When I suggested Cedar Key, Florida for our annual Christmas getaway, I wasn’t sure it would measure up to other holiday trips to San Francisco and a cruise to the Bahamas.  But this sleepy town, population 958, where time seems to stand still is packed full of surprises.

With a AAA map and TourBook guide in hand, we set off on the three-hour drive through seemingly back roads and horse farm country to the “hidden coast” of Florida.  For your geography lesson, the keys are collectively called the Cedar Keys, a group of several islands off Florida’s northeastern Gulf Coast.  The town of Cedar Key is located on Way Key, the largest, and all are situated four miles out into the Gulf of Mexico.  Three of the islands are refuge and breeding grounds for nesting birds.

Our home for two nights was the Cedar Key Bed & Breakfast where innkeepers Bill and Alice Phillips have maintained this restored 1880s Victorian home with all of its charm.  Bill and Alice tend to their guests as they would close friends.  You can choose from one of several rooms named after Ida, Verona, Jack, and others, or select the Tree House Suite whose room is nestled in the branches of a 400-year-old water oak tree.  I specifically booked a room facing the west and immediately staked out a comfy chair on the porch.  I was ready to watch the sun dip into the Gulf, as those west coast sunsets are so aptly described in promotional brochures.

Heeding advice that you can park your car and walk everywhere you want to go, we set out to find snacks and sodas.  A local resident stopped us on the street and said to try the Jiffy.  “And if it’s closed,” she said, “you can follow me home and raid my refrigerator.”  It was Christmas day, after all.  So that’s why they call it the “wave island.” Everyone waves hello and we were already in awe of the town’s friendliness and simplicity.

Christmas dinner was a seven-course feast at the Island Hotel & Restaurant which is on the National Register of Historic Places. This would be the first of several opportunities to enjoy fresh, local seafood.  They dust it, fry it, broil it, steam it, smoke it, stuff it, golden-bake it, Christmas Noel-it, just about any way you can imagine.

Following Alice’s gourmet breakfast the next morning, a stop at the Cedar Key Historical Society Museum was in order.  I knew that Cedar Key was the second oldest city in Florida and had a history as a fishing village, but I did not know that it had other notable manufacturing such cedar saw mills that exported slabs for pencil-making (non-splintering wood is needed for smooth writing instruments) and whisk brooms fashioned from the Florida cabbage palm.

Cedar Key is a nature-lover’s paradise.  Captain Doug will take you around the islands on a two-hour boat tour, or you can get an aerial view in a bi-plane, each for about $20.  Captain GT (seems there are lots of captains here) will dash you offshore fishing for some “grouper therapy” as he describes it.  Two state preserves and a national wildlife refuge are also nearby.  If you are looking for a beach, you won’t find one in Cedar Key, but you can walk along the waterfront streets and down Dock Street to the fishing pier.  I don’t know the number of artists per capita in Cedar Key, but you can stroll among a number of art galleries along 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Streets where you will find everything from fine art to ceramics and jewelry.  I’m sure many have used the picturesque surroundings and tranquility as inspiration.

On our last evening we had to try Tony’s famous clam chowder at Tony’s Seafood Restaurant on 2nd Street.  To describe how delicious it is, Tony’s Cedar Key clam chowder captured the title "2009 Clam Chowder World Champion" at the annual Great Chowder Cook-Off in Newport, Rhode Island.  They ship it by the gallon all over the continental United States.

So, yes, Cedar Key measured up.  A brochure at the historical society summed up our experience.  “Welcome to Cedar Key, where life moves at a slower pace.”