Margaritaville (aka Key West)

A road trip down US Highway 1 through the Florida Keys has always been a high priority item for Art & I and we finally did it--and what a drive it was!  The Keys consist of some 1,700 islands (I wonder who counted) heading south-southwest from the tip of the Florida peninsula. They are connected by a single road which alternates between the different islands and a countless number of bridges that connect them.  The water is that beautiful aqua-blue to green with the Atlantic Ocean on one side of the road and the Gulf of Mexico on the other.  The scenery is breath-taking and I nearly unscrewed my head trying to see it all.
     It took us most of the day Saturday to drive (thank goodness we had my Solara with the top down to see it all), and we finally arrived in Key West about 3 p.m. We first headed to the southernmost tip of the US-- there is a house and a marker that claim that fame (photo above and below. Wow, only 90 miles to Cuba).

     We took the mandatory city tour (learned lots of interesting things, but there's just no room here for the history of Key West, so you will have to go yourselves).  And then it was time to enjoy.

     Duval Street is filled with great shops and tourist traps, but the best part for us was finding all those haunts that we have heard a song about or have seen on a travel show.  We stopped, shopped and drank at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville; then headed to the Hog's Breath Saloon; ate seafood at Pepe's (thank you Robin for the suggestion) and then shopped some more.  Come Sunday morning, we were sad to think we had to leave, but the drive back up US 1 was just as exciting as the trip down. Here's a few more photos: