We enjoyed a long weekend in Key West last fall. It was a first for Trey and a first for me since a sweltering July trip with the family in the 80’s. As you can see from above, we really enjoyed Cuban Coffee Queen. There are several Key West locations and the coffee and cuban sandwiches are THE BEST!
Key West is such a cute little island and we decided to stay at a small, boutique hotel, The Marquesa. It was lovely with a delicious restaurant and two pools, one chilled and one warm. Our room was a nice size with a separate bedroom, living room and bathroom.
A trip to Key West is not complete without a trip to the ever interesting Duval Street. Note the curious elf on the street in one of the pics below. We did it up right hitting several famous (or infamous) bars over the weekend. That last pic is us at the end of a fun evening.
Key West isn’t known for it’s beaches but we had to check out at least one. Based on reviews we chose the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park. It’s not the best beach we have ever visited but it was pleasant. We rented loungers and an umbrella and chilled for a few hours.
Unbeknownst to us when we booked the trip, the Race World Offshore Key West Championship speed boat race was in town on the weekend we visited. Our hotel provided wristbands for us to access the races from their sister hotel on the dock so one morning we took a pleasant walk to check it out. We stopped for breakfast and Bloody Mary’s on the way. The races were cool, super loud and very close to the dock when they sped by. We stayed for a bit then headed for a lunch/snack on the water. We had truffle fries and the “must do” conch fritters. Finished with a visit to Southernmost Point for a photo op before heading back to our hotel.
One morning we walked to the Truman Little White House and the Earnest Hemingway Museum. Both were worth the time and money. The Truman Little White House tour was very informative and interesting. The highlight of the Hemingway Museum had to be the six-toed cats. All of these unique cats are the descendants of a cat named Snow White. She was given to Hemingway by a ship’s captain in the 1930’s.
We also visited the Key West Aquarium, a cute little place that was a nice way to spend an hour or so. We watched a shark feeding and the young guide did a good job providing tidbits of shark information.
A couple of our favorite restaurants (aside from Cuban Coffee Queen!) were Frita’s Cuban Burgers for a pork burger with crispy shoestring fries on it and a side of yucca fries with chimichurri, and DJ’s Clam Shack for yummy clams and a killer lobster roll. We also went to Pepe’s which is billed as the oldest restaurant in the Keys (since 1909). Pepe’s was underwhelming but admittedly was a very late dinner after a day/evening of bar hopping. Finally, we had a lovely dinner at Marquesa Cafe, our hotel’s restaurant and known as one of the best restaurants on the island. No pics from the Marquesa as it felt a bit too “fancy” for that.
A trip to Key West is not complete without sampling the famed Key Lime Pie. We had multiple iterations of this from standard pie slices to cookies to a yummy Key Lime Pie on a Stick covered with dark chocolate (from Kermit’s).
