key west
3/17/2022
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3/17/22 - Key Largo, FL
We started the morning with Lucky Charms and green milk! Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! After breakfast I started a load of laundry that needed to be done and while it was running I took Ozzy and Fitz to the pool. Enzo (who was napping) stayed back at the van with Nick. Once he woke up they both joined us at the pool for a short time (once the laundry was done) before we hopped in the van and headed over to Gram and Grandpa’s place. They are staying in a quaint little cottage just steps from the beach. The beach had several docks with lounge chairs at the end, hammocks, etc. it really was so picturesque. We enjoyed the beauty, Fitz stripped down and splashed around in the water, we looked for fish off the docks (saw minnows, snappers, needle fish , a big barracuda) and ate a home made lunch at the end of one of the docks. It was very nice and we plan to go back tomorrow to enjoy it longer and kayak! Today our plan was to drive to Key West which is a two hour drive, so after eating lunch we packed up and loaded into the van. We have already driven sections of the highway down through many of the Keys these last few days, but driving the entire highway 1 from top to bottom of the Keys was incredible. Amazing (long) ocean bridges, tiny strips of land only the highway could fit on |
surrounded by the turquoise blue water on either side, quirky island hotels/restaurants, boats everywhere you looked, and passing through the beautiful scenery of Key after Key. It’s quite a place! Once we arrived in Key West we didn’t have a very structured plan. Key West was much bigger and established than most of us expected. We started by driving past the Ernest Hemingway house which was beautiful. That sort of led us to a nearby park with a splash pad. We all needed a break from the van so we stopped there. We ended up spending a couple hours there. The park was along the water and there was an old retired naval ship turned museum situated right there. There also happened to be a farmers market so we got some home made chips, salsa, and guacamole from one of the vendors to share. After the park we drove over to see the Southernmost spot in the Continental U.S.A. There is a buoy cemented into the ground there that people can take pictures in front of. When we got there a line was forming for picture taking so we joined it. The line moved quickly. At that spot you are only 90 miles away from Cuba. It was so SO hot and muggy so we needed to cool down with ice cream. We went to a place on Duval Street called Flamingo Crossing. Homemade, unique flavors, cash only, kind of a place. I got Key Lime and it was very very good. After we all finished we walked in to some shops along the street. I bought Key West sun shirts and a onesie for the boys. They last place we wanted to go to was Mallory Square to watch the sun set. I’m sure everywhere in Key West has incredible sunsets, but this place is the most famous. There is a nightly sunset festival. Street performers, snack stands, more shopping, all right along the coast. It was extra lively because it was Saint Patrick’s Day. The kids got a lot of attention (for being so cute I guess.) After the sunset (which was phenomenal) we walked through this cool park with busts of important people that helped establish Key West. You could read a bio about them , it was pretty cool. Then we went window shopping but accidentally bought a couple shirts for Nick and me. We caught back up with my parents who had watch some street performers acts, and started the long drive home. It was almost 9:00 pm by this time so we were going to get back late! All in all the drive and bedtime went very smoothly though. We all had a really great day in Key West! Very glad we went there!