Key West

The last weekend in January (the 28th-30th) Brent and I were able to go down to Key West--our first trip just the two of us since our Honeymoon! We enjoyed the drive down (about 5 hours) we borrowed his parents convertible so they could have the van while the watched the girls. So once we hit Key Largo for lunch we cruised the rest of the way with the top down! We enjoyed a good lunch at a little restaurant call Calypso Grill that was off the beaten path (thanks GPS!!) and a leisurely drive with out anyone asking us when we'll get there and 'I need to go to the bathroom...'

DAY 1

That afternoon we got to our Hotel The Marriott Beachside Resort, it was beautiful (and free thanks to the trip Brent earned from work!) and discovered they had a free shuttle every hour to Downtown Key West, so we parked the car and never had to move it till we checkout 2 days later! That evening we went to Mallory Square where they have street vendors and performers and the best view of the sunset. It was a lot of fun to walk around and watch the performers, there were some real characters out there!

This was one of our favorite performers! There was also an older Haitian man (he said he was 52 yrs old) that did tumbling and jumping over concrete! He even jumped over a girl on a bike through a small hoop held by a member of the audience. I love seeing the sail boats against the beautiful sunset.


After sunset we decided to get some dinner before to many of the partiers showed up! We tried Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville that first night. Then we walked up and down the main drag of Key West Duval Street. Duval Street just over a mile long end to end and goes from one side of the island to the other and if you need ot find ANYTHING in Key West start on Duval Street.

We found the Key Lime Pie Factory that first night (one of the best discoveries of the trip!) We really enjoyed Key Lime Pie treats that weekend, we had the pie at least 3 times, Stewart's Key Lime Pie Soda twice (even stopped at one on our way home just to have it one more time!) and Key Lime Pie gelatto! So if you are in Key West looking for Key Lime Pie treats we recommend the Blond Giraffe Key Lime Pie Factory.

DAY 2

To start off the day we got to enjoy another perk from Brent earning this vacation from work...the FREE breakfast buffet. It wasn't just hot plates with old food, they had fresh fruit and fluffy eggs and huge sausage and bacon PLUS made to order omelets, fried eggs, and Belgium waffles!

We had picked up quite a few brochures and talked to your concierge about what sites were 'must see' on the island. We ended up at Pirate Soul Museum and it was pretty cool-no photography allowed-it took you through the life and times of being a Pirate in the Keys and Caribbean and even had real Pirate booty on display!

Mile 0 Marker
This little white house was quite interesting it has been used by quite a few of our Presidents and Pres Truman even spent 170ish days of his term down here and signed some important bills while here! A lot of people (including us) didn't even know it was here we just kind of stumbled across it while walking around off the beaten path a bit.

Light House Museum. We just looked around out side, it was a very beautiful light house and right across the street was Ernest Hemingway's house. I didn't get any photos cause the wall was to high and we decided to not pay the $20+ to get in...

Then we made on our most important food discoveries of the entire trip...BLUE HEAVEN. Brent's parents had been down to Key West last year and all Russ could talk about was this place were they ate outside and there were roosters wandering around and the food was GOOD. So we did a little research and wandering ourselves and found Blue Heaven.

Here is one of the many Roosters that just wander around the courtyard.

This is the courtyard where you eat and there is at times hours long waiting to get one of these seats!

We stopped in for lunch and since we were still so full from our breakfast decided to split something. We ordered the Caribbean Jerk Chicken Sandwich...now listen and listen well if you are ever in Key West you MUST try Blue Heavens Jerk Chicken. You can have it has an entree a sandwich or in a salad it does not matter, just try it. It was the BEST jerk Chicken either of us had ever tired and though we were stuffed we seriously contemplated ordering ANOTHER sandwich!

That afternoon we hung out at the hotel a little more (I was 8 weeks pregnant so need some rest time) then headed back out to Duval Street for some dinner. We ate at a place called Duffy's and had some interesting steaks marinated in teryaki sauce, but then had free key lime pie for dessert :). On our way back to our shuttle pick up spot we wandered in and out of the many art galleries along Duval Street. We also got a good laugh when a large white convertible drove down the street with two Drag Queens sitting in the back with a blow horn advertising their Friday night show...sadly no picture.

Day 3

After the nice relaxing time we had been having we seriously contemplated staying just one more night...sadly it was not meant to be. So we packed up the car checked out and headed down to the southern tip of the island to see some of the last sites.

This is the Southern Most House in the USA and is an B&B (you would NOT believe the prices to stay at anything that says 'southernmost' in the name!)

This is the LINE to get a picture at Southernmost point. It's nice though because if you want the person in front of you stays and takes your photo and then you take the photo for the next and so on and so forth!

Here I am at Southernmost point. Just 90 miles form Cube (and a whopping 120 miles from continental USA!)

We had a great weekend and enjoyed beautiful weather..shorts and tee shirt during the day pants and light jacket/sweater at night. We ate LOTS of GREAT food, relaxed, and walked about 20 miles (mostly up and down Duval street). On the way home we once again really enjoyed just being the two of us...we stopped at a sports bar/restaurant (once again thanks GPS!) and ate a leisurely lunch while Brent got to watch is IU Basketball game.
We are already talking about when we can go back again!