A Break from Winter in Key West

From January 23 to 28, my hubby, some friends and I took a break from the cold Northeast and headed to Key West for some warm weather, good food and good wine at the Key West Wine and Food Fest 2013.

DAY ONE

One nice thing about this trip is that we all made different travel arrangements so that we could come and go as our schedules allowed. Bob and I decided to fly to Miami and drive the famous Highway One to Key West. What a great way to start our winter escape! We touched down in Miami, picked up our Chrysler 200, rolled down the windows (aahh, what a treat in January for a Centra PA native) and headed down US 1 for an adventure.

Bob got me a CD for Christmas called, "Florida Keys Road Trip". It told the story of the Florida Keys as we drove. What a great way to start our trip; with some "us" time before we met our friends. At one o'clock, we stopped in Marathon to eat at Fish Tails, a sweet little diner with the best Wahoo you ever tasted. We also tried conch (pronounced conk, like a conk on the head) chowder for the first time. Yum.

Not long after lunch, we started getting texts from our friends who had flown straight to Key West. They were anxious for us to get there because they were already knee deep in the party! At about 3:30 we pulled into the parking lot of the Southernmost Hotel. We checked in and found Deb, Todd, Scott and Mary Ann at Wine School. We changed into our swimming suits and joined the fun of live music, sunscreen and mohitos by the pool.

Mary Ann and Scott have been to Key West many times. This was our first time and they were excited to share some of their favorite restaurants and bars with us. When the sun set we headed to Cafe Sole to try some raw conch. I had some blackened grouper that was to die for. Scott suggested the hog fish (it's kind of like snapper) that Bob really liked. We also shared some really good white wine. Key lime pie topped off the meal.

The next day we needed to walk off that dinner so we walked all over the island of Key West. It was a beautiful day to walk and see the sights.  Naturally after all that walking we were hungry.  So we walked into Camille's for a tasty breakfast of omelettes and Cuban toast.

It was pool and sun time for the afternoon, then the Key West Food and Wine Festival began with the Flip Flop Beach Party.  We tasted a variety of wines and foods while the sun set over the water. What a gorgeous day.  You just haven't seen the most beautiful sunset until you have seen it set in Key West. When it slipped into the sea, we all applauded.  What a show!

Our evening fun was the Mallory Square stroll.  We visited about seven different restaurants where we sampled food and wine at each.  It gave us a chance to experience places to dine that we would not have visited otherwise. It was a warm and breezy evening, a thoroughly enjoyable time to be near the harbor with good food, good drink and good friends.

Stay Tuned for Part 2....


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