Key West – Day 13

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Key West - Tuesday – March 13^th



Wow! Another busy day in Florida!! We had a good tour, but it was a very loooooong day. But we are glad to have seen Key West.



The day started by us leaving our hotel at 5:45 AM to go to the pickup point and we got back to our room at 10:00 PM. That is why we did not publish anything yesterday. Now we are trying to catch up (being a day behind).



We had previously found the hotel where we needed to meet the tour and we had found a 24-hr McDonalds for a drive-thru breakfast. We grabbed breakfast sandwiches (the hotel breakfast did not start until 6:30) and went to the Hilton for our pickup. We actually got there about 20 minutes early (everything had clicked and there were no delays) so we used our built-in buffer time to eat breakfast on the front benches in the comfortable cool morning weather.



The shuttle arrived on time but the driver was expecting 4 people. He checked with the desk and waited until 6:45, and then drove like crazy to get us to Miami to catch the real tour bus on time. If he gives up shuttle driving he could be a racecar driver. Janet was in the front seat but David was in the back and could see the speedometer. WOW!



We got to the bus and boarded just fine. Except Janet still had her cup of tea and they did not want any food or drink on the bus (contrary to what they had told us when we reconfirmed the day before). Throughout the day they kept making a point to saying no food on the bus, even though it was about a 4 hour ride to Key West.



Our first seat was badly reclined (almost lying down) and we could not adjust them. We traded to another pair of seats and they were comfortable for standard bus seats. After another couple of pickup stops around Miami, the bus headed to Key West. About half way along they stopped at a Burger King / Starbucks for people to grab something quick to eat (outside the bus) and to use the bathroom. Then we were on the 2 lane road across 42 bridges and 37 islands/cays until we arrived at the end of the road – Key West. This was around 11:30. Along the way, the guide gave us a few pieces of information, but she certainly was not our best tour guide. There were an incredible number of very expensive looking houses along the way, on each of the various islands. Then there were islands that looked like the others but were completely unpopulated because the bridge did not go to them. But it made very interesting scenery on the drive to Key West.



There were several optional tours after we arrived in Key West and we had chosen the hop-on / hop-off tram, which included a narrative by the tram driver. This was actually mush more interesting to us that the alternatives (glass bottom boat of the coral reef, snorkeling, or parasailing). Each of the tram drivers gave a lot of interesting information about the various locations along the way. A lot of historical people have lived in Key West including Harry Truman, Hemingway and Tennessee Williams. We also got to see some beautiful beaches and the Southern most point of the continental USA. This also gave us free time to stop and eat at a nice restaurant, as well as browse through a lot of little stores. We rode the full 12-stop course initially and then decided to explore a few special places. Anyone not choosing a tour had the day to do whatever they could arrange for themselves.



We ate lunch at a place called the “Rooftop Café”, which was basically a restaurant on the second floor of a building, having about half of the tables out on a balcony and the others inside. Janet had the shrimp salad croissant and David had the Cuban Pork Panini. Both were delicious, although we were also pretty hungry by that time.



Our final plan that day was to ride to stop-5 and visit the Hemmingway House and see his cats which are supposed to have 6 toes. But it was beginning to get a little tight on time, so we just looked at it from the outside and then rode back from stop-12 to stop-1. We still had time for a final bathroom break and to get a light snack before meeting the bus at 5:15.



The bus ride back to Miami was delayed half way by an accident on the road. Most people disembarked to stretch and take a sunset picture or two. We did not get back to Miami until after 9:00 and then had a shuttle ride back to Ft Lauderdale. This driver wasn’t quite the speedy person as his morning counterpart, but by then we were too tired to really care how long it took him to get us back. One pleasant surprise was the parking at the Hilton. We had to get a parking ticket to enter their lot, and had been told the price was $3 for the first hour and $1 for each hour afterwards. When we finally got the car, we expected about a $20 charge, but the lady raised the bar and waved us through without any fee at all. No objection by us.



Altogether we were away from our room for about 16 hours we spent less than 6 hours in Key West. David was very glad not to have driven that long 2-lane road, but it was actually pretty tiring to ride for so many hours. In hindsight it would have been preferable to drive there and stay over night, and then drive back the next day. Alternatively, there were 2 cruise ships in port when we arrived, so maybe a cruise (no long drive at all) would have been an even better approach. Along with the thousands of people from the cruise ships, it was also Spring Break time. For that reason, it was very crowded in the shops, restaurants, and the many bars. We didn’t actually have any problem with the trams, but progress through the streets was slow in downtown. It was pretty interesting to visit, but that’s probably not on the top of our list to see a second time.





Anyway, there was no blog posting yesterday, so this catches you up on an interesting but very tiring day.

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Photos

Sloppy Joes Bar
One of the oldest in Key West

Southern Most Point
Southern Most in USA

Trolley
View of a trolley - from our trolley

Roof Top Cafe
where we had lunch on the balcony

Sunset
on our drive back to Miami