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| A timeless beauty. |
Eventually the Livingstone became the African Queen. She spent a good part of her travels in the Congo. She transported hunters and cargo along the Ruki River for many, many years. Later, in 1951, she got the starring role in the self titled movie, The African Queen.
This queen is a beautiful, antiquated little steam boat made from British steel and African mahogany. She still has a coal stoker on board to help steam her along. She no longer sails up and down the rivers of Africa though.
Instead, she steams around the canals and marinas of Key Largo. Many people have donated much time and resources to restore this Queen back to her original beauty and function from World War I. The African Queen is now used to provide locals and tourists visiting the Florida Keys with scenic cruises along Port Key Largo. How cool is that?
And while I was unable to partake in a lovely cruise on this beautiful little steam boat, I made sure to contribute a monetary donation to help keep her running. I'm a big fan of not losing the past. In our haste to move forward as a society, we tend to discard our relics of the past. It's only when we find ourselves reminiscing many years later that we wish we had not been so eager to toss out traces of our roots. Not everything can be saved, I understand that, it's not feasible, but we should save some things.
Anyway, she was most certainly the most distinct and most stunning boat in the Key Largo Marina. Eventually, I would love to take a cruise in this majestic lady. And I will, one day. I have added that to my Bucket List. Once you visit the Keys, it's almost impossible not to want to go back. I am glad I saved some adventures for next time! Below are some pics of this stunning old gal flying both the British and American flags.
Key Largo, to me, was beach town meets hometown USA. There were lots of beautiful homes, both big and small. Condos, hotels and restaurants were also readily available. There was definitely a neighborhood feel to Key Largo. Maybe it was because while Key Largo is touristy, it also has the essential shopping centers, gas stations and local businesses that normal everyday people seek out. From what I understand, Key Largo has some very amazing restaurants. I only had the luxury of trying one, but boy did I love it.
Mrs. Mac's Kitchen II is where I was introduced to the best Key Lime pie I have ever tasted in my life. And I talk about my little slice of heaven in my Key Lime Pie Blog. However, Ms. Mac's also had an exceptional and very reasonably priced menu. My daughter treated us all to some garlic truffle fries as an appetizer. They tasted divine. They were the perfect amount of crisp, drizzled with a light truffle oil then sprinkled with garlic and Parmesan cheese.
My daughter ordered the beef tacos. When our super friendly and very doting waiter brought out her dinner, I gasped. They looked just as beautiful and authentic as the Latino restaurants in my neck of the woods. They were piled high with meat, tomatoes, cheeses and other tasty Mexican toppings. She assured me they were delicious. I felt a little pang of envy deep in my soul.
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| Truffle Fries |
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| These tacos looked delish! |
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| My amazing patty melt! The picture does not do it's size justice. |
My son tried a Buffalo meat burger which he enjoyed very much. I found it so cool that he was branching out and trying all these new foods. This kid lived on hot dogs and chicken nuggets growing up. I had to feed him vitamins every day cuz the kid would rather starve than eat most foods. Now he was trying sushi and buffalo to name a few things. I was very happy about that. As for me, well I am a sucker for a good Patty Melt. This Patty Melt was HUGE. It was also delicious although I am not gonna lie, I was still very jealous of my daughters tacos.
After dinner we visited Shell World. This gargantuan store had every shell imaginable. It also had many, many other beautiful products from dishes to jewelry, blankets to tote bags. I purchased some of the famous sea salt scrub heavily touted all over the Florida Keys. It is absolutely divine. You only need a little too. It was a little embarrassing testing the product out in the store because I scooped up a big glob of it and then had to stand there for 5 minutes rubbing it all over my hands, arms and even my knees. Didn't want to waste it. It's a quality product for sure.
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| Cute and great prices! |
Down the road from Shell World and The Pink Junktique was a shop called Key Lime Products. Every Key Lime combination you could possibly think of was in that store. And the store owner had a nice display of samples for us to savor. I wanted to buy one of everything but settled for picking up a few packages of powdered key lime cookies. They were just too good. They key lime flavor combined with the powedered sugar was heaven to my taste buds.
We also had to visit the local Publix and Beale's. Our family became huge fans of these stores while in the Keys. Publix sells Krispy Kreme donuts and Beale's is like a TJ Maxx.
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| I loved everything about this shop! |
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| I fell in love at a Publix. Cheap smokes, Krispy Kremes and Booze in the aisles! |
Key Largo is also home to John Penningkamp State Park. From what I understand, it is one of the best places to snorkel and catch a glimpse of the living coral reef that calls the waters of the Florida Keys home. Unfortunately there was not enough time to visit but I hope to do so one day in the future. We did not spend much time in Key Largo as there were so many Keys along our journey we wanted to visit but I will say Key Largo was very enjoyable and I will gladly visit this Key again. I want to cruise on the African Queen and have another slice of Mrs. Mac's Key Lime pie!
Cool Stuff in Key Largo
The Florida Keys Chronicles- My Adventures
Chrissy
