Monday March 6, 2012

We woke up on Monday morning after a great night’s sleep in the van. We were pumped to have all day in one spot. Parmers Resort offers continental breakfast, which consists of fruit, toast, donuts, blueberry muffins, english muffins, and cereal. After enjoying our small breakfast while looking out at the water, we hopped in the van and drove to Bahia Honda State Park. It’s not too far north of us and we hear that it has the best beaches in the Keys.

We had to pay $9.00 for two people to enter the park. We’re glad that we got there early because they have a limit to the number of people allowed in at the same time. Apparently, they are not afraid to make you turn around. As we entered, we hung a left to go to Sandspur Beach, known for it’s white sands and beautiful views. No disappointment here:

We walked up and down Sandspur Beach and we were amazed by the views. Along the way it seems that someone or something likes to decorate with shells.

We don’t know who it is. We’re torn between the natives or random people that walk the beach. It’s still up in the air.

After hanging out at the beach, we decided to spend the rest of the day in Key West. Part of this decision was influenced by the fact that we had unusually high winds and kayak and snorkeling trips were canceled everywhere.

We  found a free parking space along Virginia Street. It’s a little far from the hubbub around town, but it’s better than feeding the meter. Our first thought was to get lunch at a small, cheaper place. So, we stopped at this little yellow building on Duval Street called The Banana Cafe. It looked great. We also had a good feeling about it since we loved a similar small restaurant in Laguna Beach called The Orange Cafe. Well, we were seated and immediately started to regret our choice. Half of the menu was in french. Then we started to read all of the French signs on the wall. This is a french restaurant! Not only are we wary of anything French (well, at least Aaron is), we just don’t know french food. The service ended up being terribly slow (This is not an exaggeration. We sat down at 1:30 and left after 3:15) and the crepes were not that great.

The next part of our journey was the southernmost point in the US. A short walk and we were in line to get our picture next to a very large buoy.

We then walked all the way back across the island in search of more sights. We saw the historic lighthouse, the home of Ernest Hemingway, and Route 1’s Mile Zero.

Further down Key West, we finally found the spring breakers. If anyone wanted to the reason why the Founding Fathers wanted a 100% estate tax, just travel down here in the spring. These kids are that very reason. This is not the scene we were looking for and we quickly found our way back to the better part of town.

This is right about the time that we found an internet cafe to update our Sunday post on thejanadaexperience.com.

Then we went to dinner at The Black Fin. It was great and we highly recommend it. The atmosphere is nice and quiet, although it is right on Duval. They have a great outdoor area in the back, as well.

Then, it was back to the Key Lime Shop for some more pie before we headed to Little Torch Key.