We were not going to be in a rush today. The itinerary that I had planned was only going to be "suggested itinerary" and not "must dos". It was hard for us to do but we were trying to slow down a bit.
We took our time and had breakfast at the mini hotel buffet. MM and I were struggling with the pancake maker but the friendly hotel staff working in the buffet area helped us. We will learn her name is StacyAnn from a different encounter. We did not step out of our hotel until past 10:00 am. Slowing down was not easy for us but we had to try.
We took the short walk from our hotel to the "Southernmost Point", the iconic landmark of Key West. As we expected, there was a long line to take pictures at the "Southernmost Point". We waited in line like a good tourist. When it was our turn, we quickly took turn to take shots and checked this place off the "suggested itinerary" list.
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| View of Gulf of Mexico from the Southern most point |
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| Finally our turn |
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The quick switch
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After the visiting the Southernmost Point, it was almost mid-day. We caught the free clock-wise one way Duval Loop Bus at Whitehead and United stop (Stop #10) a few hundred yards from the SMP and rode it to Stop #1, Caroline and Grinnell by the Historic Seaport at the North end of Key West. We were here to visit the Cuban Coffee Queen Hut located at the Historic Seaport.
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| A very tense moment - getting our drinks order right |
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| Difficult choices, but we stuck with the cold drinks today |
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| Time to check the phone |
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| Still waiting |
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Toast at the iconic Key West mural
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We sat at the yellow benches to take in our first Cuban Coffee Queen for the trip. It became our morning ritual for all the days that we were in Key West thereafter.
We continued to roam the Historic Seaport area just to soak in the local vibe. The laid back vibe has taken us back to 2019, no masks, no virus, all drinks.
We continued to explore and ended up on the west side of the Historic Seaport area on Elizabeth Street. We saw the iconic Key Lime Pie Shop - Kermit's Original Key West Key Lime Shoppe. We walked in but did not try the pie since we were quite full from the Cuban Coffee. As we walked out of the shop, to my surprise we ran into Kermit. He was in his green baker's outfit. I stuttered but he gracefully embraced us and took pictures with us. I did not think he would actually be at the store but he told us he's there everyday.
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| Inside the shoppe |
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| It's really Kermit! |
After visiting Kermit, we settled our excursions with
Fury, one of the largest adventure providers in town at a large kiosk right across from Kermit's. We booked two excursions - Parasailing and the Island Adventure. I was trying to negotiate out the "holiday rate" but I had no luck.
We continued to explore the town. We strolled through upper Duval Street where the main bar actions were happening. We sat at Mallory Square to look at the parasailers being launched from the boats. There was a large cruise ship in town as well.
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| A pelican posing for us with Sunset Key in the background |
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| The coast guard patrol passing by the large cruise ship |
Temperature had reached a balmy 85 degree in early afternoon with the sun beaming on us. We decided to take refuge at the famed Sloppy Joe's Bar on Duval Street. We got seated pretty quickly and it was a lively scene in the bar. The flamboyant singer cracked off-color jokes and sang Billy Joe and John Mellecamp while the crowd cheered on. We felt somewhat out of place but our friendly waitress brought our drinks and food quickly to make us feel welcome. We feasted on grub and drank frozen concoction to further acclimate to the Key West vibe.
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| Sloppy Joe's on Duval and Green |
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| Getting our grub on |
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| MM enjoying her frozen concoction |
After we got some grub at Sloppy Joe's, we had a bit more energy to further explore. There was a farmer's market by the water so we decided to take the short walk there. The market was located at the Truman Waterfront Park. We left the rowdy Duval Street and walked through the tree-lined, historic neighborhood of Truman Annex to get there. The Truman Annex neighborhood housed many of the former government administrative buildings dated to the 19th century and the Truman's Little White House. President Truman enjoyed spending the winter in Key West so the "Little White House" was where he conducted official business away from the dreary DC winter. We did not enter the Little While House which is now a museum. There were many places that we did not visit and food that we did not eat. The Little White House was one of those things that we did not get to do.
We were out of steam after the Lighthouse visit. We made it back to the hotel around 5:00 pm to freshen up. We decided to take a break from Cuban food tonight and had dinner at
Blackfin Bistro, a nice restaurant within a few minutes walk from our hotel.
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