Florida Road Trip
As the wise ones like to say, “all good things must come to an end” and so was the case with our great Florida road trip. It was Christmas Eve, and Ashley was insisting we come back to Tampa Bay to celebrate the holidays with her. We decided to make the most of the last day though by stopping at two beaches that consistently make the list of top beaches in America.
The first stop, voted as #2 best beach in America by Dr. Beach, was Barefoot Beach in Bonita Springs. As we drove through the neighborhood on the way to the beach, we were astounded by the posh houses and big mansions. The multiple-garage houses had the most well-manicured yards while the driveway parked many shiny expensive cars. When we finally made it to the entrance of the beach, we were surprised to find a $10 entrance fee. Since I have never had to pay to enter a beach before, I thought this was rather odd but would probably make up for the amazing beach that we were about to lay our feet on. Sadly, I was mistaken, as Barefoot beach turned out to be a typical Florida beach. The sand was brown and coarse with lot of shells, there were all sorts of sea-plants scattered everywhere, and the beach was probably just 20 feet or so wide. I really don’t know why Barefoot Beach has such high ratings. We spent about an hour to make the most of our $10 entrance fee and then promptly hit the road.
The second stop, and last stop on our Florida road trip, was voted as #1 best beach in America by TripAdvisor, Siesta Beach in Siesta Key. Once we arrived, it took a while to find a parking spot but this was okay as it was free. The second we stepped on the sand we knew why this beach was rated so highly. I had never felt a finer white sand under my toes before.The sand was as fine as flour and if you tried grabbed a handful, it would just escape between your fingers This pristine beach seemed to stretch endlessly with its sugar-white sand. The shoreline didn’t have a single plant or a sea shell. It is truly the best beach I have ever been to and was probably the best way to end our 6-day family road-trip.
The 6 day 1,100 mile journey through the lower section of Florida gave us an insight into what really makes Florida such a great place to explore. We saw the best of science & engineering at NASA, the liveliest of beach towns at South Beach, the most laid-back and easy-going town of Key West, the endless marshlands of Everglades, and the best beach in America at Siesta Key.
