Living the Key West Life

Key West, where you’ll learn exactly why the chickens cross the road….to get away from the iguanas!!!

We decided that Key West should be the end of our south Florida travels. Neither of us have ever been and we figured we are about as close to Key West as we may ever be, so now or never as they say! Most of the planning that took place for our south Florida trip was for our Key West portion of our travels. There is so much to do, see, and learn, so I definitely had to plan ahead. Key West is an island at the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys. It is about ninety miles from Cuba with the island itself being four miles long and one mile wide, although by all the walking we did while there we may have to disagree! 😉

There’s so much history in Key West, as well as just relaxing and taking in the beaches and Key West vibe! We scheduled 4-5 attractions for each day of our trip with an empty final day. I highly recommend this concept if you can and have extra time. We refer to it as our “final fave”. It is the last day of any trip where you don’t schedule anything. We can’t do this on most trips, but we definitely set aside a day on our longer/bigger trips. This leaves an extra day if you need some catching up to do, you can see whatever attractions you may have missed the other days of your trip. You’re bound to over-plan, have rain or weather delays, or learn about new attractions that you’d like to add to your “final fave” day.

What did we do for our final fave day, you ask? We had a relaxing day at the beach! That’s another thing you can do if you’ve seen and done everything you want, relax! Now you have a relaxing final day before heading out to your next location or back home to work. We took in the gorgeous Key West beaches, watched the cruise ships sail by while we played the day away in the water!

Do you use the concept of a “final fave” day? Do you do something else that you recommend we try?

Entering the Everglades

The Everglades were our first National Park visit while fulltiming in our RV. I had heard horror stories about trying to get reservations at National Parks. People were waking up at 4am only to have to try again and again at 4am for several straight days to get a reservation. With Alan working a regular full time job, our adaptability in schedule was a big issue. I could move our dates around a bit, but with reservations in Key West and Ft.Myers also needing to be done six months in advance, I wasn’t going to be able to alter them too much. I got online to “practice” the reservation process to ensure I knew how to do it when it became time. Next thing I know, I had a reservation! It was such an easy process online and I had no problem getting a spot. Maybe the issue lies in the larger more popular National Parks?

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Sanibel Island

Sanibel Island is in southwest Florida and is known for its beaches filled with shells brought in from the Gulf of Mexico. Sanibel Island boasts numerous enjoyable tourist attractions. Between the J.N. Darling National Wildlife Refuge, the Sanibel Island Farmers Market, the Sanibel Island Lighthouse, the Bailey Matthews Shell Museum, and the Historic Museum and Village, you’ll never be bored! Sanibel Island is truly a wonderful quaint island 15 miles long and 5 miles across with 15 miles of pretty beaches.

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