Trip Report - Fla Keys w/pics

My husband and I recently returned from a motorcycle trip to the Florida Keys. He and another friend drove the truck down from Wisconsin with the Harleys in tow. I flew to Orlando with another couple of friends who rented a bike there and we all met up for the trip down the turnpike to the Keys.

We spent the first night in Key Largo then spent the whole next day riding from there to Key West, hitting every little bar and restaurant along the way. Thanks in large part to this website, we managed to find lots of great roadfood. The first great meal was found at The Hungry Tarpon in Islamorada:



I had one of the best breakfasts ever here. I don't remember the name of the dish, but it consisted of crepes, crabmeat, overeasy eggs and hollandaise. Heaven. My friend had the same thing with lobster instead of crabmeat that was equally as good if not better. My husband had a breakfast burrito that was awesome, but not as good as my breakfast! All of that in a great outdoor deck setting right on the water. And with Mimosas! Now that's what I call vacation.



The next great roadfood find we happened upon was Herbie's in Marathon. Great local seafood at a great price in a very casual atmosphere. We got a crabcake sandwich which was big enough to feed us both:



Loyd could barely fit it in his mouth:



We thoroughly enjoyed this place (you probably noticed all the empty beer bottles )



We finally made it to Key West. There were some food highlights, most of which happened at Blue Heaven. We went there for dinner and loved it so much we went back the next day for breakfast!



The highlight of our dinner was the stone crab claws appetizer:



Followed by great barbecue shrimp:



And conch encrusted Mahi:



Breakfast at Blue Heaven equally as good, consisting of Lobster Benedict and Blueberry Pancakes. Sorry, I didn't get pics. The other gems in Key West were breakfast at the Schooner Wharf, which also has a happy hour from 8 AM - noon Also a cuban sandwich in a little deli which I can't remember the name of.

On the way back, we found a cool little blue collar hangout in the Geiger Key Marina. Great food, views, music, sunset. Here is the shrimp cocktail appetizer:



And the sunset, complete with cigar to keep the bugs away:



The last night we stayed in Port St Lucie on the way back to the airport in Orlando. It was just north of there in Vero Beach where I had my last great roadfood meal at Waldo's:



What a funky place. We had the peel and eat shrimp followed by a Cajun Grouper sandwich and a Jamaican Mahi Mahi sandwich. All were good. Here is me at Waldo's getting a message from work (a power company) saying that all the power was out in Iowa due to a major ice storm:



That was proof of the impending reality that was to come. Despite a foot of snow that fell in Wisconsin while we were gone, we all managed to make it home safely. We'll always have those memories of perfect weather, great riding and especially great roadfood. Thanks to all of you who offered suggestions!

-Kris

Awesome trip report! Except that last picture/heading of "Work Calling".. That can bum out any vacation.

What a fun trip! Never been to Florida, gotta get there someday. Obviously no one went hungry from the looks of your pics! Great job! Would love to see more of that on this site.

DD

Great job! Thanks for sharing, alll the food looks great especially those stone crab claws! I've got to try to get to the New Glarus/Monroe/Mt. Horeb area this year and try your place, this post reminded me.

Very nice. Glad you got a break from winter. Think about Bike Week in Daytona Beach next year.

John

Glad to hear from you again Kirsby!!!Still hoping to head out your way this summer on our bikes!!!Ann

The hungry tarpon is a great place. Did you go onto the docks of the marina behind the place (robbie's)and feed the hungry tarpon? They hang out over there and they are enormous! It's about $3 for a bucket of fish to feed them. Watch your fingers though!

We did not go out on the dock to feed the tarpon because it was getting pretty crowded by the time we were done eating. We did wander around and check out some of the outdoor vendors, bought some funky jewelry and took a bunch of pictures. It was an absolutely gorgeous day.

Good to hear from some of you fellow Wisconsinites. I hope to see you in New Glarus this summer. We were so ready for tourist season to be done last fall and now we are so ready for it to start again! We are starting to staff up, cleaning off the deck, and just waiting for the weather to warm up. The warm weather trip to Florida was great, now I'm ready for it to come to Wisconsin!

Another terrific report! That was some mighty fine looking seafood you got there.

Great report, Kirsby!
that conch-crusted mahi sounds unusual----and amazingly delicious.

Sounds like a great trip, Kirsby! Hey, I used to live in Key West and Blue Heaven was a favorite back then. Also, I met a woman from Wisconsin at Mallory one night and she is the reason I'm living in Madison right now! Freaky. Hopefully,you made it to at least one sunset! What kind of place do have in New Glarus? I'll come visit....I'm a big biker myself and love the roads out your way. Again, thanks for the great pics and review. Ahh....memories

Wow great pictures. Roger and I go to key west every year around Thanksgiving (our anniversary) We were married there on the beach! We are still looking for ways to make a living and live down there. I had the lobster benedict at Blue Heaven. A&B Lobster house is great as is Cafe Marquesa. We love half shell raw bar for there fresh catch what ever it is. Oh Alice's is great too. Check out Finnegan's wake for some people watching.

What no pics of the wild chickens?

Great post. Awesome pictures. Keep them coming.

I was just in FL City. Did you stop in the Last Chance Saloon? rather unique place.

Oh, You just brought back many memories of my 10 years living in the keys.
Many times I had breakfast at the Hungry Tarpon.
Oh, I feel homesick lately anyway.....
Great pics and great write up!

Hello all ,

Great trip report , pictures and descriptions of meals .

Were you able to hit Jimmy Buffets Margaretaville cafe and Sloppy Joes while in Key West?

Benzee

"Here is me at Waldo's getting a message from work (a power company) saying that all the power was out in Iowa due to a major ice storm:"


Oh wow, what a bummer!

Nice blend of great food and fun commentary. I like your report 'style'! Keep'em coming when you hit the road again.

My, Kirsby, what perfect teeth you have.

Great report, Kirsby. Looks like you had a lot of fun.

I am going to make a trip down to the Keys in early May. You have provided me with a great list and inspiration.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. A few replies:

- Here's the website for our Pub & Grill in New Glarus: www.tofflers.com. If you're planning to stop in, let me know. When I'm not at my day job I'm usually there. Summer is the best, we have a big outdoor deck in back.

- We were planning on stopping at Sloppy Joe's when we were there but they were closed because of a water main break. We didn't hit Margaritaville either but hit lots of other bars on Duval.

- I'll have to take note of all the other places that were suggested for our next trip. I'm sure we'll be back!

-Kris

Awesome sight!!!

My old next door neighbor is a waitress at the Geiger Key Smokehouse that you stopped at. Food pictures and adventure sounded like fun. Your trip to the Keys was better than mine we had 3 straight days of RAIN!!!