Key West

We flew down to Key West to take advantage of Colleen's spring break and Jim had some extra time off to use.  Avery, well she just wanted to continue her jet-set lifestyle!  Avery also got to visit a new state for her, the first time to Florida!

Avery, as always, loves reading the safety cards.  She always pulls them out of every seat back in the row!

At the airport she loved looking out the window to see planes landing and taking off. Her and her daddy are a lot alike!!  (Here there was a plane landing just to the left out of view).

We flew into Fort Lauderdale and then drove 3 hours down the beautiful drive on US-1 across the keys the Key West.  Once we got there we checked into The Author's Guest House B&B.

Each room named after a famous author (IE the Hemmingway Room, the Kirkwood Room, etc) and dedicated to that author.  We were however, in "The Library" room.

The first night we went to dinner at a place on the harbor on the north side of the island and enjoyed a nice evening eating outside

For dessert we went next door to the Key West Lime Shoppe to get a famous treat on the island, Key Lime Pie.

However, per everyone's recommendations, we tried Key Lime Pie On A Stick (Basically a piece of Key Lime Pie covered in dark chocolate).

We decided that is one of the best desserts ever created!  I think we had three or four during our trip!

The next day we headed down to Higgs Beach on the south side of the island, and Avery enjoyed a nice cold beverage out on the dock

(yes Avery was really lathered up in SPF-50 sun block all trip, not Jim however, more on that later)

Then Colleen went for a relaxing ride in our raft.

The water was so warm, in the mid-80s, and at low tide it was so shallow that even a few hundred feet out it was only ankle or knee deep!  It was so relaxing to lounge around out there.  Avery had another relaxing drink 100 feet out into the ocean, just sitting there with her mommy!

You can see in the background, the pier stops and then just remnants of a longer pier were left after it got destroyed by a hurriance.

Afterwards we headed back to the sand to relax and read, even Avery liked reading on the beach!

It was worth noting a funny story about Jim, in the morning Colleen asked him if he wanted her to put sun block on his back.  He said no, he had spray on block and he could get his back by himself.  Well, that afternoon a random guy on the beach came up to him and said "Uh, Sir, excuse me.  Do you know that your back is REALLY burnt?"  You know you are really burnt when a random person comes up to tell you to warn you.  It was so bad that from that point on he had a shirt on the rest of the trip, even at the beach!!!

Later we headed over to Duval Street (The main street in Key West) in the Old Town district, and walked around the shops and crowded streets to people watch.  That part of town is old and historic, even the Walgreens was neat, in an old converted movie theater

This photo worked out perfectly too, for about 15 seconds the whole sidewalk cleared and then it went right back to being shoulder to shoulder people!

We also saw the tallest building on Key West, the Conch Hotel

Then we headed onto the trolley to get a tour of the whole island and learn all about the interesting facts/history of the place

Avery loved the trolley and enjoyed watching the scenery fly by

That night after Avery went to sleep we took the baby monitor out to the B&B pool and enjoyed a nice beer to relax our legs/feet

(Our feet were always tired each day, so Jim being the engi-nerd mapped out on Google Maps that we walked over 20 miles in 3 days around the island, all in flip flops, pushing strollers, carrying diaper bags, etc)

The next day we went to Higgs Beach again for a snack

and then headed to the buoy at the southernmost point (Which Jim figured out last year on our trip that it is not the most southern point on the island, the actual southernmost point is in the military base off-limits from the general public).  Also, see the railings behind us?  They were actually painting the buoy while we were there, in fact the guy was right behind the buoy painting the backside with a roller while we were there.

Then we headed over to the old Civil War Fort at the West Martello Towers, to walk the Key West Garden Club grounds.  It was beautiful in there and very tranquil.  Colleen and Avery posed under a brick tunnel that had a giant tree growing on it!

Avery then took a rest and sat down for a rest in the garden

We then walked over to the Key West Toy Factory

Avery loved rolling around in the stroller on the piano key board that played notes!

We ate dinner that night at the Southernmost Bar and Grill, we had a nice view, and Avery had a million dollar view from her high chair

Colleen had seared Ahi Tuna with wasabi again, in fact she had it at various restaurants every night we were there!

We walked out on the dock one last time before headed home again for a relaxing beer in the B&B pool.

The next day we walked around Duval Street again, and Avery had her first ever ice cream cone (shared with us of course).  Let's just say she loved it so much that she kept face planting into it to try and eat as much as she could!

While we enjoyed a Pina Colada at the bar next door, Avery tried on mommy's sunglasses, and was hilarious as she tried to figure out to put them on!

Then we walked over to the harbor to take a tour on a glass bottom boat.  We went 7 miles out to a coral reef, and even though the water was crystal clear, there weren't many fish to be seen, just a coral bottom

But the view on the boat's deck was great, the water color was so green-blue that it almost didn't look real!

We walked around to the art museum

Then found a neat old Kapok Tree

Then the Key West Lighthouse

Then the Earnest Hemmingway House

He built his own brick wall, and as a tour guide to the island told us, he was a much better author than he was a brick-layer!

And finally to another beach called South Beach where Avery also got to play in the shallow warm water, just sitting there having fun

We had dinner one more time on the island before heading back to the B&B.  We then packed up and headed out the next morning.

Avery's flight map is getting filled up.  With this trip (and our upcoming trip to Boston), she can say she's flown 18,000 miles, been to 13 airports, and flown 5 airlines all in her first year.  She's also been to an airport in every corner of the country, San Diego, Seattle, southern Florida, and Boston.