riding to the keys
To be honest riding to the keys isn't quite as glamorous as it sounds... first you have to navigate the hiways thru southern Florida, which really get crazy at about West Palm on thru Miami... but of you have the means you can bypass a good chuck of that by takign the Florida Turnpike. And if you choose to do that your REALLY should consider buying a Sunpass... which allows you to zip thru the toll booths.
Once you get past the Florida main land you have 121 miles (i think!?!?!) to Key West. You'll want to plan ahead so you're not riding this piece on a weekend and definitely not on a holiday. It's still bearable if if you don't head this advice... but much more enjoyable if you do. The 1st half is seems like "small town on the water, bridge over a creek, small town on the water, bridge over a slightly bigger creek, etc". The second part of the 121 mile stretch is where you start enjoying your ride... beautiful stretches of ocean up front, on the left and on the right (which is really the gulf side). Nice long bridges, cool names as you enter a new key... making you wonder who named them and why!?!?!
Once you arrive at Key West you'll be amazed at how small it is. We usually stay at a NAS (naval air station) and can easily walk to Duval St (for shopping, sight seeing, drinking).
Now that I've re-counted those memories I'd have to say it is worth the ride thru south Florida’s hiways. One more thing... on the way back up (or down) be sure to schedule 4 or 5 hour (round trip) to the Everglades National Park.
Sorry I got long winded.