Miami & Florida Keys

Alisha and I began our vacation in Miami. I went expecting to see lots of neon, white buildings, and sandy beaches. We were surprised that much of the city appeared to be what would happen if Hawaii and Los Angeles (the bad parts) had a baby. It was a mix of tropical weather and slumly charm. The entire city of Miami seemed to be run down, but things looked better once we reached our rented Miami Beach condo and looked out the window:

We soon learned that there were lots of dangerous things in Florida. One night I passed this on the beach, and after poking it in the video below I learned it was a Portuguese Man-o-War, which stings like a jellyfish:

Another day we drove through the Florida Keys. We visited the southernmost point in the United States. A few blocks away was Ernest Hemingway's house. We walked a few blocks further in the wrong direction and stumbled upon a more dangerous neighborhood (not pictured).

Of course being in the Keys, we got a piece of key lime pie. In Key West (the southernmost), we happened upon an old house that had been decorated to look like a cake for an old woman's birthday:

We also saw some key deer, which look like regular deer, but stand only about 2 feet tall: