On Wednesday, we were in port in Key West by 7:00 am and we were off the ship by 7:30am. We didn't have any shore excursions planned for Key West, so right when we got off the ship, we planned to head toward town and find a cab. There were some little booths set up with people trying to sell us excursions. One caught our eye. It was electric cars for rent. We ended up renting a 6-passenger electric car for the day.
They even had a car seat for Gracie to sit in. It was a little pricey, but we loved the freedom of being able to go wherever we wanted whenever we wanted. And we didn't have to walk around all day with 3 young children in order to see everything. Plus, it was small and could fit into most any parking spot there was. The one bad thing, was that it didn't have power steering. Good thing my hubby has those massive chest and arm muscles! He really had to use them! It was awesome to feel the breeze on us as we rode in the open air. Until it started sprinkling...more on that later!
First stop: The Southernmost Point of the Continental US
This was at the top of my list for Key West.
There were trees with these beautiful orangey-red colored blossoms all over the place. We picked this one up off the ground right by the Hemingway House.
I would have liked to visit the Hemingway House, but I'm sure it wouldn't have been enjoyable for the kids and we had so much we wanted to do before the ship left port at 3pm. So, we went by and took a picture, just to say we'd been there.
We were driving on US Hwy 1. I thought that was so cool! At this point, we were heading South on Hwy 1. Trust me, we didn't have far to go before the road ended! Key West is only a few miles by a few miles. Doesn't take long to get around the whole place!
There were loose chickens running all over the place. Even in the streets!
At this point, it started sprinkling on us in our open car... So, we decided to look for some covered parking and find an indoor activity. We found a place, but the plastic domed advertisement bolted to the top of the car was too tall for us to pull under the low covered spots, so we were stuck in an outside spot.
First inside destination was right down from the parking lot.
Pat Croce's Pirate Soul Museum.
This was in the courtyard before we went into the museum. We weren't allowed to take pics inside.
It cost us $54 to get in and we were through the museum and in the giftshop on the other side in 15 minutes. Can you say rip off? I'm sure it might have been more enjoyable if it was just Jason and I though. Most of the exhibits had posters with lots of history/info. I would have loved to read it all. The kids, however, were not having any of that. There was this one really neat part where it was like you were on a real ship. Kids were scared. Next was a series of pitch black dark rooms where you were supposed to go in, sit down, put on headphones and there would be a narrated story/video presentation. Yeah right. We all made it into the small room, and as soon as the door shut, the kids started freaking out. So, we were headed out. In fact, for the last 5 minutes through the museum, Gracie kept saying, "You gotta get me outta here." "Get me outta here!"
Next stop, Key West Aquarium.
We made it just in time for the daily shark feeding! Just what we hoped for!
Here's the shark expert/tour guide. Feeding the sting rays. They would jump out of the water and prop themselves up on the side of the tank to get their fish. It was SO cool!
Here he is feeding the sharks. They were nurse sharks. There were both medium and small sized ones in this tank. They would also jump up and eat the fish right out of the guy's hands!
Jason, Gracie and Rhett were across the tank from me and Braden.
We all got a chance to touch the real shark! It had the softest skin. Not scaly or smooth, almost a type of hairy texture. The guide said that when you touch the shark, the oil from your skin is absorbed into it's skin and it can taste you. Almost like if he had just eaten you. WOW! How many people can say they've touched a shark?!
Here's Braden touching the baby nurse shark.
The outside of the Aquarium from the back side, where we were looking at the bigger sharks on exhibit. The aquarium was built during the Great Depression as the first cruise ship attraction in Key West.
Here's the kids outside.
Next stop, the Shell Museum next door. Rhett's #1 priority on the vacation was to get a real Shark tooth necklace. Here he is sporting his find at the Hard Rock Cafe.
Here's Braden and Gracie at the Hard Rock.
Braden took this picture of the rest of us in front of the sign out front.
When we got back to our little car, only 1/2 of the seats on 1 side were wet! I went into the nearest souvenier shop and bought a Key West beach towel to use to dry off the seats and we were good to go.
The last, but one of the most important things I wanted to do while there was to get some Key Lime Pie from the Blonde Giraffe. They were featured some time ago on the Food Network's Road Tasted with Jamie and Bobby Deen. Don't ask me why, but I have remembered that all this time. (Perhaps because I'm such a Food Network Fan and especially of the Deen family!) I believe there were 5 locations in Key West and we passed several of them on the road, but we just stopped at the next one we came to because time was getting close to get back to the ship.
Jason snapped this picture of me as I was coming out of the shop.
After this, it was time to return our little car and get a shuttle ride back to the ship.
Here's Jason and the kids as we waited in line to board.
As soon as we got back to our room, I dug into my pie!
It was SO good! I shared a few bites with Gracie before she fell asleep and I shared 2 bites with Jason before he and the boys went outside to watch the ship leave the port. I ate the rest myself very slowly as I laid in the bed and watched tv. I enjoyed every last bite!!
Here's the pictures Jason took as the ship was leaving Key West.
At dinner that night, our servers danced to the dance that's at the end of Slumdog Millionaire. I can't remember the name of the song. Braden and Rhett went out there to dance with Manny (Manoj) our server, who was from India. We loved him! They had fun, but they were slightly embarrassed! (Braden is in the red/white striped polo shirt and Rhett is in the navy blue polo shirt.)
Look at Braden's face as he was walking back to the table! (Just to the left of the bald head...:)
Here's Gracie enjoying her butter at dinner. Seriously, I think eating the butter/bread and getting to do it herself was her favorite part of dinner each night!
After dinner, we dropped the kids off at Camp Carnival. We enjoyed a walk around the deck.
We had cloudy/rainy weather so far the entire cruise, until this night. We had THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SUNSET EVER!!!!
These photos are taken with my little point and shoot camera and haven't been retouched in any way. It just doesn't do it justice!
Just as it was time to pick the kids up, we looked at the Camp Carnival Caper to see what activities were going on and realized that they were doing Build-A-Bear's that night. There had been other opportunities to do it during the cruise, but a parent had to be present and we just didn't fit it into our schedule. But, this night, if you were paying for the after hours babysitting, parents didn't have to be present. We decided that an extra hour without the kids would be nice, so we called down to the playroom to give them our permission to do 1 bear each. They had been begging us and we had already told them we weren't going to do it, so we knew they'd be happily surprised.
Jason and I took full advantage of that extra hour. We ordered room service. 2 New York Cheesecakes. They had THE BEST cheesecake ever on the ship!! We ate them as we were snuggled up in the bed and we each ate in peace without having to share a bite! One of the best memories of the whole vacation! :)
When we picked them up an hour later, you should've seen the looks on their faces!!! They were so tickled!
Here's each of them with their new friends.
Each of the kids snuggled up with their friends and went right to sleep. This was also the first night of the vacation where I slept well, so it was a GREAT night!
Well, there's day 3 of the cruise. As you can tell, we had SO much fun again this day!
Stay tuned for day 4. The next day, we were in the beautiful Bahamas! The part of the vacation that we'd been so excited about!
No comments:
Post a Comment