Florida

Our first stop was St. Augustine, Florida, America’s Oldest City. Lovely as it is with its grand fort and tiny village streets, there is little to do except eat, buy trinkets and roast in the sun. We opted for the latter.

After a disastrous visit to Epcot Center, we went to Clearwater Beach, Florida, west of Tampa Bay. We spent two days on the beach and despite wearing and SPF30 sun block AND sitting under an umbrella, I suffered a terrible sunburn. I should have known better, but what the Hell? We’re tourists!  We're allowed to do stupid things.

In the end, Clearwater Beach had our vote as the best swimming conditions in America.

Clearwater Beach, Florida More info HERE

We took the obligatory trip to Key West (despite warnings to the contrary) and ventured down Florida’s Gulf Coast and through the Everglades along Alligator Alley (Highway 41).  In Key West we had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the Atlantic, sitting on an open veranda that was so close to the beach, I could stick my foot in the sand from our table.   (If you look around you might find something that depicts how we really felt about those three days.)

Key West, Florida. More info HERE

We headed off the Keys after lunch and stopped at Bahia Honda Key, just 40 miles east of Key West and whiled away an afternoon, swimming in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean in the same day (and seriously burning our feet on hot pavement).

Bahia Honda Key State Park, Florida. More info HERE