Saturday 29 June
Our blood pressure dropped a little further today. We were up at 7am and on the road by 7.45am, for the 4-5 hour drive to the Florida Keys. I reminisced about the good Tom Cruise days and the ‘Cocktail’ movie as we drove through Key Largo (perhaps to some of you that means a Beach Boys song rather than a movie…) and even though we weren’t stressed before that, we became more and more relaxed with each bridge we crossed and each Key we drove through. The whole area has such a relaxed, carefree, summer holiday feel.
The weather is warm and balmy, and everyone we pass is dressed to swim or fish. We enjoyed seeing so many ‘Slice of Life’ type boats (sorry, you have to have seen Dexter to understand that reference!). The Overseas Highway linking all the Keys has been named one of America’s most scenic drives, and we understand why.
We headed straight for the KOA RV park at Sugarloaf Key to book in. The kind manager was going to give us a site near the pool, but decided there was a noisy group of 20-something’s there, so upgraded us to a beachfront site. We reversed our RV into the spot, and the photos below show what was on our doorstep!
After a late lunch, we headed straight out to the beach behind us and then the pool for a swim. We then drove the motorhome into Key West at 4.30pm to explore Mallory Square and the main shopping strip of Duvall Street before the famous sunset at Mallory Pier. This is the southernmost point of the USA. I found a little takeaway place for dinner as the restaurants we looked at were expensive and didn’t have kids’ menus. The Conch Shack as it was called had three awards of excellence from Trip Advisor up from this year and the last two (is that what the Eagleview award looks like, Robyn?). We were too hot to eat much, so the kids and Ross all chose a hot dog, and I tried Conch Fritters with lime aioli. Now those who know me know I don’t try new things, but as this area is known as the Conch Republic, I had to be brave! And the fritters were delicious! With newfound confidence, I went in search of key lime pie, another specialty of the area. We opted for icecreams instead as we sat at the pier, planning to buy some pie on the way out.
We wandered back up to Mallory Square with our icecreams, where a crowd was gathering. It was surreal to see so many people all heading in the same direction, talking in hushed tones as if moving towards a religious experience. The Pier itself is busy and full of buskers and entertainers, on the pier (jugglers, firebreathers and singers), and in the water (jet pack joyriders, which the kids loved!). The sunset was amazing at first, but clouds covered the sun as it got closer to the horizon, so there was no grand finale.
We wandered back to where we had parked the RV next to a naval base and Coast Guard boat exhibit, and headed back to Sugarloaf Key, WITHOUT key lime pie! The route back did not take us past any of the stores we had previously seen selling it, so we have decided we will not leave here tomorrow until we have tried it!
It is now 10.45pm and the kids are back in the pool, as are half a dozen others! The weather is still so warm, we decided to take them for a rare treat of a late night swim. I am writing this as they cool off…oops! The manager just came to tell us the pool is actually closed! Abi saw a sign today that said the pool was open from 8.00am to 0.00 (ie. midnight). It now turns out that there should have been a 1 in front of the 0.00 (ie. 10pm)!! He was very nice, and the kids thought it was funny we had broken a rule!
Tomorrow we head to Miami…after key lime pie of course…