During our extended time in Miami, we decided to rent a car and head down to Key West for the day. The notable feature of Key West is not the destination though as you would assume, it is actually the journey. The drive to Key West is varied and extraordinary. For a portion you drive over an elevated road through the endless Everglades, but that's not the exciting part. As you start to head down to the southernmost tip of mainland America, you hit the many keys (or islands) that make up the Florida Keys. As these keys are essentially islands, you need some pretty big and spectacular bridges to connect the, and that is exactly what you get. Some of the photos taken don't quite capture the sheer magnificence of the roads and bridges themselves, but if you would like to see from a birds eye view what we drove all this way for Google 'Key West' or 'Overseas Highway', you wont be disappointed. So for your reading and viewing pleasure, please find our adventure down to Key West!
 |
| Trying to find our way to Key West. |
 |
| We originally booked a convertible Mustang which we were so excited about but when we got to the place in the morning they have stuffed up our booking and all they had for us was a small Yaris. Now we were incredibly disappointed but it turns out the Yaris was awesome. It not only saved us alot of money on petrol but it was much easier to drive in the crazy Miami traffic. |
 |
| The Camaro we could of had. |
 |
| This is our little "yum mobile". If you look closely you will see that the number plate says YUM. |
 |
| It was a little mean machine, and surprisingly had a little bit of grunt. But only a little bit! |
 |
| These were some of the private coves nestled in some of the many Florida Keys. Some seriously expensive places here. Testament to that is the fact that everyone drove round golf buddies throughout the island. |
 |
| The same private cove from above. |
 |
| Just some of the scenery from the drive, it was fantastic. |
 |
| Just a small glimpse of the Overseas Highway |
 |
| Key West was truly paradise. |
 |
| This photo and the two below don't need an explanation, you get the point (pardon the pun). |
 |
| These cops were on a training drill, or so they said. But we think they just liked to show off their bikes and tight t-shirts in front of the tourists. |
 |
| One of the many streets in Key West. |
 |
| Casual swim in Key West. |
 |
| One of the many beautiful beaches in Key West. |
 |
| It was so hard to leave this place. |
 |
| Serene secluded beach |
 |
| This was one of the old sections of the road, now just a feature in the incredible backdrop. |
 |
| The little yum mobile |
 |
| If you look far enough into the distance, you'll see the little hump in the road. I still have no idea why it raised at that particular point, but it was cool nonetheless. |
 |
| As the sun started to set we decided to pull over and take a short walk on a bridge right near the overseas highway and take in the view. |
After almost 13 hours of on and off driving, we finally got back to our hotel at around 11:30pm that night. Needless to say it was bed time.
The next day we decided to just chill, partly because we needed to rest but the other part being there wasn't much else to do.
 |
| The beach out the front of out hotel. |
 |
| A massive green lizard! |
 |
| Just a Bugatti Veyron parked on the side of a road.... no biggie. Only $1.8m worth of car. |
 |
| A shot down Ocean Drive. The famous part of Miami Beach/South Beach. |
 |
| When we were in Miami we walked past this place at least a dozen times and couldn't understand why people were taking photos of it other than because it was a bit grand looking. After some research on the bus to New Orleans we found out it was the Versace Mansion which was owned and lived in by by Gianni Versace (the famous designer). Also it turns out he was murdered on the steps you see in the photo. |
 |
| The only reason I took this photo is because the guy in the photo was a total creep/weirdo. He kept perving on the girls in the photo and then telling Kristian about how he had been following them along the beach. |
 |
| Some of the many restaurants that lined Ocean Drive. |
 |
| South Beach before the storm set in. |
 |
| Our last night in Miami wouldn't be complete without a huge daiquiri in an oversized cup Kristian just had to take home. |
 |
| Classy Kristian....... |
 |
| Unfortunately our last night was full of rain and thunderstorms but luckily it was still pretty warm. |
 |
| Ocean Drive, South Beach |
Unfortunately we had to leave Miami, despite extending our stay considerably, the place was just that awesome. Then again, we had New Orleans to look forward to so it wasn't too hard to leave.
New Orleans was crazy, but I'll leave that to our next post!
So until then, hope everyone's doing well and we will talk soon.
Kristian & Lauren.
