Writing quite a bit after the fact now and somehow the days and dates aren’t adding up. In total we had four full days in Key West and one day on the front and back side of that dedicated to mostly travel. The day after our sight-seeing day when we visited the Hemminway house, we took a Jet-ski tour all the way around the island. Gulf side, to the Atlantic, and back again. It was another great experience and another opportunity to overcome my fear of the water. In truth, the JetSki wasn’t nearly as terrifying as snorkeling because you are above water the entire time AND in control of your own equipment. Plus we had life jackets, so even though we ventured out to deep waters, I never really felt that fear of drowning.

That afternoon it was a different story. We went to fort Zachary Tailor which has one of the few beaches on the island and we tried to swim out to snorkel around some rock formations. We didn’t have flippers to swim and got three quarters of the way and had to turn back. I could not do it and Jim agreed with me. There was more current at that location than the beach at the Dry Tortugas and the water was deep and I simply didn’t have the energy or skills to get there. He said later he would not have been able to make it either even if I wasn’t there, which made me feel a little better. Instead, we ended up trolling around some rocks closer to shore but didn’t really see much.

That evening we walked around Duval street a bit more, but nothing seemed very appealing so we called it off early. The next day would be another long travel day home and I knew it would be better to be well rested for that than to party it up on Saturday night.

Sure enough, we were up early on Sunday and got packed up to leave. We had one more stop/excursion planned for noon up north in Key Largo to hit before heading on to the Miami airport. The drive back up highway 1 was pretty un-eventful and the tour was a relaxing one. Two hours on a pontoon boat exploring the canals of Key Largo and the southern tip of the everglades with its Mangrove trees. We saw a manatee and It came right up to the boat to get a drink of fresh water from a jug they had me pour out over the side. That was really cool. The whole area was fascinating and you could tell the tour-guide/boat driver had been doing that for a long time.

We had a little bit of a dialogue about the prices for the lots and the houses and its incredible how expensive it is. Houses along these canals going for 2-5 million dollars. I can’t even imagine. What’s even more fascinating is that this area of the country gets just wrecked with hurricanes and it’s got to be incredibly expensive to insure those lots/houses. I can’t imagine living there. It was a great place to visit, but I can definitely rule out ever wanting to move to a place like that.

When the tour was over we stayed in Key Largo for lunch at the Sundowner bar and restaurant. I had my second cheeseburger of the trip and it was not as good as the first.

The rest of the trip home was uneventful. It just seemed to take forever. You know when you are traveling to a place, there’s lots of excitement and anticipation and it doesn’t seem that bad. Traveling home is a whole different story. You are worn out, sad that it’s over but looking forward to being home. Every step of the way is blah. Packing, Driving to the airport, returning the rental car, waiting for your flight, yada-yadda. It’s all just blah! We didn’t land until after 10PM so by the time we arrived home, I was ready for sleep.

It was quite an amazing trip and will go down in my books as one of the best vacations I have ever been on. 99.5% of the credit for that goes to my love, for planning everything and being amazing in every single way!

For this one I’m going out in true Miss SugarCookie style and ending with a Keys top 10 list for posterity. In no particular order…

1. Snorkling at the Dry Tortugas/Fort Jefferson.. Holding hands with my sweetie.

2. Riding in the cockpit of a seaplane.

3. Giving a Manatee a drink of fresh water off the side of a boat.

4. The Garbos Cheeseburger experience.

5. Watching sunset from Mallory Square… followed by the street performance of ridiculous Reece.

6. Getting that Jetski to 71km per hour out on the open water.

7. Touring the Hemminway house.

8. Walking up and down Duval street holding hands and stopping into random bars for a cold drink.

9. Sitting on the patio of our condo lazily watching the water, storms, and lizards.

10. Having this whole trip be a surprise and getting to spend so much QT with my new best friend.

And with that, it’s Time to wave Goodbye to the Keys..

Peace and Love Until Next Time,

~Miss SugarCookie