This time next week I will be visiting Key West for the first time with my Mom and sister, April. We’ve never been there before and have been reading up on places to go and things to see, but would welcome any suggestions, too.
We were lucky to score a great deal on a hotel (I’ll post more details later) by calling the hotel instead of just booking through the website. We weren’t aware of another special that wasn’t being advertised that ended up saving us a ton of money. We also checked out the hotel’s cancellation policy just in case a hurricane should interrupt our plans.
My mother has a bad back and we have a bad car, so driving is out. Our options were either The Key West Express or to take Amtrack as far as possible, probably somewhere close to Miami, and rent a car from there. We spent weeks going through and arguing about the options. As usual, I wanted to make a road trip out of things but that would have cost a lot more for car rentals and food or lodging along the way. In the end, we decided we could splurge and catch a one hour flight down there, even if it did cost $311.
We’re staying for six days and want to spend some downtime relaxing at the hotel pool while checking out some of the Key West essentials. Our hotel offers free shuttle service to Duval Street and some of the other major tourist traps (since we’re staying closer to the airport) and we are traveling with one person under 21 so our stint on the Duval Crawl will be limited. There are a few jazz clubs I want to check out and I am determined to stop by Better Than Sex, A Dessert Restaurant.
Other things-to-do include The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum, The Mel Fisher Maritime Museum, The Pirate Soul Museum, and if we have time we might stop at The Key West Butterfly & Nature Conservatory. We might stop by The Key West Lighthouse & Keeper’s Quarters Museum and hopefully take a Ghost Tour if we get a chance. I’ve been told Fort Zachary Taylor State Park has a great beach, so we added that to the list. We’re going to watch the sunset from Mallory Square and take a picture by the Southernmost Point, too, while we’re at it. Tacky, yes. Necessary, you betcha.
Please comment if there is anything I missed – any recommendations would be great! Thanks and I hope you’re having a great summer, too!
