Let's momentarily pause the visions of colorful autumn leaves and instead turn to palm trees arching over clear Gulf waters. I just returned from another mother/daughter trip...this time to the Florida Keys and Sanibel Island!

We started the trip in Key West, which had its charms, mostly of the natural variety - massive palm trees teeming with coconuts, sunsets, green waters. I could do without the trashy tshirt shops and Mardi Gras-esque feeling of over-indulgence. Have you ever been to Key West? Did you feel that too? It seemed like a locale where old rich broads retire and walk their poodles everyday, while everyone else is still wearing cutoff stonewashed jean shorts and tshirts that say "I Heart Naked People" {case in point, see below}.

It was fun in its own quirky way. Mom and I always seem to gravitate to the places of natural beauty though!

The night we arrived, we were greeted by this adorable scene on the front porch of the Frances Street Bottle Inn, where we promptly deposited our bags in our room and went straight outside to the sprawling wrap-around porch for a red wine nightcap.

The next day, we rented bikes {the way to get around in Key West, apparently} and began to explore...

We saw historic homes and fences overflowing with bougainvillea...

Creepy tree trunks that seemed to be dripping from the sky...

...and orchid-like flowers growing from trees all over the island.

We learned that the flowers were from the "Flamboyant Tree" and of course put them in our hair!

On the way to the beach, we passed this typical Key West street scene...

Admittedly, one of the best parts of Key West was discovering this organic restaurant, Help Yourself!, where we had organic chicken salad wraps on sprouted grain tortillas and peanut butter banana shakes using coconut water instead of milk! They gather the coconuts themselves. Are you kidding me? We loved it so much for lunch that we went back for dinner and tried the homemade cashew coconut ice cream. Delish.

Finally, we stopped moving, parked our bikes, and found a ledge by the ocean to sit and see one of Key West's famous sunsets. Even the herons were ready for the show...