We see our first gators
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I had spent some time in Tampa for work and we ended up staying in a hotel near my old haunts. So in the morning as we tried to figure out what to do for breakfast, I remembered there was a Waffle House nearby and since everyone should experience a Waffle House at least once, we went there. And even though it was 9:30 or so by the time we got there, it was packed. It was quite an operation. A couple of waitresses and a few cooks. It was fascinating to watch them. The waitresses would shout various secret codes for orders and the cooks managed to keep 4 or 5 different orders in their heads at once. And everything seemed to work very smoothly. Not the greatest food but cheap and fast.
Then it was time to head south. The way we set things up the first day was basically a driving day. Get down to the far end of Florida and get ourselves staged for the Everglades. We crossed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge which is a great bridge and a beautiful spot spanning the bay. It was a long but easy drive to Homestead. The big excitement was when we stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch. And the other big excitement was when we stopped at a visitor’s center and saw some manatees and a gator. We had only stopped to let an annoying driver (not the term we used at the time) pass me who was riding my bumper. He obviously had some place he needed to be. But it turned out to be a good thing. Gators and manatees at our first stop.
Homestead is in farm country. Very reminiscent of the Gilroy/Watsonville area of California. Large fields with various items – tomatoes, mangoes, corn, and other plants we couldn’t identify. There were large bands of migrant workers picking and big sprinklers spraying water. It was single lane road through the fields and the last 30 or 40 miles took quite some time. And by then we were ready to be there so it was a bit frustrating.
We stayed at the Best Western in Florida City. Nice but nothing special. We had dinner at the seafood place next door. We had a very interesting older man as our waiter. We think his accent was New York Italian. He was very fun to listen to. Unfortunately the food was nothing to write home about but still a $40 meal. Welcome to tourist country.
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