Key West v. 60

US Highway 1 is 2209 miles long, begins in Ft. Kent, Maine, and ends in Key West, Florida.  We traveled on it in Maine, Virginia, Florida, and probably other parts in between.  Instead of driving through Miami and the rest of the Keys though, we took the Key West Express ferry from Ft. Myers Beach.  Becca finished her last book report on the trip down!

Key West is 90 miles from Cuba, and is the southernmost point in the continental USA. It is only 2 miles by 4 miles, and much of the 4 mile dimension was dredged up, reclaimed, and built on by the Corps of Engineers.  We biked all over the place!  We stayed at Trumbo Point Naval Base- no more than a 5-10 minute bike ride from anything we wanted to see or do.  The hardest thing was choosing from EVERYTHING there is to do.  LUCKILY... We found Sunset Water Sports "Do It All" day!  They took us out on the water for an all day adventure- kayak, snorkel, water ski, paddle board, banana boat, jet ski, iceberg slide, trampoline, knee board- we did them all, and lunch and free beer was included!  Definitely worth the money.  And... that "Call Me Maybe" song was playing on the radio on the way back from waterskiing, so Bob and Bec did an impromptu performance - I posted it on our Facebook page, but here it is again- so fun! That's our Captain Ryan in the background.

 

Knee boarding

15 minutes in the same spot- it was windy!

 The main drag, Duval Street, was pretty touristy.... but we are tourists :).  We found a great little place- The Old Town Bakery on Eaton St. we used for coffee, breakfast, and awesome sandwiches nearly everyday.  They recommended our bike rentals and dinner at Mangia, Mangia.  The funniest? strangest? thing?  We went to Mass at the Basilica of St. Mary, Star of the Sea.  Beautiful church, 6 doors open on each side for the breeze to waft through.  It was packed.  There were 3 pews reserved right up front for a family having their child baptized.  We were right beside them near one of the doors.  One of the family members was just outside the side door talking on the phone constantly, to the point that Bob "shushed" her.  When it came time for the baptism, the family went up to the font.  The women were dressed in bright, tight, satin dresses, and the mom was practically falling out of her dress and heels.  They were not small women, and it looked like disaster waiting to happen!  Just after the baby was baptized, another baby showed up- to the surprise, it seemed, of even the priest! Turned out the lady on the phone was giving directions and fretting that the second family was not going to make it.  They walked right up and repeated the ceremony (well, almost- the priest abridged it a bit).  The strangest part was that the families seemed to have no idea what was going on- like this was the first time they had ever been to Mass. Hmmm...

The famous Key West sunset

We watched street shows and saw the sunset.  The circus was in town- a small traveling troupe, with striped tents and performers who doubled as popcorn and lemonade stand cashiers.  I'm not sure any of my kids have seen a circus outside of a big city arena.  This was definitely a different experience.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's yacht (or so they said!)

We were all gawking at what we were told was Arnold Schwarzenegger's yacht.  Notice the "small" boat tucked in the back, and the helicopter on the deck.  No Arnold sightings, though.