We weren’t just in Florida for vacation, we also had a wedding to attend; with friends. We waited in Miami to pick up our friends Ryan and Lindy, who flew in around 11ish in the morning. Once we had them, we were off on our way to Key West. We were looking forward to the drive as we had heard it was beautiful and we were happy to hang out with our friends before the weeks festivities got under way. After a few stops, we departed mainland Florida.
The drive truly is beautiful as you spend a mix of time on long bridges as well as Key islands. We stopped at Wahoo’s in Islamoradora and ate on an open air patio looking right over a small harbor and the ocean. We were able to see ocean life from right there, sharks as well as tarpon were prevalent.
I opted for a burger as I am not really a seafood guy, but I think all were happy with their food choices. They all enjoyed tropical blended drinks, complete with “floaters” (extra alcohol added to the top), and I, as the driver, abstained. It was a great stop.
More and more pretty blue water, and ultimately we arrived in Key West. The wedding we were all attending was at the Southernmost Resort on the island, so we had to navigate the rest of the island to get there. I was surprised how developed the island actually was. I pictured resorts, corner stores, restaurants, bars, and some homes, but also found a Sears, a TJ Maxx, car dealerships, and other commercial entities. As we progressed towards the Southernmost, it became more of what I had thought it would be and we eventually arrived at the resort. We dropped Ryan and Lindy off as they were staying there, but we were down a block or so at the Best Western Hibiscus.
The Best Western was about $100 a night cheaper than the Southernmost, was close enough that we could walk to the Southernmost and meet all our friends, and was certainly nice enough. It had a large pool and hot tub in the center courtyard that became a well-populated spot every day. We did notice that they average age at the resort was probably 65. We were thankful for the older demographic as we weren’t really looking for blaring music and a spring break-style crowd.
We actually were able to connect with our friends Nick and Amanda (whose wedding we were there for) just prior to dropping Ryan and Lindy off as we were turning around from a wrong turn. We were then able to meet up with the rest of our crew at the bar on the beach at the Southernmost. It was good to see everyone and helped put the anxiety of the flight and the rental car experience behind us (see yesterdays article).
When we left Minny, it had already snowed a bit. Key West was a whole different world; 90’s and humid. Some people are in shape, and I suppose I am too in a way; I am in the shape of a circle – round. That being said, I expected to pretty much just be hot the entire time, and that proved true, but so was everyone else so it all worked out.
A group of us decided to grab dinner that night at La Trattoria, an Italian restaurant that looked to be pretty good. The feeling of the restaurant was mixed in the end, although I loved the Caprese salad I had.
After Dinner we met up with Nick and Amanda as well as some other friends at Willy T’s. A well known bar that Google describes as “a vibrant, mostly outdoor watering whole.” That description seemed pretty accurate and we had a nice night although the live music was a bit off color. The ladies didn’t like how inappropriate he was. He’ll remain nameless mostly because I never learned his name. Done at Willy T’s we headed over to Lucy’s which was similar in that it was mostly open air. We had a nice night, and eventually headed back to our rooms happy to walk before we run in Key West.