Day Three | Key West
Upon waking, we headed on foot to an adorable breakfast spot called Sarabeth's Kitchen for breakfast. Luckily, there was no wait. Score! We sat on the patio and I ordered their signature Flower Juice and it's not to be missed. So delicious and the sweet treat I was craving! This James Beard awarded restaurant was worth it. People, I ordered the Fat and Fluffy French Toast and easily it was my favorite meal of the trip. I devoured the entire mountain of carbs. Calories don't count on vacay, remember? Unconcerned.
From here we strolled around and checked out some local shops. Somewhere along the way we found ourselves at the Cuban Coffee Queen again (weird, right?) for some more Cafe con Leche. Because I had finished my book the night before I wanted to grab something while we were out. What I didn't know was the bookstore we went into is Judy Blume's local bookstore! It's called Books & Books at the Studios of Key West. I'll admit I've never read a Judy Blume book but have heard she's a wonderful and inspiring author. You can even buy her books there and leave them to have her sign. It's pretty neat. The shop was started with the attached art gallery by her and her husband. Shop local for the win. I picked up another novel and were on our way. For anyone interested I got "Manhattan Beach" by Jennifer Egan. When I'm done I'll report back on thoughts.
DONUTS. I have your attention now don't I? We walked to a local bakery called Glazed Donuts and picked up a Key Lime donut and some fresh squeezed oj. Hey, it was like 110 degrees with full humidity. We deserved this! We strolled around and absorbed all the Key West culture, colors, and things to see. Finally we decided to walk back to the hotel to get ready for our Sunset Cruise.
I made a poor choice for our cruise, really though what was I even thinking, by wearing a fairly short black dress. HELLO WIND! Fair warning, our cruise at first was the hottest I was on our whole trip. There is just something about that setting sun which made me sweat bullets. Our sunset cruise was so much fun as well as breathtaking! Booked through Sebago Tours. We were SO thankful we weren't on the party sunset dinner cruise docked next to us. Not knocking the other cruise, but it had about 150 people on it. Our ship, the Appledore Star, held 16 patrons and three crew. The Appledore Star was built BY HAND by a gentleman at 81 years of age so he could sail with his grandchildren. What an amazing story! A stunning piece of craftsman ship, we set sail and ate snacks while drinking their signature sangria. If booking, choose their SCHOONER CHAMPAGNE SUNSET SAIL. The crew told us tales of living on the island, saving turtles and exploring other islands in their free time. We couldn't have asked for a better crew. Their names were Russ, Katie, and Jake. Ten out of ten! During the cruise we had hors d'oeuvres such as shrink cocktail, mini sliders, stuffed peppers and a few other snacks. Meanwhile, the crew does a fantastic job of keeping your cups full of their signature sangria. They really were fantastic! After cruising around, we set sail back to reality after watching the sun dip below the ocean's horizon. Because, as I'm sure you've learned by this point I have a problem with sweets, we stopped by Kermit's Key West Key Lime Shoppe. Not only do they have a taste tests of every flavored key lime, you can get their famous frozen key lime pie dipped in chocolate. This shop literally has everything flavoured key lime - cookies, pie, water, nuts, snacks, candy...you name it they have it. The perfect nightcap for me! Off to the hotel because our final day was packed full of adventure.
