Day 25, 26 & 27 - Key West

The drive from Sanibel Island to Key west was a six hour adventure that could have ended in disaster. For the first leg of the trip which is an almost 3 hour drive from Florida's western coast to it's east coast you must drive through the big national parks Big Cypress National Preserve & Everglades. The reason it could have ended in disaster is that after driving for almost a month, and being used to see a gas station every other mile or so we left Sanibel with almost no gas in the car thinking we'll just stop for gas and food around lunch time. Turns out there are not too many gas stops in national park areas. In fact we found none. We were probably riding on fumes when we finally found a gas station and I remember trying to figure out how long it was between the road side assistance phones if the car would stop. You don't really want to be caught in a car with no AC and no water, in the blistering florida sun right next to an alligator filled swamp. So after finally filling up on gas we went on with the trip now taking us from the vicinity of Miami and down through all the keys until finally arriving on our destination Key West.

The first thing we did was to locate our hotel. Turns out we were living right off Duval street which is the famous party street in Key West. The hotel Olivia by Duval was super cozy and also had a sun deck with a large pool we made good use of. Key West being the southernmost point of the continental USA is actually closer to Cuba then to Miami and the heat down there is immense. A dip in the pool was the perfect remedy whenever we felt overheated. The first night we went to explore Duval and the surrounding area. First we hit a few of the gay bars. We've always found out that the gay areas in most American cities are the friendliest areas and so it seemed even here! After working our way down Duval street we ended up on a small bar on the seafront where we met a couple from Germany and an American guy we drank the night away with on local hotspot Rick's. An awesome start on our adventure  on the keys.

Early next day we were booked on a snorkel cruise so two rather exhausted and slightly drunk Swedes were seen running up and down the streets of Key West trying to find their way to Sebago watersports. We eventually made it aboard the catamaran that took us out to the reef. The weather was perfect for snorkling. Not a cloud in the sky and the water lay really still so the visibility was great. We got a short instruction and in we went. It was my first time snorkeling a reef so I don't have anything to compare with but I thought it was an absolutely amazing experience, right up there with swimming with manatees in Crystal River. There was an abundance of fish in all shapes and colors and we even got to see a barracuda. We were so caught up in the moment that we took almost no photos at all but sometimes memories are best kept the way we remember them and not represented by a photo. On the way back in they opened a free bar on the boat. It seemed like all activities around Key West included a free bar in some way. So a few margaritas in the sun later we made landfall and headed for the hotel after making plans to return the day after for a sunset cruise. 

After a much needed sobering up at the hotel and a swim in the pool we headed to a restaurant simply called The Cafe, renowned for it's vegetarian food. This place turned out to be a gem! Food was absolutely fantastic, another one of those bars where you wanna eat through the entire menu. With a meal in our belly it was time to hit the bars again. We had a pub crawl planned for the evening. We started out with frozen margaritas on Duval and then worked our way down to the cult restaurant called Blue Heaven. An huge outdoor courtyard styled in a hippie slash beachcomber style with wild roosters running around all over the place. A band was on that was playing some kinda Caribbean lounge music. They did a pretty good cover on Free Falling by Tom Petty. We had a few mojitos and just kicked back to the island experience. After Blue Heaven we walked a few blocks to The Green Parrot, a dive bar that the crew on our snorkeling cruise told us of. Probably the most genuine Key West bar we went to. A typical locals place I imagine, however we didn't have to much time to stay in one bar only so we kept moving.

We ended up back on Duval Street and went for one of the many drag queen shows you can find in Key West. It was good fun but it felt a little like the artist were more into collecting tips from the audience then actually performing.  We then proceeded to the original Sloppy Joe's, the famous hotspot where a certain Mr. Hemmingway would spend his nights with his drinking buddies. It's not the one on Duval street as they would have you think but just off Duval a place now called Captain Tony's. You'll recognize it from the women lingerie hanging off the ceiling. Neither the original or the new Sloppy Joe's is that much off an experience though. It's a complete tourist trap today and if you want to feel the Hemmingway vibe head to the Green Parrot instead or any other dive bar away from the main tourist area. Anyways the rest of the night is a bit blurry but it did involve M trying to teach me to dance salsa back at the Green Parrot. Some time in the morning hours we returned to our hotel.

So next morning we woke up a bit later then planned but did a remarkable effort to do the most of our last day in the keys. We started out with brunch at Blue Heaven. I had vegetarian eggs benedict which were to die for! Place was packed so the food took awhile to get which meant we had a few breakfast cocktails too many maybe, but this was one of the last days of our vacation so it felt like it was ok. After brunch we headed to the aquarium. It was small but it had some nice features. We got to see some amazing sea turtles and even though I prefer wildlife in the wild it was still a pretty neat experience. We went on to visit a wrecking museum which was really interesting. Something that might be good to know is that they still have the same salvage laws today meaning that if you get stuck on a reef with your boat and accept someones help to get off they are entitled to everything on board. 

After some museum and gift shopping we went back to The Cafe for lunch. Food was just as amazing this time. We went to the hotel for some relaxation by the pool before our sunset cruise. Around six at night we boarded the catamaran again for our cruise. This time they started serving drinks right away and pretty soon we were in conversations with all these nice people from all over the states while we cruised the beautiful seas surrounding Key West. We met a couple from Tampa that we really hit it off with. It's interesting in the states and it's one of the things I love most about America, how nice everyone is and how they are genuinely interested in getting to know you. We talked away with our new found friends from Tampa and after awhile it felt like we had been friends for a long time. The sunset itself was absolutely gorgeous. M got some great photos but even them cant bring justice to how beautiful it really was. It's one of those things you have to see first hand I guess. After the cruise was over we ended up chatting away with our Tampa friends at the dock and decided to continue the night together at a bar nearby. After some pints and pizza they already invited us back to visit them in Tampa next year which we really hope will be the case. This is kind of the quintessential thing about traveling. To learn about different cultures and making new friends so we can learn from each other and make the world a better place. A cliche I know but nevertheless true. R & M, thank you so much for your kindness to strangers. Hope to see you soon again! This marked the end of our stay in Key West and next up I'll tell you about the last stop, Miami. I'm really ashamed that writing has taken so long time but I have had so much to do after returning to Sweden with university and all. Looking forward to finish the last big entry of this road trip soon so I can start updating this blog more frequently with shorter posts as well. Thank you all for reading!

Day 23 & 24 - Sanibel Island

We left Madeira beach with a feeling that maybe we had now seen the best part of the trip. I was almost sad thinking there is no possible way that whatever comes next can top what we had just experienced. I mean how long can you keep saying to each other, this is the best day in my life! Little did I know that fate still had a few tricks up it's sleeve for us. Leaving Madeira beach was like leaving the gardens of eden, but what waited was paradise, cause truly Sanibel Island must be the very definition of paradise!

The drive from Madeira beach to Sanibel Island was a breeze, much thanks to that M now had perfected the combination of using a preloaded mapquest description in my laptop and looking up the roads in advance in the road atlas. On entering Sanibel Island you cross a bridge from the mainland and as we were driving across I caught my first glimpse of what was to be our island paradise for the next few days. A lush green island covered in palm trees surrounded by travel ad turquoise water and luminous marble white beaches. We had arranged by e-mail to rent a cottage by Peggy from Seahorse cottages and was expecting the normal check in procedures when we arrived. Instead we were met by an outside phone and a sign asking us to call a certain number on arrival. On the phone Peggy very kindly instructed us that everything was prepared and the cottage was unlocked an ready for us. This kinda you-don't-have-to-lock-the-door mentality really set the right tone for us and I could already feel all the worries of the modern world slipping away.

I wouldn't dare comparing Sanibel Island to a tropical island somewhere far from civilisation with your own private beach because A i never been to one and B most important dear readers, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and this was all the paradise I could dream of served in a neat little package!

After checking in to our very spacious cottage with a front and a back porch, we took off to stock up on such necessities as food, booze and a tasty cigar. Before dinner we headed down to the closest beach which was a less than two minute walk. When we set foot on the beach we immediately understood why people had kept telling us that Sanibel is the shelling mecca of the U.S. For those of you not familiar with the expression it is the practice of collecting sea shells, and here you can find one of the greatest varieties of sea shells in the world. And you don't really have to look for them. The tide brings them right up on the shore. 

After working up quite the appetite we returned to the cottage and our fully equipped kitchen where M cooked up a feast, while I kicked back on the porch with a dark & stormy made from Seven tiki rum & Goslings ginger beer while updating the blog(which would be one of the previous posts from our road trip). After dinner we decided to walk in towards the small center of the Island. It was a hot summer night and we were ill prepared for the mosquitos that take over Sanibel when the sun sets so we were happy to stumble on to the local water hole the Lazy Flamingo where we enjoyed their air conditioning and some local brews before calling it a night.

After sleeping like babies through out the night we woke up eager to hit the beach. Seahorse Cottages provides you with both bicycles and beach pull carts so we loaded up a beach cart and headed for the slightly more distant western beach of the island, a five minute walk. The day before had been a bit cloudy but now the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in sight. M got some much needed snorkeling practice for our upcoming snorkeling cruise in Key West and she was snorkeling like a pro when it was time to head back for lunch. We had scouted out a restaurant on the connecting Captiva Island that we were dying to try out. The Bubble Room is the kitsch dream of the restaurant world. With an all year christmas theme they have gathered all the knick knacks they could get their hans on to provide a dining experience out of the ordinary. Food is good not great but service and atmosphere are both excellent!

After all the christmas carols we could take on a july afternoon we headed back to our cottage. We did a quick stop at a food mart to prepare for the planned evening barbecue. If you have followed this blog you will know that I have a soft spot for typical American things like base ball and thanksgiving dinner and such. Having a barbecue is about as American it can get. We stocked up on fresh veggies at the food mart. Portobello mushrooms, corn on the cob and tofurkey. Great stuff. Portobello mushrooms are a great substitute for meat for us vegetarians. The texture is quite "meaty" and the taste is divine. We spent a gorgeous summer evening on the porch with our barbecue, an occasional dip in the pool and rounded it all off with a moonlight walk on the beach. It was a perfect day, but a day hard to describe in words so instead enjoy some of M's fantastic pictures!

Day 20, 21 & 22 - Madeira beach

As most of you might have realized we are safely back in Sweden by now. We just couldn't find the time to maintain the blog while on the trip. However I will do my best to finish this as soon as possible starting today with Madeira beach.

After our fantastic manatee swim in crystal river we decided we wanted sun! With no set plan where to go we checked the weather forecast and decided to go just as far south so that we would avoid the bad weather. M who after 5 years on the passenger side of our road trip is an excellent map reader scouted out an area while I started driving. After consulting our travel guide book as well she directed me towards an area outside St Petersburg, a set of beaches on an island just off the west coast of Florida. We arrived after only a few hours of driving on the top part of the island. After driving south until we found an area that we liked we ended up in Madeira beach. Just so happened that we spotted a motel that M had looked up on the internet the day before, the Surfs Inn. We knew already that it was slightly over our budget but it sat right on the beach and I was sick of driving so we took it. Our room was clean with a huge fridge and fully equipped kitchen. It also had the ocean right outside our window and a pool area where we spent most of the time. The ocean was so close that we could sit in the more comfortable beach chairs by our pool and just run down for a swim in the ocean. Also this kept the sand out of our cocktails!

Our first day we spent by the pool doing absolutely nothing. A road trip can be a pretty hectic adventure so it was awesome to just stretch out by the pool with a nice cold one and take the occasional dip in the ocean whenever you got to hot. As the sun set(and man is that a beautiful thing to see on the west coast) we made it down to a local hot spot called Screwie Louie's with a huge outdoor patio. This was low season so a part from a few locals it was just us in the bar which just added to the relaxing feeling I loved so much about Madeira beach.

One of my favorite parts was that since we had the fully equipped kitchen I could finally indulge in my wet american dream of grocery shopping. The one thing that still differs the U.S from the rest of the world is the abundance of items to choose from. We cooked up a feast every day in Madeira beach and as a vegetarian I found a new love in the product tofurkey. Amazing stuff!

We had originally booked two nights in Madeira but we just loved it so much that we extended the stay with another night. The second night we met some new neighbors. Two couples from Orlando that come back to the Surfs Inn every summer. We ended up chatting the night away with these guys. One couple had lived in Key West for 15 years and really got us excited that we were going there. The other couple was a brit from liverpool and his wife whom we had met while working in Florida, so now they both lived here. Best company ever and even though separated in age we felt really at home with these guys. The south is truly a friendly and hospital place to be.

 The last two days were pretty much us hanging by the pool all day, taking a siesta and then hanging out with our neighbors all night. This was just a great relaxing time. One night we took our sun chairs down to the ocean and watched the sunset with the waves washing over our feet. It was gorgeous and we got some great photos of it. That's all from Madeira beach, next up Sanibel Island!