We are finally off and running on our six month adventure that takes us from the southernmost tip of the continental US in Key West all the way to the Artic Ocean in Alaska. This post covers the first leg of the journey which takes us down to sunny Key West and back home – where we retrieved the Brown Beast for the remainder of the journey. It was packed for Alaska sitting in the garage and all we had to do was transition a few things from the Key West Leg into the Beast before setting out on the next leg to the journey.
As discussed in our prior planning post, we originally had not planned on taking a side trip to Florida as part of the Alaska trip but our youngest son announced his wedding plans in Miami to us and we adjusted our travel plans to truly make this an even grander epic adventure. Since we had to go to Miami, we might as well add go to Key West since its only another 3.5 hours.
Key West to Deadhorse Alaska Adventure
Days 1 & 2: Transition from home to Beaufort, South Carolina and exploring Beaufort
Beaufort is located near Parris Island where the Marine Corp has a large training facility and is also near Hilton Head. It’s a beautiful little town situated on the water, with great restaurant options and a very walkable historic residential district filled with southern antebellum mansions. We used this as both a midway stop on the way to Miami and to visit some family. If you have never been to this area its well worth a few days of exploring.
Downtown
Waterfront
The is a large waterfront park area that butts up against main street.
Jen, Matt and Blake
With this trip we travelled south with our son Matt and his wife Jen and family. Audra was a wonderful hostess.
Walking “The Point” historic district
The Union army occupied this part of South Carolina very early in November of 1861. Most of the large mansions in the area we converted to hospitals and as you walk the area there are placards detailing out various aspects of the history. Nancy and I spent most of a morning walking this beautiful area. If you aren’t able to walk this area, there are both horse drawn carriage rides and golf cart tours that you can engage down by the waterfront.
Day 2: Transitioning from Beaufort, SC to Miami, Florida
After a couple days in Beaufort, we headed directly down to Miami where we had rented a house called “Laurel House” for some of the family and friends that were traveling with us. It came with a pool and a great outdoor area and may for a great place to anchor for all of the pre and post wedding activities.
Laurel House
Walking the Neighborhood
Nancy and I take a long walk almost every day and from the Laurel house we walked to a number of the nearby neighborhoods. This area is located in southwest Miami and these photos will give you an idea of what this area is like.
Day 4: Wedding Rehearsal and the Opening Welcome Dinner at the Mullins
The next day was wedding rehearsal day at St. Raymonds of Penafort and then attending a welcome reception at our future in-laws home where we meet many new faces.
Day 5: Wedding Rehearsal Dinner at Monty’s Raw Bar
The next night was the official “rehearsal diner” which was held at Monty’s Raw Bar on the waterfront not far from Coral Gables. Nancy and I had made a previous trip down here to scout out this location back early last summer. Afterwards we hooked up with a few of our friends who had made the trip down for the wedding and got to meet “Country” our Bartender from Texas.
Day 6: Wedding Day
The wedding went off without a hitch and afterwards we headed down to the reception at the Hotel Colonnade which was a just a wonderful location. This party lasted until after midnight!
Day 7 was a day of rest at the rental house – nothing to show here folks!
Day 8 & 9: Key West, Florida
US 1 to Key West
When we found out we needed to go to Miami this spring, we had to replan the front end of our Alaska Adventure. We decided that since we were already going to be this far south we might was well travel all the way down to Key West so we could do the “Key West to Deadhorse Alaska” adventure. Traveling this highway down into the gulf you encounter a lot of scenic beauty. We were also surprised at how built out many of these little islands are as you hop from island to island over a total of 42 bridges. Speaking of bridges, some of these are really long like “7 Mile Bridge” that connects the middle keys with the lower keys.
In many places of the road the old rail road that ran down to Key West is still standing although its very dilapidated in many areas. In other areas the state has turned it into a really long fishing pier. You can read more about the history of this here and here
Southernmost Point of Continental USA
When in Key West, you have to get your picture at the “southernmost point”.
Key West Downtown
Key West is a very clean and beautiful little town that is very easy to walk and get around. We did a ton of walking and exploring while we were here. If walking isn’t your thing, there are plenty of places to take “tours” and rent scooters and other small vehicles.
Sunset
Everyone it seems goes to sunset pier to watch the sun go down at night. It even has a name: Sunset Celebration! There are bars and live music everywhere in this area (one of our bartenders told us there were over 200 bars in Key West).
Sloppy Joe’s
We popped in and out of a few bars and ended up the first evening at Sloppy Joes where we had dinner and listened to live music until about 2 in the morning. We met “Jess” our wonderful bartender. There were a lot of interesting characters in this place – and we even got to meet the musician from the first band of the night.
Irish Kevins
We spend most of the next day swimming at the hotel pool before heading out for the evening. We ended up at “Irish Kevins” for the evening where the main entertainment was the owner himself – Irish Kevin. He came to the US about 40 years ago on vacation to Key West and never left. He turned out to be great entertainer!
Chickens
One of the interesting things about Key West is that chickens are everywhere in the streets of the town. Not sure how this started (something about cock fights) but it is something the town has embraced as part of its personality. You can read more about the history of this here.
Days 10, 11 & 12: Home Bound
Nancy and I have travelled back and forth to Florida many times and the return trip was all about getting home to drop off wedding things and getting started on the next leg of the trip. We probably could have made it home in 2 days, but we decided to break the 21 hour ride into 3 7 days drives so we weren’t too worn out for the next leg of our trip. We did run into some interesting signs along the way including a “Tank Crossing” in southern Georgia near Fort Steward.
Up Next
As soon as we get home, we need to switch vehicles and get the “Brown Beast” out to the garage and finish privishing it for Alaska. After a few more details and turning the house over to our house sitters – we are off and running on the next leg of this adventure – from home cross-country to Bellingham, WA.
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What a great start to your epic journey. I enjoyed your beautiful photographs.