From The Keys to The Kingdom live

[wilma-bride]

now you are back from your road trip do you mind helping me with a few questions/

what day were you driving to key west ? my proposed plans land on doing miami to key west on a friday?? im thinking it may be busier with locals driving down for the weekend?

Friday is the worst day to drive down and Sunday is the worst day to drive back up. It gets very busy/congested and the further down the Keys you go, the roads are narrower and only two lanes. You can get caught up in a lot of traffic. We noticed a significant increase in the traffic, and subsequent delays, going North on the Sunday compared to the other days.

 

[bex7583]

Friday is the worst day to drive down and Sunday is the worst day to drive back up. It gets very busy/congested and the further down the Keys you go, the roads are narrower and only two lanes. You can get caught up in a lot of traffic. We noticed a significant increase in the traffic, and subsequent delays, going North on the Sunday compared to the other days.

oh dear , i thought that !! we are booked in miami on the thursday evening and were planning on leaving early friday morning to drive to key west

 

[wilma-bride]

oh dear , i thought that !! we are booked in miami on the thursday evening and were planning on leaving early friday morning to drive to key west

It might not be too bad if you are planning to leave early

 

[bex7583]

We drove down Easter Tuesday. Could possibly be busier on a weekend.
Key West is very adult on Duval st at night. Transvestites trying to get you in their bars, places with women sat outside and a list of their offerings etc.

I find it difficult to say its not family friendly because everyone/every family is different. We have taken Mathew to Vegas, key West, over 10 times to Amsterdam etc, to us its part of life and something we have never hidden. When Matt was learning about drugs in school we took him to Amsterdam where he saw an addict having an argument with a tree, I know which experience would deter me from using drugs.

There is plenty to do in Key West but I can easily see why some people prefer not to take children.

Key west to Fort Myers is approx 5hrs 30mins & over 300 miles. Are you not stopping anywhere on the way? If your plan is straight there then around Fort Myers area, we chose north of Venice, by the time we got there we had had enough travelling that day but we stopped off in the Everglades and did some Geocaching, we even missed Marco Island due to lack of time.
Sanibel is just 5 mins further than Fort Myers, 6 miles further (and a $6 toll) but a totally different world.


It featured on the travel channel, clip is very short.
http://www.travelchannel.com/video/a-slice-of-blue-heaven-12107
Best (and most expensive) Key lime pie I have ever had. $9.50 + tax but it was delicious.

ha ha arguing with a tree


i meant between islamorada and clearwater fort myers was the intended stop

the rough plan is
leave miami early!! to key west stop 1 night
key west to islamorada 2 nights ( dh plans a sport fishing trip )
then islamorada- ??? one night fort myers was chosen simply as it seemed a equal distance between islamorada and clearwater where we will send our last 2 nights and no we had planned on a scenic drive, somebody had suggested the tamiami trail and i had found the everglades safari park or shark bay a as place to stop either way somewhere with a airboat , i did fancy the cycling at shark bay but 15 mile cycle track in sweating heat may not go down too well with everybody else


omg im starting a pie budget !!! that looks amaze!!!

 

[Cyrano]

Love the photos, especially the Art Deco of Miami.

The road trip is definitely on our bucket list

 

[Wills Mom]

Love the sat nav pic - and of course the pie!!! Making my mouth water here lol. Would looooove to do a road trip like this someday!
And love how you guys deterred Matt from drugs! Brilliant way to do it - action is most usually better than theory! Must remember this for when Will is older!

 

[wayneg]

ha ha arguing with a tree


i meant between islamorada and clearwater fort myers was the intended stop

the rough plan is
leave miami early!! to key west stop 1 night
key west to islamorada 2 nights ( dh plans a sport fishing trip )
then islamorada- ??? one night fort myers was chosen simply as it seemed a equal distance between islamorada and clearwater where we will send our last 2 nights and no we had planned on a scenic drive, somebody had suggested the tamiami trail and i had found the everglades safari park or shark bay a as place to stop either way somewhere with a airboat , i did fancy the cycling at shark bay but 15 mile cycle track in sweating heat may not go down too well with everybody else


omg im starting a pie budget !!! that looks amaze!!!

From Islamorada to Fort Myers is 223miles 3hrs 41mins https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?sadd...LbiDGKJboKUwgpxg&oq=islamorada&mra=ls&t=m&z=8

Then FM to Clearwater 132 miles 2hr 14mins https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?sadd...LbiDGKJboKUwgpxg&oq=clearwater&mra=ls&t=m&z=8

You have far more to do in your first leg than 2nd before taking traffic into account, the journey from Key West to the Everglades took over an hour longer than expected mainly due to very slow traffic, there are not many places you can overtake coming up from the Keys.

 

[wayneg]

Pics from our day in Key West. All from Matt's camera, my Memory stick failed so lost the pics I took, the sunset pics would have been better on my DSLR but at least we still have some to look at.

Day started at Ernest Hemmingway House, Matt spent just about the whole time there photographing cats, if he is ever rich and famous I can see him replicating Hemmingway and filling his house with them. Infact I think Matt just wants to be Hemmingway, writing for a living and living in KW with a house full of cats. It would be his purrfect life.

We then went for lunch at an Irish bar on way back to the hotel for an afternoon swim in the pool, the shrimp Poboy was delicious.

 

[irenep]

Great pictures - it's a long time since I last went to the Keys so they really bring back lots of nice memories - especially that Key Lime Pie!

 

[wilma-bride]

Cats with thumbs

 

[wayneg]

Great pictures - it's a long time since I last went to the Keys so they really bring back lots of nice memories - especially that Key Lime Pie!

I could just eat a piece now. I wonder if any of the supermarkets do a good KL pie.

Cats with thumbs

After our swim we got ready for our evening out, taxi to Mallory square and meal at the Hogs Breath, first time I have had Conch fritters, OK but nothing special. Original plan was walk both ways but Karen was having problems with an ankle so we decided taxi there and walk back when cooler. After a few drinks and her ankle not good I decided a taxi back would be better for the sake of $9 incl tip.

 

[wayneg]

Next morning we left Key West, stopped to take pics of the old oversees Railroad https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overseas_Railroad
I called at Office Depot for a new Memory card.
Long slow drive upto Homestead for lunch at Sonny's Real Pit BBQ, after lunch to the Everglades, Shark valley tram tour. After that a bit of Geocaching including one at the smallest Post Office in the USA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ochopee_Post_Office
It had been another long hot day so we decided to miss Marco Island and go straight to our Hotel, check in gave us hot cookies with those and having a large meal at Sonny's we opted for quick small meal at McD's. Another great day.

 

[dixonsontour]

More great pics bringing back lots of happy memories

 

[Elise79]

What no pictures from McDonalds?

 

[wayneg]

What no pictures from McDonalds?

No, its one meal I don't mind forgetting

 

[Claire Bear]

Random question but are the portion sizes bugger in US? Don't remember having a McDonald's there before.

 

[wayneg]

Random question but are the portion sizes bugger in US? Don't remember having a McDonald's there before.

I think you mean Bigger

Not sure, don't remember last McD's I had in UK or US. I prefer BK.

 

[Claire Bear]

I think you mean Bigger

Not sure, don't remember last McD's I had in UK or US. I prefer BK.

Stupid iPhone!!! Ha. Thinking about it I doubt we'll have a McDonalds on this trip, want to try a few places on I drive then we're on ddp for the rest of the holiday.

 

[xxpeplyxx]

Stupid iPhone!!! Ha. Thinking about it I doubt we'll have a McDonalds on this trip, want to try a few places on I drive then we're on ddp for the rest of the holiday.

We stopped at McDonalds on the way back to the airport, as we had planned on having a nice meal with all the spare time we had due to downtown check in, then we got hit by a Disney bus and had tonnes of paper work to fill out for the police, and Disney police haha! So McDonalds had to do! And all I can remember was the drinks were mahoosive! Don't ask for a large! Lol

 

[Claire Bear]

We stopped at McDonalds on the way back to the airport, as we had planned on having a nice meal with all the spare time we had due to downtown check in, then we got hit by a Disney bus and had tonnes of paper work to fill out for the police, and Disney police haha! So McDonalds had to do! And all I can remember was the drinks were mahoosive! Don't ask for a large! Lol

Hit by a Disney bus!!! Oh no! I hope next time we go back we'll rent a car, DBF has not been driving 2 years yet so I want him to get some more experience first!
DBF likes your comment about mahoosive drinks!