Florida, day 11: The Keys

We ate our Pop-tarts, cleaned our cabin, and got off to a relatively early start. I was a bit surprised that my daughter, the sugar addict, was not all that fond of the Pop-tarts. For me, they were as good as I remembered, but I certainly wouldn't want them for breakfast more than once per year. Did I really live on those things when I was in college?

We drove back through the greater Miami area and down to the Keys. Key Largo was in no way glamorous or beautiful which I'd expected from the internet, and I'm glad I took my friend's advice to focus on Key West. As we got to the middle keys, the scenery improved, and the view from the bridges was spectacular.

For lunch, we went to the No Name Bar on No Name Key (Big Pine Key) which involved driving through the Key Deer preserve. As we parked the car, a deer ran across the road! It looked like a small California mule deer. There was a long wait to get seated for lunch, but the food was worth the wait. My husband and I shared a grouper sandwich and a Cuban sandwich, both of which were excellent. The pizza also looked really good, reminiscent of my favorite, Carinos in La Jolla, but we'd already ordered by the time I saw this.

Instead of the relatively expensive motels, hotels, and resorts, we chose to rent a suite at the Dolphin Marina on Little Torch Key. We had two rooms, a screened-in patio, and a kitchenette (fridge, microwave, but no stove) for not much more than the really cheesy motels we'd passed. The staff at the marina was incredibly helpful. They didn't have the little sailboat my husband wanted to rent, but they'd try to get one or find out where else we could find one. I asked about manatees, but they hadn't seen any around recently. My daughter asked where she could drink coconut juice. She'd been admiring the coconuts lying around all over Florida, but we had no way to open one. The next thing we knew, a guy had grabbed a machete and was hacking one open for her. This looked pretty dangerous, but he handled it with ease. It turned out to be a bit sour, but this was a great experience for her.

After settling in, we continued on to Key West. We walked around the historic district but chose not to go into any of the museums. After our rather late lunch, we weren't particularly hungry either. Instead of dinner, I picked up some key-lime pie for later. (It was divine!) All over Key West were kiosks for booking activities. We asked about renting a kayak or jetski and were talked into an "ultimate adventure." I was wary of spending 6 hours on a boat, but the guy insisted it was rare that anyone got sick because we'd be so busy with all the activities: snorkeling, kayaking, jet-skiing, para-sailing, and the water fun-park.