usbackroads destinatiion--Ivey House, Everglades City, Florida

usbackroads destinatiion--Ivey House, Everglades City, Florida

dates of stay: March 11-12, 2015

Foresters have a real fondness for blank places on a map.  Florida has very few such places.  At we were traveling to the Keys I noticed a small town separated from all the rest.  Everglades City. Next posting will be on Everglades City, but this post is on Ivey House where we stayed for two days on our return to Tampa.

Accommodations are difficult to find in tropical Florida during high season.  We were lucky to find two nights at the Ivey House. Here is the rate table for the Ivey House. Expensive, but all of Florida is expensive. Given all that the Ivey House is a good value.  You will not be disappointed.

We run our own vacation rental business in the eastern Washington Cascades.  So we do know what it takes to keep the "guest" happy. The staff were friendly and attentive to our needs.  There is a nice, small store selling important outdoor items at fair prices. It is a couple hour drive to find an outdoor store.

They also have a good breakfast that is included in the price. The rooms are spacious with fans and tile floors.  We did notice that a wine bottle does not bounce very well on a tile floor. The staff came quickly and cleaned up the mess that we created.

Double doors everywhere. In the Rocky Mountains double are very common to keep out the cold during winter.  Take a good look at these double doors. Do you notice that the first door is a SCREEN door?

The next sign gives the answer for the double doors. It seems that BUGS might be an issue in the Everglades!

Bugs are a fact of life in the Everglades. The Ivey House has a great way of dealing with the bugs. Basically there are screens all around the entire building. Here is a picture of the pool area.

 Notice the screening of pool area to keep out bugs. All the hallways and outside porch areas are similarly screened. So once you enter the Inn you do not have to expose yourself to the bugs, yet you are still outside. Great design, giving you the best of the outdoors without the constant drone and exposure to mosquito bites. A great feature for a place in the Everglades. Otherwise, you just might be trapped in your room due to bugs.

The Ivey House also has access to trips and kayaks. You can find the information on their web page:

 http://evergladesadventures.com/.

We opted for a National Park Service interpretive canoe trip instead, but I am sure that the trips offered by Ivey House will match their service at the Inn.

They do have a bulletin board showing activities and nearby walks and hikes:

The Ivey House tends to attract outdoor people. Yes, you can run into strange people like investment bankers, hedge fund managers and other weird urban occupations.  But even these folks have a strong interest in the outdoors so it is likely that you will have something in common with them.

A large part of their clientele are Europeans. Now my opinion of Europe is that it is SO.........1970 and there are many more interesting places to visit. It is, however, interesting to comparing notes from people elsewhere on the planet over breakfast. And at the Ivey it is likely that you will run outdoor people from throughout the world.

We highly recommend the Ivey House. It is a great place to stay. One thing we did notice is the following "towel" art.

We keep finding this "towel" art throughout the tropics. Is this a hot weather art form??

Here is the Ivey House web site:  http://iveyhouse.com/.