Jenny, Kate and I escape the daily grid in Southern Florida…
We all agreed (especially Kate) that it was time for a family vacation and a post-birthday celebration for Jenny. Over the last fifteen months, we’ve taken Kate to Los Angeles, Austin, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Orlando, Chicago, and Tahoe. So for a change, we decided to head to Key West (3 nights) with bookend overnight stays in Fort Lauderdale (1 night before and after).
Follow our trip from Ft. Lauderdale to Islamorada Key, then Key West for a few days and back to home. Here are a few pictures…
Ft. Lauderdale – Vacation Day One
Ft. Lauderdale is a perfect starting point for a trip to the Keys… While Key West is less than 200 miles from Ft. Lauderdale, if you’re flying there, it makes for a long day to couple the flight and drive. That said, we flew in on Thursday and spent the night minutes away from the airport at one of our favorite locations, the Westin Beach Resort & Spa.
Islamorada Key’s Island Grill – Vacation Day Two
We try to break any long driving trip up into segments so Kate can stretch her legs. Islamorada is a perfect stopping point between Ft. Lauderdale and Key West. Yelp said this was the place to eat in Islamorada. They were right. Island Grill has fantastic food and, if you can stay for a while, they have a great private beach!
Key West – Vacation Day Two
So, we’re here for four days and three nights. We found the perfect hotel, the Sheraton Suites Key West, just 2 miles from the center of everything. We have a mini-kitchen, living room (where Kate is sleeping as I type), one bedroom (where Jenny is sleeping right now) and fantastic 3rd-story patio overlooking the Atlantic Ocean (where I am drinking wine while righting this post for you)!
Key West’s Southernmost Beach – Vacation Day Three
Today was a BIG day for Kate as she saw the beach and walked in sand for the very first time. She was a bit apprehensive at first, but (as you can see) came to enjoy it! These pictures are taken at a public beach right behind the Southernmost Beach Cafe. This is a great place to swim, dine, swim. The beach is a small with loads of kelp, but the water is perfect and the proximity to excellent food makes this a must visit. Kate agrees (see loves the chicken fingers and beach here).
Key West Aquarium – Vacation Day Three
Kate’s first trip to the aquarium and this one even has a petting zoo! While she wasn’t too excited about touching the nurse sharks, crab, or conch, Kate liked the starfish so much she wanted to take a bit out of it! This little aquarium is quaint and hands on. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long to see all it has to offer! But, we give it two thumbs for the petting area; we loved handling all the various sea creatures.
Key West’s Higgs Beach – Vacation Day Three
This great little beach seems like home for the locals… We found a good (B+) Italian restaurant, Salute, with beach front real estate. After dinner, we hit the beach to play. During which, Kate found a coconut weighing 8-10 pound. She’s weighing in at 25+ pounds now, but Kate hauled it around for a good fifteen minutes (hopefully she sleeps well tonight).
Key West’s Duval Street & Mallory Square – Vacation Day Four
Duval Street is the heart of downtown Key West’s commercial district and Mallory Square is an historic area with tons of tourist shopping carts. We spent a few hours window shopping, walking the side streets, eating and taking a few pictures. This is an area you mustget off the beaten path. On side streets around Mallory Square, you’ll find President Truman’s house and a ton of beautiful real estate with massive tree-lined streets and antebellum-like homes.
Key West’s Ernest Hemingway’s House – Vacation Day Four
For anyone whose read the The Old Man and the Sea, A Farewell to Arms or For Whom the Bell Tolls, a visit to Key West cannot be complete without visiting the beautiful home of Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway’s residency contains a main house, guest house, pool, several gardens and a family of cats.
Key West’s Friends of Mallory Square – Vacation Day Four
This is an amazing, must-see sculpture garden in Mallory Square. It showcases all the influential people who’ve contributed to the greatness of Key West. Spend a some time reading the each everyone’s history and enjoy the diversity of each individual’s busts (heads). Pay attention to some of the greats like President Truman, Ernest Hemingway, Charles Helberg, William Whitehead (there is a street named after him) and more.
Vacation Day’s Five & Six Are Private!
You’ve seen most of our adventures, but we’ll keep the last two days of our trip to ourselves. Sorry to disappoint. We’ve had a blast on this trip and it’s been as restful as possible with a 15 month old. It’s been great spending uninterrupted time with my pulchritudinous (count ‘em, six-syllable substitute for beautiful), brilliant, superwomen-esque wife and my much better half!!! Added benefit, Jenny and I both spent some much needed time with Kate. She’s growing so quickly and, with our busy schedules, we don’t get to spend more than a weekend with her. You can tell she’s a happy, smart, active baby… Pay attention to those BIG brown eyes… Those are going to break hearts in the future…
Hope you enjoy the pictures and summary. If you have five nights, head on down/over to Florida and enjoy the Keys.
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