Go Key West…
Today was our 2nd full day here in Florida and we were going to drive from Miami South Beach all the way down south to Key West. We woke up not as early as yesterday but still at 05.30. We showered and packed the last things and at 06:30 we checked out at the hotel and picked up our car from the valet parking. Next thing to do was getting breakfast at Starbucks. And as soon as we got that, we left for Key West a little before 7 o’clock.
The trip to Key West is only 270 kilometer, but TomTom told us it was going to take us about 4 hours to get there. As soon as we left Miami behind us the highway was not that busy anymore and before we knew it we were at Key Largo. The views were amazing and shortly after Key Largo we made a quick stop to search for a GeoCache, which we found. Our first find in Florida.
After this stop Danielle took over de wheel and drove the next part. We drove over the famous “7 Mile Bridge” and again the views were phenomenal. We stopped again for 2 easy GeoCaches, number 2 and 3 in Florida. And after finding those caches we were almost in Key West. Key West is a nice town with typical architecture.
We arrived at our hotel, the Crowne Plaza Key West La Concha, at 11:15 and unfortunately our room was not ready yet. We stored our luggage and went for some sightseeing in Key West. Because our hotel is directly on Duval Street, which is the most important street of Key West, we can reach everything by foot.
We both wanted to see the “Southernmost Point” of the U.S.A. but before we got that we had lunch at the Southernmost Beach Cafe & Bar. We got a table with a view over the beautiful beach and ocean. We both had a Tropical grilled chicken sandwich with a delicious cocktail.
After lunch we visited the monument for “Southernmost Point” of the U.S.A. We waited in line to get a picture taken. After this we walked back over Duval Street to our hotel to check in.
We need to wait a bit at check-inn but everything went well. After Sander asked we got a free upgrade to a junior suite, which is very nice and spacious. You could as well say it’s huge…
After having checked out our room and installed every charger for our iDevices we went out for a walk to the 0 mile marker of the US Highway 1. Here was a GeoCache which we found and after having made some pictures at both the begin & the end marker we walked along Duval Street before we went to the pool in our hotel. During the 45 minutes we spend in the sun Glenn made us aware of Mallory Square which should be a good place to see the sunset.
Within 15 minutes we went upstairs, changed our clothes and we left the hotel and walked to the square. After having a Key Lime Pie we went to the Bistro which had some tables with an amazing view on the sunset. We ordered cocktails, sliders and chips to make the 30 minutes wait better. We had a really amazing via and we made some nice pictures too.
From there we left to Sloppy Joe’s a famous bar on Duval Street for another cocktail and after we had finished that one we went back to our hotel. We are both a bit tired after waking up early, driving for about 4 hours, multiple GeoCaches, a lot of walking, some food and a couple cocktails but this day in Key West was the best day of the trip so far, let’s hope it continues this way.
Visiting the Grand Canyon…
First of all I want to thank you all for reading our blog, you are about 60 unique visitors a day during the first 9 days of our trip (probably some twice due to work and at home). And for the few who dare to leave a reaction keep up the good work it’s nice to wake up and read something from you too.
Today was the day of leaving Las Vegas and continue our trip. The Venetian was really a great hotel of great quality so if you ever go to Las Vegas, please consider this hotel.
After waking up, packing the suitcases we left the hotel and we went to an IHOP for breakfast. We needed a good breakfast because today was going to be a long day. The plan was to drive to the Grand Canyon via Williams. Reason for that was that our hotel for the night is in Williams. I would be a trip of circa 270 miles. Because Sander felt very tired I decided to take over the wheel and drove the first 200 miles to Williams. Williams is a Route 66 town and that is something you see on almost every sign in the town (Family L. thanks for the tip to stay here).
After checking in we drove further to the Grand Canyon. We arrived there at about 3:30 p.m. The first stop was Yavapai View. This was the first time we really saw the Grand Canyon. And I would have to say it is gigantic. I was really impressed because it was so huge. We walked around a little bit and took a lot of pictures as we drove to our next stop, which was Grand Canyon Village.
We parked the car and enjoyed the views from here and after a while we took the shuttle bus towards Powell Point. And again there was an amazing view from this point. But our goal was to go to Hopi Point because is the no. 1 place to view the sunset in the Grand Canyon.
Our bus driver told us that sunset today would be at 06:14 p.m. and that is was just a short hike from Powell Point to Hopi Point. And the bus driver was right, after a 5-minute walk we arrived at Hopi Point and I can say again, views were beautiful.
As we were waiting for the sun to go down we took a lot of pictures and Sander also found a Geocache at Powell Point (he walked back to find it). As the sun was going down, more shades were coming over the Canyon. I could see the shadows move.
And at 06:14 p.m. exactly the sun went behind the big red rocks and it became dark. We were the first of a lot of people to go back to the Village with the shuttle bus after watching the sunset.
Surprise was that we could see the moon at the other side of the Canyon. It was a big moon because it was almost a full moon. But it was pretty difficult to take decent pictures of this, but for us of was great to see.
Then we drove back to Williams and had to pick a restaurant for dinner. I said to Sander that I would drive back to the hotel so that he could drinks beer or two. He decided to go to the Pine Country Restaurant, a typical American restaurant famous for its pies. We both ordered a steak and Sander asked the waiter which beers they have. The answer to that was: “We don’t serve alcohol in this restaurant”. So he ordered a sweet iced tea and for me there was unlimited pink lemonade. Dinner was not that great but the pies were phenomenal. Sander had a piece of Dutch Apple Pie and I had a piece of the Double Chocolate Pie. This Chocolate pie was huge but delicious!
We went back to the hotel after a quick Geocache at the parking lot. Now we are both enjoying a local pumpkin spiced beer in the bar of the hotel, which we got for free because we are goldmember of Priority Club.
It was a long day, but really a great day. Tomorrow we will leave Williams to go to Scottsdale.