On New Year’s Eve, 2013, my younger cousin and I flew into Key West, Florida after a red-eye from Portland. I’d always wanted to drive the overseas highway from Key West up to Miami. We stopped along the way at several points, enjoying the 85 degree weather after coming from mid-winter in Oregon! It was even warm enough to swim at Bahia Honda State Park.

After catching a couple hours of sleep at our hotel we went downtown Miami and enjoyed an amazing New Year’s celebration and fireworks! There were way too many people though, as Miami is considered one of the best places in the world to spend New Year’s Eve.

The next day we visited the Coral Castle, an eccentric castle hand-built out of the coral limestone common in South Florida by a Latvian gentleman in the early 20th century. It was really amazing to see the massive formations he had set up, mostly by himself–well worth a visit if you are in the area.

We then took an airboat ride on the edge of Everglades National Park–that was awesome! We got going really fast, then the driver whipped the boat around backwards, sending a wall of water over us–quite a thrill! Finally we drove through the Everglades, stopping along the way and enjoying this amazing area, unlike anywhere else in the world.