People that live in Florida have a love-hate relationship with ‘Snowbirds’. On one hand, Floridians love the money they can spend in the local economy. On the other hand, they say the Snowbirds crowd their favorite restaurants, cause most of the accidents on Florida highways by driving too slow, and fill up every single campground from January thru April!
For us, it’s kinda nice being the youngest people on the beach, in a restaurant, in the grocery store, we feel like teenagers again, or at least in our 30s :-). The term ‘Snowbirds’ was first used in 1923 to describe seasonal workers who moved south during the winter months.
Savvy Snowbirds (not this newbie Texas-based couple) book their campsites 11 months in advance when headed to Florida. We booked 2 nights in Key West and left the rest to chance. Not really a smart move and now we are struggling to find a campground with availability on short notice. We finally found a place in Key Largo for two nights, Key Palms Luxury RV Resort, that cost the same as staying in a nice hotel…at least there was a pool and hot tub overlooking the bay! Our cute little Travato looked very plain next to the multi-million dollar rigs at this luxury resort.
Key Largo is the first of the Florida keys on your way south towards Key West. Every key has its own vibe and personality. There are a couple of great restaurants that we experienced on Key Largo. Buzzard’s Roost is a laid back, hang-out with outdoor seating on a canal leading to the ocean. We ate at this restaurant twice it was so good and had the lobster reuben twice…to die for!
Our second favorite place was Key Largo Fisheries Backyard. This is the same place that provides most of the local restaurants with their seafood but they also have a retail shop and outdoor seating area to picnic. The stone crabs were delicious and so fresh. Get their mustard sauce for dipping! Closed on Sundays. A pound of large Stone Crab claws was around $17, if you went to one of the fancy tourist-focused restaurants, they might charge you that for one claw- crazy!
You may be wondering how the Keys are recovering from Hurricane Irma. Locals told us it was pretty bad. The majority of homes had water. Entire trailer and RV parks were completed destroyed. Which means many of the tourist industry’s service workers were homeless. Resorts were damaged and are being rebuilt. Many campgrounds have still not re-opened and illegal dumping continues to be a problem.
Instead of having fun & relaxing, too much of our time is spent figuring out where we are going to camp next. There is only 1 Walmart in the Keys and overnight camping is not allowed. Hundreds of Snowbirds are in the same predicament since their favorite RV parks are still being rebuilt or have been bought out by developers to build luxury condos. All we know is that the next two nights we are at Boyd’s campground just outside of Key West. Can’t wait for a Mallory Square sunset!
