Vacation Day Three - Key West

Tuesday, August 31st

Early in the morning, we pulled into port in Key West, Fl. I'm a native Floridian, but had never been to Key West, so I was SUPER excited to visit.

The first thing we saw? Chickens. The last thing we saw? Chickens. There are chickens EVERYWHERE. In fact, they are protected (though I'm not sure why).

My mom and I decided not to do a ship excursion in Key West. We figured it wouldn't be hard to find a good deal in town. We were right! The trolley that takes you from the boat into town drops you off right at the "train depot." They had all sorts of sight-seeing deals that were much cheaper than booking with the boat. We bought our tickets and headed towards the first stop.

It was early morning, still, and nice weather, so we enjoyed walking through town. However, please note that people in Key West don't really know how to count blocks. Whenever we asked a local how to get somewhere it was, "Go up two blocks and it's one block on the left."

At about the 8th block, we came across the smallest Hard Rock Cafe in the world (at least that's what the sign said). I honestly thought it had awesome character and would have loved to go inside if it were open.

The town really is so cute and fun. At one point, we passed this store that I've only seen in CityWalk. In fact, LW, Britt, and Justine.......... it's the store that sells the Vera Bradley. I didn't realize there was more than one and thought it was cool.

About 15 blocks after we started our 2 block journey, we hit on the first stop.......

Isn't this house GORGEOUS?!?!?! I absolutely LOVE it. I want to put in A/C and live there forever!

One of Hemingway's Six-Toed Cats. There are 40-50 of these cats living on the premises at any given time. They keep strict logs of heritage and keep the cats in good health. My favorite thing is that people aren't allowed to touch the furniture, but the cats are all over it. While we were standing in the living room, two cats got in a huge fight on the couch, lol.

I love this and want one for my house.......

I want this tile in my house, too.

What do you do when your husband has an affair and runs off to Cuba with his mistress? You put in a $20,000 (back then) pool!

I loved this book..... 'A Farewell To Arms.'

Key West Lighthouse

Sooooooooooo pretty........

Found this amusing......

After Hemingway's house, we started on another "2 Block" walk. On the way, we got to the very start of Hwy 1..........

We finally got to Harry Truman's Little White House. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house, but I really enjoyed it! Very informative and kind of neat to see how a President would relax.

Me with "President Truman"

Our final event in Key West was the Conch Train Tour. It took us around the island.

The Southernmost Point of the US. I would have loved to actually get a picture with it, but our driver wouldn't stop :(

We had to be back on the ship by 1:30pm. We went to lunch and while we were sitting there, my phone rang. It was work. Despite my mom's promises that I didn't actually have to answer it, I did. It was my boss. He, of course, had a question that he couldn't answer. As we were talking, I watched our ship pull away from post (we were sitting next to a window). "Hey, M, as we talk, we are literally pulling into International Waters. I won't be reachable for the next 3 days. Bye!"

Having officially shut off work, I enjoyed my afternoon to the fullest. I read by the pool. I looked through the shops. I watched people. I scoffed at the cruisers in the Internet Cafe. It was awesome!

Tuesday was Formal Night. We got dressed up in our finery (and my brand-new shoes) and headed to dinner.

Once again, dinner was delish. Dinner was consistently my favorite meal of the day. Especially the Melting Chocolate Cake for dessert. I ordered it 3 out of the 4 nights. So yummy.

My second favorite part of dinner was the nightly entertainment. The first night, all the staff danced to "Low"..... I almost wet myself laughing and then almost cried because I didn't bring my camera.

I didn't make that mistake again...........

Mama and I all dressed up!

We went to the show, again. Then, I called it an early night. Call me a grandma, but I was whipped, lol.

Mr. Frog

*** Disclaimer: I was given a small compensation to link to http://www.southernmostresorts.com/. I've personally not used their services, but they look really nice!