Day 9: Sightseeing Key West
Day 9: Fort Zachary Taylor
The second item on our "must see" list for Key West was Fort Zachary Taylor. Built as a protector from pirates, it has served during many conflicts including the Civil War (though it saw no action during that war). We were a hair late to the one and only tour of the day at 11 am, as we had traffic issues. But after the tour guide finished his initial talk and had the group move towards the next place, he gave quite a few latecomers "the 30-second version". He was good-natured about it.
He said that this was one of 13 forts on the Eastern seaboard that were all built to the same specifications. During the late 1700s, the French government gave us the plans with one comment, "Build them exactly as they are on the plans, do not make changes." Well, that means a fort built on the Atlantic Ocean south of Florida has a LOT of fireplaces, many of which went unused. It also had an interesting toileting, relying on the tidal flows as a flusher, with water level change. What works on the Mediterranean does not necessarily work on the Atlantic Ocean. But this tour was far better than the one at Fort Sumter, which looked amazingly like Fort Taylor!
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We were allowed to climb up to where one story was taken down, and there was a beautiful view:
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Our lunch that day was leftovers from the night before at Grand Cafe, and our dinner was a delicious one at Duffy's. For each of those dinners, we rode the hotel's shuttle to its drop-off point by the Key West marina. On Wednesday night, we weren't sure how late we were going to get back. We tried to get there before the 8:30 shuttle, but at 8:20, we saw it leave. We'd been told that as soon as it filled up, it would leave (no standing allowed). Well, fortunately, the normal airport shuttle bus/driver was free, so he came to get us at about 8:40.
This was our final full day on the island, and we spent the afternoon debating between the beach and the pool again - finally opting for the pool because shade was easier to find. We were starting to get a tad pink, despite sunscreen!
Day 10: Sad Departure, but Fun Awaits
Day 10: Leaving Key West, Seeing Everglades NP
We were slightly sad about departing from Key West after the lovely weather, but knew we still had some places and people to see in Florida. We just hoped that the good weather would stick around while we were in the state.
Driving back to the mainland was pleasant, and took around 2-1/2 hours. We didn't stop, but we drove slow enough to enjoy the scenery and for me to snap a few photos.
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In places, the old Railroad bridges have been made into pedestrian and fishing bridges, but in others, the bridge is too heavily damaged and therefore, closed.
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We stopped at the same little restaurant on Key Largo where we'd had breakfast on Monday, but this time we had lunch and key lime pie. I'm not sure that was authentic key lime pie, but it was yellow (as it should be) and very sweet -- just no real "lime" taste to it. The lunch was good, though.
Getting onto the mainland and into Florida City/Homestead, we headed down the road towards Everglades National Park's road to Flamingo Bay. Before this trip, my husband had not been to either Everglades or Key West. (Evidently I'd gone to Key West with my family, but as a day trip?! in the 60s. I have vague memories of Everglades NP from back then, but no memories of the Keys.).
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We stopped at two viewpoints that had nature trails, and also saw a sign that made us laugh -- something about rocks and "elevation 4 ft."
Swamplands:
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On the Mahogany Hammock Trail:
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We tried to find flamingoes, which are seen more often at Nine Mile Pond than anywhere else in the Park. Sadly, we did not see any long-legged birds of any type. So we moved on, to Flamingo Bay, a visitor center, the marina and basically the end of the road in ENP. We were looking out at the Gulf of Mexico when a park ranger came up to us and told us there were manatees over in the marina area. We hot-footed over there. Sure enough, there was a pod of them, including one that was eating algae from the side of one of the docks.
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Nice place for a picnic, but we were still too stuffed from lunch. However, we bought ice from the marina store so that we could have cold drinks from our cooler.
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With that, we headed back up the 38-mile road to Homestead/Florida City. We had made reservations for the same place we had stayed on Sunday night, doing that before we left home. I need to rethink doing that, as we didn't care THAT much for the place and they also put us in the same room! It wasn't a bad place, don't get me wrong, but there were others we could have stayed at. But we were trying to build up Best Western points.
We'd noticed that places now are collecting an "incidentals deposit", ranging from $50 to $150. Most were $50, refundable when you checked out. The BW Gateway to the Keys, in Florida City, charged $150, the highest anywhere on our trip. For ONE night. Yeah, obnoxious. Another reason to avoid making two separate reservations at the same place.
Day 12 and 13: Friendships
Days 12-13: Space Coast with Friends
We found our plans fit to visit our friends who once lived in CA, now live in FL. We'd spent Friday evening with them.
On Saturday morning, we enjoyed some "down time". In the afternoon, we enjoyed shared hobbies with them. At one time, we all camped together a lot in SoCal, but also shared hobbies then and now. Then enjoyed dinner out again.
They knew some great restaurants in the area. On Friday evening, we'd gone to Meg O'Malley's Restaurant and Irish Pub. Lunch on Saturday, for just us gals, was Crayderman's Deli. Saturday evening, I sadly did not write down the name or place we went. On Sunday at lunch, we ate lunch in Historic Village of Cocoa - a biergarten. Sunday night was at their home.
LATER UPDATE (since no one has responded/commented yet): The Saturday night dinner was at a place called American Icon Brewery, in Vero Beach. It is an old diesel power plant. Interesting history and great food.
Here are some photos from the weekends' jaunts:
The marina near the Historic Village of Cocoa:
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The Indian River:
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Beautiful downtown Cocoa Beach. We'd been there before, in 2012.
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Patrick SFB (Space Force Base):
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Day 16: Another (short) day of driving
Day 16: Pelham, AL to Savannah, TN
Another leisurely morning while we let the Birmingham rush hour pass by (we were on the south side, heading north). When we finally DID leave -- around 10 am -- we still got stuck in traffic on the frontage road in front of the motel! Evidently a traffic light was misbehaving.
We headed up I-65, through Birmingham and got off at I-22 west. It's a good thing we weren't looking for fuel yet, nor anything to eat. I-22 has a few services, mostly just gas and those are spread out. It was lovely driving, though, as there wasn't much traffic on this Wednesday morning.
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Back in Mississippi, we decided that Tupelo was good for a few stops. First, lunch -- Popeye's. Then, gas -- Sam's Club -- the cheapest on the entire trip at $3.30/gal for premium. We debated whether or not to try to find Elvis' birth home, but ultimately decided we wouldn't want to tour it because we aren't huge fans. Time to head north.
From Tupelo, we used US-45 to head north into Tennessee. It was good road, and not too many stop lights. As we passed through Corinth, we reminisced about our visit there about 6 years ago.
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At Selmer, we turned east again on US-64, to get over to Savannah where we were going to stay for our visit to Shiloh. We chose a Quality Inn, which was next door to a Days Inn. That night, it was recommended that we try a restaurant called Mollie Monday's. In retrospect, we probably could have walked there but did not. It was pretty much diner food, decent. They had a Wednesday Night Breakfast Buffet for dinner, but we chose to have dinner from the menu.
Day 17 and 18: The Last Two Days
Day 17: Seeing Shiloh National Military Park
Our last "hurrah" on this trip was to be Shiloh National Military Park, in southern Tennessee closest to Savannah. Their visitor center is being rehabbed this summer, so we watched the movie in a temporary theater, and also did some shopping at the bookstore across the street. Our souvenir of choice is always a coffee mug from any national park or monument, and my husband collects t-shirts.
Much like Yorktown, you're given a map with the "tour stops" clearly marked and labeled. Though there are interpretive signs, you can also read the description of the tour stop in the map. These do not follow the battle itself or you would be criss-crossing the area several times, wasting precious fuel. They present more of a "this happened here", like Gettysburg and, to a degree, Vicksburg.
A link to the Shiloh National Battlefield website.
An example of how the stops are labeled in Shiloh. The interpretive signs are separate.
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Memorial to the Confederates, either stop 2 or 3.
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Interpretive sign with husband walking out on the field before coming back to announce he's hungry.
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We had seen a sign about someplace called "Hagy's Catfish Hotel" and "great food" just outside the entrance to Shiloh, so we headed there. It took two tries to find it, because the arrow had pointed down the road but didn't give us any indication on how far it was. It was GREAT food, GREAT service, and we vowed to go back there for dinner that night and sample a different item on the menu.
Link to Hagy's Catfish Hotel Restaurant.
Just outside "Catfish Hotel" (a restaurant, not a hotel) was the Tennessee River. There was a flight of stairs, so my husband walked down them.
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Once back on the auto tour, we eventually made our way to the Shiloh Church, which is how the battle got its name. "Shiloh" means peaceful place, which it is now, but never during a battle. There is a replica of the old Shiloh church, the modern church, and a cemetery. The latter is only for church members and their families. No one else.
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One trail we took was to a mass Confederate gravesite. It said 0.4 mile one way, but my FitBit registered more than that! There were several of these on the property.
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Memorials such as these, to Confederate Generals, were plenty, most of them using cannonballs.
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Next to the (former) peach orchard was an old cabin, which we walked to:
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The last two stops take you to Pittsburg Landing, and then the National Cemetery.
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We felt we had seen Shiloh, reading everything that the map's description had at each site, but only skimmed the interpretive signs. Can you see every memorial and every mass gravesite? Only if you spend several days.
Indeed, dinner that night was definitely a return to Catfish Hotel, with different food that was equally delicious. Ordinarily we wouldn't do that, but Savannah doesn't have that much to offer and this was worth a return trip.
Day 18: The Trip Home
The next morning, we were up very early and on the road by 6 am. We knew we had about 520 miles to go, with the first 108 miles or so on 4-lane divided and undivided highways.
Our route took us back to Selmer via US-64 and then up US-45 to Jackson TN, then US-412 up to Dyersburg. We got on I-155 and decided that the first 108 miles had gone fairly well -- very much interstate quality in places -- so we'd stop for breakfast at Cracker Barrel, exit 13.
From there, we continued on I-155 until it ended in Missouri at Hayti.
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This is where our lollipop-route ended, so we returned home from here by the same way we came: I-55 to I-270 to I-44. It was good to be home, after driving what turned out to be 496 miles. While we were gone, our contractor continued some landscaping work that he was doing, finally finishing it after we'd been home a few days. The trees had also greened out quite a bit.
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We love trips, but it's ALWAYS good to be home!
Donna
Thanks for the time to compile and publish it.
Donna,
Lovely field report. Thanks for the time to compile and publish it.
mark
