10/13/2021
Jim and I decided to take a few days and visit Key Biscayne National Park as well as stay in Coconut Grove overlooking Biscayne Bay in the Miami area.
I have wanted to check off another national park and this seemed like the easy way to do it. There are only three national parks in Florida....Everglades National Park, Dry Tortuga and Key Biscayne National Park. The last two parks are mostly accessible by boat as they are surrounded by water.
Here is a link for more information on Key Biscayne National Park.
https://www.nps.gov/bisc/index.htm
I took a few photos while we in the park. To access the park it is one road in and the same road out. There is no hiking available in this park but plenty of water activities to keep you busy.
We stayed about an hour exploring the visitor center and gift shop and headed back down to the main road. Coconut Grove was our next stop.
We were a little over an hour away from Coconut Grove and took the scenic route looking for possible biking areas. We had thought about cycling The Old Cutler Trail but the trail was pretty rough because of tree roots popping up through the trail path as well as the direction of the path. We had high hopes of looking at the different communities along the trail but it was a bit uninspiring.
We arrived at the hotel, unloaded the bikes and decided to go to Key Biscayne ( the area not the park) via Rickenbacker Causeway that would lead to the island and views of Biscayne Bay. This is the area that Tricky Dickey Nixon vacationed while he was in the White House. It is also a favorite area for cyclists as we would learn the next morning when we left the hotel for a morning cycling adventure. For now , though, it was a drive to the island to look around before we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.
The restaurant we chose for dinner was one of the best in Coconut Grove. It is called Bellini's and is located in Mr. C's hotel. It is on the top floor with exceptional views of Biscayne Bay.
Here are some photos from our dinner venue.
It is worth it to try this restaurant. Although expensive it was worth every penny with impeccable service and excellent choices for dinner.
https://www.google.com/search?q=bellini+coconut+grove&tbm=isch&chips=q:bellini+coconut+grove,online_chips:bar:x-JBVnlSJ_E%3D&hl=en-US&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiB4Keax5rzAhWYn-AKHTwGAI8Q4lYoAXoECAEQEw&biw=1349&bih=615#imgrc=jAEoF4rSfWBSpM
We walked after dinner and explored the streets of Coconut Grove
We had a late start on Sunday for the bike ride starting around 9 AM. After all we were on vacation. Here are some photos from our adventures.
Cape Florida Lighthouse
There is a state park on the island....Bill Baggs State Park where the Cape Florida lighthouse is located
Here is a link for Bill Baggs State Park in case you want to visit.
https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/bill-baggs-cape-florida-state-park
The stilt houses in the distance. There are four of them. People actually own the stilt houses and rent them out to vacationers.
The ride was approximately 25 miles to the end of the island and back with a very long 5% grade bridge over Biscayne Bay at the start of the ride. It is definitely worth doing. There were at least a hundred cyclists on the island when we were there.
We headed back to Bonita Springs on Monday morning and were very glad that we did this trip. The area is definitely worth a visit.....at least once.
