Long Weekend
3 days · ~210 miles · from Miami
US 1 to the end of the road: forty-two bridges over turquoise water to Key West, with a hurricane monument, a rescued movie boat, tiny key deer and the last mile marker in America. The interstate ends where the fun starts.
This trip chains: The Overseas Highway
Card Sound Road for a beer at Alabama Jack's, the African Queen still afloat in Key Largo, snorkel the reef at Pennekamp, then the 1935 Hurricane Monument at Islamorada — dinner and a sunset dock at the fishing capital.
The Turtle Hospital in Marathon, walk Pigeon Key beneath the Old Seven Mile Bridge, swim the deep cut at Bahia Honda, then key deer at dusk and a slice at the No Name Pub. Overnight Big Pine.
The last stretch of blue to Mile Marker 0: Hemingway's six-toed cats, the Southernmost Point line, and a green flash from Mallory Square. Drive back or fly out of the little island airport.