Don't Stop - the Florida road trip section UPDATED 3/16 - Page 37 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Such a shame (and not to mention scary! ) you didn't have sunny weather to enjoy the 7 mile bridge. My DH Ken just adores it and dreams of riding it Harley Davidson style some day! I'm interested to know where you stayed! I sure hope you get some sun soon!
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You've now officially passed me on the Keys. I have only made it as far as Big Pine Key, where I stayed almost exactly 36 years ago at Seacamp, a marine biology/oceanography camp at the Newfound Harbor Marine Institute.
Sorry about all the rain. It sounds like the stuff Bob drove through on one of our trips to Orlando. We had to turn off the audiobook we were listening to because the rain was so loud on the roof. And there was flooding along the Interstate and lots of emergency vehicles. Every time I would say, "I think it's letting up," it would get harder and harder. That became the running joke! Not much fun, but Bob did great and we made surprising good time, all in all.
Anyway, I hope the weather is kinder to you from now on. I am really enjoying seeing South Florida through your eyes.
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A beautiful day in the neighborhood!
Last edited by LLaffinPlace; 03-07-2010 at 04:04 PM..
That was some rainstorm. I've driven to Key West several times but never in the rain. The drive across the seven mile bridge is beautiful on a sunny day. I'm glad you made it through all the rain in one piece.
Liz
That rain is just crazy! I've been in no visibility rain a few times here in Kentucky and it is never fun. You managed some neat pictures in spite of the rain.
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Originally Posted by LLaffinPlace
You've now officially passed me on the Keys. I have only made it as far as Big Pine Key, where I stayed almost exactly 36 years ago at Seacamp, a marine biology/oceanography camp at the Newfound Harbor Marine Institute.
Larry - we have something in common!! I used to TEACH at Seacamp.... I taught there the summer of 1992... just a couple of years after you were there I am sure.
Glad you were able to make it despite all that rain! I must say, even with the rain, there is nothing better than the color of that water! More please!
Wow! We would have just been stuck sitting on the side of the road, because I do not believe I could have drove in that rain . Glad you made it to your hotel safely!
Holy cow! That drive would be my worst nightmare coming true. We've driven thru some horrible rainstorms where you couldn't see the car or semi in front of you. Going over a bridge that was seven miles long would've make me chew my nails. Put those two together and I would've been a mess. Mark!
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Wow, you weren't kidding about the amount of water from that rain!!! DH and I drove through a horrible rainstorm (non-hurrican produced) on our first trip to WDW in 1987 and then again in 2005 (hurrican produced) and believe me I really don't want that experience again!
Can't wait to hear more, hope it's a dryer report.
Glad you were able to make it despite all that rain! I must say, even with the rain, there is nothing better than the color of that water! More please!
Friday 18 December – part six: this is some hotel!
When we got to Key West, everywhere you looked, it was flooded, as you can see from these photos. Fortunately, most people were being sensible in dealing with it, except for the four wheeled drivers, who would go through and soak the rest of us. That’s fine for them, as they’ll get through OK, but what about the rest of us? You could easily flood people’s engines, doing that, but I guess that just doesn’t concern them.
Taken just as a four wheeled drive came charging past us
Finally, we made it to Duval Street, the main street in Key West, where our hotel was located. I saw a big building and figured that was it and so it turned out to be. We were later to learn that it was the tallest building in Key West, which was neat.
We drove through the swimming pool that was the entrance to the car park and unloaded the car with me finding bell services inside, as we needed their help with all the stuff we had.
Mark then went to park the car, while I went with bell services to the room. He explained how historic this place was and indeed there’s a photo of Harry S. Truman at the elevators in a photo taken at that spot. Looking around this place, you can see the history. It looks how I would imagine it to do in the 1920s.
The bell services guy also told me that there was a bar at the top of the hotel, that gives you views over all of Key West and where you can watch the sunset from. I never realised that, but very neat.
When we got to the room, the guy told me that it was a very nice room and that we had been upgraded to a junior suite. When we opened the door, I was immediately taken by how big this room was. This was a really nice surprise, particularly after the terrible journey we had to get here.
A nice surprise for being Priority Club members The view from our room, overlooking the pool
After I finished taking photos of the room, there was still no sign of Mark and I was getting a bit worried about him, so I went to have a look for him. No sign of him anywhere, so I went back to the room and, sure enough, that’s where I found him.
We sat in the room for a while, with Mark unwinding after the drive down, which was understandable.
About an hour later, Mark suggested going up to the bar at the top to see what the views from there were like. It was still really windy and we figured that there wouldn’t be any great sunset tonight and we were right, but the view from up there was pretty neat. The only problem was the wind and we could see the startings of a new storm out to sea already, so we made a hasty exit from there, before it got any closer.
We decided to head down to the lobby and get some photos there.
Wow Cheryl. Excellent updates. I'm so sorry you and Mark had to drive through flooding in December just to get to Key West. Your room looks wonderful. More please.
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) you didn't have sunny weather to enjoy the 7 mile bridge. My DH Ken just adores it and dreams of riding it Harley Davidson style some day! I'm interested to know where you stayed! I sure hope you get some sun soon!
Deb
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I hope there is some bright sunny weather headed your way soon! 
Susan
. Glad you made it to your hotel safely!
Mark!
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You could easily flood people’s engines, doing that, but I guess that just doesn’t concern them. 
When we opened the door, I was immediately taken by how big this room was. This was a really nice surprise, particularly after the terrible journey we had to get here. 
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