We hired a car for the day to vist the Everglades and the Florida Keys. The Everglades, which is the largest subtropical wilderness in the USA, also known as the River of Grass,. It was originally called Pa-hay-okee by the Calusa Indians meaning 'grassy water'. We took an airboat ride into the Everglades, which was really good. It was like being on a big lawn mower, because you couldn't actually see any of the water in places, just grass! We saw quite a few Alligators up close, being sure to keep all limbs inside the boat, a Vulture, Grass Stork, King Heron and a bird voted the most colourful bird in Florida. The rain didn't detract from the ride, we were so wet we didn't even notice it!

We then drove further south to the Florida Keys on the overseas highway, from Key Largo. The highway is 126 miles long with Key West at the very end, which is also the most southern point of the USA. Key West is quite arty and had a really tropical feel to it, lots of little souvenir shops and historic buildings, some dating as far back as the 1800's!!! We enjoyed a couple of hours walking around the old town and harbour before heading back up to Miami.

The drive back was quite interesting...as there was a HUGE storm, with forked lightening hitting all around us, we later read that Florida ranks number one in the world for death by lightenin!. Florida had around 10 deaths per year from lightening, which we are glad we didn't know then!