I feel terrible, because I have been gone so long. Part of the reason is that I have such a huge backlog that posting seems really intimidating. Lingon encouraged me to go on. Part of me just wants to switch to Instagram. We shall see...
So, this is from a trip way back in January to Key West. We stayed there for a night. We rented a car at the Miami airport and drove all the way through the Florida Keys.
On the way in, we decided to stop at the Conch House in Key Largo. I must admit, I really wanted to go to Key Largo despite the Lonely Planet's paltry description of it, because of the Beach Boy's Kokomo. The other part of the reason is it coincided with lunch time. :-) Conch is supposed to be one of those things one eats in this part of town, and this place was large enough to show up on Google maps, so here we went. We ordered the conch fritters, conch ceviche, and tacos (maybe conch or some fish). The restaurant had a certain charm to it (people do weddings there!) and the food was pretty good for randomly picking a place off Google maps!
Another random beach on the way in. Forgot the name but it also was on Google maps.
The drive initially was rather amazing. Warm air hitting the skin, miles of roads with the ocean on either sides of us. Then. It. Got. Really. Boring. Plus we hit traffic. Anyhow, after some time, we arrived at our hotel, the Westin Key West, which was right by Duval Street, the main street of Key West. So let me explain how we ended up booking this hotel, which cost us 20,000 Starwood points. Initially I had booked us at the Sheraton which was in a much lesser location and cost 12,000 Starwood points. However, we were on Curaçao for a wedding right before, and some new friends we made had recommended the Westin and said it was absolutely divine. So I switched our reservation, against my better judgment. I suppose the location was really great, but for 20,000 points, the hotel itself was rather awful. The reception did not connect to the building that our rooms were in, and we had to wheel our luggage rather far in the open air to the hotel. I did not mind that so much as I did the sad dark dated rooms. For 20,000 points. Don't get me wrong, I stay in lots of so-so hotels, and it's totally fine, but perhaps for 7,000 points or something. It just seemed like a rip. I would have paid 7,000 points willingly, maybe even 10,000 due to the location, but it just felt rather meh. Anyhow, it is what it is.
We rested for a bit and then went to dinner at Firefly, a Southern restaurant that my college friend's friend managed/owned/ran. As usual my eyes were wider than my stomach. We got the bacon crab beignets, gumbo and blackened fish catch of the day, all of which were not bad. They are, however, known for their fried chicken, but due to Lingon's supposed aversion to fried things, we passed, which was probably the biggest regret of that trip. Then we got the key lime cake, which was not bad, but I always prefer pie since I have an affinity for crust. Glad the restaurant was not that close to our hotel, since we were stuffed and we got to take a nice walk back.
Duval Street was rather happening. I liked this one whimsical building that looked like a theater but I guess is now a pharmacy. We also had to take a picture by the beginning of Highway 1 sign. Here are a couple of day/night photos.
The next morning, for our dose of culture, we decide to go to the Hemingway house. The tour was led by a guy who looked like Hemingway himself. Having read a few Hemingway books, I found this tour to be a great enhancement to what little knowledge I had of him. The man sure had lots of quirks!
Our final stop in Key West was the giant cookie shop on Duval Street. Of course, Lingon opted for the oatmeal cookie. Bad choice, since it was smaller than the other cookies. I suppose the cookie master thinks that people who want an oatmeal cookie prefer it smaller since they are trying to be healthier anyway. Pffft. It was a pretty good cookie, and we somehow resisted eating the whole damned thing.
Goodbye Key West. I will not be coming back anytime soon, but I sure did have fun! One day in Key West seemed enough for us. If I do come back, I want to check out the Truman Little White House, President Truman's winter home.
So, this is from a trip way back in January to Key West. We stayed there for a night. We rented a car at the Miami airport and drove all the way through the Florida Keys.
On the way in, we decided to stop at the Conch House in Key Largo. I must admit, I really wanted to go to Key Largo despite the Lonely Planet's paltry description of it, because of the Beach Boy's Kokomo. The other part of the reason is it coincided with lunch time. :-) Conch is supposed to be one of those things one eats in this part of town, and this place was large enough to show up on Google maps, so here we went. We ordered the conch fritters, conch ceviche, and tacos (maybe conch or some fish). The restaurant had a certain charm to it (people do weddings there!) and the food was pretty good for randomly picking a place off Google maps!
Another random beach on the way in. Forgot the name but it also was on Google maps.
The drive initially was rather amazing. Warm air hitting the skin, miles of roads with the ocean on either sides of us. Then. It. Got. Really. Boring. Plus we hit traffic. Anyhow, after some time, we arrived at our hotel, the Westin Key West, which was right by Duval Street, the main street of Key West. So let me explain how we ended up booking this hotel, which cost us 20,000 Starwood points. Initially I had booked us at the Sheraton which was in a much lesser location and cost 12,000 Starwood points. However, we were on Curaçao for a wedding right before, and some new friends we made had recommended the Westin and said it was absolutely divine. So I switched our reservation, against my better judgment. I suppose the location was really great, but for 20,000 points, the hotel itself was rather awful. The reception did not connect to the building that our rooms were in, and we had to wheel our luggage rather far in the open air to the hotel. I did not mind that so much as I did the sad dark dated rooms. For 20,000 points. Don't get me wrong, I stay in lots of so-so hotels, and it's totally fine, but perhaps for 7,000 points or something. It just seemed like a rip. I would have paid 7,000 points willingly, maybe even 10,000 due to the location, but it just felt rather meh. Anyhow, it is what it is.
We rested for a bit and then went to dinner at Firefly, a Southern restaurant that my college friend's friend managed/owned/ran. As usual my eyes were wider than my stomach. We got the bacon crab beignets, gumbo and blackened fish catch of the day, all of which were not bad. They are, however, known for their fried chicken, but due to Lingon's supposed aversion to fried things, we passed, which was probably the biggest regret of that trip. Then we got the key lime cake, which was not bad, but I always prefer pie since I have an affinity for crust. Glad the restaurant was not that close to our hotel, since we were stuffed and we got to take a nice walk back.
Duval Street was rather happening. I liked this one whimsical building that looked like a theater but I guess is now a pharmacy. We also had to take a picture by the beginning of Highway 1 sign. Here are a couple of day/night photos.
Our final stop in Key West was the giant cookie shop on Duval Street. Of course, Lingon opted for the oatmeal cookie. Bad choice, since it was smaller than the other cookies. I suppose the cookie master thinks that people who want an oatmeal cookie prefer it smaller since they are trying to be healthier anyway. Pffft. It was a pretty good cookie, and we somehow resisted eating the whole damned thing.
Goodbye Key West. I will not be coming back anytime soon, but I sure did have fun! One day in Key West seemed enough for us. If I do come back, I want to check out the Truman Little White House, President Truman's winter home.
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