Key West RV Adventure

 

Our 2020 spring break plans (which were cancelled due to COVID) included flying to Las Vegas, picking up a rental RV there, and touring Utah National Parks and the Grand Canyon.  Since we aren't comfortable staying in hotels or able to fly safely yet (and driving across the entire country isn't feasible/appealing), we came up with a crazy, somewhat spontaneous plan to have an RV adventure closer to home.  Mark and I decided in mid-January to surprise the kids with an RV trip to Key West, and literally pulled off this entire vacation with just about a week's advanced planning.  We took advantage of the long MLK Day weekend (the kids were off school on Mon/Tues), and off we went!

We picked up our rental home on wheels in northern Florida (about our halfway point), and L&L completed their remote learning from the road on Friday.  Millie was the best little shotgun rider and was delighted to be along for the ride:

Online learning "classroom" for the day.

We camped at a KOA campground the first night, and settled in comfortably to RV life.  We played games and ate dinner at the table, had hot chocolate and watched a movie, and Leah was so excited to sleep in the bunk above the cab of the RV! 

The next morning, we drove to Key West.  We had downloaded the Gypsy Guide narrated audio tour of the Overseas Highway, and we loved it.  The guide narrated 230 points along our classic, iconic drive on Route 1, and we learned so much about the geography, ecology, and life on the Keys.  The two hour drive on the Overseas Highways spans 113 miles and 42 bridges, and is gorgeous with tropical, turquoise waters surrounding the roadway.  The audio tour gave information about points of interest along the way and added so much to our learning about the Keys.

One of our favorite parts was the 7 Mile Bridge.  

Just a little note here:  Mark was a rockstar driving the RV.  We were a little nervous about how it would be on narrow bridges, etc. but he did great, and we intentionally chose a smaller, 24 foot Class C vehicle (and not a giant monstrosity) for this first RV family adventure.  Mark handled all of our RV hook-ups at each campsite, and was the most enthusiastic driver/captain.  There was one point after he emptied our dirty water/sewer lines that he walked into the RV wide-eyed and said, "We shall NEVER speak of that again!", which just made me laugh and be even more thankful that he handled it all. 

We arrived at Bluewater Key Luxury RV Resort in the afternoon and were blown away by this tropical paradise.  We were fortunate to book some great last minute deals at this place when we were planning our trip, but in person, it was even more amazing than we had imagined.  We had our own private tiki hut at our RV site, complete with an outdoor kitchen, bar, living space, big screen tvs, swings, and courtyard:

There was a fun pirate theme to our tiki hut, and we had a great afternoon soaking in the warm weather.  The kids went swimming in the resort pool and we took Millie for several walks to explore the beautiful bay and ocean views at Bluewater Key:

The next morning, we explored downtown Key West.  After doing a brief drive through downtown in the RV, we decided to rent a golf cart for the day so that we could hop on and off and stop at various sights.  We plopped all the kids in the golf cart (even the fluffy one), and Mark commented that now we'd ridden in the largest and smallest vehicles that he'd ever driven in the same day!

Riding with her head in Daddy's lap.  This one loves snuggling her people!

We saw many interesting sites on our golf cart tour.  Ernest Hemingway's home is in the heart of Old Town Key West, and 40 six-toed cats still reside on the grounds!  We didn't tour the inside of the property (in the spirit of staying socially distant from people), but appreciated its beautiful architecture and cultural significance:

The Key West lighthouse is another famous landmark and dates back to the mid 1800's:

We drove down the infamous Duvall Street, which is a mile long street filled with bars and restaurants (home to Margaritaville), and is the heart of Key West's social scene:

Historic Key West contains cobblestone streets and a mix of architectural influences.  There are brightly colored, flower-adorned tropical cottages next to stately Victorian homes.  Queen Anne style towers and turrets stand beside Spanish style verandahs and porches.  It's all eclectic and lovely, and gave us a great feel of this special place.  This grand old tree took up most of the street corner in front of an elegant church, and we learned that the town is most commonly toured by foot, bike, scooter or golf cart.  The few cars on the road were not in a hurry, and there was a relaxed casual vibe to life.

The kids were amused by the many chickens that we saw roaming everywhere in Key West.  They were a common sight on sidewalks and in yards, and delighted us all:

This great white egret stopped traffic when it calmly and deliberately crossed the street at the crosswalk.  I wish I had thought to take a video of this.  It was hilarious!

There was cheering from our family when we reached the end of Route 1.  Mile Marker Zero was a great landmark to reach!  I suggested that we could now set a goal to visit the northernmost part of Route 1 in Maine, and Mark told me, "One trip at a time..."

We grabbed take out from the highly regarded Eaton Street Seafood Market, and Luke and I feasted on delicious lobster rolls and fresh fish, while landlubbers Daddy and Leah enjoyed non-seafood items on the menu:

After our outdoor picnic lunch, we stopped by Kermit's Key Lime Shoppe to pick up some of their famous Key Lime pie.  It truly was amazing, and we enjoyed our treats on an outdoor patio garden that overlooked a fish pond.  Heavenly!

Another of our other fun Key West stops was Mallory Square, which in non-COVID times is filled with outdoor performers and people gathering to watch magnificent sunsets.  We were happy to have it be just us/much less crowded during our visit:

Always a fan of superlatives, Luke was eager to pose beside the "southernmost, southernmost house in the U.S.A.".  Many of the shops and businesses in this block were named similarly.  We drove by the "southernmost dentist", the "southermost cocktail spot", the "southernmost convenient store", etc.

Even Millie got in on this name-game fun, and visited the Southernmost Dog Park in the United States!

Of course we had to take a picture at the Southernmost Point in the Continental USA.  For trivia lovers, Ka Le on Hawaii's Big Island is actually further south in latitude, but as Mark said above, "One trip at a time..."

Key West beaches aren't great for swimming, but we still wanted to get toes in the sand and water, and had a fun time exploring one of the parks/beaches in the afternoon:

Back at Bluewater Key RV Resort for another evening, we checked out our new tiki hut site, swam in the pool again, and had an al fresco dinner before watching an outdoor movie.  The kids were amazed when Mark pulled up a panel on the exterior of the RV to reveal a big screen tv, and this was another great perk of RV life:

We drove back up to northern Florida to spend one more night at the KOA before returning our RV.  Leah insisted on "just one more picture in my favorite spot" before we hiked to the beach:

We really had a great time on this last minute adventure, and as 2021 looks like it may be filled with continued unknowns (and limited ability to plan), we are determined to keep trying new things.  I know that the kids will have great memories of our RV trip and we hope to continue to reap the benefits of remote learning by finding more safe ways to explore and travel in the upcoming year.