Home to Virginia

After a week of exploring Florida it was time to return to Virginia on Monday, back to school.

The group flew from Miami to Raleigh-Durham where they were met for the drive back to Lynchburg, arriving back at VES in the afternoon.

There have been a lot of highlights during the week, & each student will have their favorite memories.  We rode in lots of boats, encountered all kinds of Florida wildlife, visited theme parks, nearly saw a rocket launch, & saw where one of America's greatest writers lived.  And we ate all kinds of foods, with the Chinese & Japanese dinners being most popular.

Final Day in Florida

The students really enjoyed their hotel in Key Weat last night, swimming in the pool until after 10:00pm.

This morning, after breakfast, the first visit of the day was to tour Ernest Hemingway's home in Key West.  The students enjoyed seeing the famous 6-toed cats, the Chinese & Korean language guides that we provided, & the book store were they were able to buy books by & about Hemingway.

From Key West the group drove north up the Keys again, stopping to see Bertha the Giant Lobster & for lunch before visiting the John Pennecamp Coral Reef State Park.

The highlight of the visit to the park was a glass-bottomed boat tour over the coral reef, allowing everybody to see the coral & sea life without getting wet!

From the boat tour it was just an hour's drive to Miami & the group's final dinner & hotel.  Dinner tonight was at a Japanese steak house, a fun way to end the tour before tomorrow's flight & drive home to Virginia.