Florida Keys Day Trip

Day 20: Fist bump, we have survived over 20 days road tripping and 17 days sleeping in the car!  The only disagreements we have had (that I can even maybe remember, everything is blurring together) is related to the best places to eat in each location, which parking spot real-estate would be most ideal at night and pulling over for me to use the restroom.  Otherwise, we are two peas in a car. 😄

Chad is a great travel partner and I wouldn’t trade him in. We would potentially trade in the car for a transit van to travel in. It would be so much nicer to blend in. Maybe next time!

Chad woke me suddenly and asked for me to open my door. He had his hands cupped together and my sleep-clouded mind was hardly processing anything he was saying. After removing the item from the car, I gawked at him as he said he woke to a small frog landing on his hand, which he had resting on his chest. YUCK!

How did it get in the car? We had all the windows shut for once because it was heavily down pouring outside. But, the little frog snuck in somehow…super disturbing. We both hit the hay again and hoped it wouldn’t happen again.

Since we are road tripping the entire east coast, we decided to go down the chain of islands on Highway 1, explore a little, and ride it all the way up to Maine (when activities permit).   Today was the day for the island life! 

In the morning, we set out with cloudy skies, and the water was a brilliant blue around the highway. There were tons of cars heading south with us and I was so confused because I thought there wouldn’t be any parking for ALL of us. Come to find out, some would duck out into the pull-off spaces to go boating, picnicking, set up sun tents and hang out, etc. Super cool!

Ready to get the creative editing juices flowing, we pulled into the last Starbucks for the next 80 miles and went to work. Chad’s mom was celebrating a birthday and we wanted to create a little cartoon to share with her. It was one of my favorite editing sessions!

We did the “walk-it-with-your-eyes” tour of the islands all the way down to Key West. There wasn’t really a decided plan on where we would be staying for the night (snag a hotel for over $400 minimum on Easter Weekend for a night; sleep in the residential areas of the Keys; find an RV park…) and kind of left that to the other side to help us out.

My favorite part of the drive was seeing the blue water, following the rusty abandoned bridge alongside us, watching the water activities going on and seeing the beach-life tourism. My perception of the Keys used to be a serene vaca destination with little huts, vegetation, old town spaces and a really chill environment.

Oops. There was a CVS almost everywhere I looked, large big-name stores, fast food, TONS of cars and concrete everywhere. The island of Key West is one giant cement block with a sprinkling of vegetation.

Chad and I walked the main strip of Key West, ran into a little art fair on the streets, and looped the whole island on foot. It was tons of walking, but we put 8 hours on the parking garage limit and planned to use it all up. There was no free on street parking that we could find and it was metered. THERE WERE SO MANY CARS. Ok, enough about cars. We also saw the most southern point of the continental U.S.

It had to be done. I found a little bakery and we tried one slice to share. The pie tasted just like the ones we have eaten back home. Chad and I were a little bummed to know that there wasn’t a special “knock your socks off” difference with the recipes. Oh well.

There was a little beach that some people were resting on and were wading in the water.  I realized that there was a large pipe trailing next to the pier and exiting contents into the ocean.  This was their street water drainage system and the people were swimming in it!?  All drains lead to the ocean people, the water is literally muddy and clouded!

We found an article mentioning the restaurants the locals go to for food instead of dropping tons of cash on the tourist trap food prices. There was a little Cuban restaurant we tried, and I really loved the cooked plantains!

We also tried their Cuban Sandwich and Conch Chowder.  The sandwich was alright…just like a subway sandwich… but the Conch chowder tasted good.  It was like eating chili.

Not far was an old cemetery and was saw our first iguana living with a dead person. They must share rent!

After food and the busy main strip of town, we wanted a calmer environment.  This would be a perfect time to have a bed and breakfast because then we could have chilled out on the porch or took midafternoon nap. 

Instead, we kept walking and found a little splash pad out of the way of the chaos within a park.  The large trees were beautiful and the cooler aid coming from the bay helped chill us out. 

There was a large area for MASSIVE boats to dock to and we walked the strip. Fooled into a dead-end, we walked back through a little workout park. Might as well try each of the little machines!

Now we have finally found the calming spaces of the island. The residential and little condo were chill, green with shade trees and in gated communities. We snuck through the park exit into a wonderland! It spit us out near the downtown strip and I took a pic with mile marker 0 for Highway 1.

Making our way back to the parking garage, we walked the boarder of the island and found a whole section we almost missed!   These consisted of old brick roads, pirate-themed environments, restaurants on the water, shops, and a boardwalk around the marina.  How cool! 

Time to call it. Our feet were tired and I was parched. I’m sure Chad was thirsty too, but he holds out better than I do. We researched the many forums online to see if it would even be worth our time to try car camping on Key West. Nope. No way. All the sources talked about how the streets are heavily monitored for cars/vans looking like they have sleeping occupants.

There was even an article talking about how its super bad to consider parking at ANY of the shopping and grocery stores because the local enforcement have blocked off the exits, forcing the sleeping RVs, car campers and vans into tickets or getting towed. They are serious (or so they say). We skipped the mess of sleeping and headed back to the tip of Florida. We would rather spend the funds on activities and food, than blow it on a night in a hotel.

If we were to come back, we would fly in and spend the time in a B&B space. We could then vacation in one space, take part in the water actives and beach. This trip is not a beach trip, it’s a road trip! Now we know where we like to go and scouting will pay off.

Chad, bless his soul, drove us back to Florida while I worked on this blog. 45 – 55 MPH. It was a slow trek, but understandable. We made camp at the Cracker Barrel we woke up at this morning. Crazy! That’s a first for this trip. What a long day…. Thanks islands, we will see you again!