Driving from Florida Keys to Fort Lauderdale

[Nolefan34]

Tom,

I'll try and address some of your previous questions. Its been a while since I logged onto this board.

1. Homestead- Has an old Florida, somewhat southern feel. But its really not worth spending much time there. There isn't much shopping there. I can name 100 other places that have better shopping. It is known for its produce farms in the more rural areas west of Homestead, and is mainly a farming community. The restaurants are generic chains mainly and like the other poster said, Golden Corral and Cracker Barrel are the only real country restaurants. You can eat that stuff back home. You'll get bored there quickly and there are way better places to see in South FL than Homestead. Miami Beach Art Deco District for example is really worth checking out. Use your time wisely and go there.

2. The best place to stop for food/gas is actually Florida City, which is 1 mile south of Homestead. Florida City is where the Florida Turnpike begins/ends and merges with US1. There are about 10 gas stations right there along US1 for a mile stretch. There is also a Golden Corral and every other typical American fast food chain. You can also fill up with gas in Key Largo, but there aren't many restaurants there. There are a couple of seafood places in Key Largo, but I've never found them to be anything more than average food.

3. Cuisine- The best food will be in Miami, but you have to know where to go. There are hundreds of places. One place I'd recommend for dinner is a Cuban place in Coconut Grove called "Las Culebrinas In the Grove". The address is 2890 SW 27th Avenue, Miami, FL. Just know that the servers probably won't speak English, and you need to wear a nicer shirt, slacks to eat there. But I'm telling you the food is amazing there. In places like Homestead and the Keys, the food is nothing to write home about. Key West food is terrible for the most part.

4. Key West- A Jimmy Buffet "Margaritaville" feel 100% if you know what I mean. It is very laid back. People walk around wearing shorts, flip-flops, and Caribbean shirts. There are lots of gays and cross-dressers that live there. Also a mix of Southerners, transplants, and many bikers live there it seems like. But you'll have fun there. Lots of cool bars on Duval Street you can hop around to including Fat Tuesdays. Have you ever been to Martis Gras in New Orleans? It has somewhat of that type of feel. I've always thought the food was terrible there though. Anyone else have food recommendations in Key West?

5. The drive- Yes, the drive on US1 between Key Largo and Key West is iconic. It is a beautiful drive that you will enjoy, barring any traffic issues. It is 2 lanes, 1 each direction, most of the way. In Key Largo it is 4 lanes for a while, but then narrows back down. 7 mile bridge is my favorite part. It is the longest bridge in America, and perhaps the world where you go over nothing but ocean for 7 miles.

6. Fort Lauderdale Airport- I agree here. It is a very easy airport to negotiate.

7. Expressways/drivers in South FL- Yes the drivers are very aggressive, especially in the Miami area. The expressways are generally very well designed since they were mostly built within the last 30-40 years. The exceptions are when you drive into Miami. The Dolphin Expressway is an old, outdated expressway that is rough with traffic much of the day. You will have to take that to get to South Beach from the Turnpike.

[Nolefan34]

Tom,

1 more idea. When you are traveling north from the Keys, you can simply take US1 north to Miami instead of the Turnpike. That way you will avoid the expressways and will get to see more stuff along the way. The downside is that there are a ton of traffic lights on US1 as you drive into Miami. But you will wind up passing right by Coconut Grove. Then another mile you will hit Brickell and the downtown area which is neat to drive through and you will see all of the tall buildings. Then you continue north on US1 and you eventually hit I-395, which goes east to Miami Beach and the Art Deco District.

[Tom Lennox 70]

THanks again for all the additional tips and definitely looking forward to it.

One thing though, the longest bridge in the nation if not the world is the Lake Pontchartrain causeway in Louisiana which I believe is 15-20 miles long.

[♥♥PRINC3Ss♥♥]

I don't recommed taking US1. That can add 1-2 hours to your trip. There is construction work in some areas(around Naranja). Take the turpike to 595 and stay on it. Believe me, I drive to Broward quite often and it's the fastest way to get there

if you wanna stop in Miami for lunch you can get off on the Kendall drive SW 88 st exit (exit 20). Youwill find plenty of restaurants there like Bahama Breeze, any family restaurant you can think of(red lobster, on the border, Flannigans, Macaroni and grill, Longhorn, Ale house, Outback, chilis) pollo tropical, la carreta, Latin american restaurant if you want ethnic food. All these restaurants are within 10 blocks of the turpike exit.

[kalim2008]

Originally Posted by fauve

Maybe the Canadians who haven't experienced the evils of socialism might be offended.

or all those europeans from norway, sweden, and the like. you know, the ones with higher standards of living than over here, lots of leisure time, and have consistently been rated "happier" than anyone else in the world.

[fauve]

Originally Posted by kalim2008

or all those europeans from norway, sweden, and the like. you know, the ones with higher standards of living than over here, lots of leisure time, and have consistently been rated "happier" than anyone else in the world.

lol, yes them too..

[Nolefan34]

Pricess>

He doesn't necessarily want the fastest way, he wants the way you see the most. You see nothing on the Turnpike extension. He wants to drive to Miami Beach, so he wouldn't take that route. He'd have to go east on the Dolphin Expressway or north on US1.

[Raffeer]

Originally Posted by fauve
Maybe the Canadians who haven't experienced the evils of socialism might be offended.

Hmmmm.... Looking for Canadian who hasn't had experienced Canadian socialized medicine. Amazing how healthy they all look in spite of it.

[Tom Lennox 70]

Originally Posted by Nolefan34

Pricess>

He doesn't necessarily want the fastest way, he wants the way you see the most. You see nothing on the Turnpike extension. He wants to drive to Miami Beach, so he wouldn't take that route. He'd have to go east on the Dolphin Expressway or north on US1.

I posted on the main Florida forum too actually, how does the ocean at South Beach or Key Biscayne compare with other parts like Delray Beach, Ft. Lauderdale itself or Cocoa Beach further up? We have one night in Cocoa Beach (seeing the space center the next day), one night in Orlando (seeing Universal Studios), one night in Florida City (heading to the Keys after that), and two nights in Marathon. The first day we're trying to decide between swinging by Miami or Delray Beach vs heading straight to Cocoa which I've heard is also very nice in terms of the ocean color and sand. Its really the blue-green tropical waters thats appealing since that's something we just don't see in Maryland or anywhere north of Florida for that matter, we would have to go to Florida or go on a cruise somplace like Bermuda or the Bahamas to see that. In the Keys I'm looking into John Pennekamp state park and the glass bottom boats there.

Our return flight is at 5:30PM out of Ft. Lauderdale so we may also have time to swing through Miami Beach on the last day too depending on timing and when we leave Marathon.