Key West is the southernmost point in the United States, only 90 miles from Cuba.  Though we had been to Florida many times visiting Bill’s parents after they retired, we never made it to Key West.  Now it is a fulfilled dream.

The road from Miami to Key West, the Overseas Highway or U.S. 1, is 113 miles long and passes through more than 40 islands connected by 42 bridges, the longest of which is the 7-mile bridge.  We had heard that this bridge is daunting for some, but from our point of view, it was not nearly as scary as a bridge we crossed over the Chesapeake Bay last summer.

On one side is the Atlantic Ocean, on the other, the Florida Bay leading to the Gulf of Mexico.  When driving on one of the narrow roads or on one of the bridges, the view of the two bodies of water – from the right and from the left – is beautiful.

The campground we stayed at was one of the few that are open; when we were looking for places to stay, many of the campground websites said they were rebuilding following Hurricane Irma.  Being a private campground, the spaces are close together (the more campsites, the more money), and not an inch of space is wasted.

We weren’t sure what we would find in Key West – other than a marker at the southernmost point – except that we knew that it was not a nature environment.  Not exactly true: in the two days we spent in Key West before Shabbat, we had the opportunity to examine the human species in their various flavors.  Though there is a population that lives in Key West year round, including the servicemen and women stationed at the Truman Annex Naval Air Station (after all, we are only 90 miles from Cuba), mostly we observed the “tourists.”

The main activities seem to be drinking, eating, shopping, fun in the sun, and water sports.  Though neither of us are drinkers, we did have some eating opportunities (we, however, marveled that so many restaurants and bars could all stay in business).  There is Starbucks, a Häagen-Dazs with an OU certificate on the wall for its ice creams, and a small Israeli fleishig diner we found on the Chabad website.  Thursday evening we had dinner at the diner, and Friday lunch was at Starbucks and Häagen-Dazs, not as healthy but a lot more fun.

Not surprisingly, the main languages we heard were English and Spanish, but we also caught quite a bit of Hebrew.  We struck up a conversation with an Israeli who ran a T-shirt store (he was surprised that we understood a conversation he was having with a friend), and walking along the street we heard a number of vendors speaking Hebrew.

Every tourist town has its own unique personality; some are more interesting than others.  We would call Key West interesting.  As usual, we walked a lot and enjoyed experiencing the town on foot, getting our picture taken at the southernmost marker, walking past Hemingway’s House (below), visiting an ecological museum – did you know that Key West has the largest coral reef in North America, third in the world – experiencing Mallory Square (a town square with food, entertainment, and a great view of the sun setting), watching street musicians, visiting some shops (they mostly seemed to have the same things), and seeing cruise ships that are as large as small cities.  But the very best was watching the sun set over the ocean.

We returned to the campground Friday afternoon and spent a nice, quiet Shabbat there, taking a few walks to the ocean only 10 feet from the RV.