October 18, 2006
Day 385
Some guys in their yacht.
We only had a short drive to Miami planned for today, so instead of taking the freeway, we drove over to the coast and headed south. Mansions, yachts, and nice cars were everywhere. The entire beach seemed to be in private hands, and tall bushes obstructed our view of everything but the road ahead.
When we went through Boca Raton, we noticed an animal sanctuary and decided to check it out. It turns out that a small amount of the original Florida wilderness actually hasn't been plowed to build a condo or a mansion. There was a boardwalk leading through the reserve with a 40-foot tower that gave a nice view of the city and the ocean. The walk was short, but that was good, considering the 90 degree temperature and high humidity. We saw a pelican, some bees, and butterflies along the way. There were also several aquariums containing sea turtles, stingrays, sharks, and lots of other fish. A grade school class was there on a field trip, so we were able to sidle and learn about the wildlife. It turned out to be a nice place to stop for a few hours.
The drive to Miami was tough. We had a motel booked, but our only map wasn't detailed enough to show any of the important roads to get to it. Just when I thought we were almost there, the road ended and we were forced to go to the airport. Then we had to turn around and take some side street and were completely lost. Luckily we got there eventually, but it's a pretty crazy area to drive through with a thousand highways branching off in every direction. The thing that will save me tomorrow is that the motel has a free airport shuttle service. I can't wait to get on that plane, although admittedly, I have absolutely nothing planned for once I get to Ecuador tomorrow afternoon. As usual, I'll be winging it.
The photo album for this entry is here.
