When - September 1 through September 5 , 2010
Who- Vai (8 months pregnant), Harhal and Arya
Why- Vai had to get away somewhere before the baby comes along. This would be a very late babymoon and would include a 3 year old as well :)Most places got ruled out quickly and we decided on Everglades NP as it would be a great wildlife (alligators and crocs) spotting experience for Arya!
Pictures- picasaweb.google.com/harshal.vaibhavi
Day 1: Early morning flight from Philly. We flew Delta and the crew and thier service was excellent! For our 6am flight, we left the house at 4am and when we reached to check out bags in, it was 5:16am...the attendent informed us- Sorry! Check in stops 45 minutes prior...we were delayed by 1 minute (not to mention the original attendant had stepped away when our turn came)! Panic ensued! Thankfully, the second attendant had seen us arrive earlier and wait for a good few minutes and hence did a manual check in for us....we rushed to the gate to be informed the gate was already closed and probably the plane had left....panic number 2....luckily they were still finishing up some stuff and we made it into our flight at 6am!!! Note to self- JIT is not a good idea when flying on an airplace is concerned!
Reached Miami after a stopover in Atlanta and rented a minivan- Arya picked blue color for our van! Our first stop was scheduled to be in Homestead and go on Anihanga trail. Since we were in the car at noon, had our home made lunch of theplas and ready to go, we changed plans and decided to go on the Shark Valley Tram tour starting at 1pm instead. This 2 hour ranger led tram tour is a good educational introduction to the Everglades National Park and our ranger did a good job of spotting some birds (Egret and Blue Heron) and an alligator who was napping on a trail for us. He even stepped into the river and provided information on the ecosystem and foodchain of Everglades. We spotted a mommy croc and her babies (one week old) at yet another location. Another intersting insect we ran into was a very colorful grasshopper!
We decided to head to Homestead now and somehow manage to visit the bigger visitors center - Ernest Coe visitor center before it closed at 5:00pm. On the way, we stopped at a local fruitstand where I found a perfectly ripe custard apple (aka sitafhal) YUM!
We managed to reach the visitor's center about 20 minutes before it closed. Harshal watched a film on Everglades while Arya and I enjoyed looking at the multiple exhibits. We got some information on trails we could do the next day.
After this short visit to the Everglades we headed back to Homestead (about 5 miles away) and checked into Best Western -Gateway to the Keys hotel. This is a nice family friendly establishment located close to Everglades, Biscane Bay and Key West and Miami. We asked for a pool facing room and Arya wanted to jump into the pool as soon as we got in. We did just that since the whole day was spent in hot sun...and the idea of swimming was refreshing. After a swim we went to El Taco Toro Mexican restaurant after reading some rave reviews of the place on Yelp and Tripadvisor. This trip was so different than the ones we had taken before thanks to having internet access at our fingertips. And Android rocks! Finding places easily and mapping them instantly was a no-brainer!
After dinner the unexpected happened. Arya said she was tired and wanted to go home and sleep in her bed!!!! Flashback a year ago when we were constantly on the move- at age 2 Arya had lived in 11 different houses. Back then, when we had purchased our first home, a month into it, she had asked me when are we moving? I had to explain to her then that this is our home and that we are not moving anywhere. That was disturbing to her then. And then today, a year later after moving into our house, when we told her that we were going to stay in this hotel room, she was devastated. Children are creatures of habit! Note to self- We need to travel more with her. A year of setting up a home and settling down was good enough. But will we be able to when our baby number 2 comes along??? Time will tell!
Harshal and I decided to stop at a local Walmart to get some stuff - Arya spotted silly bands and we had her promise that if she stayed in a hotel room for 4 nights, we could buy her one of those packs. God, I really dislike those silly bands( rubber bands that are not round but have various shapes)...no wonder they got their name! A fad among older kids...did not know how Arya knew of them...She learns a lot more at school than I think she does!
Day 2: We started our morning early and after a hearty breakfast at our hotel, we left for Key West. We were hoping Arya would take a nap en route, but that did not happen at all. The route is scenic all along. Our first and only rest stop on our way to Key West was a small shopping area with a giant big lobster outside. We picked some colorful paper mache articles for Arya's room here. There was a nice art shoppe in here filled with objects we can never afford :) and with Arya tried to touch some of these, we decided it was time to move on! We reached Key West by lunch time and after lunch we decided to visit our first planned attraction - Ernest Hemmingway Home and Museum. There is a small entry fee to this place and we decided to visit this for two reasons- I wanted to see the home and learn more about Mr Hemmingway and we wanted Arya to pet cats to her hearts content. There are more than 60 cats in this home and Arya had a lot of fun here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)