The Final Key West Post

Our last full day on the island didn't go quite as planned.  We slept in, woke up and discussed what we wanted to do for the day.  We narrowed it down to a few options and then decided to do the kayak tour through the mangroves where we would have a chance to see manatees, lots of different bird species and lots of sea creatures and maybe even some sharks.  Everyone started getting ready and I was about to book but when I checked the weather it showed thunder and lightning storms would be coming in at the same time as our tour and when I looked out our window it didn't look great towards the ocean so we decided not to book.

With the weather being so iffy we chose to go to the pool for our last day and get in a little more relaxing in.

Popsicles and smoothies were happily enjoyed

After about two hours of pool fun the storm rolled in and there was lots of rain and thunder.  We headed back to the room and all showered up and waited for the rain to stop.

The rain and thunder stopped after about an hour so we took the shuttle over to Duval street to eat dinner at a delicious sushi restaurant.

After dinner we walked along and popped in and out of a few stores before stopping at Matthiessen's Bakery to grab dessert.  This spot is known for their giant cookies which we got as well but we could not pass up their fresh out of the oven huge brownie!

The next morning we were up and at the airport early to head back home.

We had a great time in Key West but just as always we were happy to be going home.

We had a layover in Dallas, Texas and we were about to board when Kayla had to use the restroom.  We told her she could go on her own and watched to make sure she would get in and come out okay.  Brooklyn noticed Kayla was gone and asked where she was, when we told her she went to the restroom she jumped up and was upset that we let her go all alone.  She immediately started texting her.  I told her we could see the restroom and we were watching the whole time.  I took this picture below of Brooklyn standing and watching the entire time to make sure her sister came back safely.  Their bond is so strong and I don't know what they are going to do in a few years when Kayla is off at college.

We were back home in no time!

 

Key West ~ Day 4

 We started the day with Cuban Coffee Queen which did not disappoint!  My iced coffee was delicious and my Cuban bagel was even better!  

This day was a total tourist day! 

On the top of our list was to visit the Hemingway house!  I love Ernest Hemingway and have found him to be one of the most interesting men so I had been looking forward to this.

We were also excited to see all the six toed cats.

We walked the grounds first and stopped to pet all of the cats.  There are over fifty of them and they basically run the place.  They were all very friendly and let us pet them we are definitely cat people so this was fun.

The Hemingway house offers a free walking tour with a tour guide which we did because I really wanted the girls to hear all about him and his life.  I was hoping they would be just as intrigued by him as I am and it worked.  Both Kayla and Brooklyn really enjoyed learning all about his life.  Brooklyn said this was one of her favorite parts of the trip!

Hemingway's office and his typewriter where he wrote seventy percent of his work.  It was left just they way he left it.

After the Hemingway house we walked to the Southernmost point of the island and enjoyed all the beautiful homes along the way.

We made it but we may have been drenched in sweat!  Again the humidity was brutal and once we saw the line to take a picture in front of the famous spot we decided we would pass and this picture below would work just fine for us.

We continued on our walk over to South Beach and walked out on the Emma Carrero Cates Pier to get some pictures.

Once again it was stinky and you can see the brown water which is usually crystal clear.  Also don't look to closely cause you will see our sweat seeping through our shirts, lol.

We walked back up Duval street to find our lunch spot stopping here and there to do some shopping and to take a quick picture of Johnny Depp because, love!

Here it was, lunch at D.J.'s Clam Shack.

BEST LOBSTER ROLL EVER!

I will forever try to find one just as good from this point on.  It was so perfect.

After our trip to Key West I really want to visit Cuba more than ever now. 

 So many places to travel, so little time (and money!)

After lunch we were done with all the sweating so we decided we were ready to go back to the hotel and jump in the pool but first Kayla had a few bookstores she had been waiting to check out.

You better believe you will be checking out all the bookstores if you travel with Kayla.

Back at the hotel, we quickly changed and went down to the pool.

The girls played volleyball and football with some boys they met and Chris and I enjoyed cooling off with cocktails and being in the pool.

We ended the day here.

Key West ~ Day 3

 

On our third day we woke up and ate breakfast at our hotel and then grabbed a Lyft to Smather's Beach.

Look at that view!!!

But don't be fooled because this beach was stinky!

We were told after that the smell is due to the dead sea grass that sometimes gets stuck on the Atlantic side of the island which of course happened during our visiting month.  It also makes the water not clear so that was a bummer as well.  You can see below how brown it is unless you go way out to the sandbar area where it is once again clear and pretty.

Chris and Kayla braved the walk out to the sandbar stepping on the dead sea grass the whole way out.  Brooklyn and I tried but I was going to have an anxiety attack because I do not like stepping on stuff that I can not see so we stayed back.  Brooklyn really wanted to go out to the sandbar so I told her I would suck it up if she wanted to walk out there.  Eventually Chris and Kayla came back and gave us piggyback rides all the way out.  We were laughing hysterically all the way out and back.  I will say once we were out there it was gorgeous!  The view back to the shore was pretty but looking out to just the ocean while being so far out was so neat.   Brooklyn had us cracking up while we were out there because she was freaking out half the time but the way she says things is just so funny and witty we couldn't stop laughing at her.  She made sure that on the piggyback rides back in that her and Kayla were first because "the ones in the back always get picked off first"

As soon as we got back to shore we immediately gathered our stuff and left.  I was sad that we didn't get to enjoy the clear water per usual but this was definitely one of my favorite memories of the trip because of all the laughing and how pretty it was once we were out on that sandbar.

Brooklyn being Brooklyn

Waiting for our Lyft back to the hotel, the humidity was so bad!

Back to the hotel meant back to the pool!

Somebody needed a mocktail and some free churros

Brooklyn and Chris love churros so looked forward to this daily!

We cleaned up and headed to Duval Street for dinner.  We ate at Fogarty's and it was very good.

My mahi mahi tacos were excellent but Kayla's dinner was the best.  She ordered the fresh fish of the day which was a fish we had never heard of.  It was pecan crusted and tasted amazing, no picture of her meal though.

After dinner we took a ghost tour through the city.  This was really fun just to hear about some of the history and see a lot without having to walk all over town.  We all liked this tour.

We all had stickers from the ghost tour so I had the girls add their stickers to this sticker wall we walked by nightly.

It was almost a full moon this night and so pretty to be out walking on the island.