2. Fort Taylor - Key West

This past week, Tom and I ventured to Key West and Cozumel on a Carnival cruise. Naturally, we did our best to fit in a state park along the way. This one is quite the hidden secret. We went to Fort Taylor, which is about a five minute walk from the cruise ship, right next to the Navy Pier. It is only a 15 minute walk to the end of U.S. 1, the southernmost point in the U.S., etc. For pedestrians (which we were since we came from the ship) entry was only $2.50 each. I believe it was about $6.00 a carload. There is no camping there, which is always a little bit of a disappointment to Tom and I (not that we could have camped anyway). Above is a picture with us, the cruise ship and the fort. That is how close we were!

For the first leg of our adventure we visited the fort itself. I have previously visited another state park (before I created the blog), Fort Clinch, and it was in much better shape. Fort Taylor has certainly fallen into disrepair. However, on the flip side, it gave a more accurate picture of what a fort would look like if it had not been restored, which is valuable in its own right. There was a cook's kitchen, some original cannons and cannonballs throughout the fort. What I thought was most interesting is the fort used to be out in the water, on a island that had a bridge connecting it to Key West. However, in the earl 20th century, it was decided to make the fort land locked, which is how it is today.

The hidden treasure to the park was the beautiful beach that literally about 10 other people were on at the same time as us. The water is crystal clear and the sand is the white powdery kind that gently sticks to your feet. Certainly not like the gritty sand in Cocoa Beach. It did get deep rather quickly, so we were not able to walk very far out. I wish we would have had our bathing suits, but then I guess we wouldn't have made it to all our other fun spots.

All in all, this is highly recommended, even if only for the beach, if you are venturing to Key West.

Until next time,

The camping bug