A Weekend In the Keys!

Last weekend, Mom took me to Key West, Florida, as an early birthday present/mom-daughter getaway! We had a great time, like we always do! Key West is beautiful. It was a mix of Cape Cod meets the Caribbean (two of my fave places). We stayed on Duval Street (which was like Bourbon St. meets the Bahamas), in a beautiful hotel that is the tallest building on the island! We had Key Lime Pie (I had mine in the form of a chocolate-covered ice cream bar), did some sight-seeing and had a great time! Here's a run down of our unforgettable weekend!

Friday Night - well, it didn't start off as a weekend in paradise; due to the outrageous storms in Houston, we were delayed for 5.5 hours! Luckily, Mom's a member of the President's Club, so we weren't absolutely miserable! Needless to say, we departed IAH a little after 1 a.m. We were crawling into bed at our Miami hotel at 5:30 AM. Take a moment and let that nugget sink in!

Saturday Morning - Left Miami at 10:00 AM (do the math, I woke up at 9, that's 3.5 hours of sleep) and made the beautiful, albiet L-O-N-G drive to Key West. Seeing the beautiful ocean was breathtaking! Great conversation kept us going the whole way!

A shot of the Atlantic Ocean from my passenger seat!

Saturday Afternoon - Arrived in Key West and immediately went to tour Ernest Hemmingway's home, which was so interesting. And, we saw one of the six-toed cats! Left there, and did some exploring of Duval Steet (i.e. shopping and happy hour)!

Hemingway House

Saturday Night - The big thing to do in Key West is go to the dock and watch the sunset...so, when in the Keys...Anyway, it was really fun, the whole environment at the "Sunset Celebration" was upbeat and family friendly - vendors, food, music, jugglers, dancers, etc. After the sun went down, we headed to dinner at a fun place and heard a band playing (side note - they were totally crude, but a tad funny, too)

Just before sunset at Mallory Square!

Sunday Morning - Went to breakfast at Blue Heaven (Kenny Chesney's fave restaurant in Key West) and it was sooo yummy and such a cool place! After breakfast, we took the trolley tour around the island, which was really interesting! After that, we headed to our rent car so we could go to Miami and do a little exploring before my flight home. However, OUR CAR WOULDN'T START! So, the traveling woes continued and we were delayed 2 hours.

Blue Heaven! I've now eaten somewhere that Kenny has eaten! Woo Hoo!

Sunday Afternoon - Lunch in Miami at a restaurant (er, bar) that was on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Though the food was delish, it was surely a dive; sorry Mom!

It was a great trip, and such a memorable weekend with my precious Mom! I only wish it could have lasted longer!!