Sunday night, in my motel room close to a big highway.
I spent a few days in the Keys, a bunch of islands in southern Florida, linked together by a long road, sometimes spectacular, and sometimes very boring. It was my second time here, and now I know it for sure: I really like this place! Yes, Florida is a touristic place, but it’s unique, tropical and “happy”! 4 main reasons why I enjoy this place:
1 – Sea, sun and tropics…
Coming from the Bostonian winter – gloomy and cold, to this colorful and hot summer-like Florida weather is a shock. The blue water is gorgeous, the white sandy beaches are hot, and the air makes my hair naturally “crazy”. What I like the most in warm weather is going out for the first time in the morning, and feel the warm air on my face. The Sunshine State is sunny, and the Keys are even sunnier.
I had a delicious grilled fish up there
This flower just fell off from a tree…
Strangler fig trees are my favorite
In the mangrove, I hear a lot of noise, but I never know where it comes from
Making my way
This is a gumbo limbo, or “tourist tree” cause it’s red and the skin peels off
2 – Key West
Key West is the best place to hang out in the Keys, it’s the only big city, but it seems so far away. Key West is actually closer to Havana, than Miami. Some portions of Duval Street, or Mallory square really look like any other touristic place, but the rest of the Old Town is a gem: Carolyn Street, Eaton Street, and many more, thanks to their great houses, and on top of it, the great ambiance in bars, people biking around… In Key West, you do feel far away from everything. I saw a lot of spring breakers, drunk by noon, but also families, old people, youngster… Everyone seem to enjoy this paradise.
3 – Wilderness
I’m not a big animal lover, but how can I not awwww when I met dolphins, parrots, iguanas, turtles, and any types of birds, and even the tiny deers for Big Pine Key? I hiked through a lot of trails… and I saw a lot of spiders, huge one, no kidding – yellow and black, called the Golden Orb. I’m travelling alone, and try to look relax and cool like if I were a read adventurer. But I saw two girls literaly crawling on the floor cause they were too afraid that a spider could jump on their face…
That’s how I figure dinosaurs could be like
Roosters are all over the place in Key West
Cute butterfly in the gardens of Audubon House
Six-finger cat, in Hemingway House
4 – Driving above the sea
I’m not a big driver, no need to drive in France, nor in Boston, and well I have no excuse for letting my husband driving all the time in vacation. So anyway, the idea of driving on the narrow bridges of the Keys scared me. But it went just fine.
The first portion of the Keys road isn’t that great. There’s a lot of traffic, and only one line. But when I left Marathon, one of the Middle Keys, things started to get interesting. The 7-mile bridge (almost 10 km), brings you in the middle of the sea. It’s very impressive, and gives a great feeling of freedom. Only in the USA baby.
Bahia Honda
This is the old bridge that used to have a railroad on it. It was mostly destroyed after a hurricane in 1936
Next!
I still have one more week to spend in Florida. You can still follow me on Instagram @mathildepit for regular updates!
xoxo
A lire aussi : l’article écrit lors de mon premier passage dans les Keys, à Noël l’an dernier. Avec une petite vidéo !
