Day 5 Key West to Orlando

After breakfast and check out we drove to the 0 mile marker for route 1 and took the required photo. Then off we went..... and immediately hit a detour. Not a problem however because a) we came in on route 1 (the only way in) and b) the detour took us out along the coastline and it was gorgeous! 

 

Back on the actual route 1 we retraced our miles back just south of Miami. We drove in and out of rain storms the whole way. Fortunately it was clear when we got to the sign for Marathon for a Phillyfit photo.

 

We stopped for lunch at Lorelai's a mostly bar/ restaurant on the water. This was at the far end of Islamaroda. We watched a white and a blue heron wait out the storm. As we left the rain let up and I spotted something that looked like an upside down jellyfish in the water. As we watched it move to the surface, turn over and drop back down we realized the floor of the inlet was covered with them! 

At the far end of Key Largo we stopped at John P-something State Park. I an't remember his name but the sign said he was a nature lover basically. The park was mainly a water recreation area. We walked a trail through the mangrove trees and visited the nature center/aquarium. It was cooler than it sounds. AND we found out that the upside down jellyfish creatures we saw are Upside Down Mangrove Jellyfish. I kid you not. I can't make this stuff up. If I did somebody would search on Google and rat me out.  Oh and they clean the glass on the fish tank too well. My nose hurts. Could have made my own windex commercial with that trick! 

 

We hit Miami at rush hour - oh joy - but now we were on new part of route 1. It took FOREVER to get through Miami and I was starting to question our sanity in this route 1 thing. The skies cleared for a bit until we hit Ft Lauderdale and then a big storm hit. Rapid fire lightening and winds and buckets of rain. And just when we reached an edge of it, route 1 turned left and into the heart of it again. Of course! 

 

Even without the storms it was a crazy driving day. I'm pretty sure it WAS national crazy driver day and we didn't get the memo. I lost count of how many times someone changed lanes too close, crossed over two lanes to exit or passed in a no passing zone. Way scarier than the storms. 

So we didn't count on so much of the route being 35 mph. If we had we would have pulled the plug and stayed over night halfway. I may cry when I see route 1 on my way to work next week. 

Things to ponder

- For a southern state, Florida has an unusual number of Martin Luther King Boulevards

- Whenever you see a CVS in Florida, 90% of the time there will be a Walgreens across the street and the other 10% it will be about a mile away.