try to ride mild waves. Unfortunately, no beach so far allows for dogs. Beans and Isla want out in the sand so bad, but will have to settle for crummy dog parks. We have become amatuer dog park experts these days. We miss the wide open space to let them run free. Florida is not very pet-friendly.

Warm Boca waters

Ft. Lauderdale

We found a sketchy neighborhood YMCA for showers, then had dinner reservations at a little piece of paradise called Mai Kai. As a child, Ben remembers being dazzled by Polynesian hula dancers, so of course it was a priority to make it a stop and see if the magic still exists. Unfortunately, we didn't consider that the masses were now on Thanksgiving break, so with the show sold out we settled for dinner only. How to describe this place …. It is Florida's answer to Colorado's Casa Bonita, but Hawaiian. And much more expensive. I loved it. Best of all, the hula dancers still had it!

This is inside a Ft. Lauderdale dog park. Impressive.

Florida has crazy rules and restrictions. I am not impressed. Not only are dogs forbidden most places, but overnight parking in residential neighborhoods is impossible. We stayed in an absurd amount of Walmart Parking lots (note: free overnight parking in all Walmarts is a myth. Many, we discovered, do not welcome overnight vehicles and they will shoo you out). This night was particularly intense. We fell asleep to an incredible thunder storm (the dogs did not sleep) and awoke to a police standoff at 7 am. On most days we sleep to nearly 10am, but on this occasion we awoke to a shouting police officer with his gun drawn. A shirtless, shoeless gentleman was positioned directly in front of the bus clearly confused with his hands on his head. The shake down resulted in 3 police units and an early, unwelcome rise for us.

What else could we do but visit Parrot Jungle.

Here was another stop that Ben held fondly in his memory of vacationing as a child. We did our best to re-create a parrot picture, and we witnessed a crazy Tiger brawl. Ben, of course, wants a pet Macaw. As fascinating as I find all of the animals, watching the intelligent apes and ferocious felines in cages left me feeling uneasy. My zoo experiences are always torn between awe and sadness.

Last night I discovered 3 things: 1. Cracker Barrel allows overnight parking. 2. At every overnight stop in the state of Florida, the dogs find chicken bones to eat. Every. Single. One. 3. I can accurately pee in a cup in the middle of the night.

Down to the Keys!

There are 2 beaches identified as dog friendly (on leash). The first, Anne's Beach, was more like a mud pit. The second on Key West, Higgs Beach Dog Park, was much better. Beans still doesn't know what to think about the rolling waves.

We spent Thanksgiving on Key West listening to a one man band, drinking mojitos and caiparinhas, and dining at an Asian Fusion joint. It was a different kind of holiday.