We leave our flashpacking hotel this morning after a record number of showers in any hotel of the whole trip – lots of hot water and fluffy towels make it all so much more appealing! No change on the clothes though – we still look a little grubby and crumpled compared to the posh types who are staying here... We do the reverse journey back up the Keys to Miami and on the way stop at iHop for a stack of pancakes – sure Ant only wanted to stop there to see Gill squirm as she wasn’t challenged when ordering from the “Senior’s” menu!
We also make a stop at the original fan boat tour people at Cooperstown to take a look at the Everglades. It was a great hour out there among the reeds and water – Ant was brave and took a paddle in the muddy water. Gill was wearing her “crocs” shoes so decided not to take the risk of one of the real ones taking umbrage..... Yet again our education improves, neither of us realised that the Everglades are actually a slow running river.... But we were rewarded with sightings of lots of birds and quite a few huge crocs basking in the long grass. But one of those naughty Norte’s (cold fronts) had suddenly appeared again so it was a fairly damp trip... Gill bought a see through plastic mac to cover up and looked for all the world like a giant condom.... But it was fun and apparently the crocs are less likely to attack when there’s more water and so actually it was a bonus! This fan boat operation is run by a small family – who seem to live and work from a series of trailers and wooden shacks with a selection of caged crocs in the back yard and the “matriarch”, a toothless (sooooo un-American) old crone ran the gift shop and cafe. Not that well. Ant visited the loo and took a look in the cafe – now Ant is not known for being fussy about these things, but even he said he couldn’t eat there.... But they did know their stuff and spotted lots of wildlife for us.
Then back to the Airport to drop off our car – Gill’s navigation skills deserted her yet again (Ant was the brave one who was driving us back to the City). We missed Sat Nav yet again and as usual found ourselves “off piste” driving through the rather nasty looking dock area and car crushing area.....
Then a cab to Aventura where the shopping Mall awaited. Another bit of a flashpacking as we booked ourselves into a two bed, two bath suite at the Marriott Residence (well, we should get BA miles for the stay so it’s a bargain really....) Off to the Mall for a late lunch. Not too much shopping (although Ant is returning tomorrow as he leaves late in the afternoon so there is still time....) and he did make a rather nice purchase of a swish Mac Air with all the trimmings at the Apple shop! We stayed at the Mall for an Italian dinner and then realised we had no idea where the hotel was in relation to the Mall. With Ant’s large purchase we decided it would be safer to take a cab back to the hotel even though we thought it was a short distance. It was short (but we still didn’t know the way) and the taxis wouldn’t take us. So a plan was formulated, Gill started to limp badly (well she did have a big bruise on her leg from tripping up a few days ago....) and we approached security with our sob story about the “wife” who couldn’t walk far. It worked and we were whisked off to our hotel in the security car – luckily Gill remembered to keep limping until the nice security guard was out of the way!
And all to soon it was morning, Gill swapped her backpack for her suitcase on wheels, donned a more suitable “travelling” outfit and was off very sadly on her own, and Ant stayed awhile to shop before he too was on his way home..... a sad day was had by all. But an amazing, fantastic trip had been had too, we loved every minute.
