Keys Stories, Part 1 - Another Adventure Begins!

At the beginning of October, Mom, Dad and I went on vacation to the Florida Keys, our favorite place in the world.  We love traveling and having adventures together, and being on vacation together is the BEST.

Our Keys trips always start out with two very long days of driving, which means a lot of napping on my part.

Cozy in the back seat with a blankie
& momma's jacket as a pillow

But during the second day of driving, we made it to Florida, a strange land of most astonishing beasts.

Sure, I've seen dolphins before,
but never one with such unusual markings,
and never at a rest stop

Speaking of astonishing beasts . . .

We saw these Sandhill Cranes hanging out next to a McDonald's parking lot somewhere in Florida, where I was taking a potty break.  

Mom didn't see them at first, but you should have seen the look on her face when these FIVE FOOT TALL birds startled her with a sound right out of Jurassic Park.  I think she jumped a foot off the ground.  Luckily they only sounded like velociraptors, and did not exhibit any predatory behavior.

After more riding in the car (Florida is a very, very long state), we finally reached our destination for the first part of our trip, Key Largo. 

On our first day in Key Largo, Mom and I were so excited that we woke up before it was daylight and took an early morning walkie under the stars.  We walked to the other side of the island and saw the ATLANTIC OCEAN.  When we got back to the hotel, it was just starting to get light outside. 

Morning view from our room in Key Largo

After I had my breakfast, we went looking for breakfast for the humans.  Unfortunately our favorite breakfast place from last year had gone out of business, so we decided to give Mrs. Mac's Kitchen a try, since we had heard so many good things about it and they had an outdoor seating area.  We checked to see if it was dog-friendly and then got a table in the shade.  Then a very nice lady brought me a huge bowl of water with ice, and we knew we had come to the right place.  (If you want to hear more about Mrs. Mac's, check out Mom's review on TripAdvisor.)  Mom and dad both said the food was wonderful, but the best part was that the people there were so nice and friendly.  I think they really liked me.

The cool cement floor felt good

THIS is what I call excellent service 

Where's Garth?

I was tired after the morning's excitement, so when we went back to the hotel, I napped while Mom & Dad explored a nearby canal on paddleboards, and then snorkeled in front of the hotel.  Then we all went to one of our favorite Key Largo places for dinner, Snook's.  Snook's is very dog-friendly (in fact, they host Yappy Hour to raise money for a local rescue group), they have excellent food, and they're right on Buttonwood Bay.  All the waiters stopped by to say hi to me.

Evening on Buttonwood Bay, view from Snook's

Yellow dog on a bench

Looking for sea creatures

Not cooperating for photos

After dinner, we went back to our hotel and watched the sunset.

A beautiful end to a beautiful first day in Key Largo.