Florida Keys

First of all, I’ll start this post by saying that I LOVED the Florida Keys! We spent about five days there, and it was sheer bliss. I definitely want to go again some day! Secondly, I feel compelled to mention that it is not the most vanlife-friendly place in Florida. Having said all that, I would highly recommend you visit, as long as you’re willing to go through a bit of a struggle to find parking–for both daytime and overnight.

If you have been following our blog, you know about our “trifecta”…(1)Cracker Barrel to sleep, (2) Planet Fitness to exercise and shower, and (3) Panera Bread for the work-day WIFI. The Florida Keys have none of these places. And, it is technically illegal to sleep in your vehicle there.

So, we had to get creative. Long story short, we worked at the library, showered outside at the beach, and stealthily slept in our van on any residential street where we found a space without a parking meter or permit-only sign. We blacked out all the windows, turned out all the lights, stayed quiet, and only stayed there from late night to early morning. And–we did not get the dreaded, “knock” on our van window. If you know, you know.

And now, without further ado, I am delighted to share with you some of the best things we did in the Keys.

Robbie’s of Islamorada

We stopped at Robbie’s of Islamorada to feed the tarpons. It was honestly one of the scariest experiences of my life–I screamed out loud multiple times! Click on the videos below to watch for yourself!

The tarpons really jump up fast and take your whole hand in their mouth! What we didn’t realize, though, was that we should have actually been more afraid of the pelicans than the tarpons.

As Dan was holding a fish, a huge pelican snuck up from behind and attacked his hand and took the fish! It actually made his hand bleed!

This is me scolding the pelican. “You shouldn’t bite humans!” (Notice the sign in the background.)

We Saw Lots of Chickens

We noticed right away that there were chickens roaming around freely everywhere in the keys. We often waited for them to cross the road. (And why did they cross the road, you ask? To get to the other side, obviously.)

After doing a little research, we learned there there are feral chickens in the Keys because they were released many years ago and they’ve been fruitful and multiplied, just like the Bible says. Seriously, though, if you want to learn why, click here.

Sellers really capitalize on this chicken-situation, though. You can find chicken merchandise absolutely everywhere. Hilarious!

We found the Southernmost Point in the USA

We Found the Beginning of US Highway One

We Watched the Sun Rise Each Day

Since we had to wake up so early to get out of our “illegal overnight lodging spot”, we went straight to the beach each day and watched the sun rise. I am so thankful we took advantage of this wonderful opportunity, because they were some of the prettiest scenes I have ever seen!

We Showered Outside

We then had a nice, brisk morning walk, followed by a (slightly freezing) shower with a view (and biodegradable soaps). Don’t worry kids, we were in our swimsuits! 😉

We Had Breakfast by the Ocean Each Day

We joked about how much a restaurant offering this kind of experience might have cost us!

We Worked at the Library

The library was a nice place to work, with decent WIFI and comfortable space. There was an officer on duty watching over everyone, though, and when he saw our van parked outside, he gruffly said, “You are not allowed to illegally camp here.” To which Dan replied, “I know. We’re just using the public library.” (Obviously we knew we couldn’t camp there, we could read the dozen or so signs posted….)

We Watched the Sunset Each Day

Each sunset was truly, indescribably breath-taking.

We Ate Delicious Food

One thing that was important to us was to have some Key Lime Pie in the Keys. After all, it’s what they’re famous for! We got our first slice of the week at Blond Giraffe Key Lime Pie Factory. It was quite tasty and very lime-y, but a little more dense than Dan likes.

The Key Lime Pie at Miss Mack’s Kitchen was a little more to his liking, though–nice and light and airy. And, we also loved their homestyle breakfast!

We had a formal “date night” at a dessert restaurant called, “Better than Sex.” If you have ever had BTS cake, you’d understand their concept. It was delicious and lots of fun! (But, not quite better.) 😉

We grabbed a slice of pizza at Mr. Z’s Pizza–a place where you could seriously get confused and think you were in Philadelphia because of all the Phillies/Eagles/Flyers stuff all over the walls. The owner is a Philadelphia native, and it shows!

We sat at a bar one afternoon and watched the Eagles win the NFC Championship game to get them into the Superbowl!

They had tasty bbq wings and sliders!

Ok, confession time. We went to Mattheesseen’s Cookies twice. It is a very good thing I don’t live in Key West. I would have a serious cookie addiction! They are SO good!! And huuuuuge!!!

We tried the Original Rainbow Cone in Key West. The ice cream was delicious, and the presentation was unique–squares instead of scoops!

We Spent a Day at Long Key State Park

We walked beside the shoreline and along some wooded trails. We saw a snake! and we heard a sound in the bushes that sounded like snorting pigs and I got SO scared! Later, when we asked a park ranger, they said it was probably egrets. Who knew they could sound just like pigs!

We also listened to two park rangers give an interesting talk about turtles. I want to remember to never disturb turtles on the shore here–they may be nesting. And also, boaters and jet skiers should be careful not to bump into sea turtles.

We Spent a Day at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park

This amazing park (and fort) is named after our 12th U.S. president, Zachary Taylor. It may very well be the most beautiful state park I have ever seen. And, not a bad place to work for the day!

Oh, and I would be remiss if I did not mention one more place. It is not quite in the Keys, but you’ll probably pass by it on your way in our out. It’s called, “Robert is Here.” It is an absolute must-see. 🙂