A few years ago, hubby’s consulting job drew us to Key Largo in January. We rented a car one afternoon and drove 2 hours on the 7-mile bridge to Key West. The most memorable part of that day was the incredible sunset we watched from Mallory Square.
This time, we flew into Key West right after a big storm. The airport is tiny and uses external ramps for their planes—just FYI.
We arrived a day early, and the conference hotel was full; hubby had to book our first night at the Marriott Courtyard. While the facilities are lovely, the halls, rooms, and surrounding neighborhood leave much to be desired.
The next morning, we Ubered to Casa Marina on the south side of the island. Casa Marina is a huge step up from the Courtyard! The rooms have been recently renovated and are so classy!
Hubby insisted that I arrange the day’s exploration as he had a lot on his mind for the conference. We both love to walk, so we struck out for a point on the other side of the island—Audubon’s House and Tropical Garden.
For a small fee, visitors may wander the garden and historical buildings, including the impressively built Greiger House, where John James Audubon spent some time drawing the local birds for his book Birds of America. I highly recommend visiting this particular place if you love history, nature, and art!
We were hungry after the 34-minute walk and the 45-minute museum stop, but we paused a moment in the Audubon Garden to watch a wiener dog parade go by, Who Let Dogs Out? blaring from a portable sound system.
Then we headed to Blue Heaven, supposedly (per some blogs I read) an out-of-the-way place with classic Florida fare. We put our name on the wait list for “first available” and then were told it would be an hour and 15-minute wait. We were optimistic that they were overstating the wait!
We decided to knock off a visit to the lighthouse from our to-do list while we waited.
The lighthouse was nice. There were only 88 steps to fabulous the views from the top. We walked through the museum, watched a short video, and then decided to meander back to Blue Heaven, a 5-minute walk away. I kept a close eye on my text messages as we popped in and out of shops along the way.
We ended up waiting an additional twenty minutes, and hubby needed to be back across the island soon.
Once seated, service was quick and efficient. Hubby had the Mahi-Mahi and grilled eggplant salad, and I had the traditional chicken salad, which was served on arugula with fresh fruit and a huge wedge of buttermilk cornbread. I can testify that both dishes were yum, but in our hurry to eat, I failed to get a picture.
Following hubby’s quick meeting at a pool cabana at Casa Marina, we grabbed an Uber and raced to Mallory Square to catch the sunset. Minutes later, we were perched on the edge of the square with hundreds of other people, watching the sun go down.
Afterwards, we slowly picked our way back to Casa Marina and planned the next day’s adventure to the state’s southernmost state park, Fort Zachery Taylor.
