"Daddy rides" were fun!
Luckily this photo was not lost. I had to have this one!
The Hyatt Windward Pointe, Key West, was our home for a week.
Anna and my mother-in-law at the Southernmost point of the US at Key West.
Contemplating the edge of paradise.As the summer comes to a close symbolized by Labor Day, it's time to put away white and grab those rain coats. That's particularly true this holiday weekend as I write this during a thunder and lightning and hail storm. My reflections on the summer show a very relaxed, productive, and fun summer. Now almost a distant memory, is our trip to Florida.
For months we anticipated the fun that we would have exploring Key West, a city new to all of us, and state that would mark my four year old daughter's 11th in the US States checkoff list. We headed to Key West we expected to find a tropical paradise - an escape - for a blissful week. The trip was not just the three of us, but we also took my mother-in-law whose traveling experiences are pretty limited. We figured she might jump on this opportunity to check out some place new and different.
We flew into Miami and made the three hour long drive to the Southernmost Key after one night in a brand new Best Western in Southern Miami. After finding the complimentary breakfast buffet to his liking, we packed up the car, the preschooler, and the mother-in-law, and headed South. The drive, while tedious at times, does offer some spectacular views of beautiful blue water all around. We made several stops to take in the scenery, and were relieved to reach our destination of the Hyatt Windward Pointe, Key West.
If you read my earlier posts, you know that I agonized over the accommodations. I knew that to have a relaxing week and enough space for us all we would have to have sufficient room. A hotel room would not cut it. We were not disappointed in our selection of the Hyatt's vacation property. Every detail of the landscaping was meticulously tended to, in fact the plants looked like they were manicured with scissors. The unit was beautiful; two full bedrooms, two full bathrooms, granite kitchen and huge lanai. The place was so comfortable (and nicely air conditioned) that one day my MIL made her day just at the Hyatt. The Windward Pointe is a solid 4 star place. The housekeeping service was fabulous (though communicating did require me to use my no-longer-fluent Spanish), the property stunning, the condo sparkling clean and totally comfortable. The towels were as nice as my hotel-quality ones at home, there was a full range of television channels, and the sheets at least 500 thread count. Having amenities like a full kitchen with upgraded appliances and washer/dryer in unit made it our comfortable home for a week. My husband like it so much that he commented "you know, we could live in a place like this and travel more." Hmmm...now that's a thought...
Key West is an interesting place, we discovered. There's this eclectic mix of wealthy, Bohemian, old, young, gay, straight, and largely a lack of children. It was not the most "family friendly" of places that we've visited, but that never stopped us! The best way to describe the vibe here is Bourbon Street meets Las Vegas Boulevard. Yes, Key West is a quintessential party town.
While in Key West, we saw many of the must-sees of the island such as the Key West Lighthouse, Hemingway's House, Truman's Little White House, Hog's Breath Saloon, and the East Martello Museum, home of Robert the Doll. There's this weird legend that lives in Key West about this supposedly haunted, freaky doll named Robert. He's quite famous on the island, and according to the locals, is blamed for anything that goes wrong. In fact, quite a few not so blessed visitor's to Robert's museum have found themselves the unfortunate recipients of Robert's wrath. I know this sounds bizarre, but Google it or You Tube it, and you'll find out. "Blame it on Robert" is the island's mantra. Probably the best part of the trip, in terms of activities, was the leisurely lifestyle that our life at the Hyatt afforded us for a week. With a fully functional and stocked kitchen, we didn't have to go out for every meal, and could getting our day started with breakfast and heading straight for the pool.
We think that Robert is responsible for the biggest hardship that befell our vacation. On the 4th of July we went out on a boat cruise (yes, "booze cruise") to view the fireworks. Despite the overcrowded boat and lack of seating (and stagnant, oppressive hot air) we enjoyed the view and watching our daughter cheer for the festivities. We discovered the next morning, though, that somewhere that night we lost our camera. There went all of the pictures that we'd already taken. Luckily we were able to use my mother-in-law's camera for the rest of the trip. "Blame it on Robert," we said. Perhaps it's no coincidence that the four year old did not want to go near Robert when we saw him in his museum house, saying out loud that he was "scary, and kind of ugly." Guess he never forgave us for that.
Is Robert responsible for our bad luck? How much power can one haunted doll wield?
You'll notice this blog is missing many of the pictures that I'd intended to use to illustrate our trip. We'll blame that on Robert. In fact, perhaps it's that I'm wary of him that makes me feel like I should cut it short and not dwell too much on telling these stories.
We did have some interesting dining experiences - both great and just marginal. More on this, in Key West Part II.
(Interestingly, between the wild weather going on outside and the fact that when I tried to place Robert's picture in my blog everything froze up and now the pictures aren't working, I figure I should call it done!)
