Florida

Florida 2004

The worst hurricane season in Florida's history. . . . . . . . so Florida it is then !

Our flight to Atlanta was ok, but Hurricane Francis delayed our connection to Miami by a day. No problem We hired a car and drove to the North Georgia Outlet Mall for unrestrained full-on retail therapy. Even the already low prices were discounted - praise be to their Labour Day weekend. As we left Atlanta, it was clear that our luggage had acquired considerably more inertia.

We arrived safely (we were on the 1st flight into Miami following the aftermath of Francis) but to power outages, fuel shortages and wind-lashed streets. Hmmm, we thought as we climbed into our massive 4x4 utility vehicle (in the UK, I would have needed a HGV licence) and drove across the Everglades to west coast Naples. No legacy of Francis to be seen.

The Holiday Inn greeted us (thanks hotel.com) and we chilled for the rest of the day in our (huge) room overlooking the pool. Naples has a reputation as a 'chic' district and we wasted no time in sampling the restaurants, beach, pier and other attractions.

A couple of nights was de rigour. We decided to head to the Florida Keys, but not before exploring the Everglades by airboat. It was a first for the two of us, but WOW 'boomin' WHEEE.

Great fun and totally exhilaration.

Basically a WWII propeller atop a large oil drip tray, but boy could these things accelerate. When the skipper dropped a cog and turned on the tap, it propelled us to amazing speeds across the water. No brakes and no reverse meant that we didn't see any women drivers !

But we were not alone. Two crocs were keen to explore our boat further. As our skipper fed them scraps of chicken, it was obvious that these buggers were sponsored by Ed's Airboat Tours.

Nice handbags though.

The drive through the Keys was spectacular. Stopping briefly in Key Largo (to book our accommodation), we pushed on to Key West and made it with an hour of daylight to spare.

Barely pausing to unpack, we headed off to the southernmost tip of the good 'ol US of A and dined on a dish of Mai Mai as the sun set on another busy day.

No sooner than Francis bowed out, but Hurricane Ivan hove'd into view. And we were on the projected path. The mandatory, immediate evacuation order meant we had at least a couple of days to explore !

Wendy had wanted to visit Hemmingway's House - so we duly did. Despite my 'enthusiasm', it turned out to be a great afternoon.

Good tour - old Earnest was clearly a bit of a player in his time.

The highlights, especially with Darling moping back in the UK, were the famous 'six-toed' cats that Hemmingway collected. It was clear that they were totally pampered and Wendy acquired many new friends. We visited Duval Street, drank at Sloppy Jo's (both of them !) and generally had a chillout time. Our last night was spent enjoying an excellent dinner at one of the last remaining un-shuttered restaurants while being filmed for a local tv station - something about mad dogs and Englishmen.

Our final destination was South Miami Beach and the Art Deco region of Ocean Drive. Again Lady Luck smiled on us and we found a lovely Hotel just one block away from Ocean Drive, backing onto the beach.

Much to Wendy's delight, I managed to get a couple of tickets to see the Miami Dolphin's first game of the NFL season (they lost ).

Again we dined well and drank far too many cocktails. Miami Beach was an excellent final stop to our Hurricane Tour of Florida.

With Ivan threatening to spoil the party, we lugged our suitcases to the airport and as the shutters came down on another excellent holiday, we wended our weary way home.