This post is LONG overdue! Zach and I cashed in our frequent flyer miles and headed to Key West for Christmas & New Year's. We hadn't been before, and this place was even more amazing than I had prepared myself for. It's a pretty small island (roughly 2 miles by 4 miles), so we did lots of walking, and got to see a large portion of the island as we wandered around town. I know it has a reputation as being a crazy party town, and while you can definitely find that if you're looking for it, that's not the majority of the town - most of the drunken "spring break woohoo!!" types of places are limited to few touristy blocks on the far side of town.Key West has so much Caribbean charm and fun, brightly-colored, sun-faded architecture. It felt like another country (in a good way). Everyone we encountered was SO pleasant, and went way out of their way to be friendly to us. The small town side of things made us feel right at home. Everyone seemed to know each other around town, and by the end of the trip, we were running into our waitresses and hotel-mates at the grocery store :)
We saw this boat speeding in as we were eating lunch on the dock. I'm so curious about the name :)
At sunset, Mallory Square fills up with street performers:
We took a schooner ride!
Christmas morning mimosas on the beach!
Thanks to Zach for this awesome shot of me while we were stand up paddling:
If you make it down to Key West, you HAVE to check out Dry Tortugas / Fort Jefferson. It's an old Civil War - era fort that takes up an entire small island a few hours off of Key West. You can snorkel around the moat, and it's one of the coolest places I've ever been. The colors of the water are UNREAL.
I kind of want to live on this boat.
