JJ and I spent most of our time in Key West relaxing.  We were in no rush to get out and do much.  After being on a schedule in Orlando at Disney World, it was nice to just go with the flow.  We spent a lot of time on Duval Street and wasted away the evenings watching the sunset and drinking mojitos.

Sailing at Sunset

Mojito Time

JJ Enjoying the Sunset

These Guys Block the Sunset.......

On the third day there were two of these huge cruise ships harbored outside of Mallory Square.  It completely blocked the sunset, and there were tons of angry tourists that could not see the sunset.  Luckily, we were able to enjoy it on our first two evenings.

The Food Was Great!

We didn’t have a bad meal in Key West and although most of the meals were somewhat expensive, all were delicious.

Street Artist

Great Way to Get Around Key West

End of the Road

According to our trolley driver, this is the most stolen sign in America.

Free Range

There are chickens and roosters running all over Key West.  The original population of birds came from Cuba.  At one time cock fighting was huge on the island.  The cock fighters got enraged when legislation was passed to outlaw cockfighting so they let all of their birds loose.  The birds have roamed free ever since.

Southernmost Point

90 miles to Cuba but the line for the southernmost point was huge.  We didn’t need a photo of us that bad.

Our visit to the Conch Republic was great.  It was a wonderful opportunity to relax and see a part of the state that neither JJ or I had ever seen.  I look forward to going back when the weather is warmer and getting into the water.  I really would like to do some snorkeling and kayaking.  We made the drive back to Mississippi in one day. It was over a 1000 miles and was quite the beast to do in one day.   I still enjoyed driving instead of flying and will probably do it again when we go back.  The vacation did lead us to the possibility of doing our PhD programs in South Florida.  The University of South Florida was already on our list of possibilities, but after spending some time in South Florida, it moved up a couple of spots.