After a 45 minute uber ride from Fort Lauderdale to Miami, I arrived in South Beach with a group of four friends on my first night in Florida last month. It was amazingly warm and humid at 1 AM with frequent short rain showers throughout the days. My friends are studying abroad and working temporarily in the United States until they go back home to France. It was exciting to see them experience Florida for the first time. I stayed with them in an International Traveler Hostel right on South Beach in Miami. The nightlife was crazy and so colorful there and I even got to hold a yellow boa constrictor on the street. We woke up the next morning, headed to the beach and had brunch by the ocean. My parents picked me up the next morning to head to Coral Gables for the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens which was mind-blowing paradise! After Coral Gables, we drove my parent's rental car to my Grandma Kutch's little trailer on the ocean in Key Largo. The next day my father and I snorkeled at John Pennecamp Coral Reef State Park in the warm ocean water off the coast of Key Largo. We ate stone crab for the first time and drove down to Key West on my last day where we explored much of the island. I also had way too much key lime pie and red wine! It was truly a dream and I can't wait to visit again next year! It was a dream to return to Key Largo after all these years!
Near the famous Duval Street in Key West where roosters and hens roam the streets freely. Duval Street runs north and south from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean.
South Beach, Miami Palm Trees!
A friendly Ibis who loved our fishy treats in Key Largo. 
love, polly
