It's a long drive and I have us take Tamiami Trail instead of Interstate 75 so that Gideon can get some more driving in and hopefully we can see some wildlife along the way. Gideon does great for the long haul along 41 before we need to hop onto I75 again and I do manage to spot two gators along the way along with many birds. The views are everything I remember of this area. Large expanses of reeds with clumps of Bald Cypress draped very heavily in Spanish Moss. By the time we get to the interstate and switch drivers since we all agree Gideon is not ready for that chaos yet, we all need to go but there is still nothing out here. We have to drive another fifteen or so minutes to get to a gas station and by the time we arrive, it is panic to get in and go potty. Looking around the shop there is a display of the various Flaming Hot
snacks that we raid before hitting the road again.
We make to the estate and pull in. I see the huge banyan tree that I remember as a kid. After parking and reapplying sunscreen we go to get tickets for the tour. As we start the tour and visit the gardens around the structures, I am becoming acutely aware that my memories of this place being mainly enclosed and the laboratory being a big part of the tour are incorrect. It must have been me just remembering the parts that I was most interested in. The tour is great and the grounds are amazing with a lot of history about Edison, Ford and Firestone's impact on this part of the state but they are primarily outside and it is, as we've already established, hot. The natives are getting restless. Eventually we get to the lab and I think finally this will be better. We get inside and it's not air conditioned and is largely not allowed to be explored. Maybe I really romanticized this place. After the lab we are officially done with the tour but there is the museum on site so we head there. This is more like what I remembered and as Court explains, makes sense that this is what I remember. It's all about the science and method for the different inventions for Edison and different car models from Ford. Again about their impact to the area and their friendship along with Firestone. At least this is air conditioned as well and everyone starts calming down a bit. We wrap up at the museum shop and end up each getting a bead bracelet that comes with tracking information for an animal. Gideon chose a turtle, Abigail a shark, Court a whale and penguin for me. I always get a little chuckle about penguins since I saw the clip of Benedict Cumberbatch narrating a documentary but murdering the name a ton.
Away we go to Sweet Tomotoes and I won't pretend that I'm not excited. When we get there we can see there's a line for getting in so I get out and get us on the list while the fam goes to park and sit in the AC until we are called. After waiting for like 10 minutes the person running the wait list comes out and says that everyone can just come in now. I text the fam this and suddenly the hostess comes back out and says I'm sorry, I think I misunderstood what they wanted me to do
. I try to let the fam know but they are already walking in when the hostess come back out again and says I was wrong, they do want everyone that's already on the list in and anyone new starts a new list
. Awesome!. We get in and get to build our salads and we get to have the Tuna Tarragon, things are looking up. Court has the great idea for the kids to go find a seat since in the past that is how it worked but they get yelled at that they are directing seating at the moment. Oops. We pay and get directed to a seat and get started eating. It is great and I am having a great time. The only things that disappoint are that they don't have the chocolate muffins or the honey whipped butter. This place brings back some good food memories of dating Court.
Back to the hotel for wrapping up blogs and getting stuff posted.
Tomorrow, Everglades Air Boat!