Harrison Kight in "The Key West Exploration"

We had many amazing days during our expedition in the Florida Keys. However, my personal favorite, by far, is the final day of expedition at Key West. My first thoughts of the area brought up some memories as I thought to myself: “This is a lot like a tropical version of Gatlinburg, Tennessee.” Well, it turns out that I was right, but in my opinion, that’s a good thing!

When we first arrived around noon on March 6, we were already having an awesome day. It was Zach’s seventeenth birthday, and we were planning to celebrate. The celebration we got was not expected, however, as it turned out that there was a tornado watch for the area. We didn’t get the tornado, but we got almost every other part of the storm: heavy rain, strong winds, super-bright lightning, and explosive thunder! It was actually a fun experience for all of us, even if some of the guys described it as “imminent death.” (Admittedly, I was one of those people!) Thankfully, it calmed down later on.

After a long walk through the fray, we arrived at the Key West Aquarium. Although we used it partially as a shelter, we got to see some awesome creatures there: nurse sharks, horseshoe crabs, lionfish, and the exotic sea cucumber! (It’s awesome because it spits out water for a defensive habit!) We were going to look at some gators, but then we heard the aforementioned explosive thunder. But when it calmed down, we got to touch some stingrays and blow into a conch horn. The sound you hear is not unlike that of a foghorn. (“Adventurers, unite!”)

A few hours later, we visited two different shops. The first of these was Peppers of Key West, where we got to try several types of hot sauce. Zach nearly passed out after the first few! (That’s a joke, but he was certainly in hysterics!) James and I got through all of the samples without much of a problem. I was also able to finally witness the somewhat legendary ghost pepper sauce, although I was unable to try it. The other store we went to was Kermit’s Key West Lime Shoppe, where we not only got to taste a lot of key lime-flavored treats, but we each got a slice of key lime pie for Zach’s birthday. Let me just say this: it was exceptionally amazing!

After yet another long walk, we finally found a place to eat dinner. It was a burger joint known as BurgerFi. We attempted to all decide on a meal for about half an hour, and then ordered our dinner choices. Each of us got a soda from those really-awesome Coca-Cola soda machines, and we shared three “bucket o’ fries” that we didn’t even finish. I approve of this place for whoever goes to Key West, but beware: the massive amount of food that’s there will leave you feeling sick for a while!

This day consisted of a lot of other smaller activities, such as random store hopping, souvenir purchases, and other sight-seeing opportunities. We were exhausted by the time we arrived back at the van, but it was all during our final day of expedition. It was a finale that I approve of greatly, and if I ever go back to the Keys, I will definitely return to the Southernmost Point of the United States!