So we stayed in Downtown Miami, directly located in the center, in the apartment with that amazing view.
After "check in" we went to the city, just a small sightseeing tour for about 1 hour, grabbed something for dinner, went back to the apartment and fell into the bed.
13th of April
We got up at... maybe 11, I don't remember. After having breakfast and a shower we wanted to use the Metro mover to see some places in the city. But just in the moment we wanted to leave it knocked on the door: two girls with suitcases standing in front of the door, asking for the brother of our couchsurfing host (at this moment we never heard his name before).
We talked for maybe 5 minutes because we thought it might be not such a good idea to let them in the apartment, we are not the owners. Suddenly they started talking in german... I just said "ach, ihr sprecht auch deutsch?" (oh, you speak german too?). They were from Germany and Switzerland looking for their couchsurfing host... well, I know that combination from somewhere...
After talking a little bit we went out for the Metro Mover and took a ride through downtown but we didn't see that much because it rained and the train was full of people. We moved on to a nearby park and a pier.
We visited the Hard Rock Cafe in Miami and of course we took a picture.
from left to right: Daniel, Michael, Linda, Katharina.
In the evening we cooked spaghetti and a sauce with vegetables for dinner.
Here you can see the building where our hosts apartment is in.
It has 52 stories and the apartment we stayed in was in the 32nd.
On the right picture you can see the pools, they are on the 8th floor, one of the pools is heated.
Finally we took a picture with our host Manuel, thanks for hosting us :)
So this day was pretty much a chiling day.
14th of April
We got up at 7... stupid time to get up, way too early... but we had some stuff to do.
After having breakfast at subway (bacon & egg sandwich + softdrink = 3 $ through april !!!) we picked up our car from the valet parking and made our way to the everglades or precisely to Billie Swamp Safari in... the middle of nowhere.
There we started with a buggy tour, in a swamp buggy, a car which can drive through water with a maximum depth of 3 feet (~90cm).
We saw a lot of animals: ostrich, raccoons, buffalo, antelops, wild pigs, lots of birds and of course: alligators in different sizes.
But we also saw some squirrels, the name giver of this blog.
We like squirrels, so we wanted to name that blog greysquirrel, but this was already taken... some tries later we we took the number on our mileage reading in the car, thats why that blogs name is squirrel27709.
After that Buggy tour we took one of the things you have to go on when you visit the everglades: an airboat !
Driving over the water at 35 mph (55km/h) is crazy.
You drift through the curves, it's loud, it's windy, it's fast, sometimes it is wet but most of all it is awesome.
We visited a show afterwards and were allowed to hold a baby alligator in our hands. These guys are really powerful and this small one can crush your hand with its jaw.
We went on the airboat ride again, as we had an all inclusive daytime ticket.
Afterwards we visited the butterfly garden and then we started our way to Fort Myers, about 70 miles away.
We arrived there at maybe 7 and realized that this hotel was much better than all the others (except ocracoke) we stayed before.
The hotel has a nice pool, friendly staff and a steak house in the same building. The hotel is very good and the meals at sams steakhouse even better (we tried it twice).
The breakfast is very good for a hotel within this pricerange (42$ + taxes for 2 people incl. breakfast).
We don't want to advertise hotels but this one was better than all the others before, so... if you are in Ft. Myers, stay at the clarion hotel ^^
15th of April - Happy Birthday Sis ;)
We went to a park in Ft. Myers where the internet says it is the jewel of the city.
That might be true, the park is really nice. We rented a bicycle in old style and made our way through the park.
We saw some turtles just walking right over the way.
This small guy you can see in the picture weights maybe about 16lbs (7-8kg).
We drove around the park for a while, looked for a geocache (we didn't find it) and drove along a nature trail.
After the bicycle ride we visited the museum with its railroad exhibit. But we just visited it because we had to wait for something...
A railroad which goes a 1 1/2 mile ride through the park, that looked funny so we bought 2 tickets.
Its really cool, goes over a bridge, through a tunnel and through some miniature villages.
It is made for children but nobody cares ^^
Back at the hotel we went to Sams Steak House for dinner, which was really good.
16th of April
We liked that hotel, so we decided to stay another night (which makes it 3).
Reservations after midnight get 20% off so we waited till midnight ;)
We went to the Caluso nature center and planetarium.
This place is cool, it is like a zoo but there are some shows where you can learn interesting things about the animals. They have all kinds of different animals there.
First of all there are fish.
Of course there are alligators.
There are some birds, for example these Screech Owls.
But they have a bird aviary outside where you can see eagles, seagulls, pelicans and some other birds, I don't know the names.
Outside you also can see some mammals like fox, a skunk, a wild pig, raccoons (an albino raccoon !) and they have a butterfly aviary.
Inside there were turtles, snakes and reptiles, as well as baby alligators.
Just before we went to the planetarium Daniel wanted to feed a squirrel. You can get some peanuts for doing so for free.
The planetarium show was interesting and very good for beginners to learn how to navigate on the night sky.
It was a little bit too early to move back to the hotel so we decided to go to the beach. We went to hooters for a drink, took some pictures at the beach and drove back to our hotel.
We gased up a last time at the east coast (I think it will be the last time).
Until now we drove 6080km (3778Miles) and used 114,67Gallons of gas (434 L).
Average cost was about 3,92 $ / gallon which makes 0,79€ / liter.
Our car is economical as we need 7.14 L / 100km which means 33 miles per gallon.
Enough of the math and numbers... we had dinner in Sams Steakhouse again. Just one more night in Ft. Myers.
coming up:
- Sarasota warm mineral springs
- Clearwater & St. Petersburg Beaches
- Tampa & Busch Gardens
- The end of our east coast journey
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