We weren't digging Miami. We were at Biscayne National Park deciding what to do with the rest of our day when we decided to head down to just "check out" Key Largo.
After a quick yelp search we decided to grab lunch at Hobo's Cafe. Gray was sippin on another Spearfish Amber and got the Hobo Fish Sandwich- which he later deemed as one of his top entrees of the whole trip! I got the Chicken Key West and it was really good too!
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| Lots of yummy key lime treats! 🍬 |
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| part of the lock garden 🔒 |
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| sooooo good! 😋 pie count:1 |
Since we were technically in the Keys I decided it was a MUST that we get some key lime pie. So before we knew it we were driving to the next key to "Blond Giraffe Key Lime Pie Factory". I got the original and Gray got a frozen, chocolate dipped piece. We enjoyed our slices on their patio which was so beautiful. They have a love lock garden and HUGE staghorn fern chandeliers. Friends, believe me when I say I was stunned when I saw them. We've tried to keep some alive here to no avail but these ferns were THRIVING. The owner came out and told us that they were each over 4o years old!
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| Aren't these Staghorn Ferns amazing?! |
After finishing our slices we realized that we were only 15 mins from the brewery that made the Spearfish Amber that Gray had been enjoying the whole trip. So..... you guessed it- we decided to drive down to the next key!
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| Kiss my wrasse! 😲 |
At Florida Keys Brewing Company- Gray grabbed a rashguard, a sticker for his speargun case and a fresh beer of course! We sat out on their patio, enjoyed the live music, and decided what to do next. And our vacation brains said- you've come this far, why not drive a little farther.
Soooo we were on our way to Key West, with no real plan but to see Key West and then head back to Miami. Spoiler Alert: that's definitely not what happened!
With no real idea about what is in Key West we set the GPS to takes us to the "Southern Most Part in the Continental US" because could we even say we went to the Keys and not go there?! We took in all the sights on the way down and even saw a Key Deer cross the road in front of us!
We arrived and checked out the iconic "Southern Most" marker- which had a LINE to take a picture
with! Gray promptly said " I don't need a picture!" when seeing the line Right down the block from this is the "Southern Most" bar where we stopped and I got a Pina Colada (YUM!) and Gray's drinking... water? At this point I told him he needs to help drive back because we're 3.5 hours away from Miami and I've done alllll the driving that day. But in truth I didn't want to drive back at all- we juuuust got to Key West and I was liking what I was seeing (and did I say I really really didn't want to drive back to Miami).
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| Cheers! 🍹 |
So sitting at the bar we decided to book a last minute hotel room and stay the night! Our bartender gave us all her favorite spots and the "must" dos. So we hopped over to our hotel, checked in, and then headed over to Mallory Square to catch the sunset (our first must do from our bartender).
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| Sunset at Mallory's Square 🌅 |
We watched the sunset and then started exploring the streets of Key West. I had feared that since we got in late that things would be closing up but boy was I wrong! The streets came alive at night! Almost every single bar had live music going on. We just walked around bar hopping to enjoy all the music, got little bites to eat and ice cream in between. It was a ton of fun! After we were sufficiently stuffed and tired we called it a night.
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| Liquid Nitrogen Crafted Ice Cream 🍦 |
In the morning we headed back to the downtown area and started our mission to find the best bloodies in Key West- which took us to the Ram's Head and to Two Friends. Even at 9ish on a Monday morning Key West was alive with music and people bustling about.
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| bloody stop #1 🧉 |
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| bloody stop #2 🧉 |
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| oh heyyy kermie 🐸 |
Next I headed over to Kermit's Key West Key Lime Shoppe- because I obviously had to get key lime pie in Key West! Kermit himself was even there!
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| pie count: 2 |
We ate our pies on the go and checked out more shops including... Lilly! There was no way I was passing up another stop in Lilly if I had the chance! The store was beautiful and they even had a saltwater aquarium! Sadly there's no "Lilly loves Key West" print so I didn't walk out with anything.
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| look at this aquarium! 🐟 |
We then got some more Cuban food for lunch, walked the streets a little bit more, and picked up some gifts for our family.
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| Mojito at El Meson De Pepe's 🍸 |
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| Mile 0.. currently getting paved 🚧 |
We then sadly said goodbye to Key West and started the drive back to Miami. We stopped at Bahia Honda State Park on the way back because we couldn't leave the Keys without getting into the water at least once! Luckily we had all our snorkel gear so we were able to do a little bit of snorkeling! The terrain was different from what we saw at Peanut Island and we saw some new fish, including a barracuda! I saw tons on conch shells and Gray found lobsters! It was truly the best way to end the Keys.
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| Going to miss these crystal blue waters 🌊 |
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| Lobster! 🦞 |
We got back on the road and before leaving the keys I made a last minute trip to Mrs. Mac's Kitchen for.... another slice of pie! This place was closed on our way down but had a ton of good reviews so I had to check it out. Plus, how am I supposed to say I've had the best Key Lime Pie in Key West if I don't try out a few?
This was our last, bittersweet, stop- not only for the Keys but also our FL vacation. We made it back to our Miami hotel, packed up all our stuff, and got ready to catch our 6:30AM flight home.
We loved every bit of Key West and are definitely of dreaming of returning!
Ps. I would be amiss if I didn't mention the chickens in Key West. They were EVERYWHERE! I think they are the unofficial, official mascot of Key West! And while I wake up everyday to chickens crowing, there was something special about these island chickens!🐔
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