So as I said in previous article we had visited the last planned park and now we were heading to Florida. First we stopped at Durango where they had Oktoberfest and it had a great atmosphere and good local craft beers and local bands were playing. Then we stopped at Santa Fe to see it a bit and Cadillac Ranch near to Amarillo in Texas. In Amarillo then we went to famous Big Texan Stake Restaurant but haven’t challenged the 72 oz steak which you can eat for free if you will be able to eat it under one hour. Current best time is under five mites but we rather tried other smaller steaks and they were delicious. Then we visited also a French Quarter of New Orleans with its beautiful architecture and went on.
We drove around a coast up to Pensacola where we entered Florida state and go to the camp we found near city at Grassy Point. On the way there we used Google navigation but once it tried to navigate us through some 4×4 park were we didn’t stand chances we rather took normal road. Following day then we visited Pensacola Naval Base where is National Naval Aviation Museum and their display were great. It was similar to one in Seattle just smaller and more focused on Marine and this one has free entrance. Also we went to see remaining of Fort Pickens which used to protect the port and base and played a part in the Civil War.
Then we drove around coast to east to reach Atlantic coast but weather wasn’t so great and we just saw a bit of Daytona Beach and then went in direction to Orlando.
In Orlando we wanted to visit a theme park as there are several options and as we wanted one with roller coasters we choose Universal Studios where we had a great time and were sorry we didn’t get up earlier to enjoy more attractions. Then we finished great day at movie Bridge of Spies which we liked as well.
And on following day we headed towards city of Naples where we checked their beaches and then drove through Everglades where National Park Services are taking care of original Florida swaps where are living also American Alligators and we finally saw some. Later we drove through Florida Keys to the southernmost point of continental US and swam at Key West beach.
Alligator
From here it started the journey north, first night we spent at Homestead and then we spent two days near Miami at Miami Beach, Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale and then we split. My friend stayed there for several more days before flying to Hawaii and I continued north to Halifax.
Drive from Florida to Halifax took me only four days as it was raining most of the time and I haven’t enjoyed alone so much anyway. So I circled Washington, DC, then saw a bit of Philadelphia and then drove through Manhattan and cursed myself for not going around as I couldn’t see much anyway and there were so many cars everywhere. Then I continued on Interstate 95 up to New London where I turned to 395 to circle wide Boston which I saw last year with my parents.
Once I joined the 95 again later I drove without any problem up to Portland where on a way to car parts shop where I wanted to buy part to fix my car shifter. Here I went over some glass on a road which cut through my front left tire about 7 centimeters hole and I had to buy a new tire to finish my trip. Unfortunately they didn’t had the same I have on my car and as I found later in Canadian Tire they are not being made for a few month. At least due to protection plan I get when I bought them last year I get original price for that tire back.