Florida Trip December 2012
 

My family and I are planning a vacation to Florida, for 2 weeks in December. Our route is going to be as follows:

Dec 18th Arrive Orlando Airport - drive to Fort Pierce for overnight stay
Dec 19th Head for Keylargo & over night stay
Dec 20th Head to Keywest for 2 nights
Dec 22nd Leave Keywest for Everglades and stay in/near Homestead
Dec 23rd Head for Fort Myers & overnight stay
Dec 24th Drive to my Uncles house in Port Richey

I would be grateful if you could run your experienced eye over the above plan and let me know if it is feasible and if you can recommend anywhere en route. We have 2 young sons who want to see alligators!!

Many thanks

The Montague Family - Dublin Ireland

West of Homestead off 41 is Shark Valley part of Everglades NP that does a nice tram ride into the everglades. You will probably see alligators there, but keep your eyes out they will be in the ditches along 41, and occasionally crossing it.

You might look for lodging on the west side of Homestead so you could visit Shark Valley and Get to Fort Myers for the night. In Fort Myers you might enjoy a tour of Thomas Edison's winter home and laboratory.

If you take US 41 (Tamiami Highway) from the east coast to Fort Myers, you will see alligators galore right along the highway, especially near the Turner River road just east of Ochopee.

You may want a Sunpass on your rental car for tolls (Turnpike and others, particularly in & around Miami). Different rental car companies handle this differently. A good place to check into it is Tripadvisor's Florida forum http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum...8-Florida.html

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Vic's travels: http://my.flightmemory.com/vogilvie

Smugglers Cove Adventure golf at 17450 San Carlos Blvd in Ft Myers Beach has alligators that the kids can feed from a bamboo pole... when they were young, my kids loved it...

www.smugglersgolf/ft-myers.aspx

that's the only guarantee of gators up close...have fun

SORRY... its www.smugglersgolf.com/ft-myers.aspx

I forgot the .com

This is a lot of driving - so if, for example, you don't get up and out from Ft. Pierce, you'll have no time in Key Largo. Plan to get there by noon so you can enjoy a kayak trip, snorkel, etc.
Do you need to do the Ft. Pierce stop? If not, I would go from O to the Keys right away.

"Do you need to do the Ft. Pierce stop? If not, I would go from O to the Keys right away."

But not the very same day they arrive from Dublin Ireland!

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Vic's travels: http://my.flightmemory.com/vogilvie

Hmm - didn't notice that - is even the trip to Ft. P a good idea on arrival day?

Thanks for all the feedback, I have plenty to work on there. We are tight for time and would like to do as much as possible so O to Ft P will have to be done. We have 2 drives and the distance seems to be about 115 miles, so we could do an hour each. Once we land in Orlando, we would prefer drive an hour or two rather than wake up in Orlando and then head off, if that makes any sense?
Thanks again for all your ideas