Why we fly south in the winter .....

Snowbirds in the Sunshine State

For the last few years we've been going to visit Mark's mom while she's wintering in Florida, and this time we decided to add a little trip to Key West since neither of us had ever been there before. Normally we fly into Fort Lauderdale, but this time we flew into Miami, where we picked up a rental car and drove south as far as Florida City the first day.


We wanted to start fresh in the morning for the overseas highway drive, so we spent the night at the Travelodge, a friendly, clean, and relatively cheap place right on US 1. Among the other things it has going for it is Captain's seafood restaurant right across the street, and a huge liquor store just a few blocks south. It's your last chance to stock up for your stay in the Keys at mainland prices!


Ahead in the distance here is the Seven-Mile Bridge, the longest span on the entire 127-mile highway. You'd think you could cover that easily in less than 2 hours, but you'd be wrong. The speed limit is only 45 mph, and it's a lot of stop and go traffic, so the trip to Key West takes a good 3.5 hours. It's definitely worth it though because there is so much beautiful scenery to enjoy along the way.


Once we got to Key West we parked the car here at the Key Lime Inn and never used it for the next three days. We were right in the middle of the island so we could walk everywhere. We spent the mornings doing all the touristy stuff, and the afternoons swimming and just lounging around the pool reading.

Hemingway's House

I really enjoyed the tour here. We learned a lot of amazing trivia about the author and his many wives, as well as some interesting history about Key West.


This was the studio where Hemingway wrote several of his novels. Note the cat on the chaise lounge; just one of the 46 cats currently living on the property.


In many ways Key West reminded me of New Orleans, and this house with its beautiful grounds would definitely be right at home in the Garden District.


Here the tour guide is telling us the story of the fountain and the little pool it flows into, which was actually a urinal from one of Hemingway's favorite bars. Now it's a glorified water bowl for the cats!

Hemingway's Cats

This one was the official "greeter" in the house and she followed the guide along with us throughout the whole tour.


Many of the cats have six toes, which is really evident here on this guy. They are called polydactl cats.


Just one of the many little cat houses around the gardens.

The Southernmost Point

Here's the obligatory photo of the marker on the south end of the island. I cropped out all the tourists on the left who were jockeying around trying to get pictures of themselves in front of it. We didn't feel like waiting around.


Just to the right of the marker you can see through the fence around Naval Air Station Key West.


I hope the people stationed there are getting hardship duty pay, haha!

Flora and Fauna

I'm not sure what these flowers are called but I absolutely love them.


This I know is a banyan tree. File that under useless trivia!


This is the world's most annoying rooster. He lives on the grounds of the Key Lime Inn and he crows at all hours of the day and night.


Just one of the zillions of geckos that live in south Florida. I love the geckos. They eat annoying insects.


This handsome fellow is Newton. We met him at one of the bars on Duval Street!

More Flora and Fauna

After the long and dreary winter we've had here in Wisconsin, I was just so happy to see living things that I maybe went a little overboard on the photos.


But how could I NOT take a close-up of this cool bush?!?!?


Did I mention how much I love the geckos?


And the winner of the funkiest flora award goes to this .....

Location, Location, Location

All the hotels in Key West are really expensive during the high season months of Feburary and March, but I thought the Key Lime Inn was well worth it mainly because of its great location.


The rooms are not huge, but very comfortable. I liked the island decor and the little wine chiller fridge, and naturally Mark loved the flat screen TV.


Nice bath products are always a plus too.


We also had a little coffee bar area, which Mark promptly turned into a martini bar!

Random Things That Made Me Laugh

Bahia Honda State Park

This little park is located at the south end of the Seven-Mile Bridge and has one of the few really nice beaches in all of the Keys. We stopped to check it out on our way back from Key West, but unfortunately these are the only two photos we got that day.


Luckily I had purchased a relatively cheap Nikon Coolpix just for trips like this, because right after I snapped this shot Mark said "Let me take a picture of you on the beach" and as I handed the camera to him the wrist strap got hung up and we dropped it. Right in the sand. Lens down. Ooops! Needless to say it's history. Oh well, I was never really happy with that camera anyway. I'm looking at the Canon Powershot now as a replacement. I guess then I'll have to plan another trip to try that out!