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.