My mom called me last month and said she was spending two consecutive weeks working in Florida, so how would I like to fly down and road trip from Miami to Key West with her? Uh, YES. So we did that last weekend.
Our first stop on the trip was somewhere in Key Largo for a big plate of fried seafood. It was much more impressive in real life than in this picture.
We stayed at the Doubletree on Key West, which is on the quiet (i.e. non-touristy) side. The room was very Florida-esque.
And the view from our window was basically of a jungle.
We were both surprised at how Key West was not beachy in the least, and did some research to find out what the deal was with that. Apparently there is a coral reef that runs parallel to the Keys that prevents waves from reaching the islands; therefore there is no sand buildup, so people are forced to hang out at the pool rather than on beaches. Since I only like the beach in small doses anyway, this arrangement was fine with me.
Before we hit the pool, though, we took the hotel's free shuttle over to the touristy side of the island to see some attractions. I had mentally prepared myself for the fact that it was going to be extremely hot and humid. I brought very casual, lightweight clothing and told myself it would be for one day only and I could handle it. Well, I guess technically I could handle it but also I will not be going back to South Florida in the summertime. I live in North Carolina - I know about heat and humidity - but this was beyond anything I have ever experienced. When we went outside my iPhone fogged over completely and water actually beaded up on it. It was insanity. ANYWAY so we braved the elements to wander around for a while.
There are chickens running around everywhere! It's like being in Tunisia! (Except in Tunisia it is goats, not chickens.) (But still.)
We went to the Harry S Truman Little White House and checked out the free exhibits, mostly to have a nice air conditioned break.
Then we went to the Hemingway House, which was interesting.
There are 45 cats who live in the property, all descended from Hemingway's own cat. FORTY FIVE. Here is a sampling.
I think this lady was pregnant. I sat next to her for a while.
I firmly believe that more tourist attractions need to have cats wandering around. I cannot express how delightful it is to have parts of a museum cordoned off so that humans can't mess with the historical furniture, and meanwhile there is a cat asleep in the middle of it.
Key West was cute!
We got some matching flip flops. They're Crocs. Shh.
The water was dirty-looking close to shore but gorgeous and turquoise farther out.
So after our time exploring we were about to keel over, and retired to the pool at our hotel.
I drank three (3) pina coladas and mom went for the variety pack with a pina colada, margarita, and raspberry daiquiri. Each of these drinks was delicious but had an extremely small amount of alcohol in it. We think they do this on purpose because they do not want their patrons dying of dehydration in those weather conditions.
After a while we snagged one of the cabanas, which was a good thing as spray-on sunscreen apparently does not work very well.
For dinner we went to an Italian place near our hotel. We got key lime pie to split, and while it looks nice, it was sort of weirdly gritty.
The next day on the trip back to the mainland we stopped at a hole in the wall place on the water and tried again - this time it was delicious!
When we got back to Miami we had some time to kill before I needed to be at the airport, so we went to the Vizcaya Museum & Gardens. Mom got a discount.
The house was amazing! You may recognize it from The Money Pit.
The gardens are also beautiful, and enormous, but oh my god it was so hot outside. There was a bride and groom getting pictures taken and the photographer kept having to take breaks to fan her and mist them with water.
All in all a successful Florida weekend! but seriously do not go there in the summer.
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