Key West: Final Day

So today was our last day in Key West. I'm upset. It's been an amazing vacation, and I plan on coming back next year :P. Anyways, here's what we did on our last full day here in Key West. We woke up at around 9:15. We planned to go to Bahia Honda beach, which no one knows how to pronounce.

So we drove a good forty five minutes to the beach. On the way, we stopped at Baby's Coffee and got some souvenirs and food. When we got to the beach, we laid all our stuff down and sat on the beach for a bit. It was so nice. It was so warm. I loved it. I didn't get any photos, but I can tell you that it was beautiful.

Bammy, Sophie, and I went out to the sandbar, where we walked up and down it until we grew tired. As we passed Boppa sitting in his beach chair, we saw him covered with a beach towel. We were all a tad confused.

We were there for a couple hours, and then we decided to get lunch. We stopped at the Mile 7 Restaurant where we got a bite to eat. I had a grilled chicken quesadilla, which was so good. Sophie had the same. After that, we drove home, and guess who fell asleep on the car ride home? Yeah, I totally did and I totally looked ridiculous but I DON'T CARE.

Anyways, I regret not taking any pictures. Everything's so bland without them. But Sophie and I are going to make sure we come back next year (for an even longer vacation.) I had the best time, and I'm so happy I had the opportunity to come here with Sophie. It was amazing. My grandparents are amazing. I'm gonna miss it.

Tomorrow we have a flight and we have to be at the airport at 9AM. Devastating. We're flying home from 80 degree weather to -2 degree weather. Good-bye, Key West. Until next year!

Key West: Day 5

The internet's back. Thank god. The internet was down for most of yesterday and most of today. We got home, and it was fixed. Now I have to update for yesterday.

So Sophie and I woke up around 10 and I had a bowl of strawberries for breakfast. (By now, you should realize that I dislike most breakfast foods.) We planned to go to Fort Zach for a bit, so we got dressed and biked out. It was extremely beautiful:

We kept walking down the trail, and stopped for a bite to eat.

Sophie and I both had chicken sandwiches. 

Since I can't really explain the beauty of the place, I'll just insert more pictures, right, HERE:

Then we went to the actual fort:

Since Bammy had already seen it many times before, and Sophie didn't really want to go up, I went up alone. 

Then we biked back home. Bammy suggested that we engage in some "retail therapy" AKA SHOPPING. So, we drove down to Duval Street (the nicer side of it) and looked around. We went into some cool stores:

We spent the day searching for gifts for our families. 

We also met a chicken whose eggs had hatched the morning before. It was so cute, and there was one little chick who would peek its head out from underneath its mother. This chicken was SITTING on eight chicks:

We went into an awesome soap store:

And then we went into an art gallery, which had a lot of super cool stuff.

Bammy and I were on a hunt to get my dad something, and we both freaked out when we saw this.

(We didn't get it for him, don't worry)

Bammy then had to go drop Boppa off at the library where he volunteers, and so she left Sophie and I on Duval Street to finish up. That night, Bammy brought us to her friends' house. She breeds and raises racehorses and there was a race going on that we all went to watch. 

The horses' name on TV was Exit Stage Left and he ended up finishing second, which is NOT bad at all. It was extremely impressive. I met some very nice people who seem to have a lot of fun down here in Key West. 

By then, it was around 7 and we picked Boppa up from the library and went to an Italian restaurant. And I just will not stop with my pasta obsession, will I?

It was so good.

After that, Sophie and I were DETERMINED to see the drag queens. So we drove down Duval Street and got out while Boppa drove around the block a few times. I'm not going to put any pictures up, but we did get some pretty good ones. They were so nice and extremely glamorous. One was named Candy, and there was also one named Charlize. If I quote Charlize correctly, she said, "You know, like Charlize Theron? But I don't got that bitch's money." 

I laughed.

Anyways, we went home and Sophie and I turned in somewhat early because we had been up pretty late the nights before. 

Key West: Day 4

Sophie and I woke up this morning at about 11 o'clock since there was no rush to get up. We planned to go to the beach. Neither of us were very hungry so we didn't do breakfast, but instead, drove to the beach and ate at a restaurant on the beach. We were first going to go to a cafe at the Southernmost Beach, but we pulled up and it. Was. Packed. So Bammy told Boppa to turn around, we're going to the other beach.

Reluctantly, Boppa did as he was told.

We ate at a restaurant called Salute. I don't know how to do accents on the computer so I'll just leave it as is. I had (guess!) spaghetti and meatballs:

IT WAS SO GOOD.

I also had a tall glass of lemonade. My favorite.

Then, Bammy and Boppa left Sophie and I at the beach, where we attempted to get tan. We walked down the pier:

At about 4, I called Bammy to come pick us up. Two hours at the beach was plenty. I had the brilliant idea to go to Duval street and do some shopping. Bammy drove us home, we changed, got our money, and drove over to Duval street. She dropped us off and we went around to some shops. 

After looking in some stores, being called beautiful by an extremely friendly man, (whom I wish to be friends with,) and paying a visit to the beloved candy store, we grew tired and decided to go home. But we didn't leave empty handed. I got a new dress, which I've realized now, I don't regret buying. It's so awesome. I also got a new swimsuit as well as a tshirt for my little brother. I still have to do some shopping for the rest of my family. 

Oh, and great news! Due to All The Rage Back Home (Hah, Interpol jokes), we booked a LATER FLIGHT HOME!!!! We are now leaving on Wednesday at around noon, which gives us a whole other night and evening to spend in Key West! I'm so excited. 

Back to my day. Before we left Duval street, Sophie and I had to stop for some ice cream:

I had Butterscotch Bomb which was, of course, BOMB. 

So now we're home, and we plan on staying inside for the evening. Bammy insists that we watch the new episode of Downton Abbey, although I don't watch it on a regular basis. I'm down with it, though. Dinner should be nice; Bammy and Boppa are making ribs, mac n' cheese and I'm sure there'll be some sort of side dish. I'm pumped. 

Key West: Day 3

Yeah, I forgot to update last night. Please forgive me, I was tired. Day 3 was a lot of fun. We woke up at a decent time; around 10 o'clock would be a good estimation. There was a house tour going on of five different houses located within biking distance, so we biked to each individual house.

There was no photography allowed so I don't have any pictures but the first house we went to was so amazing. Each house had its own story, and each house was unique in its own way.

For lunch, we went to La Creperie. We planned to go to Blue Heaven, located right across the street, but I am so glad we went there. I had a grilled cheese panini with a berry smoothie.

And I apologize, I don't have any pictures from this day because my computer deleted all of them.

It was an amazing lunch, though. For dessert, we ordered what they called the Red Velvet Crepe which was a chocolate crepe covered in whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, strawberries and strawberry sauce. It was heavenly. I never plan to forget that dessert.

After that, we finished up the house tour and then went back home. Bammy had some friends coming over at 3 so Sophie and I hung out in our bedroom. Then we had dinner. We had so many leftovers so we just heated it up. I had spaghetti from the night before. We watched another episode of jeopardy.

The day was full of lots of biking, which I love. It's so much fun to be able to bike around from place to place. We went to sleep pretty late, but got a good night's sleep.

Key West: Day 2

Day 2 was even better than day 1, which is pretty hard to believe. We woke up, and had to rush out of the door because there were some cleaning ladies paying a visit to the house. We went out to breakfast at a lovely little place:

Again, not being a breakfast person, I just had a croissant, and a bowl of fruit. It was pretty darn good, and of course I took a picture.

We sat and chatted for a bit, embracing the morning. Then, Boppa (our grandfather) took us to the butterfly museum and nature conservatory. Bammy (our grandmother) had some work to do back at home. It was extremely cool, and I loved it. We saw some flamingos, and some AWESOME butterflies. 

After that, we drove around town for a bit with Boppa, and we saw a bunch of cool things. We also saw the house they used to rent, which was absolutely adorable. Once we got back home, we rested for a bit. Sophie and I hung out in our room watching some HGTV and being the age we are, we had to throw in some trashy MTV shows as well. 

At about 12:45, we were back out the door on our way to the water. We were going to boat out to Sunset Key for a "fancy" lunch. I had on my fancy sandals :P. Anyways, we arrived, and we were waiting for our boat to come pick us up. Bammy, Sophie, and I checked out a few shops. There was a massive cruise ship boarding passengers back on, and I got a picture of how long the line was:

We pushed through the long line and got onto our boat, and went to Sunset Key. We ordered lunch; I had a cheeseburger with a lemonade and a side salad. It was yummy.

Then, we stopped by the island's shop, looked around for a bit, then got on a boat back home. The island was absolutely beautiful:

When we got home, we wanted to go on another bike ride, so we changed into something more casual, and went for a ride. We stopped by a nature park and took a little walk, and biked down the pier, where I ACTUALLY MADE A FRIEND:

He was really friendly.

Then we biked to the beach.

Tomorrow, Sophie and I plan to hang out here for the second half of the day. 

Then we went home and watched an episode of American Idol, because why not? Then it was dinnertime. Bammy ordered us a large pepperoni pizza from Papa John's (I can definitely say they spoil us.) We went with her to pick it up and went home and ate. After dinner, we all sat down for a quick episode of Jeopardy! 

And a night with Sophie and Kelsey is never complete without a trip to the ice cream store. We drove back to Duval Street for some dessert. On the way there, I saw my VERY FIRST DRAG QUEEN! They waved at me!! Both Sophie and I were extremely intrigued with them. 

At the ice cream store, I got mint chocolate chip, Sophie got cookies n' cream, Bammy got chocolate chip, and we got Boppa grape sorbet: 

We've been hanging out since we got home; preparing for another fun-filled day tomorrow!

Key West: Evening 1

The Sunset Celebration didn't exactly work out. We drove over to the water and walked to the edge near the ocean. It was breezy, and chillier than earlier that day. We did run into a street performer, The Cat Man. He was insane. He was crazy. He was funny. Here he is:

Yes, that is a cat about to jump through a hoop of fire.

We decided to just go back home and eat dinner. On our walk back to the car, I got a few cool shots: 

For dinner, we had a lovely spaghetti and meatball meal, prepared by my grandmother. Purchased by my grandfather were California-sized cupcakes that I couldn't wait to get my hands on:

Yeah, that's a chocolate on chocolate cupcake and a red velvet. Yum. 

After dinner, we started the movie Out of Africa, you know. The one with Meryl Streep?

Despite not knowing what was going on in the film, it was pretty interesting. Sophie and I then went back to our bedroom, and being unable to sleep, watched yet another movie. It was one of my favorites: The Way Way Back. 

Key West Adventure: Day 1

It's been a while since I've gone somewhere warm for February vacation, and trust me, I needed it. Back at home, we've had seven snow days, meaning seven extra days at the end of the year. Great. Exactly what I needed. Well, now I'm in Key West,  Florida; the sunny, eccentric island with wild chickens roaming through the streets. Like I said... Eccentric.

I'm here with my cousin, Sophie, and our flight came in around 10:10 last night. My grandmother flew down with us, and we were picked up by my grandfather at quite possibly the smallest airport ever. We drove home, with a couple history lessons on the way there. I mean, it was dark out, but somehow they still ended up happening.

We got to their house that they rent all winter, and settled in. My grandfather had bought some cookies earlier that day and we had some before going to sleep.

This morning, Sophie and I woke up around 9 and sat down in our grandparents' dining room and ate some breakfast. Neither of us being big breakfast eaters, we both had a sesame seed bagel with cream cheese. I also tried papaya, which I discovered isn't my favorite fruit.

After that, we got dressed. It was strange because, being used to negative degree weather, we weren't used to putting on shorts and t-shirts. But it was a beautiful day, and I can't remember the last time I've seen blue sky:

Our first task of the day was to get rental bikes for Sophie and I down at a little bike shop.

Both Sophie and I were a little rusty around the edges in terms of biking. It had been a couple years for the both of us. So my grandmother brought us over to the Key West cemetery to get some practice in. It was perfect; the ground was completely flat, and there were some turns and corners here and there. When we decided it had been enough, we went back home.

At that point, it was time for lunch. We went to a little restaurant called Pepe's, and no, it is not pronounced peepee's. I had a lemonade with a grilled cheese and tomato basil soup. (Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of my food. Silly me.)

Once that was over, my grandparents had somewhere to go, sans kids. So Sophie and I went on a train tour of the island. I totally should mention the part when Sophie and I didn't have enough money for the tickets and the poor guy selling had to put in 90 cents of his own. For about an hour, we sat on a bumpy train with a bunch of other touristy personalities, and learned all about the island. 

Then we got off the train at Duval street, the famous street in Key West. We weren't sure what to do, so we went into a few stores. Then we found this:

This kept us busy for quite a while. 

And I found Rice Krispie Treats bigger than my head!!

A long day of bike riding, being chased by roosters, and touring the island was a great way to start off this vacation. And now, we're about to leave to go to a Sunset Celebration. More pictures coming soon.