Vacation in Florida

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Nielsen

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From june 21 and next 15 days, my family and I are at vacation in Florida. North in the first week, south in the second. Any ideas of interesting places to go to ? We are in Key West july 4.
 
If you like sports and know baseball, you might try to attend a Major League Baseball game in either Tampa or Miami. The Miami Marlins just built a new stadium, it's close to downtown Miami, you can take public transit to get there, and they have a variety of food that reflects Miami's Hispanic roots as well as traditional hot dogs and Cracker Jack (caramel popcorn). Afterwards you can go to Calle Ocho (SW 8 St, Miami) and get a feel for the flavor of the area, which is favorable to walking, with many restaurants serving delicious Hispanic food, and is also a shopping destination. The Seyboldt Building downtown is one of the oldest high-rises in Miami and has many jewelers, if you are looking for something.

The city of Miami is different from Miami Beach, which is on a barrier island across Biscayne Bay from Miami. If you left the Marlins baseball stadium on the light rail transportation, and headed towards the downtown area, which is east towards Biscayne Bay, you will arrive at Bayside marketplace, which has many places to eat, and lots of shopping. My favorite place to eat there is Los Ranchos, a central american restaurant that serves a delicious variety of steaks and seafood.

If you want to visit one of the most popular restaurants in Miami Beach, go to Joe's Stone Crabs, at the south end of Miami Beach. Be forewarned, it's expensive. It has delicious seafood, which admittedly you can probably find comparable food elsewhere, cheaper, but it's where presidents and movie stars go to dine when they are in Miami. It's one of those things, you're back in the Scandinavian countries, and someone asks you where you spent your vacation, and you respond, "we visited Miami Beach, and ate at Joe's Stone Crabs," if they have ever been here, they will know exactly what you did, if they have been there themselves. https://www.joesstonecrab.com/

Miami Beach is a great place to visit for people-watching, you just may see some movie stars, or people who are 'famous for being famous,' like the Kardashian rash of attention-grabbing sisters. Fashion photographers daily use the background of Miami Beach for fashion shoots, and you can't walk down the street without seeing many model-types, strutting around, being beautiful, and waiting to be discovered. The main beach road is South Ocean Drive, which is pedestrian friendly, and renting bicycles or inline skates is a popular way to tour the area.

Now, an economical choice to eat in Miami: there is a chain called Palacio de los Jugos, which is cheap, compared to Joe's and which has an amazing variety of food, Spanish dishes, and you will be very hungry by the time you walk through all the food displays, behind which stand the servers waiting to heap onto your plate whatever you choose. Here is their site in Spanish, listing all the locations. http://www.elpalaciodelosjugos.com/ and more info in English: https://www.yelp.com/biz/el-palacio-de-los-jugos-miami

Another popular chain of local restaurants is Pollo Tropical, flame-roasted chicken is their specialty, traditionallly-served with black beans and white rice, and fried plantains, caramelized, a bit crunchy, and sweet after cooking. Order a chicken and a half, for a family, and 2 or 3 side dishes, I recommend the above, and try the fried yuca, a root vegetable, an alternative to american french fries, and good tasting by itself. Or if you want to try the side serving of sauce for the yuca and the chicken, I recommend the curried garlic sauce, served in small plastic containers, figure 1 or 2 per diner, dip your forkful of chicken (or a fried yuca) into it, and enjoy. http://pollotropical.com/home-page

If you like boating, you can rent a boat and spend a half-day or full day on Biscayne Bay, (or the Atlantic ocean) which has beautiful scenery, and you can just stop the vessel and dive overboard to swim. Along Rickenbacker Causeway which goes from Miami to Key Biscayne, you can pull the boat up to the shoreline, and spend time swimming there. Key Biscayne is where President Nixon had his "Southern White House," and he vacationed here frequently. There is also a large park on Key Biscayne, Crandon Park, which has an old light house, and lots of beach to hang-out on, swimming, and enjoying Florida life. I suggest bringing your own food if you go there, as dining choices are very limited. There are public grilles for cooking, but they often get claimed quickly once the park opens. http://www.miamidade.gov/parks/crandon.asp

Key Biscayne also has the Miami Seaquarium, which has interesting displays of marine life, and which has been in business for decades. Ever see those pictures of someone standing still, with their arms outstreched, and colorful tropical birds resting on them? This is one of the places where you can do that. http://www.miamiseaquarium.com/

Coconut Grove is a Miami neighborhood right on the shore of Biscayne Bay, and is a good place to spend a day, or part of a day. It's very 'walkable' and there are many places to dine, from casual/inexpensive, to $$$. The CocoWalk area http://www.cocowalk.net/ has a lot of shops and places to dine, even a multi-screen movie theater, and the people watching is fun. Park the car at one of the public or private places, and get out and walk. From there, you can go down the hill to Biscayne Bay, and walk along the water. You will see a rich variety of boats and yachts, old and new buildings, and eventually will arrive at Monte Trainer's Restaurant, http://www.montysrawbar.com/ which serves a good variety of seafood, and is next to the docks where people keep their boats, many of which are 'liveaboards,' people live on their boats.

If your wife likes upscale shopping, I suggest a trip to Coral Gables, very close to Coconut Grove, and visit Merrick Park https://www.shopsatmerrickpark.com/en.html
which has high-end shopping, many places to dine, and is also good for people-watching.

Close to Merrick Park in Coral Gables is Coral Way, another pedestrian-friendly area which is undergoing renovation right now, but the stores are all open, and there are many places to dine, from $ to $$$.
I like Tap 42 which has a variety of on-tap craft beers.
https://secure.opentable.com/r/tap-42-coral-gables?cmpid=poi_page_referral
Another good restaurant is Seasons 52, which my wife and I like to attend. http://www.seasons52.com/locations/fl/coral-gables/coral-gables/4509

A short way from Coral Way (also known as SW 23 St) still in Coral Gables, is one of my favorite restaurants. it's the Titanic Brewery. They make their own beer there, and I recommend the Mahi sandwich, delicious white fish also known as dorado or dolphin (the fish, not the mammal). I like the Triple Screw IPA beer. The restaurant is one-half a block from the University of Miami, a private university which has beautiful grounds and their baseball stadium is almost next-to the Titanic. Their baseball season is over now, a bit of a disappointment as they broke their string of 44 consecutive appearances in the national collegiate baseball playoffs, the longest string in any sport for NCAA championships. Next year.

You should also consider an airboat trip with one of the providers to enter the Everglades national park. The Seminole Indians have a reservation in the Everglades, and the Billie Swamp Safari is a popular Everglades airboat trip.
http://www.visitflorida.com/en-us/listing.a0t40000007qtJyAAI.html
Keep your hands in the boat! The alligators are very close.

If you want to get away from it all, consider a trip to the Dry Tortugas national park, a bit of a trip away from Key West, but it has some unique history in the country. https://www.nps.gov/drto/planyourvisit/guidedtours.htm

And now, one just for fun, a visit to a flea market in Ft. Lauderdale, the Swap Shop. Owned by auto racer Preston Henn, who just died, it's a location where you can bring your garage-full of unwanted possessions, and sell them, there are also permanent vendors selling everything from tools, to housewares, to luggage, to clothes (new & used), almost anything, really. It also happens to have a car museum, with a collection of Ferraris which may just be one of the best & most-valuable, anywhere. No kidding. Henn raced endurance races all-over the world, hired some of the world's best drivers, and was an eccentric multi-multi-millionaire. http://floridaswapshop.com/ My advice is to arrive early the morning you want to visit, I can almost guarantee everyone in the family will find something they can purchase. Food is available there.

If you are an experienced swimmer, you can swim in the Atlantic Ocean out to the coral reefs, probably the only place in the USA, here and points south, that you can enjoy seeing their bountiful beauty. Be aware, you will need scuba gear, or mask, fins, and snorkel (much cheaper), and a dive flag to safely do this. You can also search for places where they will charter an event for you and equipment is supplied, but I suggest stay-away from using scuba if you are not already certified. Diving on a coral reef in Miami or south of here is one of the greatest things you can do, as far as doing something you will recall for a long time, and where you will see spectacular scenery, including barracuda, rays, schools of thousands of colorful fish swimming by, and yes, maybe a shark. John Pennekamp Park in the FL Keys has good excursions for this, but usually if you have a dive flag, you are allowed to go right off a swimmer's beach into the Atlantic ocean to the first, second, or third reefs offshore. http://pennekamppark.com/ FYI coral reefs are only in the Atlantic ocean, and are not found in the Gulf of Mexico (the west side of Florida).

Florida is long, narrow, and filled with interesting places to visit. You can be in the wilderness of the Everglades, on guard against alligators and venemous snakes, or in the heart of urban living like Miami Beach and Miami. I personally don't have any desire to spend time in Orlando, except when having the grandchildren visit, to attend Walt Disney World, Bush Gardens, Sea World, or any of the other central Florida tourist attractions. My suggestion is to make a lst of things the family and you like to do, and then do an internet search with 'florida' included in the search. You are sure to find many interesting things to do. I came here to visit, and decided I liked it here more that where I was living, and decided to stay. The fact I came from the snow belt, Michigan, in January may have had something to do with that. Also, you can ride motorcycles year-round. Enjoy your time in my adopted state, I'm sure you will enjoy yourself.

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Be sure to bring some sort of GPS with you to assist you in navigating the areas where you are.

For accommodations in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale area, there are plenty of hotels close to the international airports, those would be MIA (Miami International) and FLL (Ft. Lauderdale International Airport). I would stick with the larger name brands, you're sure to have a better experience in terms of the accomodations, free parking, and easy access to major roads and expressways. If you stay downtown in Miami, you will probably be charged a daily fee for parking at the hotel, it's something to ask when you make reservations.

There are a lot of tollroads in Florida, you can buy a Sunpass which will make travel easier because you won't need to stop to pay the tolls, and some places you don't even have toll booths, it just bills your license plate, more-expensive than having a Sunpass, a transponder you stick to your windshield and electronically 'charge' with money, to be deducted as you pass through an electronic-sensing array over the roadway. No need to stop and pay. As I said, some tollroads did-away with the people-staffed tollbooths.

Sunpass comes in 2 styles, one is permanently glued to your windshield, another uses two suction cups to affix it, so you can remove it easily.

When you rent a car, they may tell you, "we have a tollroad transponder available on our cars," be aware that it's probably more-costly per-day to use that. Publix is the name of the largest supermarket chain in Florida, they sell the Sunpass transponders at the office inside the stores, and if you choose to go that route, be sure to get the removable suction-cup mounted one, not the permanently-affixed, glue to your windshield one. You can add money to your account via the internet, once it is established. I think you can also re-charge your Sunpass at the Florida Turnpike service plazas, which are mini-malls serving food and gas or diesel plus restrooms, every so-often along the Florida Turnpike.
 
Thank you for the very detailed descriptions...a very good inspiration..
Our plan: When we arrive Miami, we stay over night at a hotel in Miami.
On Thursday we drives to Orlando (Kissimmee), where we stays in a rented house for 6 days. We will then drive to Cape Coral and stay for 5 days. Then to Key West for 2 days, where we will be the 4 july. Then back to Miami Airport...destination Denmark.

Any ideas how to celebrate the 4 july in Key West ?
 
The bars will be doing a booming business. Be aware there will be many drunks on the roads. A recent local story is of a south Florida police officer who was recently hit and killed by a Florida Keys resident while the officer was on a scooter in Key West. Be very cautious, please, about what you choose to do. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article143664189.html

Mallory Dock at sunset is where people go to watch all sorts of local residents perform for the tourists' entertainment.

Want some hundreds of years-old gold? "Today's the day!": the phrase Mel Fisher used to entice scuba divers to work for him for meager wages, while trying to find a lost Spanish treasure galleon carrying gold looted from the New World to the Old World (Spain) http://www.melfisher.org/

A very important warning! From the beginning of your trip,always use sun block on any exposed skin, and re-apply it, especially if you swim. The higher the sun block SPF # the better. Being from Denmark, you are probably very fair, and you will BURN if you don't use sun block the entire time you are in Florida! Even driving from Miami to Key West, with the window down and resting your left arm on the windowsill, without sun block, you will sunburn your arm badly on the typical four hours it takes to get to Key West. I suggest stopping in a Wal-Mart (a large store selling everything from food to clothing and electronics, health and beauty aids (that SPF creme for skin protection) and purchasing everyone big floppy hats with wide brims. For the guys, I like the ones that have mesh ventilation around the sides, as they allow a breeze to cool your scalp, and they are much-cooler than a hat with just a couple of tiny brass grommets above the brim. If you're bald, then don't get that ventilated type, your scalp may sunburn.

You don't need a Gore-Tex (water repellant, but 'breathable' fabric) hat, they cost a lot more, but any wide-brimmed hat is better than none. If you go on an airboat (or a speedboat), use the under the chin strap to keep it from flying-off. There are many alligators in the Everglades wearing cool hats because some tourist lost theirs while sightseeing aand not heeding this advice! Same goes for the ocean sharks.

Now, some cuisine tips. In the Keys, get key lime pie for dessert, it's tart, sweet, cool, and delicious. Yes key limes are from the Florida Keys, and they make a delicious pie.

Do you like clams? Oysters? Lobster? Fish? Florida has an abundance of fresh all-of-these. Ask 'what is the catch-of-the-day?' This is likely the locally-sourced seafood, which should be the freshest.

Florida lobster is also known as 'spiny lobster,' and is smaller than a northern USA ocean lobster. They are delicious though, usually served with melted butter to dip pieces into it.

Good fish to eat locally are snapper, grouper, tuna, dorado (also called mahi or mahi-mahi, or dolphin, that's the dolphin fish, not a porpoise/mammal), and scallops. "Blackened" is seasonings and oil on a very hot skillet, and the fish cooks very quickly, with a delicious crust of flavor. My favorite.

If you like clam chowder, be sure to order some conch (pronounced, konk) chowder. A red soup with a local shellfish, the conch, and usually loaded-with vegetables, it's one of my favorite things to eat. The conch, like clams, is a bit chewey, and they usually cut it up small so it's easier to ingest. Where New England clam chowder is white, conch chowder is red (tomato).

Conch fritters are also good, fried breading with small diced conch in the breading, maybe a bit-bigger than your thumb. They are similar to a staple of Southern USA cooking, 'hush-puppies,' but they have their own sweet taste. It's more bread than conch, but they are delicious, and you usually dip them into a red cocktail sauce.

Of course all types of shrimp are available, and are best if caught locally. Oysters are possibly brought in from where they are in season.

OK, those are your travel tips from those of us in the Sunshine State. Just look what a Florida seafood diet did for these gals:

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Thank you for the very detailed descriptions...a very good inspiration..
Our plan: When we arrive Miami, we stay over night at a hotel in Miami.
On Thursday we drives to Orlando (Kissimmee), where we stays in a rented house for 6 days. We will then drive to Cape Coral and stay for 5 days. Then to Key West for 2 days, where we will be the 4 july. Then back to Miami Airport...destination Denmark.

Any ideas how to celebrate the 4 july in Key West ?
 

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