Key West, Florida

We did a quick visit to Key West, Florida.

Lots of golf carts on the roads:

Lots of golf carts on the roads

And tour trams:

Tour trams

And bikes:

Tour tram

Also lots of free-range chickens (mostly roosters):

Chickens

Rooster

We visited the Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center and Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park, which will be featured in subsequent blog posts. But we also stopped by the beach in the state park for lunch, which I’ll include here.

This beach is one of the southernmost points in the continental US. Quite a nice and popular beach, too:

Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park

Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park

Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park

Direction sign on the beach:

Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park

We grabbed some lunch at the cafe on the beach:

Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park

Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park

Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park

Another rooster:

Rooster

We had considered visiting the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum and other touristy places, but had enough of walking around, so drove by them instead.

Houses with nice Caribbean paint jobs:

House

House

The aforementioned Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum, with a bit of a line outside:

Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum

Why did the chickens cross the road? No, really, why?

Chickens

The famous Southernmost point buoy, which as mentioned isn’t actually southernmost, but is a popular spot for selfies, with a long line of people waiting their turn:

Southernmost point buoy

Southernmost point buoy

Really not our kind of town; way too crowded.

Carrabelle

We didn’t really do anything during the three weeks we stayed at Ho-Hum RV Park over the holidays. That seems to be fairly typical for us, just taking some downtime to relax. Especially with some very busy times coming up after this (stay tuned!).

Ho-Hum is in a kinda out-of-the-way area, but near a town called Carrabelle (population 2,778). We did go to one restaurant, the post office, and the local grocery store; that was pretty much the limit of our exploring here. There are definitely a few more things to do and see, e.g. we considered going to check out a couple of nearby lighthouses, but we’ll save that for our next visit.

Here’s an interactive map:

Carrabelle

Carrabelle

We had lunch at Marine Street Grill:

Marine Street Grill

Marine Street Grill

Marine Street Grill

Menu

Marine Street Grill

Marine Street Grill

Marine Street Grill

Pizza

Next to the post office is the world’s smallest police station:

World's smallest police station

World's smallest police station

The Gulfside IGA Plus grocery store is a little small, but had almost everything we wanted:

Grocery store

Grocery store

Grocery store

(There is a Walmart 45 minutes away, for people who use that as a marker of civilization.)

Clock and memorial:

Clock and memorial

We do enjoy cute little towns, and this is definitely one. We’ll have to make a point of exploring it more when we’re here again.

New Orleans

We did a bit of exploring of New Orleans, Louisiana, including walking around the French Quarter, a quick drive through the Garden District, and elsewhere. This post has an assortment of pictures from the city.

An interactive map:

Lots of pictures from the distinctive French Quarter:

French Quarter buildings

French Quarter buildings

French Quarter buildings

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

We had a jazz brunch at the Court of Two Sisters:

French Quarter

Court of the Two Sisters

Court of Two Sisters

Court of Two Sisters

Court of Two Sisters

Court of Two Sisters

Court of Two Sisters

Court of Two Sisters

Court of Two Sisters

Court of Two Sisters

Court of Two Sisters

Court of Two Sisters

Court of Two Sisters

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

A beignet and coffee snack:

French Quarter

French Quarter

Even the cops have swag:

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

We stopped at another Cafe Beignet for coffee beans (that were kinda gross), and also picked up some tasty pralines:

French Quarter buildings

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

A brief drive through the Garden District:

Garden District

Garden District

Garden District

Garden District

Garden District

Hale Boggs Bridge:

Hale Boggs Bridge

Veterans Memorial Bridge:

Veterans Memorial Bridge

The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway holds the Guinness World Record for longest continuous span over water in the world, at 23.83 miles (38.35 km) long:

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway

A couple more shots from the French Quarter to finish up:

French Quarter

French Quarter

The city certainly has a lot of character.