HOMESTEAD>KEY WEST

On Friday, May 25th, Nic and I enjoyed another delicious breakfast at the Hampton Inn before heading off on our drive through the Keys down to Key West. As you drive along highway one the mile markers sort of count you down (We started at about 126 and mile marker 0 is in Key West). It was fun to watch the miles tick by as we drove along on a perfect sunny Florida day. Just as we were heading into Key Largo, Margaritaville came on the radio. It was perfect timing!! One of our first stops was to get a picture with Wyland's wall mural. 

Next, we entered Islamorada and stopped for a photo with the giant lobster at Rain Barrel Artisan's Village. Then we stopped at the "world famous" Tiki Bar in Holiday Isle. Unfortunately, it wasn't opened yet (I thought it was always 5 o'clock somewhere?) so we got back on the road. We munched on our delicious homemade banana bread from Robert Was Here Fruit Stand. 

Our next stop was Robbie's Marina to feed the tarpon. It was so fun! We had never seen tarpon before. They were huge and somewhat scary looking. For a few bucks we got a bucket of fish and tons of entertainment. It was quite a challenge to feed the fish while also keeping an eye on the pelicans and ensuring they didn't steal the fish from us. Nic enjoyed feeding the fish, but I found it a bit difficult to bend down low enough on the dock with my purse and belly to feed them without losing my balance and falling in. (I'm sure that would have made for a great video though!). My favorite part was watching others feed the tarpon. One guy did in fact fall through the dock and then to compensate for it hand fed the tarpon (He would hold the fish out of the water and the tarpon would jump out and engulf his entire hand in it's mouth to get the fish. The guy's hand was totally bleeding (the tarpon have pretty impressive teeth), but he kept doing it. He put on quite a show!! We spent a decent amount of time at Robbie's and every second was pure entertainment. We loved it!! 

After that, we stopped at Anne's Beach. It was beautiful! We dipped our feet in and I must say, it was the warmest water I have ever felt! Next we stopped at 7 Mile Grill for a bite to eat before we crossed the famous 7 mile bridge. We stopped and took a stroll on the bridge before hopping back in the car and driving it. The drive across the bridge is quite beautiful. The Gulf of Mexico is to the right, the Atlantic ocean is to the left, and all you can really see is blue ocean all around. Next we entered Big Pine Key were we kept our eyes peeled for Key Deer (we didn't see any). 

After hours of fun and what we decided was a perfect drive with just the right amount of stops, we arrived in Key West!!

We checked into our hotel, then went straight to the beach. Our room wasn't ready when we checked in so they gave us free drink coupons. Nic got a pina colada and I enjoyed a delicious virgin pina colada. It was so good and totally worth all the dirty looks I got while drinking it. The little beach at our hotel was so nice and the water was calm and warm. We checked out the hotel's iguana who we later discovered perches himself on this rock to watch the sunset every night. 

After a bit of sun and dips in the ocean, we changed and headed over to Mallory Square for the sunset. We listened to live music and watched the gorgeous sunset with practically everyone else in Key West. After that we checked out some of the street performers and then grabbed dinner at a nearby restaurant. It was a fabulous day!