I mentioned last week that Mr. A surprised me on my birthday with a four day getaway to Key West. Since we love sharing our travel details on the blog, I thought I would share this special trip with you guys too.
Our trip to the Conch Republic began super early on my birthday when my Mom dropped us off at the airport at 6 am. (Love you Mom)
Even though we were super exhausted, we couldn’t hide our excitement at the airport.
After 4 hours and 1 layover in Tampa, we arrived in beautiful, sunny, humid Key West. The airport runway there is so short that our pilot gave us a warning before we landed that the landing would be a little more abrupt than we were used to.
It’s also the only airport I’ve ever been to that doesn’t have gates. You walk off the plane, down a stairway, and straight onto the tarmac. Pretty old school.
When we got off the plane, we caught a taxi to our bed and breakfast, which was centrally located on Key West’s main drag, Duval Street.
The La Te Da.
Once we dropped off our bags, we were starving, having not eaten since 6am, so we decided to venture to a place Mr. A had scouted out, The Café, a crunchy, hippy, vegetarian joint.
I was in love. The menu was full of veggies, tofu, and legumes. It was hard to pick just one dish.
We ended up settling on bruschetta to start. The ingredients were all locally sourced, making the tomatoes and basil irresistibly juicy and succulent.
For my main dish, I had a fresh, homemade veggie burger, made from legumes, carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, scallions, and sunflower seeds, with sweet potato fries on the side. Am I the only person who can’t resist sweet potato fries? I literally eat every single one.
Mr. A got the blackened tuna burger with pineapple-mango salsa.
We both thoroughly enjoyed our meals. It was great to feel stuffed but not heavy—this is why I love healthy food.
Hoping to settle our food a little, we decided to walk down Duval Street to check out some of Key West legendary spots.
The road was peppered with old time wooden slat houses. We loved how historic everything felt.
When we reached the end of Duval Street, we wandered over to Mallory Square, where Key West holds its famous sunset festival.
Apparently, this whole place is covered with booths and tourists when the sun sets. I imagine the view is pretty spectacular.
On the way back to our hotel, Mr. A took a few pictures of the famous Key West bars.
Every block had a least 3 or 4…supposedly Key West has more bars per capita than any other city. That doesn’t surprise me at all.
Having worked up quite the sweat on our 2 mile walk, we decided to take a dip in the pool before getting ready for dinner.
Our hotel’s pool was in the middle of the courtyard, surrounded by palms trees and plants. It was like a secret oasis—so relaxing.
Once we cooled off, we got ready for our dinner reservations at the fabulous Latitudes.
The restaurant is located on a private island, off the coast of Key West, that is home to the Westin Resort. In order to get there, we had to take a boat from Key West to Sunset Key.
When we were seated, I realized why Mr. A was so excited about this restaurant.
This was our view. Apparently, we got the best table in the house, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico and Key West’s beautiful sunset.
Since we were celebrating, we decided to imbibe a few libations, which is highly out of the ordinary.
I had the peach bellini.
And Mr. A had the key lime coolada. His drink was out of this world delicious.
We started off our meal with a cheese platter, featuring cheeses paired with sweet and savory sides.
We loved the wasabi pear spread and all of the other delicious accompaniments. So much so that I forgot to take a picture before we ate some…whoops.
Once we finished our appetizer, we decided to use our time to capture some pictures of our amazing surroundings.
Our waiter even came by and asked if we wanted a few pictures. Yes, please.
He must have taken at least 20.
Once our photo session was over, our main entrees were ready.
I opted for the parmesan crab stuffed scallops with a wild mushroom risotto.
Mr. A had the pan seared yellowtail snapper with citrus risotto, asparagus, and a ginger-lime cream.
As soon as our food came, the sun was in position to set. Our waiter came back over and asked if we wanted some more pictures.
Adorable right?
So here’s photo session number 2.
Luckily, when we finished our session, we still had a few minutes to take pictures from our table.
I have to say it was one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen. Key West certainly lived up to its reputation.
With the photo session finally out of the way, we took time to enjoy our dinner together, listening to the peaceful waves crashing onto the beach.
It was the perfect location for a romantic, memorable dinner. The food was also pretty ridiculously amazing. But then again I love scallop anything so I’m an easy one to please.
Once dinner was over, we took the boat back to the main island and strolled up Duval Street back to our hotel.
Latitudes truly was the perfect ending to the perfect day. If you are in Key West, you have to check it out. And ask for table 83—what an amazing view!
