Road Trip USA Part One. Florida-Alabama-Mississippi-Louisiana
I've been asked constantly about holiday photos and an update with regards to what we did in America, so I'm going to write it all up here. Considering it's three and a half weeks to write about AND includes photos, this is going to take a few posts and it's going to be cut due to length.
MIAMI - 13th & 14th July
Roy and I started off by flying into Miami for a couple of days on our own. We picked up a Ford Escape as our hire vehicle which was an extremely spacious midsized 4X4 then trusted the Sat Nav to get us across Miami to find our hotel which was absolutely gorgeous - a boutique hotel called The Shore Club(http://www.shoreclub.com) down on South Beach with the most amazing views imaginable - Our room had two balconies - one for sunrise and one for sunset. I'm going to interject this post with photos to show some of the awesome things I've seen. Hence balcony photos by both day & night:
The first night we were both suffering from travel so we opted to eat in the Nobu restaurant located in our hotel which was absolutely gorgeous - as to be expected it was also extortionately priced, however we had decided the first couple of days were going to be a belated honeymoon so it seemed worth it. Our first real day in Miami we did a little shopping at a Mall to pick up some things then headed down the Florida Keys, which was an amazing drive - long narrow causeways interconnecting islands, with stunning views across the ocean and beautiful beaches. We stopped off for dinner at a random place we passed(http://lazydaysrestaurant.com), which turned out to be a lucky find - it's difficult to convey via photo quite how atmospheric it can be sitting on an outdoor balcony in 100 degree temps eating the tastiest freshest food I've ever had whilst overlooking the ocean as dusk approaches.
We then headed back up to our hotel for our last night in Miami.
Orlando - 15th & 16th July
Up early in the morning for a hearty breakfast then on the road north through Florida towards Orlando. We stopped off for the day at http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/ which is by far the best day out to be had in Florida - much better value for money than any theme parks and just amazing to get up close to so many rockets and travel around the base - part of the tour involves going out to the space shuttle launch pads and seeing the transporter used to move the shuttle into place. The whole size of everything takes your breath away - it's so big!
We spent hours in the place, wandering around the indoor exhibits as well as the rocket garden. Our next hotel was Westgate Lakes(http://www.wglakes.com/) which was an interesting resort - It's mostly timeshare so we got a bit of a hard sell at check-in. The resort was nice, although it did sport the strangest bedroom we stayed in the whole holiday - the bath was in the middle of the bedroom, which may sound romantic whilst there were only two of us, but this room was suitable for four people... That night we ate in one of the hotel restaurants - a family ribs sort of place, not really anything special.
The following morning we headed up to http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/destinations/downtown-disney/ which was our agreed meeting place to collect Kirsty from her dad. It's a very Disney-fied shopping area with lots of restaurants and shops, including a big Lego shop which certain of my friends would love.
The teenager handover went extremely well - she arrived complete with a fully packed suitcase, a dozen cans of Mountain Dew and the worlds biggest packet of Goldfish crackers. Due to Orlando being based around theme parks there wasn't a lot to do that wasn't going to cost an arm and a leg or be tourist hell so Roy sent Kirsty and I off to see the final Harry Potter movie at AMC Universal whilst he headed back to the hotel. The movie was everything we expected however when we came out we walked into the biggest thunderstorm I've ever seen - proper forked lightning and deafening bangs. Unfortunately the multi storey car park we were in was hit by lightning which set off car alarms and evacuation alarms, so Kirsty and I had a pretty horrific couple of hours working out what to do and when it would be safe to drive - the rain was coming down in sheets but eventually after several phone calls with Roy we reckoned it was safe to head back where the three of us ended up having our evening meal in Dennys as it was close to the hotel.
Apalachicola - 17th July
After a lie-in we headed off on our first real part of the road trip as a family - West along the Florida coast. More scenic roads, with beaches on our left. We passed through lots of little villages and passed loads of posh villas obviously used for holiday homes - nearly every beach was private use only - Florida seems to belong to those with money. We did stop beside one picturesque pier where Roy went for a wander and I managed to capture a picture.
We stopped at a town called Apalachicola which we'd picked off a map as looking like it may be pretty. It was indeed pretty, however as it was Sunday and close to being a one horse town it was also extremely closed! This was our first night in a motel - the Best Western which actually turned out to be nicer than we expected. It had a swimming pool, included breakfast in the morning and had guest laundry facilities to allow us to catch up with the dirty stuff which was beginning to pile up in our car. Finding somewhere to eat was a little difficult, however someone pointed us towards somewhere that 'the teenager will love' - http://www.upthecreekrawbar.com/. This was another place with an outdoor balcony but the restaurant was very basic - you ordered at the bar and picked up plastic cutlery to eat, then our food was dished up in plastic baskets - straight out of the 70s! The view was great, although maybe a little smelly.
Pensacola - 18th July
We headed further west along the Florida coast taking in more scenery as we went until we reached what was probably the cutest place we stayed - http://www.pensacolavictorian.com/. It was a little B&B with the most amazing landlady called Barbee - she spent ages chatting to us, telling us about things to do in the area and suggesting areas to go for food later - she happened to drop into the conversation that the Blue Angels(American Red Arrows) base was in Pensacola and that helped Roy decide what he wanted to do the next day for his birthday! We pottered about the mall in Pensacola and wandered through some gorgeous back streets looking for somewhere to eat when we happened upon some classic cars
which were being used to advertise the following http://www.sevillequarter.com/. This was seven interconnected bars and restaurants, the doorman recommended we go to the Palace to eat. The waitress told us a little about the history of the place - it kind of reminded me of the old Preservation Hall in Edinburgh - only seven times bigger! We walked back to our beds after a few cocktails and slept soundly in the old victorian bedsteads with clanky plumbing in the bathroom and squeaky floorboards.
New Orleans - 19th & 20th July
An early morning start for Roy's birthday in Pensacola to be greeted by a Barbee home cooked breakfast before hot footing it down to http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/ for the 8:30am Blue Arrows practice. It was amazing how many other people were there, especially as the heat was already 100 degrees! Thankfully there were chilled bottles of water to be bought during the display.
After the display we also wandered around the museum - again somewhere many of my friends would love to go.
After spending the morning here we had to set off for our next destination - New Orleans, which meant leaving Forida behind, passing through Alabama and Mississippi before hitting Louisiana.
Our hotel http://www.maisondupuy.com/ was situated bang in the middle of the French Quarter and was a pretty little place. Due to arriving quite late and a long drive we only managed a wander through the streets of the French Quarter that night, passing a few street musicians and eating in the House Of Blues which I think was the worst place we ate the whole holiday.
The next day was jam packed. We had a complimetary hotel breakfast before heading off to ride a steamboat on the Mississippi river http://www.steamboatnatchez.com/ This took us down past the devestated areas and showed us where the levees had burst.
There were organised tours to show you more in depth but there just seemed something sad and a little voyeuristic about paying money for one of those. New Orleans is definitely rising out of the horrors and was beautiful. After we jumped off the riverboat we got onto a streetcar to ride out through the Garden District towards the zoo http://www.auduboninstitute.org/visit/zoo
The zoo had a pair of Komodo Dragons which were smaller than we all expected(and also slightly disappointing) and some albino alligators which were cool as hell.
After that we jumped another streetcar back to the hotel where we ate dinner in the restaurant before heading to bed.
Part Two to follow later this week......
MIAMI - 13th & 14th July
Roy and I started off by flying into Miami for a couple of days on our own. We picked up a Ford Escape as our hire vehicle which was an extremely spacious midsized 4X4 then trusted the Sat Nav to get us across Miami to find our hotel which was absolutely gorgeous - a boutique hotel called The Shore Club(http://www.shoreclub.com) down on South Beach with the most amazing views imaginable - Our room had two balconies - one for sunrise and one for sunset. I'm going to interject this post with photos to show some of the awesome things I've seen. Hence balcony photos by both day & night:
The first night we were both suffering from travel so we opted to eat in the Nobu restaurant located in our hotel which was absolutely gorgeous - as to be expected it was also extortionately priced, however we had decided the first couple of days were going to be a belated honeymoon so it seemed worth it. Our first real day in Miami we did a little shopping at a Mall to pick up some things then headed down the Florida Keys, which was an amazing drive - long narrow causeways interconnecting islands, with stunning views across the ocean and beautiful beaches. We stopped off for dinner at a random place we passed(http://lazydaysrestaurant.com), which turned out to be a lucky find - it's difficult to convey via photo quite how atmospheric it can be sitting on an outdoor balcony in 100 degree temps eating the tastiest freshest food I've ever had whilst overlooking the ocean as dusk approaches.
We then headed back up to our hotel for our last night in Miami.
Orlando - 15th & 16th July
Up early in the morning for a hearty breakfast then on the road north through Florida towards Orlando. We stopped off for the day at http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/ which is by far the best day out to be had in Florida - much better value for money than any theme parks and just amazing to get up close to so many rockets and travel around the base - part of the tour involves going out to the space shuttle launch pads and seeing the transporter used to move the shuttle into place. The whole size of everything takes your breath away - it's so big!
We spent hours in the place, wandering around the indoor exhibits as well as the rocket garden. Our next hotel was Westgate Lakes(http://www.wglakes.com/) which was an interesting resort - It's mostly timeshare so we got a bit of a hard sell at check-in. The resort was nice, although it did sport the strangest bedroom we stayed in the whole holiday - the bath was in the middle of the bedroom, which may sound romantic whilst there were only two of us, but this room was suitable for four people... That night we ate in one of the hotel restaurants - a family ribs sort of place, not really anything special.
The following morning we headed up to http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/destinations/downtown-disney/ which was our agreed meeting place to collect Kirsty from her dad. It's a very Disney-fied shopping area with lots of restaurants and shops, including a big Lego shop which certain of my friends would love.
The teenager handover went extremely well - she arrived complete with a fully packed suitcase, a dozen cans of Mountain Dew and the worlds biggest packet of Goldfish crackers. Due to Orlando being based around theme parks there wasn't a lot to do that wasn't going to cost an arm and a leg or be tourist hell so Roy sent Kirsty and I off to see the final Harry Potter movie at AMC Universal whilst he headed back to the hotel. The movie was everything we expected however when we came out we walked into the biggest thunderstorm I've ever seen - proper forked lightning and deafening bangs. Unfortunately the multi storey car park we were in was hit by lightning which set off car alarms and evacuation alarms, so Kirsty and I had a pretty horrific couple of hours working out what to do and when it would be safe to drive - the rain was coming down in sheets but eventually after several phone calls with Roy we reckoned it was safe to head back where the three of us ended up having our evening meal in Dennys as it was close to the hotel.
Apalachicola - 17th July
After a lie-in we headed off on our first real part of the road trip as a family - West along the Florida coast. More scenic roads, with beaches on our left. We passed through lots of little villages and passed loads of posh villas obviously used for holiday homes - nearly every beach was private use only - Florida seems to belong to those with money. We did stop beside one picturesque pier where Roy went for a wander and I managed to capture a picture.
We stopped at a town called Apalachicola which we'd picked off a map as looking like it may be pretty. It was indeed pretty, however as it was Sunday and close to being a one horse town it was also extremely closed! This was our first night in a motel - the Best Western which actually turned out to be nicer than we expected. It had a swimming pool, included breakfast in the morning and had guest laundry facilities to allow us to catch up with the dirty stuff which was beginning to pile up in our car. Finding somewhere to eat was a little difficult, however someone pointed us towards somewhere that 'the teenager will love' - http://www.upthecreekrawbar.com/. This was another place with an outdoor balcony but the restaurant was very basic - you ordered at the bar and picked up plastic cutlery to eat, then our food was dished up in plastic baskets - straight out of the 70s! The view was great, although maybe a little smelly.
Pensacola - 18th July
We headed further west along the Florida coast taking in more scenery as we went until we reached what was probably the cutest place we stayed - http://www.pensacolavictorian.com/. It was a little B&B with the most amazing landlady called Barbee - she spent ages chatting to us, telling us about things to do in the area and suggesting areas to go for food later - she happened to drop into the conversation that the Blue Angels(American Red Arrows) base was in Pensacola and that helped Roy decide what he wanted to do the next day for his birthday! We pottered about the mall in Pensacola and wandered through some gorgeous back streets looking for somewhere to eat when we happened upon some classic cars
which were being used to advertise the following http://www.sevillequarter.com/. This was seven interconnected bars and restaurants, the doorman recommended we go to the Palace to eat. The waitress told us a little about the history of the place - it kind of reminded me of the old Preservation Hall in Edinburgh - only seven times bigger! We walked back to our beds after a few cocktails and slept soundly in the old victorian bedsteads with clanky plumbing in the bathroom and squeaky floorboards.
New Orleans - 19th & 20th July
An early morning start for Roy's birthday in Pensacola to be greeted by a Barbee home cooked breakfast before hot footing it down to http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/ for the 8:30am Blue Arrows practice. It was amazing how many other people were there, especially as the heat was already 100 degrees! Thankfully there were chilled bottles of water to be bought during the display.
After the display we also wandered around the museum - again somewhere many of my friends would love to go.
After spending the morning here we had to set off for our next destination - New Orleans, which meant leaving Forida behind, passing through Alabama and Mississippi before hitting Louisiana.
Our hotel http://www.maisondupuy.com/ was situated bang in the middle of the French Quarter and was a pretty little place. Due to arriving quite late and a long drive we only managed a wander through the streets of the French Quarter that night, passing a few street musicians and eating in the House Of Blues which I think was the worst place we ate the whole holiday.
The next day was jam packed. We had a complimetary hotel breakfast before heading off to ride a steamboat on the Mississippi river http://www.steamboatnatchez.com/ This took us down past the devestated areas and showed us where the levees had burst.
There were organised tours to show you more in depth but there just seemed something sad and a little voyeuristic about paying money for one of those. New Orleans is definitely rising out of the horrors and was beautiful. After we jumped off the riverboat we got onto a streetcar to ride out through the Garden District towards the zoo http://www.auduboninstitute.org/visit/zoo
The zoo had a pair of Komodo Dragons which were smaller than we all expected(and also slightly disappointing) and some albino alligators which were cool as hell.
After that we jumped another streetcar back to the hotel where we ate dinner in the restaurant before heading to bed.
Part Two to follow later this week......