Our Florida Keys Top 10 continues at the home of the sunset.
Number Five: Key West
Relax. Pull up a beach chair.
Forget life in the fast lane. This is were the highway ends.
This is the southernmost point in the continental U.S.A. — Key West, FL.
Go any further south, and you’ll be swimming to Cuba!
The perfect spot for lunch was Jimmy Buffet’s Original Margaritaville Cafe.
Michael enjoyed a “Cheeseburger in Paradise.” And as the menu put it, I “sailed off to the Virgin Islands” with a yummy pina colada. In retrospect, I should have ordered a margarita in honor of my grandma’s upcoming 90th birthday. She secretly loves margaritas, but please don’t tell her I told you that!
After our meal, we strolled along the colorful and historic Key West Seaport boardwalk.
Michael admired this schooner as it took on the high seas.
And Linnea admired this giant conch shell. Too bad it wouldn’t fit in her little blue bucket. We did find and purchase several smaller seashell treasures at a delightful shell shop nearby. Another notable find during our shopping excursion was dessert! Michael delved into the best-ever key lime pie, and I devoured a dreamy ice cream cone with a scoop of fresh toasted coconut ice cream and a scoop of dark chocolate ice cream. Yum! It was so good, I don’t even remember what the girls ordered.
As we continued sight-seeing on foot, we paused at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum. As you can see, Laurel has a slightly eccentric obsession with cannons. (I have no other theory than perhaps it’s related to her much more understandable Nutcracker obsession.) This particular English cannon — a four pounder long gun and carriage — was a replica. The original was recovered from the wreck of the Henrietta Marie and was typical of the smaller guns carried on merchant ships and pirate ships during the 18th century.
We didn’t tour the museum this time because just visiting the gift shop was fascinating enough for our crew. The man behind the counter gave us a mini-tour of all the shipwreck treasures for sale. He actually let the girls hold a gold Spanish coin from the 1600s. I nearly fainted when he told us it was worth $22,000! Whoah! What was he thinking?
Later we swung by Harry S. Truman’s Little White House. Though it appeared to be a quaint little piece of history, the admission was pretty steep, so we simply admired it from outside.
Random question: Does anyone know why there are chickens everywhere in Key West? This one was on a grassy spot at the Post Office!
The sun wasn’t yet setting when we left Key West, but I promise to deliver some stunning sunset pictures before our Top 10 concludes. We’re halfway through, so stay tuned for #6!
Florida Keys Top 10 Series
Starlight Writer 
I’m envious of the Barto Family – warm sandy beaches,cheesburgers in paradise, searching for shells on the beach – no fair!
But I do thank you for the chocolate cupcake – it was wonderful! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂