Day 21 - Miami Lakes, FL to Ormond Beach, FL

Today was pretty bleak.  It essentially rained the entire day for the entire drive.  There was nothing to say about leaving Miami.

We stopped off I-95 in Jupiter, which I heard someone say good things about.  It was also listed as having one of the best beaches in Florida.  It was raining off and on, so I was hoping we could catch a view of it during one of the off periods.

First, we stopped at Little Moir's Food Shack.  It rivaled Mert's for the best meal of the trip.

This is just the daily specials.

Nice open kitchen so we could watch them cook everything.

Erin's Thai-inspired vegetables.

Sweet potato crusted wahoo, oysters, coconut rice, and a spicy melon salad.

This was the best fish of the trip by far and everything was excellent overall.  It's tough to compare a meal like this to the one at Mert's, but this may have taken first place.  I'll have to think about it some more.  I was shocked to find something this good in an unplanned stop in a relatively small town.

After lunch it was raining outside, but we drove out to the beach anyway.  It was still sprinkling as we left the car, but had lightened up enough to give it a chance.

Some sun after all!

Note the huge pelican in the center of the picture.

And dark storms rolling back in.  Time to go!

A beach critter.

Fishing.  With five poles.

We were very lucky to get a bit of sun in before it poured rain again.  Erin has declared this to be her favorite beach in the continental United States.  Not bad!

Back to the usual.

We drove straight through to dinner in Fort Orange at Aunt Catfish's.

Really great buzzer!

A little late, but salt and pepper catfish, dijon sea scallops, a cinnamon roll, and a hushpuppy.

This place also had a huge salad bar included, a free baked sweet potato, and more.  They threw tons of food at you and there was live music.  They quoted me 2.5 hours to get a table, so we went outside on the pier and waited about 15 before getting a table.  This has happened a number of times recently.  I understand underpromise and overdeliver, but when you're off by that much, just say you have no idea how long it will be.

The quantity of food was impressive.  Erin had a baked potato, hushpuppy, and cinnamon roll for $1.99.  Not bad.  The quality didn't quite hold up.  When you're giving away so much food, you have to compromise somewhere.  I liked the theme of the restaurant, but in the end, food has to taste good.  Still, that didn't seem to be a problem for everyone else given the long line outside.

We drove through Daytona Beach on the way to the hotel and took note of a huge number of $30/night hotels.  That probably explained some of the people we saw.  I don't think I've ever seen so many old hotels all in one place before.

What might this be?

A drive-in church.  Yes, for real.

That's a new one.