Keys Stories, Part 5 - Farewell Key Largo, HELLLLOOOOO Key West!!

We're always sad to leave Key Largo.

Our favorite Key Largo view

Our favorite Key Largo restaurant

Our favorite Key Largo cautionary sign

Our favorite Key Largo side-of-building art

Close-up view of our favorite Key Largo side-of- building art
(After all, what's a shark sculpture without a severed limb?)

We had breakfast at Mrs. Mac's and said farewell to our new friends, packed up the car, and headed southwest along the Overseas Highway -- our favorite drive.  

We stopped in Islamorada for photos with the Big Mermaid.

You've heard of the Little Mermaid, right?
Well, this is her opposite

Family portrait with the Big Mermaid

By the time we got to Robbie's, it was already lunch time, so we stopped at the Hungry Tarpon for a bite.  

Is she really making me pose for another photo?

The Hungry Tarpon is dog-friendly, and it was nice and shady there, and mom & dad said lunch was yummy.  After lunch, mom fed the tarpon (I first wrote about mom's tarpon-feeding addiction in Tarpon Feeding 101), and we met a very nice lady artist in the parking lot. She said she spoke Labrador and I found her to be quite fluent.

This is what I think about posing for another photo

It always takes us a long time to get from Key Largo to Key West because there are so many places we want to stop along the way, and we always meet nice people and stop to talk with them.  We never want to hurry along this route because the drive along the Overseas Highway is amazing -- it includes about eleventy-seven bridges and dad's favorite bridge, Seven Mile Bridge. The views from the bridges are breathtaking!  The ocean is different shades of aqua and blue, speckled with green mangrove hammocks. Even the roadside is interesting.  If you look closely, you see iguanas munching on the grass next to the road and an occasional Key Deer.

When we got to Key West (our absolute favorite place in the world), we checked into our hotel, then headed to dinner at the Island Dogs Bar for yummy food and fun people-watching.  It was Friday night and Duval Street was really hopping, but we were so tired after dinner, we went back to the hotel and went to bed. (I guess we're just not the party animals we once were.) But early bedtime means early morning exploring, so I had no objections.

The Problem with Mermaids

Last week, mom, dad, and I went to Norfolk, Virginia.  Our hotel was right on the Elizabeth River, and we found a great place to walk near our hotel -- the Elizabeth River Trail.  The trail runs along the waterfront, and there were lots of great smells and interesting sights.  

There was only one problem.  Mermaids.  Everywhere we turned.  

Just because you think the mermaids are cool,
it doesn't mean you need to get my photo
with EVERY SINGLE MERMAID

I hope nobody sees us

White dog with mermaid butt
Wait - do mermaids even have butts?

That's it - I'm done with mermaids