Key West and Back in a Day and a half!

We had promised ourselves we'd get down to Key West while we were here this time. Sue and Jim Tews furnished with the name of a place to stay that was simple, centrally located and very affordable so we made a reservation and away we went! We'd been warned that since we don't drink Key West wouldn't hold much for us once we'd seen the sights so we only reserved one night.

After a bueatiful, hassle free drive down the Florida Turnpike to Homestead and then US 1 over all 42 bridges through the keys we tossed our bags in our room and headed one block over to Duval street. It was four o'clock and we wanted to be sure to make it to the Sunset Celebration on Mallory Square on the other side of town.

It turned out the trolley is a tour ... not a trolley like San Fransisco... so we hired a pedi-cab to take us the 1 1/2 miles to the square. Jack's gout had subsided but we didn't want to push it by walking both ways. We got there in plenty of time for a quick walk about the square (which was just beginning to fill up with the various vendors and entertainment acts and a few people sitting on the walls waiting for the sunset) and dinner. We decided to try Cuban since neither of us had ever eaten any.

Pepe's was right there so we had a seat. Cuban food is not spicy like we assumed it would be. It was tasty but not spicy. Jack got a pork dish and I thought I ordered something like chille relleno's but I got tart-like cups made of fried plantains filled with different meats and one with seafood. All good - just different from what I expected!

We strolled through a sculpture garden and then back to Mallory Square in time for the sunset...such as it was. The sky had clouded over and we didn't get the spectacular sunset so often shown but what we had was the sunset on the day Jack and I went to Key West so it was great for us!

There was a lot going on in the square - a guy getting out of a straight jacket, a belly dancer, jugglers with fire sticks, a one-man band (which was really good!) and several booths selling jewelry, blown glass, balloons and trinkets.

Ice cream was our main interest and we'd seen several on our way down so we took our leave of the festival at Mallory Square and began our stroll down Duval Street. We didn't really plan on walking all the way back to our motel on South Street but we did! We window shopped, enjoyed listening to the different music from the different bars on each block, checked the ice cream shops for bubble guy ice cream (Jack's favorite) and pretty soon we were only 5 blocks away! We settled on soft ice cream cones about half way and that made the muggy heat more bearible.

Once back at the motel we were sweaty and ready for the pool! It was only 6:30 pm but pretty dark so we got to enjoy a moonlight swim before retiring for the night.

We got up at the first sign of light - about 7:am - jumped in our swimsuits and headed to the Rainbow Pier to go snorkeling. We'd asked a young man at the tiny beach at the East end of Duval Street where we could find the best snorkeling and he told us to go to a pier off Reynolds Street and snorkel around the pilings from the old pier. The locals ALWAYS know the good stuff! The beach was only about 5 blocks from the Spanish Garden Motel on Simonson and South that we were staying at so we made it to the beach for sunrise!

It was bueatiful! The sunrise, the snorkeling, the birds, the water. Jack and I swam the length of the old pier and we saw more fish than ever before. I took some photo's that I've posted to facebook, if you want to see them and the ones from the rest of our trip. I just put a few here.

After our early morning snorkeling Jack and I packed up our bags and hit US 1 going North. We took the East coast route off of Key West to see the other shore (we drove in on the West shore route). We saw the all three of the beaches Key West has to offer that way.

The drive back to the main land was great. We didn't see any of the horrific traffic everyone always refers to but then we were traveling on Wednesday and Thursday... not peak days!

The next stop on our road trip was The Everglades National Park that lies to the West of Miami. We lost the blue skies as we neared Homestead and kept hoping the rain would hold off for us to get to do an airboat ride! Frommer's Florida recommended Gator Park as the best for the money when taking an airboat ride so we headed directly there.

The rain held off until after our airboat ride...almost...a little rain but nothing like what followed later and it was warm as always. The tour included a alligator "wrestling" show too and the opportunity to hold an alligator. We learned a lot about alligators and saw a number out in the everglades and more at the park! The show was really a demonstration of how the Indians used to capture alligators live not a wrestling match! And as you see I did it- I held a 3 yr old alligator! He was actually soft and warm!

The ride up the turnpike to Vero Beach was long and difficult. Blinding rain squalls passed over us off and on the entire time. It was good that we had decided not to stay an extra day in Key West or outside of Miami! I'm hearing all kinds of reports on problems on the highways due to the rain. We pulled in here about 6:30 pm and it has been raining hard since!

All in all our whirlwind trip held a lot of fun and will be the source of good memories!