August 2018 - Florida Keys and North via Harry Potter World Orlando

August 2018 - Florida Keys to Harry Potter World Orlando and North

My sons' favorite holiday this past summer was flying down to the Florida Keys and "picking up" my daughter at the end of her summer internship at a marine biology research facility in mid-August. We had a lazy, fun, silly time. 

We arrived in Key West and immediately had a great meal (of course) at my daughter's favorite place, The Cafe which serves all vegetarian and vegan food. It was fresh and fantastic, even the desserts. Key West is the furthest point south in the US landmass and where Highway 1 starts.

We stayed at our own cottage at a place called Parmers Resort on Little Torch Key, about a half hour north of Key West and about five or six "keys" (coral islands) north. This was our view. 

There are not many sand beaches in the Keys, but this is the main one, Fort Zach on Key West. 

The boys and I loved the Ernest Hemingway House in Key West. It was built in the mid-1800's and Hemingway received it as a wedding present for his second marriage. He lived here in the 1930's. It was large and open and graceful. It was a treat to see where he did his writing: 

The house was from a more graceful time and looked out onto park-like setting and had more land and gardens than most buildings in Key West. 

Our little beach area at Parmers

From the Keys, we drove north to Orlando and spent two days at Harry Potter World at Universal. This was our view at Portofino Hotel near Universal from the water taxi. We took water taxis to and from the park. It was a good place to stay. They even had a good Italian restaurant with opera singers strolling through during dinner.

We loved Harry Potter World. There are two sections: Diagon Alley and Hogsmead. If you have loved the books, you would love these two areas and the attention to detail. Here is part of Diagon Alley. 

Hogwarts Express

The castle was the only disappointment in that it is a ride and I was hoping we could walk all around it. 

Overall, seeing the world of Harry Potter brought to life was a delight. From Orlando, we drove north through Nashville and continued on our road trip back to Iowa.