The Conch Republic

When you think of the Keys, one of the first places that comes to mind is Key West...right?  Right.  Somehow this southernmost town has gotten a bit of a bad rep as far as being a total party town.  We had heard so much to this effect that we were debating not even going all the way down there.  In the end, we threw caution to the wind and went anyway...figuring if it was not for us that we would simply turn right back around and leave.  Well, ya'll, I am SO GLAD we went!  We had one of the absolute BEST days we have ever had out exploring and we met some of the nicest, kindest folks that we have been fortunate enough to cross paths with in a long time.  Maybe there is a party side to Key West (I wouldn't doubt it!), but there is also a family friendly side.  Here, let me show you...

We drove through town, down Duval and all the crowded streets just like it, then we headed over to Mallory Square and parked in the lot right next to where they have the Sunset Celebrations every evening.  There were plenty of empty spots; we parked, paid our fees, put the ticket/receipt on the dash, and set off on foot to see the town.

Right away we were greeted by some of the famous Key West chickens.  There were even little babies running around :)...

Into the market we go...

...and straight to the conch horns.  We ended up bringing four of those lovlies home with us.  And yes, they really work.  And yes, they are really LOUD ;)!

With our shopping done (for the moment), we were ready to see some sites.  There was a little tour booth set up selling trolley tickets, etc. and we asked the man if he knew where we could get a walking map of the town.  He asked us if we wouldn't rather ride than walk.  I told him jokingly that we couldn't afford to ride, walking fit our budget better.  He laughed and offered me six tickets for the price of one to ride.  Say whaaaat?  Those trolley tours are expensive for a family of our size, he was giving me a HUGE deal.  Of course I said yes :) and we all loaded up on the trolley with a riding map in hand :).

It was totally worth what we paid for the tour.  The driver took us around the island, highlighting all the points of interest and giving a detailed account of each of them...

We chose to get off at a stop near the Southernmost Point Marker thing.  Being the good tourists that we are, a picture was in order.  But first, we had to walk a few blocks.  No problem, Key West is a beautiful town.  The gardens were amazing...

Before we got to the LINE (I don't remember there being a line for this thing before???) to take the picture, we came to a Coconut Man.  It was a very hot day and an ice cold coconut sounded divine.  He had a cooler full of ice with coconuts nestled down getting chilled.  You pay; he takes one out, drills a hole in it, pops a straw in, and hands it to you.  The best drink ever :).  If you finish it and he's still nearby, he'll cut it open and carve out the meat for you to eat, too.

biggest. coconut. ever.

"Do I really have to stand in this line..."

Say cheese!:

Picture done, we walked a few more blocks to catch our ride at the next trolley stop...

When our tour was done, we decided to poke around in a few more shops and things around the Square.  After that, we went along the waterfront to get a better look at the cruise ship in port...

sillies :)

...then it was time to find some lunch.  The kids claimed that they were too hungry to walk anymore, so we just ate at the snack bar type thing in the middle of the Square.  I had wanted to try conch fritters, so we got an order of those to share and the kids also got pizza.  The taste of the conch was good, but the texture was no bueno.  There were hard things in it (shell bits maybe?), bleck!  Oh well, the lady that sold us most of our food was super nice and we got to watch a glass blower working while we ate (and a chicken running around under our table looking for scraps).

Between our drive earlier, our trolley ride, and then walking around we had pretty much seen all that we had wanted to see of the town.  Up next, swimming :)!  We drove over to Fort Zachary Taylor State Park intending to tour the fort and swim.  Well, the water felt so good and the beach was so gorgeous that we did nothing but swim for the rest of the afternoon...and it was wonderful :).

the locals call it "Rock Beach"...you can see why :)

You can rent really comfortable beach chairs for a small fee and they will set them up for you.  They have umbrellas and floats for rent, too (just fyi).  After swimming with the kids for a long time, I got out and lounged in my comfy chair while they brought me treasures :)...

It was getting late, so we gathered our things to change back into dry clothes.  At the rinse showers we saw the neatest sight...a beautiful blue parrot was getting his shower!  That bird was loving it :)!  He kept asking for more and when she'd turn the water on he'd flutter and squawk all kinds of happy :D!  Only in Key West :)...

A few more pictures before leaving the park...

We were hungry again (of course, haha!), so we drove back to the same parking lot downtown to leave the car.  It was a tad more full, but there were still plenty of empty spots.  When I had parked there earlier in the day I had only paid for a few hours instead of the full day, thinking that we wouldn't stay all day.  Now that we were back it was going to cost me way more to pay for a few more hours rather than what the price was for a whole day thing.  The parking ticket guy was walking around checking everyone's vehicles so I went up to him and asked if there was any way to change my earlier pass over to an all day one.  You know what that man did?  He wrote me out a piece of paper and signed it and told me to leave it on my dash.  Free parking and have a nice day :)!!!  Ya'll can't tell me that Key West isn't full of awesome folks, I know better!

Ok, so we parked the car and headed back into the Square in search of Key Lime Pie.  The kids had each made requests of things they'd like to do during our travels and one of Ashlyn's requests was to eat Key Lime Pie in Key West.  Time to make that happen :).  We grabbed a couple tables at the Key Lime Pie Factory and one pie later (when you have 6 people, it's cheaper to just buy a whole pie) we were all smiling and ready to browse the stores and check out the sights again...

We walked and shopped until it was close to sunset, then we headed over to the site of the daily Sunset Celebration.  Check back later because that, my dears, deserves a post of its own :)...