I just returned home from Key West,
Florida and what an adventure my boyfriend and I had! I am currently hoping my
slight sunburn will fade into a tan over the next few days, but who am I
kidding, I’m just going to peel and be my white self again. But the burn was
worth it because the sun and beaches were beautiful! I could lay out on the
beach all day long and listen to the waves. But of course we did do more than
just sit on the beach.
We arrived into Key West
International Airport last Saturday and found a taxi to the Airbnb we booked. The
place had great reviews, and definitely lived up to expectations. The Airbnb
was a condo building right on the beach. The condo itself was pretty small, but
had a kitchen for us to cook some of our own meals, and even a patio that we
sat out on for breakfast most days. After we settled in a bit, it was already
dinner time, so we put on flip flops and strolled down to nearby Duval street
to look for a place to eat. The streets were crowded with people of all sorts,
families, couples, and street performers. We decided to eat at “Sloppy Joe’s
Bar” which was packed with people, so we figured it must be delicious. Of
course, we both had to get their “Original Sloppy Joe Sandwich” and it was
amazing. The perfect start to vacation, where I like to throw calories out the
window. After dinner we continued to wander around Duval street as well as
nearby streets and stopped in for a drink at a bar that I can’t remember the
name of. But they had a patio overlooking the rest of the street so we could
continue to chat and people watch, which was perfect.
Our Airbnb
The beach view from our Airbnb!
We were up early the next morning,
so I quickly ran out to a little market a couple blocks from our condo that we
had spotted the night before. I grabbed some groceries that would last us the
next few days and threw on some eggs and toast when I got back to the condo. We
enjoyed our breakfast with coffee while we sat on the back porch and listened
to the waves. Then we put on our swimsuits and flip flops, grabbed our books,
and headed to the beach. The only other notable event that day was that we took
a taxi down to the famous “Southernmost Point” landmark to grab a picture and
say we’d been there. Only 90 miles to Cuba from that point! Besides that it was
a lounging beach day!
Monday we decided to take a break
from the beach and do some of the more historical, tourist sights in Key West.
We started with the Ernest Hemingway museum, which was located in his
beautiful, old house. It was awesome to walk through the place he spent so much
time writing. Afterward we went to the Key West Butterfly conservatory because
I love butterflies, and why not? There weren’t many people there so it was
really nice; only a few other couples and families walking around the space. We
were pretty tired of walking around after that because we had been walking all
day so we got a taxi to take us out on the overseas highway. Our driver told us
all about the construction of the highway and about some of the other Florida
Keys that it connects to. Our driver was a retired history teacher from
Georgia, which we could tell by how much he knew and was able to share with us.
We got pretty lucky with that! After our drive along the highway we had him
drop us off right by Mallory Square. It was packed with street artists,
vendors, and food trucks. We had some awesome fish and chips from a food truck
and found a bench to sit on where we had an unbelievable view of the sunset. While
we ate and watched the sun go down we kept our eye on some of the street
performers. One in particular was very outgoing, performing magic tricks, and
pulling in assistants from the crowd. I was impressed with how believable it
seemed! To end the day we decided that we had to do the ghost walking tour. We
had heard about all of the “haunted” tales of Key West before arriving, so we
thought we’d give it a try. It was 90 minutes of walking to different,
supposedly “haunted” sights and learning about some of the famous people,
turned ghosts. It was definitely interesting… But I don’t buy into that kind of
thing. Glad we did it though, because a trip to Key West wouldn’t be complete
without it I guess!
The incredible sunset from Mallory Square
Tuesday was our last full day in
Key West so we decided to do some more beach activities. We went jet skiing and
snorkeling and spent the rest of the day lounging! I had an absolute blast on
the jet skis. If you have never been, you have to try them! As for the
snorkeling, that was much more peaceful. We took a catamaran cruise out to a
secluded spot and had about an hour to snorkel and look around at the many
different fish. I loved just being in my own quiet world staring peacefully at
the fish. We met a few other couples on the catamaran cruise as well. They were
from all over the US- Texas, Rhode Island, Missouri. We ended up having a
picnic type dinner on the beach with one of the couples, the Andersons from
Missouri, after the catamaran. They are both teachers so we chatted with them
about that as well as where they went to school, how they met, other vacations
they’ve been on, and so on. It was nice to have another couple to talk to! After
we said our goodbyes to them, my boyfriend and I grabbed ice cream cones from a
nearby shop and strolled along the beach. Then we went for one last swim in the
ocean before calling it a night. Our flight left late afternoon so we had a
nice easy morning with breakfast on the porch again. All in all, Key West was
what I had imagined! Some odd and interesting people, plenty of sights,
beautiful beaches and sunsets, and delicious food! Looking forward to our next
trip to the Florida Keys, but maybe next time we’ll stay on a different key.
