Key West: What We Drank

Eating fried snails makes one thristy! So to counter balance our food crawl, of course we had to do a bar crawl as well. One of our first stops was to Kelly's Brewery. They had three beers: Key West Golden Ale, Southern Clipper Wheat and Havana Red Ale. None of them were too much to handle, perfect for the extreme heat. It also brought up the perfect opportunity for Larry to partake in his favorite pass time: Pointing out how much slower I drink than him. We also got to meet the brewmaster and he wore glasses just like Larry's dad! We met the nicest couple there from North Carolina who gave us lots and lots of recommendations for Asheville. When we went to leave the bartender told us they had payed our bill! How’s that for Southern Hospitality?

The Key West heat calls for frozen drinks, so we also made a mandatory stop at the original Margaritaville for a margarita. The music and vibe of the place has island and fun written all over it.

It was so hot during the day that you can only walk a few blocks before you need a drink. Ugh, the worse ;) We stopped in to Smokin' Tuna Saloon to fix that problem. They're "smokin' tuna and it's legal!" The bartender was really helpful with where to go out and also told us where the best beach was.

We didn't realize the Key West nightlife would be so crazy! Not only was every single bar packed once the sun went down, but the streets were full of people walking around or enjoying some of the street music. We hopped around from bar to bar for a while before discovering what we think is the only bar in Key West that serves what Larry calls "good beer." It was Joe's Tap Room, and was attached to Sloppy Joe's, one of the most popular bars in Key West. We liked it, but once again the smokers made our stop in there a short one. 

After leaving Joe's Tap Room our plan was to continue our bar crawl. But alas, history repeats itself.  We found another dueling piano bar and once we walked in that was it for us. Who could pass up a perfect rendition of Ants Marching?! They not only had the piano but also a bass, drums and violin for the song! 

Key West: What We Ate

Why did the chicken cross the road?

To peck at Larry and Jules’ feet as they try to enjoy a meal! We left Key West without the slightest idea as to why there are almost more chickens then residents occupying the town. They’re all over the place! Cute little baby chicks following their moms, big roosters that never stop crowing, crazy-looking white feathery ones, desperate ones that beg for food from under the table like a dog. It was so weird, but one of the funniest things we’ve ever seen is watching them cross the road in the busy Key West traffic.

We loved seeing those crazy chickens but we did much, much more than that in Key West. We went to almost every bar on the island and did a food crawl of all the “must go” places. 

Our food crawl started at lunch at Blue Heaven, and if it weren’t for the chickens begging for food at your feet it would really be heaven. It’s all outside seating under the shade of huge trees. We split their tortilla dish which was delicious and got a couple of cocktails, both of which were great. Normally we're not big fans of key lime pie but being that it's what they're known for we decided to give it a try. We were so glad we did! The merengue was so fluffy and not too sweet and the custard was smooth and delicious. Just perfect. We could have stayed there all day but I accidently threw a grain of rice from our table on the floor and the begging chickens just lost it and would not leave me alone.

Next, we went to BO's Fish Wagon to try their conch fritters. The place looked like it was decorated with stuff that had washed ashore after a big storm.. right up our alley. If you don't know, conches are large sea snails. We were a little apprehensive because we thought the fritters were going to be really tough or slimy but they really weren't. They were really good! The staff at BO's Fish Wagon were also the nicest people and so friendly, too.

Our next stop was to Schooner's Wharf Bar after a very nice recommendation. The sun had just set and we were right on the water, it was beautiful. We split a cheeseburger and loved it, but loved the atmosphere more. Once it started getting a little later, the bar filled up with people and cigarette smoke. We realized how much we take our clean air and smoke free restaurants in New York for granted. It was enough to make us move on to a new place!

Our Drive to Key West

On our drive to Key West through the Florida Keys, we encountered our worst storm yet. We could hardly see the car in front of us and contemplated turning around. As we got closer to Key West, the storm began to dwindle until finally we had the sun beating on our backs, making us almost wish it was still raining.. almost.

First we were like..

Then we were like..

And then we were like..

Miami Beach

Our first stop in Miami Beach was for some tacos at Alma Mexicana. That was when we realized that as English speakers, we were the minority. Both girls working there spoke very limited English and we had a hard time understanding each other, but the tacos were delicious!

Since we were both “sweatin’ more than a fat girl writin’ her first love letter” (-Paula Deen), we went to Wet Willie’s for some refreshing slushies. We spent the afternoon walking around and admiring all of the Art Deco hotels, their beautiful signage and all of the antique cars. When we couldn’t bare the heat anymore we walked to the beach to cool off by strolling along with our feet in the water. 

Next, we went to The Abbey Brewing Co., a Belgium style brewery. They’ve been open for over 17 years and serve three styles of beer. We tried them all: Immaculate IPA, Father Theodore's Stout and Brother Aaron's Quadruple but liked the IPA the best. We also got to talk a little bit to the brewmaster which is always cool. We thought it was funny that his beer of choice that day was Southern Tier 2XIPA from New York!

We also stopped in to Titanic Brewery in Miami. On our way there we finally reached the end of I95 which was bittersweet for us, realizing that our trip is almost halfway done. Their flight came in a cute little ship wheel but we weren’t too impressed with the beers, especially compared to The Abbey.

Florida

We made a quick stop in Jacksonville to check out River City Brewing Company.  The restaurant was cool with a huge outside deck area and stage for live music. Unfortunately, their beer tasted like pool water. A flight of 5 beers only cost $2.50 though, so you get what you pay for! That was about all we did in Jacksonville, our next stop was St. Augustine. It was first discovered in 1565 by the Spanish and is now the oldest continually occupied city in the United States. It has small little alley ways with little shops and grand castle-like structures. It was one of the most beautiful cities we've seen. While there, we stopped by Ripley's Believe it or Not and saw a real tree house. It's a house made from one section of a giant sequoia and has 4 rooms!

We drove through a few beach towns on our way down Route 1 to Miami. Most of them, including Daytona Beach seemed to just be a series of hotels. Unfortunately for most of the drive we were encountering rain on and off, and warnings of hail storms! Luckily, hail never came but the rain made us stop driving shortly after Daytona.

Hey Y'all!

Paula Deen says “Everyday you wake up on the right side of the dirt is a good one,” and I agree, but she forgot to mention how good that day can be if you wake up in Savannah. The city is absolutely breathtaking. Most of the buildings in the historic district were built in the 1800s, although they are beautifully up kept not showing their age. Most of the homes have beautiful wrought iron gates, each with their own unique designs. The town now has 22 squares, the other 2 squares were used to build government buildings, our favorite part about that being Liberty Square that now holds the city jail. The town’s remaining squares are beautifully canopied by live oak trees covered in Spanish moss.

Our hotel, which was within walking distance of the historic district, told us about The Old Savannah Tour that we decided to take. The tour takes about an hour and a half and showed us all of the historic district and some of the Victorian district, guided by extremely knowledgeable guides. It was the best thing we did, because it gave us a crash course on the city and saved us a lot of time. It’s also no accident that down the street from our hotel, was the only brewery in Savannah, Moon River Brewing Company. We each got a flight to sample all 7 of their beers. We really liked all of them, but loved the Slo-vannah (American Pale Ale) and the Swamp Fox (India Pale Ale). It’s a shame the only place you can get their beer is at their brewpub.

After our tour of Savannah, we went to Lady and Sons for dinner. Larry decided to get the buffet while I got fried green tomatoes. Larry loved the buffet but I was really disappointed with the fried green tomatoes. They were good, but tasted like eggplant cutlets not tomatoes! There was a little boy sitting with his family in the table next to ours and I could tell he just wanted to get into trouble. Every time Larry would go up to the buffet, he would turn around in his seat, face me and start blowing raspberries at me! When Larry would come back, he would stop and turn back around. The last time he did it, he was also screaming SO loud and finally his mom told him to turn around and stop bothering me. All of this before Larry came back, making me look like a crazy person. I guess his plan worked :) The next day we went to the gimmicky Pirate’s House restaurant. We both got the buffet which was good but we agreed that nothing compared to Lady and Sons. We also went to Leopold’s ice cream, or as our crazy, “straight” tour guide calls it: “Sinful! Sinful Sinful!" We both tried a bunch of flavors before choosing coconut with strawberry (Larry) and coconut with banana (Jules). Delicious.

We stopped at a bar, Jens and Friends for happy hour. They make the craziest cocktails ever, with marshmallow fluff, caramel sauce, snickers and many other kinds. We only ordered a few local beers but loved watching the bartender make up all of these crazy drinks. We were talking to the bartender and her friend and they suggested a few other places we should go to.  That’s also when we found out Georgia doesn’t have an open container law! We took two drinks to go, because we could, and sat in the nearest square listening to a man play the flute.  Next, we went to the roof top of the Bohemian Hotel to watch the sunset, as was recommended to us. The view was beautiful and we stayed until the sun set.