Key West

When people asked how far I was going to travel on this winter/spring journey, I'd say my ultimate goal was to get to Key West. I didn't really know much about Key West, but I knew that Key Largo was as far down as I'd gotten in my only other trip to Florida, I'd seen so many beautiful pictures, and it's the islands, so what's not to like, right? Along the way I learned that Key West could be a polarizing topic - people seem to either love it or hate it. I saw that as all the more reason to want to go and make up my own mind. It's a long way from home, but I'd definitely go back!

End of the road. From here it's just a long ride home!

It's an expensive place to stay, so I was really only there 3 days, 3 nights (plus a store run the morning of day 4). Something I'd love to do on another trip is to take the ferry out to the Dry Tortugas National Park, which takes a full day, and I haven't found an affordable way to take the dog. But I did see many of the city's highlights, a couple dog parks, attended one of the nightly sunset festivals, took part in their annual St. Patrick's Day Beer Stroll, and had a great time.

Now I'm in the slower-paced Marathon area and tomorrow I go back for a few more days in Key Largo. Today's big activity was to take the blow-up kayak out since the wind was moderate and I'm staying on the bay side (Gulf) this time. Thankfully my sunscreen worked all right!