Webfooted

Posted from Key West, Florida, United States.in contribution to the Tripbase® Travel Secrets Charity Project for clean water for developing nations, I’ve decided to put my 2¢ in and share with you my 3 Best Kept Travel Secrets that I’ve found while traveling the United States! Enjoy!

Located in the southern most tip of the United States, the Florida Keys is one of the most famous tourist destinations in the world.  With over 42 bridges connecting the chain of islands, 3 have been named a National Historic Site – Bahia Honda, Long Key and old seven Mile which expands to an impressive 35,716 feet!  Lying smack dab in the middle of North Americas only living coral reef ecosystem, you can always be sure that there is not a shortage of things to do, places to see, and reefs to snorkel or dive.  While diving you may have the opportunity to spot a variety of tropical fish, a Loggerhead sea turtle, or even find one of the Florida Keys precious Queen Conch.

One of the most memorable things I’ve got to experience while visiting the keys was the small restaurant that I found called the Key Largo Conch House.  The food was ridiculously good!  Never trying conch before, I ordered the Conch Piccata and found it to be fabulous!  As it turned out, I was not the only one that thought so.  Apparently the small little shack was featured on the Food Network and the Travel Channel on various occasions so if you plan on heading down south, be prepared for a long day of play and a big stomach to quench that hunger afterwords.  Just don’t forget to order one of the world famous key lime pies!

Surrounded by 113 miles of shoreline, an average temperature of 75°F – 85°F year round and located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, there’s no doubt that the Garden Isle of Hawaii is regarded as paradise.  Although 70 percent of the island is inaccessible by foot, it doesn’t stop tourist from flourishing to the Hawaiian Islands.  In fact, Kauai hold many secrets waiting to be discovered by you including the Na Pali Coastline, Waimea Canyon and Hanalei Bay.

When I visited Kauai I was absolutely thrilled and spent many days trekking around the island to discover its untold fortunes.  I would have to say that my favorite and most memorable days was when I visited Poi Pu Beach.  As a major water lover, I spent a lot of my time in Hawaii snorkeling.  One day I rented a scooter and road up to Poi Pu with my snorkel gear in search of something that would create a memory of a lifetime.  As it turned out, I got exactly what I bargained for.  Diving into the welcoming 80°F water, I immediately spotted an array of colorful reef fish.  You could spot them swimming in and out of the reefs and dodging the crashing waves above them.  Clearly mesmerized by the ongoing tropical life around me, I felt another presence and glanced off to my right to find a humongous sea turtle!  I’ve seen these animals before on land and quite frankly they were as clumsy as a penguin playing hopscotch however when I spotted this one examining me in the water, it was as graceful as any animal I’ve ever seen.  The way it moved through the water reminded me of a Bald Eagle soaring through the sky, nudging me to find an inner peace at what I am seeing.

Beginning to swim alongside it, I was able to pull out my recorder and began to tape what was happening.  If it wasn’t for that, then I wouldn’t have believed exactly how close this curious yet beautiful animal was to me.  This implanted a memory in me that I would never forget and I hope that you have the same opportunity to swim alongside these animals that I had!

If you would like to learn more on what Kauai has to offer, follow up on my other Hawaiian trips:  Lost in the Garden of Hawaii and Fire at the Luau.

The word poconos is a Native American word which means “stream between two mountains.”   This marks a striking resemblance to the Delaware River that had dug between two mountains to form the entrance to what Pennsylvania calls the Poconos Mountains.  I had the pleasure of visiting this most beautiful area along the eastern coast of the United States about 3 years ago.  The fall colors were nice, but what took me by surprise is what happened later in the year during the winter months.  Sure I wished I was home while shivering outside in the negative 7 degree weather with nothing more than a pair of jeans and a cotton jacket (the norm for Floridian winter clothing), but when I slid down the road in my friends little blue Nissan, I quickly realized that I needed my camera.

Stepping out of the car, I nearly slid down hill because of all the ice that had formed over the road.  During the summer months this small park would have been slammed packed with locals and tourists flocking to the swimming hole but during the winter, it was a vast winter wonderland, covered by nothing more than snow, ice, rabbit tracks and the local flora and fauna.  Putting an extra layer of clothing on, I made my way down to the trail to take a walk to the nearest waterfall.  After falling down the steep hill a few times and throwing a few snowballs at my friend, we finally made it to the first waterfall and to our surprise found humungous icicles.  I will always remember this because of how beautiful the water ran down the river, over the falls, and continued flowing to who knows where.  To really get an in depth view, take a look at the video to the side.  It’s absolutely astonishing but after spending a few hours walking down the trail, making snow angels and listening to our teeth chatter, we were more than ready to head back to the house for a cup of hot chocolate and to unthaw next to the fireplace.

If you would like to visit this little park in person or find more information, visit the Poconos Mountains Website.

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If you have any questions, comments, experiences at any of these locations, please leave a comment at the end!  I would love to hear about what you have to say and perhaps learn about your travel secrets as well!

Cheers & happy Travels!

Tags: 3 best travel secrets, adventure, conch, diving, florida, florida keys, hawaii, icicle, kauai, key largo, key lime pie, key west, Snorkeling, snow, sunny, waterfalls

This entry was posted on Friday, July 22nd, 2011 at 12:38 am and is filed under Outdoors, Travelling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Tags: conch house, turtle